by Mark Curtis
13 The single-ideology totalitarian state
1. Richard Norton-Taylor and Rob Evans, ‘US sees no change in British policies’, Guardian, 19 November 1999
2. Andrew Marr, Ruling Britannia: The failure and future of British democracy, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1996, pp. 109, 115
3. Philip Crowson, Tudor foreign policy, A and C Black, London, 1973, p. 36
4. Cited in Jack Lively and Adam Lively (eds.), Democracy in Britain: A reader, Blackwell, Oxford, 1994, pp. 33, 52, 56–7
5. Lucy Ward, ‘“President Blair” killed Cabinet, says Mowlam’, Guardian, 17 November 2001; Keith Sutherland, ‘Introduction: Bagehot revisited’, in Sutherland (ed.), The rape of the constitution?, Imprint Academic, London, 2000, p. 2
6. Tony Benn, ‘How democratic is Britain?’, in Sutherland (ed.), p. 34
7. Sutherland, ‘Introduction’, p. 14
8. Cited in Benn, ‘How democratic is Britain?’, p. 46
9. Cited in Eccleshall (ed.), British liberalism: Political thought from the 1640s to the 1980s, Longman, London, 1986, pp. 33, 162, 165
10. Ibid., pp. 11, 33, 81–2, 145–7, 162, 165
11. Cited in Rodney Barker, Political ideas in modern Britain: In and after the 20th century, Routledge, London, 1997, p. 112
12. Ibid., pp. 146–7
13. Cited in Jonathan Freedland, ‘Ten steps to the revolution’, in Sutherland (ed.), p. 63
14. Eric Hobsbawm, Industry and empire, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1990, p. 274; Alan Travis, ‘How gap between rich and poor has grown’, Guardian, 11 May 2000; Julian Le Grand, ‘How to cage the fat cats’, New Statesman, 26 July 1999
15. Cited in Edward Herman, Beyond hypocrisy: Decoding the news in an age of propaganda, South End Press, Boston, 1992, p. 17
16. David Ramsbottom, ‘Front lines and deadlines’, Guardian, 11 February 1991
17. Cited in John Pilger, ‘Censorship by omission’, in Hammond and Herman (eds), p. 132
18. W. Strang to T. Lloyd, 21 June 1952, BDEE, Ser. A, Vol. 3, Part I, pp. 13–19
19. Dorril, MI6, p. 766
20. Richard Norton-Taylor, Truth is a difficult concept, pp. 15, 23–6, 37, 86, 91, 96–7, 149, 177, 181, 209
Part III Exposing the secret history
14 Overthrowing the government of Iran
1. Cited in Kermit Roosevelt, Countercoup: The struggle for the control of Iran, McGraw Hill, London, 1979, p. 207
2. Roosevelt; C. M. Woodhouse, Something ventured, Granada, London, 1982.
3. D. Fergusson to R. Stokes, 3 October 1951, PRO, FO 371/919599; W. Roger Louis, The British empire in the Middle East, p. 682.
4. D. Fergusson to R. Stokes, 3 October 1951, PRO, FO 371/91599
5. F. Shepherd to O. Franks, 2 October 1951, PRO, FO 371/91464
6. Homa Katouzian, Musaddiq and the struggle for power in Iran, I. B. Tauris and Co, London, 1990, p. 139; Barry Rubin, Paved with good intentions: The American experience and Iran, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1980, p. 67; cited in Dorril, MI6, p. 560
7. G. Middleton to A. Eden, 25 February 1952, PRO, FO 248/1531; F. Shepherd to H. Morrison, 15 March 1951, PRO, FO 371/91454; Louis, The British Empire, p. 653; Memoranda by S. Falle, 2 August 1952 and 4 August 1952, PRO, FO 248/1531
8. Katouzian, p. 144
9. F. Shepherd to Foreign Office, 26 January 1952, PRO, FO 248/1531; Foreign Office memorandum, ‘Persia: The State Department’s views’, 16 April 1952, PRO, FO 371/98688
10. Chiefs of Staff Committee, Confidential annex to COS (51), 16 May 1951, PRO, FO 371/91460
11. E. Berthoud to R. Bowker, 15 June 1951, PRO, FO 371/91548; Fakhreddin Azimi, Iran: The crisis of democracy, 1941–1953, I. B. Tauris and Co, London, 1989; pp. 264–5
12. A. Eden, ‘Persia: memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs’, 5 August 1952, PRO, CAB 129/54/CP(52) 276; R. Bowker to Prime Minister, 2 September 1951, PRO, FO 371/91463; Azimi, p. 251; R. Bowker to Prime Minister, 2 September 1951, PRO, FO 371/91463
13. H. Morrison, ‘Persia’, 20 July 1951, PRO, CAB 129/46/CP(51) 212
14. Memorandum by G. Furlonge, 24 May 1951, PRO, FO 371/91460; Louis, p. 676
15. Brian Lapping, End of Empire, Paladin, London, p. 303; Prime Minister to Foreign Secretary, 17 June 1952, PRO, FO 371/98600
16. A. Eden, ‘Persia’, 5 August 1952, PRO, CAB 129/54/CP(52) 276; Lapping, p. 266; Azimi, Iran, p. 262; F. Shepherd to W. Strang, 11 September 1951, PRO, FO 371/91463; Tehran to Foreign Office, 26 September 1951, PRO, FO 371/91464; G. Wheeler to R. Bowker, 29 October 1951, PRO, FO 371/91464; Memorandum to E. Berthoud, 2 November 1951, PRO, FO 371/91609
17. Tehran to Foreign Office, 26 January 1952, PRO, FO 371/98684
18. F. Shepherd to H. Morrison, 21 May 1951, PRO, FO 371/91459
19. Foreign Office memorandum, ‘Sir F. Shepherd’s analysis of the Persian situation’, 28 January 1952, PRO, FO 371/98684
20. Dorril, MI6, p. 575
21. G. Middleton to Foreign Office, 5 March 1992, PRO, FO 248/1531; Memorandum by Dr Zaehner, 17 May 1952, PO, FO 248/1531; Memorandum by Pyman, 17 April 1952; PRO, FO 248/1531; Tehran to Foreign Office, 28 July 1952, CAB 129/54/CP(52)/275
22. G. Middleton to Foreign Office, 7 August 1952, PRO, FO 248/1531
23. Lapping, pp. 269–270; Rubin, Paved with good intentions, p. 77; Woodhouse, Something ventured, p. 118
24. Rubin, Paved with good intentions, p. 78; Woodhouse, p. 124
25. Katouzian, pp. 183–4; Azimi, p. 320; Roosevelt, pp. 1, 146–55; Lapping, p. 271
26. Dorril, MI6, p. 589
27. Blum, The CIA: A forgotten history, Zed, London, 1986, p. 72; Rubin, p. 82; Lapping, pp. 268–274; Azimi, p. 331
28. Katouzian, p. 190; Blum, p. 73
29. Sephehr Zabih, The Mossadegh era: Roots of the Iranian revolution, Lake View Press, Chicago, 1982, pp. 140–2, pp. 14–2; Woodhouse, p. 138
30. Foreign Office to Washington, 8 June 1951, PRO FO 371/91459
31. G. Middleton to A. Eden, 23 September 1952, PRO, FO 248/1531; US embassy Tehran despatch, 19 May 1953, PRO, FO 371/104566
32. Blum, The CIA, p. 70; Azimi, Iran, pp. 331–41
33. Memorandum by S. Falle, 4 August 1952, PRO, FO 248/1531
34. Dorril, MI6, p. 583
35. Blum, The CIA, p. 76; Rubin, pp. 177–8; Gabriel Kolko, Confronting the Third World: United States foreign policy, 1945–1980, Pantheon, New York, 1988, p. 265
36. Anthony Cavendish, Inside intelligence, Collins, London, 1990, p. viii
37. Bloch and Fitzgerald, pp. 44, 113
38. Cavendish, Inside intelligence, p. 141
39. Dorril, MI6, pp. 654, 744; Blum, The CIA, p. 76; Bloch and Fitzgerald, p. 44
40. Farhad Kazemi, Poverty and revolution in Iran: The migrant poor, urban marginality and politics, New York University Press, New York, 1980, pp. 51, 90
15 Deterring development in Kenya
1. David Gough, ‘Mau Mau will sue Britain for human rights abuses’, Guardian, 29 April 1999
2. J. Whyatt to P. Rogers, 2 September 1952, PRO CO 822/437; The Corfield report, ‘Historical survey of the origins and growth of Mau Mau’, PRO, CO, 822/1222
3. David Maughan-Brown, Land, freedom and fiction: History and ideology in Kenya, Zed, London, 1985, pp. 47, 49, 31
4. Intel no. 228, 17 October 1952, PRO, CO 822/462
5. Maughan-Brown, Land, freedom and fiction, pp. 29, 185; Arthur Hazlewood, The economy of Kenya: The Kenyatta era, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979, p. 7
6. E. Baring to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 21 November 1955, PRO, CO 822/937
7. Cited in the Corfield report, Ch. XVI, p. 1; Maughan-Brown, Land, freedom and fiction, pp. 93–7
8. Tabitha Tanogo, Squatters and the roots of Mau Mau, 1905–63, James Currey, London, 1987, pp. 150, 126; 2; Maughan-Brown, Land, freedom and fiction, pp. 24, 67
9. ‘A memorandum on the economic, political, educational and social aspects of the African in Kenya colony by the Kenya
African Union’, undated (1947), PRO, CO 533/534/11
10. Deputy Governor to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 19 March 1945, PRO, CO 533/534/11
11. Speech, 30 November 1946, PRO, CO 533/549/2
12. Cited in Lapping, p. 469
13. Maughan-Brown, p. 36; E. Baring to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 15 October 1952 and 17 October 1952, PRO, CO 822/444
14. E. Baring to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 9 October 1952, PRO, CO 822/444
15. Government of Kenya Secretariat to P. Rogers, 25 August 1952, PRO CO 822/435; H. Potter to P. Rogers, 17 August 1952, PRO, CO 822/436
16. E. Baring to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 10 October 1952, PRO, CO 822/443; J. Whyatt to K. Roberts-Wray, 19 October 1952 and 8 October 1952, PRO, CO 822/728
17. J. Whyatt to P. Rogers, 2 September 1952, PRO, CO 822/437
18. Lapping, p. 491
19. A. Clayton, Counter-insurgency in Kenya, 1952–1960, Transafrica, Nairobi, 1976, p. 54
20. Clayton, pp. 111, 38; Maughan-Brown, pp. 39–40
21. Cited in Barbara Slaughter, ‘How Britain crushed the “Mau Mau rebellion”’, 15 September 1999, www.wsws.org/articles/1999/sep99
22. Canon Bewes to N. Langford-Smith, 9 February 1953, PRO, CO 822/471; Maughan-Brown, pp. 40–1; Clayton, p. 44; Canon Bewes to Governor, 28 January 1953, PRO, CO 822/471; E. Twining to W. Gorell Barnes, 25 November 1953, PRO, CO 822/499
23. David Gough, ‘Mau Mau will sue Britain for human rights abuses’, Guardian, 29 April 1999
24. Stephen Cook, ‘Whitehall put in the dock over Kenyan hangings’, Guardian, 1 December 1999; Slaughter, ‘How Britain crushed the “Mau Mau rebellion”’
25. Clayton, pp. 54, 14; E. Baring to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 20 April 1953, 13 October 1953 and 24 October 1953, PRO, CO 822/728/729
26. Cited in Jean Shaoul, ‘Kenyan Mau Mau seek compensation from British government’, 26 May 1999, www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999
27. Maughan-Brown, p. 38; Slaughter, ‘How Britain crushed the “Mau Mau rebellion”’
28. E. Baring to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 16 October 1954, PRO, CO 822/801
29. ‘Health in detention camps’, report by H. Stott, 23 September 1954, PRO, CO 822/801
30. V. G. Kiernan, European empires from conquest to collapse, 1815–1960, Fontana, London, 1982, p. 221; Kenneth Wanstall, ‘I saw men tortured’, Reynolds News, 13 January 1957
31. Philip Meldon, ‘My two years in Kenya’, undated [January 1957], PRO, CO 822/1237, affidavit of Victor Shuter, 10 January 1959, PRO, CO 822/1271; Eileen Fletcher, ‘My comments on the government memorandum concerning my charges about Kenya’, 8 January 1957, PRO, CO 822/1236
32. Cited in Slaughter, ‘How Britain crushed the “Mau Mau rebellion”’
33. Deputy Governor to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 19 February 1953; E. Baring to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 28 September 1953 and 15 October 1953; Notes of a Colonial Office meeting, 28 September 1953; Secretary of State for the Colonies to E. Baring, 7 October 1953, PRO, CO 822/505
34. W. Gorell Barnes to E. Baring, 1 December 1952, PRO, CO 822/450
35. Bloch and Fitzgerald, pp. 143–55
36. Hazlewood, pp. 34, 10
37. Tanogo, p. 172; Bethwell Ogot and Tiyambe Zeleza, ‘Kenya: The road to independence and after’, in Prosser Gifford and W. Roger Louis, Decolonisation and African independence: The transfer of power, 1960–1980, Yale University Press, London, 1988, p. 413; Maughan-Brown, p. 188
38. Gary Wasserman, Politics of decolonisation: Kenya, Europeans and the land issue 1960–1965, CUP, Cambridge, 1976, pp. 172–4
39. Nicola Swainson, The development of corporate capitalism in Kenya, 1918–1977, University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1980, p. 130; Ogot and Zeleza, p. 426
40. ‘Employment, income distribution, poverty alleviation and basic needs in Kenya’, Report of an ILO consulting mission, Cornell University, 1978, p. 96
41. Cited in Cathy Majtenyin, ‘Landless: Beggars in their own house’, Africa News, September 2001, www.peaceline.it/afrinews
16 Malaya: War in defence of the rubber industry
1. Colonial Office report, 28 March 1950, PRO, CO 717/196/52821/20; Lennox Mills, Malaya: A political and economic appraisal, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1958, p. 206; ‘Papers on the emergency in Malaya’, January 1952, PRO, CO 1022/22/SEA 10/14/08
2. Colonial Office, ‘Malaya: Brief for Minister of State’, undated (1952), PRO, CO 1022/267/SEA 192/469/01; Mills, p. 206
3. House of Lords, Hansard, 27 February 1952, Col. 302
4. Ibid., Col. 346
5. Memo to the Colonial Office, 15 November 1951, PRO, CO 1022/39/SEA 10/93/01
6. Foreign Office to Washington, 26 October 1950, PRO, CO 717/203/52911
7. Untitled memo (1949), PRO, CO 717/163/52748; Governor of Singapore to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 23 March 1949, PRO, CO 717/163/52748; J. Higham to Sir Francis Gimson, 14 February 1949, PRO, CO 717/163/52748
8. ‘The squatter problem in Malaya’, March 1952, PRO, CO 1022/29/SEA 10/72/01
9. Broadcast speech to Australia, 12 October 1952, PRO, CO, 1022/2/SEA 10/03; Richard Clutterbuck, Conflict and violence in Singapore and Malaysia, 1945–1983, Graham Brash, Singapore, 1985, p. 186
10. Kiernan, p. 212
11. Robert Jackson, The Malayan emergency: The Commonwealth’s war, 1948–1966, Routledge, London, 1991, pp. 77, 82, 84
12. Ibid., p. 45
13. Cited in Charles Allen, The savage wars of peace: Soldiers voices 1945–1989, Futura, 1990, pp. 12, 21–2, 26; Geraghty, Who dares wins, pp. 28, 39
14. Lapping, p. 219; ‘Bodies of dead rebels on public view’, Scotsman, 22 August 1952; see PRO, CO 1030/33/FED 12/568/01
15. T. Jerrom to J. Higham, 30 April 1952, PRO, CO 1022/45/SEA 10/162/02
16. T. Jerrom to J. Higham, 19 May 1952, 6 May, 12 May 1952, PRO, CO 1022/45/SEA/10/162/02; ‘500 sea Dyaks for Malaya’, Daily Telgraph, 23 May 1952
17. Cited in Lapping, p. 224; Brief for Selwyn Lloyd, 21 April 1953, PRO, CO 1022/2/SEA/10/03
18. Lapping, p. 223
19. Jackson, p. 20, emphasis added
20. Clutterbuck, p. 176
21. ‘Monthly review of Chinese affairs’, December 1949, PRO, CO 717/182/52928
22. J. Biddulph, 6 June 1951, PRO, CO 1022/148/SEA/75/167/01
23. Letter to Colonial Office, undated (1952), PRO, CO 1022/54/SEA 10/409/01; ‘Templer sends a letter to his people’, Observer, 6 April 1952
24. Selangor government press statement, 10 April 1952, PRO, CO 1022/55/SEA 10/409/02
25. Foreign Office telegram, 22 March 1951, PRO, CO 1022/2/SEA 10/03; Memo by the Secretary of State for the Colonies, CAB 21/1682, DO (50) 93, 15 November 1950
26. Jackson, p. 26; Allen, p. 101
27. H. Kearns and E. Woodford, ‘The chemical control of roadside vegetation’, 2 February 1953, PRO, CO 1022/26/SEA 10/45/01; A. Humphrey to J. Higham, 19 January 1953, PRO, CO 1022/26/SEA 10/45/01
28. ‘A plan for rubber’, Economist, 9 October 1954
29. Ritchie Ovendale, The English-speaking alliance: Britain, the United States, the Dominions and the cold war, 1945–1951, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1985, pp. 151–63
30. Jackson, pp. 19, 39
31. ‘Official designation of the communist forces’, PRO, CO 1022/48/SEA 10/172/01
32. James Adams, Secret armies: The full story of the SAS, Delta Force and Spetsnaz, Pan, London, 1988
33. Chris Dixon, Southeast Asia in the world economy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991, pp. 183, 186
17 British Guiana: Overstepping ‘decent government’
1. Farewell address by Governor Sir Charles Campbell Woolley, PRO, CO 1031/287
2. ALC Ltd, 25th Annual Report, PRO, CO 1031/1103
3. ‘British Guiana: The economic consequences of the PPP’, undated (1953), PRO, CO 1031/298; ‘The economic production of sugar
cane by individual farmers’, 8 January 1954, PRO, CO 1031/1444
4. Cited in K. Martin to J. Campbell, 26 October 1953, PRO, CO 1031/6; Colonial Office, ‘British Guiana: Housing’, undated (1953), PRO, CO 1031/235
5. Note by the Governor, undated (September 1953), PRO, CO 1031/121
6. CRO to High Commissioners, 30 September 1953, PRO, PREM 11/827
7. O. Lyttleton to Prime Minister, 5 May 1953, PRO, PREM 11/827
8. Press statement, 1 November 1951, PRO, CO 1031/776
9. H. Seaford to J. Campbell, 8 September 1953, PRO, CO 1031/121
10. Nigel Nicholson, House of Commons, Hansard, 22 October 1953, Col. 2259
11. O. Lyttleton, ‘Cabinet: British Guiana’, 25 September 1953, PRO, PREM 11/827; House of Commons debates, 22 October 1953, Cols. 2179, 2166; ‘British Guiana: The economic consequences of the PPP’, undated (1953), PRO, CO 1031/298
12. House of Commons debates, 7 December 1953, cited in Thomas Spinner, A political and social history of Guyana, 1945–1983, Westview Press, London, 1984, p. 55
13. ‘Statement by Her Majesty’s government’, 9 October 1953, PRO, CO 1031/1003
14. House of Commons, Hansard, 22 October 1953, Col.s 2166, 2173
15. UK delegation to the UN to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 30 September 1953, PRO, PREM 11/827
16. State Department policy information, ‘Situation in British Guiana (2)’, 9 October 1953, PRO, CO 1031/1189; A. Campbell to J. Vernon, 16 October 1953, PRO, CO 1031/1189
17. House of Commons, Hansard, 22 October 1953, Cols. 2190–8
18. House of Commons, Hansard, 22 October 1953, Col. 2183
19. Governor to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 23 May 1955, PRO, CO 1031/1437; Officer Administering the Government of British Guiana to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 5 September 1955, PRO, CO 1031/1437
20. Spinner, pp. 91–101; Blum, The CIA, pp. 118–23
21. Philip Agee, Inside the company: CIA diary, London, 1975, p. 406