14. When British Intelligence Decided to Play Domestic Politics and Mess With the Labour Party
On October 25th, 1924, The Daily Mail published a letter from Grigory Zinoviev, Chairman of the Comintern – an organization headed by the USSR to advance global communism – to Britain’s Communist Party. In it, Zinoviev directed British communists to engage in treasonous activities in order to secure the Labour party’s victory in the next election. Headed by Ramsay MacDonald, Labour was deemed friendlier – or at least less hostile – towards the Soviet Union than the conservative Tories. Zinoviev’s directives to the Communist Party of Britain included the subversion of British soldiers and sailors, and preparations for a military insurrection in blue collar areas.
The conservatives had a field day with the revelations, and used them to ruin their Labour opponents. In the final days before the election, the conservative press hammered MacDonald and Labour as tools of communism. On election day, October 29th, 1924, the Labour government was ousted from office, and the Tories romped to victory. The Conservative Party gained 154 new seats in the House of Commons, for a decisive majority of 412 MPs out of 650. It was then discovered – although too late to do MacDonald and the Labour Party any good – that the Zinoviev letter was a forgery.