15 Parl. Deb. (Commons), 16 April 1934, cols 740–43. Anderson, Fascists, Communists and the National Government, p. 70.
16 Hyde, I Believed, pp. 42–3.
17 The Security Service memorandum of October 1932 was cited in an untitled War Office memorandum of 16 March 1933, TNA WO 32/3948 110/Gen/4771.
18 Olga Gray (see below, pp. 179ff.) is one of a number of possible sources of the ‘information of the highest importance’; this may help to explain the ‘most handsome bonus’ given by Kell to Knight later in the year (see above, p. 132). Very few reports from Knight’s agents survive.
19 Untitled War Office memorandum, 16 March 1933, TNA WO 32/3948 110/Gen/4771.
20 Security Service, p. 107. See above, p. 142.
21 Cab 52(33)6, 18 Oct. 1933, TNA CAB 23/77.
22 Andrew, Secret Service, pp. 518–19. The only prosecution under the Act was of a Leeds University student ‘of extreme political views’ sentenced in 1937 to a year’s imprisonment for suggesting to an RAF pilot that he steal an aeroplane and use it to help the Spanish Republicans. His sentence was drastically reduced on appeal.
23 MI5 and Scotland Yard note to DDMO&I, 5 March 1930, TNA KV 5/71, s. 131a. Guy Liddell (then at MPSB), ‘Russian Oil Products Limited’, 14 Jan. 1931, TNA KV 5/72, s. 191a.
24 G. M. Liddell (then at MPSB), ‘The activities of Russian Soviet organizations in Great Britain and Ireland since the ARCOS raid, May 1927–April 1929’, 17 April 1929, TNA KV 5/71, s. 64a; ‘Russian Oil Products’, 5 May 1932, TNA KV 5/72, s. 356z.
25 ‘Note of discussion at the Home Office on ROP Petrol depots’, 13 March 1934, TNA KV 5/74, s. 604a.
26 Holt-Wilson noted in May 1931: ‘By arrangement with Scotland House . . . we are, for the most part, concerning ourselves only with the espionage and sabotage side of the Russian Oil Products problem. Scotland House are making themselves responsible for the collations of information with regard to personnel employed at the various depots throughout the country and we are passing to them all material on this subject that comes into our hands.’ Holt-Wilson to J. C. MacIver (Home Office), 19 May 1931, TNA KV 5/72, s. 221a. In October, following the transfer of the counter-subversion section of the Special Branch to MI5, the Security Service became responsible for all aspects of the ROP investigation.
27 MI5 and Scotland Yard note to DDMO&I, 5 March 1930, TNA KV 5/71, s. 131a.
28 MPSB report to Security Service, 20 April 1932, TNA KV 5/72, s. 341c.
29 See below, p. 182.
30 Valentine Vivian (SIS) to Liddell, ‘The Olsen case’, 14 Oct. 1932, TNA KV 2/2880, s. 25a.
31 O. A. Harker (DB), ‘Joseph Volkovich Volodarsky and Elisabeth Grigorievna Volodarskaya’, 4 Nov. 1932, TNA KV 2/2280, s. 46a.
32 Security Service Archives. On Brandes, see below, p. 181. Volodarsky was interned in Canada during the Second World War, admitted working for the NKVD, co-operated in debriefings and was allowed to settle in Montreal.
33 MI5 report, ‘Pyotr Kapitza’, 17 Sept. 1930, TNA KV 2/777, s. 42a. Report on Maurice Dobb, 19 Sept. 1930, TNA KV 2/1758, s. 12a.
34 Andrew and Gordievsky, KGB, pp. 205, 210.
35 22 June 1934, TNA KV 2/777, s. 81a.
36 TNA KV 2/777, ss. 79a, 80a, 82. Burke, The Spy Who Came in from the Co-op, ch. 6.
37 Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb, pp. 26–7.
38 The first to identify Philby’s potential as a Soviet agent – and probably to draw him to the attention of Arnold Deutsch – was Litzi’s friend Edith Suschitsky, who was herself recruited by Deutsch and given the transparent codename EDITH. Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, p. 76.
39 Philby, untitled memorandum, Security Service Archives. On Philby’s partial confession before his 1963 defection, see below, pp. 435–6.
40 J. C. Brown, ‘Interview of Frau Josefine (Fini) Deutsch, 21–22 May 1972’, 2 June 1972, PF 48,871, s. 71b.
41 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, pp. 73–4.
42 On SVR attempts to give greater credit to the more senior NKVD officer, Aleksandr Orlov, see ibid., pp. 77–8.
43 Ibid., p. 75.
44 Borovik, Philby Files, p. 29.
45 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, p. 74.
46 In October 1936, and subsequently, Oscar Deutsch applied for permission to employ his cousin Arnold as a psychologist with his cinema chain. The Home Office refused permission on the grounds that there was no reason why the job should not be given to a British subject. Security Service Archives. Information on the Odeon acronym from Peter Hennessy.
47 Security Service Archives.
48 After his arrival in England in April 1934, Deutsch spent a term at UCL studying phonetics, probably because it was too late in the academic year to begin work for the Psychology Diploma. Security Service Archives.
49 Security Service Archives.
50 Security Service Archives. Controversy has continued ever since Burt’s death in 1971 over whether he fabricated some of the evidence used in his research.
51 Costello and Tsarev, Deadly Illusions, p. 146.
52 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, ch. 4.
53 Originally known as the Cambridge University Labour Club and affiliated to the Labour Party, it was taken over by Communists on 29 November 1930, disaffiliated from Labour and renamed itself the Cambridge University Socialist Society (CUSS). CUSS minute book, 29 Nov. 1930.
54 The official title of the CUSS treasurer, as in other Cambridge student societies, was ‘Junior Treasurer’. The title ‘Senior Treasurer’ was reserved for a senior member of the University who was supposed to ensure the orderly functioning of the society.
55 CUSS minute book.
56 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, ch. 4.
57 Ibid., chs 3, 4.
58 Primakov et al. (eds), Ocherki istorii rossiiskoi vneshnei razvedki, vol. 3, ch. 13.
59 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, pp. 66, 71–2.
60 Denniston, ‘Government Code and Cypher School between the Wars’, p. 58.
61 H. C. Kenworthy, ‘A Brief History of Events Relating to the Growth of the “Y” Service’, TNA HW 3/81. Smith, ‘Government Code and Cypher School and the First Cold War’.
62 Security Service, pp. 105–6.
63 William Morrison PF, TNA KV 2/606.
64 Jane Sissmore, ‘William Morrison’, 1 Aug. 1939, TNA KV 2/606. After returning from Spain in April 1938 (Sissmore had ‘a very shrewd suspicion that he deserted’ from the Republican forces), Morrison broke contact with the CPGB and gave a ‘frank’ account to MI5 of his previous career. Knight (B5b), ‘William Morrison’, 30 Oct. 1939, TNA KV 2/606.
65 Security Service, p. 106.
66 Denniston, ‘Government Code and Cypher School between the Wars’, p. 58.
67 All that survives in Security Service files is a brief file summary.
68 CB 16 (22 April 1931–19 May 1932), TNA HW 17/70. I am grateful to Dr Victor Madeira for this reference.
69 Decrypts of Comintern traffic between Moscow and London from February 1934 to January 1937 are published in West, MASK, pp. 41–199.
70 Decrypted message from Moscow to Pollitt, 16 Feb. 1934, reporting on Kenyatta’s return to London; West, MASK, p. 120.
71 Security Service Archives.
72 Security Service, p. 106. There are numerous references to the subsidies in the decrypts published in West, MASK.
73 Memo by Vansittart (PUS Foreign Office), 28 May 1935; Sir John Simon to Moscow embassy, 30 May 1935, TNA FO 371/19467 N2761. Andrew, ‘Secret Intelligence and British Foreign Policy’, p. 21.
74 Millar, ‘British Intelligence and the Comintern in Shanghai’, pp. 136–50. Smith, ‘Government Code and Cypher School and the First Cold War’, pp. 29–30. Smith, Foley, pp. 51–61. Security Service, pp. 103–5.
75 Numerous volumes of Comintern messages to various parts of the world were not passed to the Security Service until 1952 when interest in them revived during the VENONA investigation and
copies were also forwarded to the FBI and CIA. Security Service Archives.
76 See above, pp. 123, 164.
77 ‘John Harold Salisbury’, 5 Sept. 1935, TNA KV 2/2499, s. 231a.
78 Untitled report by Harker on conference in Admiralty, 8 Jan. 1936, TNA KV 2/2499, s. 276a. Ba, Copy of interrogation of J. H. Salisbury, 13 Jan. 1936, TNA KV 2/2499, s. 278a.
79 Minutes 281a, 282a, 1 Feb. 1936, TNA KV 2/2499.
80 Harker to Rae (Treasury), 9 Oct. 1936, enclosing MI5 reports on Trebilcock and other Communists ‘employed in Civil Establishments under the Admiralty’; Secret report by Carter Committee on ‘Undesirable Employees in Naval Establishments’, 4 Nov. 1936; Macleod (Admiralty) to Rae (Treasury), 7 Jan. 1937; Notes prepared for Baldwin’s meeting with Bevin, Feb. 1937, TNA T 162 424/E13264/04. Notes by Sir Horace Wilson on meeting between Baldwin, Bevin and First Sea Lord, 9 Feb. 1937, TNA PREM 1/206.
81 Special Branch report, 29 March 1935, TNA FO 371/19467 N1781. Andrew, ‘Secret Intelligence and British Foreign Policy’, pp. 21–2. Surviving MASK decrypts include a number of reprimands to the Daily Worker when it failed to follow the current Moscow line with the precision demanded of it. West, MASK, pp. 102, 181, 182.
82 ‘M.S. Report’, pp. 18, 33–4, TNA KV 4/227. ‘The Woolwich Arsenal Case – Summary Report’, 13 Feb. 1950, p. 13, TNA KV 2/1023, s. 871a. ‘Statement of “X” the informant in this case’, 25 Jan. 1938, p. 1, TNA KV 2/1022, s. [illegible]. Quinlan, ‘Human Intelligence Tradecraft and MI5 Operations in Britain’, pp. 178–9.
83 ‘Statement of “X” the informant in this case’, 25 Jan. 1938, pp. 1–2, TNA KV 2/1022; ‘M.S. Report’, pp. 35–8, TNA KV 4/227. Quinlan, ‘Human Intelligence Tradecraft and MI5 Operations in Britain’, pp. 181–90.
84 ‘re 82 Holland Road’, 24 April 1937, TNA KV/2008, s. 1a; ‘re “Mr Peters”’, 29 April 1937, ibid., s. 2a; M (Knight), minute, 13 Jan. 1938, ibid., s. 4a. Security Service Archives.
85 ‘Statement of “X” the informant in this case’, 25 Jan. 1938, p. 3, TNA KV 2/1022. The NKVD defector Walter Krivitsky said later that Maly too had described Deutsch as ‘bumptious’; ‘Note re information from Krivitsky’, 23 Jan. 1940, p. 8, TNA KV 2/804, s. 2b.
86 See below, p. 420.
87 ‘Statement of “X” the informant in this case’, 25 Jan. 1938, pp. 3–6, TNA KV 2/1022. ‘The Woolwich Arsenal Case – Summary Report’, 13 Feb. 1950, pp. 1–3, TNA KV 2/1023, s. 871a. ‘M.S. Report’, pp. 39–40, TNA KV 4/227. Quinlan, ‘Human Intelligence Tradecraft and MI5 Operations in Britain’, pp. 189–90.
88 ‘Willy and Mary Brandes’, TNA KV 2/1004.
89 ‘The Woolwich Arsenal Case – Summary Report’, 13 February 1950, p. 4, TNA KV 2/1023, s. 871a; ‘Statement of “X” the informant in this case’, 25 Jan. 1938, p. 7, TNA KV 2/1022, s. [illegible]. Quinlan, ‘Human Intelligence Tradecraft and MI5 Operations in Britain’, pp. 191–4.
90 Trial reports in The Times, 4, 8 Feb., 15 March 1938. Masters, The Man Who was M, ch. 4.
91 Burke, The Spy Who Came in from the Co-op, p. 95. Vivian spelt Sirnis ‘Sirness’. He also identified an address found on a slip of paper in Glading’s diary as her address.
92 Security Service Archives. M2 wrongly assumed that either ‘Sirnis’ or ‘Steadman’ was her married name and the other her maiden name. In fact Melita Norwood at this period seems not to have used her married name in Party circles.
93 Security Service Archives.
94 Security Service Archives.
95 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, p. 153. The suggestion in Dr David Burke’s generally impressive pioneering biography of Melita Norwood, The Spy Who Came in from the Co-op (p. 103), that ‘someone involved with the case must have taken a decision to inform the Russians that her cover had not been blown’ is implausible.
96 Security Service Archives.
97 See below, pp. 579–80.
98 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, pp. 102–3. The Centre and perhaps Deutsch may well have misinterpreted a visit he received from the police in September 1937. The visit was prompted not by any suspicion of espionage but solely by the fact that, having given up his diploma course at University College, he was trying to regularize his position in England by employment with his cousin, Oscar Deutsch. Security Service Archives.
99 See below, pp. 426–8.
100 Burke, The Spy Who Came in from the Co-op, ch. 6.
101 Security Service Archives.
102 Security Service Archives.
103 Grafpen’s file was destroyed some years ago. A record remains, however, that he had first been identified as a Soviet intelligence officer by the Security Service in 1927 and held posts in Soviet trade delegations in London, New York and Milan.
104 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, pp. 107, 109.
105 ‘Compte-rendu de Mission à Londres les 30 & 31 janvier 1939’, 1 Feb. 1939, SHD-DAT, ARR, dr. 250; ‘Prévisions britanniques’, 19 Feb. 1939, SHD-DAT, ARR, dr. 251. I am grateful to Dr Peter Jackson for this reference.
106 Andrew and Mitrokhin, Mitrokhin Archive, pp. 107–9.
Chapter 3: British Fascism and the Nazi Threat
1 Security Service Archives.
2 Parl. Deb. (Commons), 26 May 1927, cols 2257–8.
3 Nicolai, Nachrichtendienst, Presse, und Volksstimmung im Weltkrieg. On Nicolai, see above, pp. 52, 77.
4 Nicolai, Geheime Mächte; English trans.: Nicolai, German Secret Service, pp. 265–7 for quotation.
5 Holt-Wilson, ‘Military Administration of occupied territory in time of war’, 22 March 1922, TNA KV 4/313, s. 2a. Security Service, p. 78.
6 The lack of detailed studies of the intelligence services of imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic, due largely to the scarcity of sources, is in striking contrast to the voluminous literature on policing. On the current state of research on intelligence in the Weimar period, see Richter, ‘Military and Civil Intelligence Services in Germany’.
7 ‘The Deutsche Uberseedienst’, 1923, TNA KV 2/1116, s. 139a. Security Service, p. 98.
8 SIS to Major Ball, MI5, 11 Oct. 1922, TNA KV 2/1116, s. 10a.
9 SIS report, ‘Alleged German espionage activities’, 10 March 1923, TNA KV 2/1116, s. 37a. On interwar SIS operations against Germany, see Jeffery, Official History of the Secret Intelligence Service, part III.
10 SIS to Harker, MI5, 7 July 1928, TNA KV 2/1116, s. 204a. Major Ball, ‘The Deutsche Uberseedienst’, 30 March 1929, TNA KV 2/1116, s. 207a.
11 Major Ball, ‘The Deutsche Uberseedienst’, 30 March 1929, TNA KV 2/1116, s. 207a.
12 Holt-Wilson, ‘German espionage in the UK’, 12 Aug. 1931, TNA KV 3/93, s. 88a. SIS to Major Alexander, 24 March 1932, TNA KV 3/93, s. 112a.
13 MI5 did, however, identify as German spies some of the Etappe Dienst agents, without realizing what network they belonged to. Security Service Archives.
14 Security Service, p. 109.
15 The Times, 31 Jan. 1933.
16 Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936, pp. 457–61.
17 The Times, 22 March 1933.
18 G. M. Liddell, ‘The Liquidation of Communism, Left-Wing Socialism and Pacifism. Visit to Berlin, (30 March 1933–9 April 1933)’, TNA KV 4/111, s. 1a.
19 Trenchard to Polizei President Berlin, 24 March 1933, TNA KV 4/111. Unsigned copy of letter of thanks from Kell to Admiral Sinclair (SIS), May 1933, TNA KV 4/111.
20 Diels later lost a struggle for power with the leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, who in April 1934 also became head of the Gestapo.
21 G. M. Liddell, ‘The Liquidation of Communism, Left-Wing Socialism and Pacifism. Visit to Berlin, (30 March 1933–9 April 1933)’, TNA KV 4/111, s. 1a.
22 Ibid.
23 Guy Liddell diary, 21 April 1940.
24 Curry joined the Indian Police in 1907 at the age of twenty, retiring in 1932. The invitation to join B Branch came from its head, Jasper Harker, who had first met him while working for the Indian Police before returning to Britain in 1919. Security Servic
e Archives.
25 Security Service Archives.
26 On Knight’s earlier Fascist contacts, see above, pp. 123–4.
27 ‘M’ report, 21 March 1934, TNA KV 3/53, s. 1c.
28 ‘M’ report, 13 April 1934, TNA KV 3/53, s.1e.
29 ‘The Revival of Fascism in Britain. Memorandum by the Security Service’, Dec. 1945, TNA KV 4/331.
30 Kell to Scott (Home Office), 18 June 1934, enclosing Report no. 1 on the BUF, TNA HO 144/21041.
31 Anderson, Fascists, Communists and the National Government, chs 6, 7. Dorril, Blackshirt, ch. 15.
32 Kell to Scott (Home Office), 1 Aug. 1934, enclosing Report no. 2 on the BUF, TNA HO 144/21041.
33 Dorril, Blackshirt, p. 307.
34 Though both the Mosleys and Hitler intended the wedding to be secret, it was quickly known to the Foreign Office. Dorril, Blackshirt, pp. 393–4.
35 B7, ‘Lady Diana Mosley’, 26 June 1940, TNA KV 2/884, s. 48a.
36 Kell to Scott (Home Office), 8 Oct. 1934, enclosing Report no. 3 on the BUF, TNA HO 144/21041.
37 Kell to Scott (Home Office), 11 March 1935, enclosing Report no. 5 on the BUF, TNA HO 144/21041.
38 Kell to Scott (Home Office), 10 July 1936, enclosing Report no. 8 on the BUF, TNA HO 144/21041.
39 Ibid.
40 Kell to Scott (Home Office), 27 Nov. 1936, enclosing Report no. 9 on the BUF, TNA HO 144/21041.
41 Anderson, Fascists, Communists and the National Government, chs 10, 11.
42 Kell to Scott (Home Office), 27 Nov. 1936, enclosing Report no. 9 on the BUF; minute by Liddell, 10 Dec. 1936; minute by Harker, 10 July 1937, TNA HO 144/21041.
43 Anderson, Fascists, Communists and the National Government, ch. 11.
44 Home Office Notes on DR18b, April 1949, TNA HO 45/26018. Grant, ‘Desperate Measures’, ch. 1.
45 ‘Order of priority of foreign countries from SIS point of view’, n.d. [1935 or 1936], TNA WO 106/5392.
46 Andrew, Secret Service, pp. 532–3, 547–8. Details of Secret Service vote in TNA T 160787/F6139/053.
47 Vansittart, Mist Procession, p. 397.
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