THE ZINOVIEFF LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18890, 12 December 1924, Page 11

THE ZINOVIEFF LETTER.

GENUINENESS DECLARED.

PROOFS BEFORE COMMITTEE.

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT. By Telegrapb--Press Association—Copyright. (Received 8.35 p.m.) Reuter. LONDON. Dec. 10. During the debate on the Address-in-Reply to-day in the House of Commons, the Home Secretary, Sir W. JoynsonHieks, referred to the Zinovieff letter. Tne Minister stated that, on behalf of tho Cabinet, he was authorised to say that, having put" tho matter in tho hands of a responsible committee, it was prepared to accept the committee's statement to the effect that the letter was genuine, and not a forgery. That statement was enough for the members of the Cabinet, and he believed it would bo enough for the people of the country. The Government did not propose to publish the evidence on which the committee's opinion was based, nor to disclose names. The latter would be impossible for reasons of safety of individual lives. The Labour. Party must choose between believing the word of Zinovieff, or the statement of the Cabinet, said the Minister, in conclusion.

!' Zinovieff, the sinister individual whose signature appears at the foot of the Moscow plot letter, is tho son of a Polish Jew," says the Weekly Despatch. " His real name is Ovsey Gershon Radomsyslsky, and_ he is 41 years old. His boast is that since he first drew breath he has been at war with all forms of law and authority. In his early manhood he lived for a time in London, a political refugee from Petrograd, where he had been concerned yi a plot to murder the Tsar. Zinovieff is trusted by no one save- the Bolsheviks of Petrograd and Moscow, but is feared by all. Even Lenin, his closest friend, was afraid to oppose him, and during the revolution in Russia ordered that Zinovieff was to have a free hand in dealing with Petrograd; Exactly what this ' free hand ' meant is f hown in the death-roll of that city, for i'linovieff is a man who boasts that he would gladly wade through a sea of blood to establish his purpose. The Kerensky Government was overthrown and Petrograd was transformed into a welter of blood at the orders of this one man. Zinovieff succeeded in terrorising even Lenin, and received carte blanche to work his will in Petrograd. Property was seized, thousands wore brutally murdered, and the infamous ' Cheka ' was established, with Zinovieff at its head. To-day he is tho President of thp Third (Moscow) Communist International."