The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1924. WHY ZINOVIEFF CANNOT BE BELIEVED.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXI, Issue 9896, 27 December 1924, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1924. WHY ZINOVIEFF CANNOT BE BELIEVED.

The decision on the part of the ne>7 British Cabinet to declare closed the Zinovieff letter incident, with an addendum to the effect that He genuineness of the communication had been established to its satisfaction has displeased ‘'the New Zealand j Worker”. It says: “What an impertinent joker Sir Joynson Hicks must lie! He expects us to accept his unsupported word in the face of proofs | to the contrary with which Zinovieff lias satisfied a British trade union delegation. ” Now Are think that the matter is of such great importance, hearing, as it does, on the wickedness of the leaders of one country in endeavouring to stir up strife in another country, that the public should not he left in a dilemma as to whether or not the new British Government has acted in a proper manner. In this regard, it should not, in' the first place, be overlooked that Mi MacDonald, who was Premier when the communication was received in England, acted upon it in the belief that it were genuine. As is well-known, he at once caused the Foreign Office to draft a vigorous reply for transmission to the Soviet Government. Mr MacDonald must have had solid grounds for his belief, otherwise, of course. ho would not have taken such drastic action. But in these Overseas Dominions not a great deal has been learned as to the class of information which guided the ex-Premier.. It is j now not open to question, for instance, but that the letetr was inter- | cepted by the British secret service in i Russia and reached London by a roundabout route. It is also now j known that it was written upon the j official notepaper of the .Third Inter- j nationale and was signed by Zinovieff , as the head of the Internationale ! executive. But that is not all v It . should he remembered that there ’ was nothing in tho letter contrary to j the views that Zinovieff had for some time been espousing. What is more a similar type of communication signed by Zinovieff was in circulation in Germany. As Lord Birkenhead has pointed out, it contained similar advice and a similar inducement as that which was Hold ont,»in the infamous communication intended to he acted upou in Britain. Strange as it may appear although the authenticity of the letter forwarded to Britain has been challenged by the Soviet Government no attempt has been made to deny the authenticity of tho communication sent to Berlin. Zinovieff also wrote just such a letter to the Communists of Norway during the general strike there this year. Now* “The Now Zealand Worker” wants to know why Zinovieff’s denial to a j British trade union delegation should not bo accepted. Does it supposo i i that British people in all parts of the ' world have forgotten what- transpired in connection with the jewel dealings of-Kameneff, by means of which the Soviet authorities attempted ;to • endow the - “Daily Herald” as a Com- j xnuriist newspaper to the time v of ]

£75,000? Mr Lloyd George handled that particular incident and durmg the recent General Election at Lome Jio repeated what actually happened. It seems that he sent for Knmemd and remonstrated with him for mo playing the game.” Kaimmofi san to him, “It really is not true . know nothing about it.” lint whilst ho was saying that Mi Lloyd Geoi go had in front .of him the identical telegram that he had sent to Moscow, stating: “I have disposed oi the jewels and am giving to the "Daily Herald” I In the circumstances, one must be very sympathetic towards Socialism to accep> any denial from Zinovieff in regard to'the authenticity of the letter to Britain which caused such a united storm of protest and was, m great measure, responsible for the defeat of the MacDonald Government at the polls.