History: The Communist Threat

The November 1917 Bolshevik coup d'état in Russia caused widespread alarm in Europe and America. The Bolshevik doctrine of seeking "the defeat of one's own Government in the imperialist war" caused particular concern among the governments of western Europe, on both sides of the First World War.

The Bolsheviks strongly criticised the socialist parties of Britain, France and Germany for supporting their own government's war efforts. In the aftermath of the First World War, several European countries experienced communist uprisings, most notably in Germany and Hungary. Although unsuccessful, they contributed to a widespread fear of similar insurrections breaking out elsewhere.

In March 1919, the Soviets established the Comintern, also known as the Third Communist International, as a mechanism for coordinating communist activity abroad.

The Comintern would work "by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the State", in the words of its first World Congress.

In response to these developments, MI5's work was rapidly extended to cover the perceived threats from communist subversion within the armed services, and sabotage to military installations. The police were initially given the responsibility for dealing with communist activity among the general population, a task that passed to MI5 in 1931.

Communism in Britain

The United Kingdom had a thriving Communist movement in the shape of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and its various offshoots. The CPGB grew rapidly and gained significant public support, with 60,000 members and two elected Members of Parliament by 1945.

However, the party was viewed with great suspicion by British governments of both left and right. Viscount Snowden, the first Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, summed up the prevailing official view at the time when he said in June 1925 that the CPGB was "part of a world organisation directed from and in the main financed from Russia ... [which] aim[s] to overthrow all existing institutions by the world revolution."

The infamous "Zinoviev Letter" appeared at first to confirm these fears. It purported to be an instruction from the Comintern to the CPGB, instructing it to foment revolution in the UK. The letter caused a considerable furore, as it was published only a few days before the 1924 General Election. Its authenticity was later called into question and an investigation by a Foreign Office historian in 1999 concluded:

"White [anti-Soviet] Russian intelligence services were well developed and highly organised, and included the operation of a forgery ring in Berlin. It seems likely that they asked either those forgers, or their contacts in the Baltic States with similar skills, to produce a document which would derail the [Anglo-Soviet] treaties and damage the Labour government..."

Although the Zinoviev letter was most likely a forgery, the Soviets were indeed developing an extensive intelligence network throughout Europe. The first networks were established in the early 1920s, operating initially through local Communist movements and later taking a more independent course.

MI5 paid a great deal of attention to the CPGB and other British Communist groups, as they were suspected of close involvement with Soviet espionage. There were a number of major Soviet spy cases in the UK during the 1920s and 1930s, although not all of these were made public at the time. These included the cases of William Ewer, Percy Glading and others (see below for more on these).

Perhaps the most significant incident was the defection of General Walter Krivitsky, a senior member of Soviet Military Intelligence (the GRU), who in 1940 provided the Security Service with its first detailed insight into the Soviet intelligence system. He documented his experiences in a book, I Was Stalin's Agent, but was found dead in a Washington, D.C. hotel room the following year. Although there were suspicions that he had been murdered by Soviet agents, his death was declared a suicide and no evidence to the contrary was ever uncovered.

William Norman Ewer: A Soviet spy on Fleet Street

William Norman Ewer (1885-1976) was a prominent British journalist and an important agent for the Soviet Union. He was a well-known writer for various left-wing publications, notably theDaily Herald newspaper. He was also at the centre of a significant Soviet espionage operation in the UK.

He came to the attention of MI5 in 1924 when his network posted an advertisement in the Daily Herald asking for "information and details from anyone who has ever had any association with or been brought into touch with any Secret Service department or operation."

An MI5 investigation subsequently revealed links with the Soviet Embassy in London, with an embassy official financing Ewer's operation. It was found that Ewer had acquired confidential information from contacts in Scotland Yard, including details of pending actions against communists in the UK. The Ewer network was exposed in 1929 and his Scotland Yard collaborators were identified and dismissed.

Ewer himself was not prosecuted and it was judged that his organisation had been successfully dismantled. In later years he publicly renounced his Communist sympathies, taking an anti-Soviet line during the Cold War.

• Security Service records on the Ewer case can be found at the National Archives (new window) on files KV 2/1016 and KV 2/1017.

Percy Glading and the Woolwich Arsenal spy ring

Percy Glading (1893-1970) was a leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and an official of the League Against Imperialism. During the mid-1920s, he was employed at the Royal Navy's Woolwich Arsenal in south-east London. He was dismissed from his job as a mechanic examiner in 1928 after he refused to renounce his advocacy of Communism. The Admiralty took the view that "men of revolutionary beliefs are unsuitable for employment in the country's arsenals and dockyards", as The Times put it (24 October 1928).

In 1937, Glading began working for Soviet military intelligence. He used his contacts at the Woolwich Arsenal to obtain blueprints and other secret documents, which he photographed and passed on to the Soviets.

The Security Service discovered his activities and in 1938 he and three other people were caught in possession of secret documents. At their subsequent trial, Glading and his co-conspirators George Whomack and Albert Williams pleaded guilty and were imprisoned for terms ranging from two to six years.

• Security Service records on George Whomack can be found at the National Archives (new window) on files KV 2/1237 and KV 2/1237. Other records on the Percy Glading trial are contained on files CRIM 1/1003 and HO 45/25520.

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