Letters

Communist in the SOE

From Mr David Turner

Sir: Sir Ian Fraser (Letters, 14 August) is somewhat mistaken when he says that James Klugmann, of the wartime Special Operations Executive, was `an Oxford don generally supposed to be a card-carrying communist'. Norman John ('James') Klugmann was quite openly a card-carrying member of the Communist party of Great Britain from 1933 until the day he died in 1977.

He was educated at Gresham's (where he knew Donald Maclean) and Cambridge (where he was a contemporary of Maclean, Guy Burgess and John Cairncross; he also knew Anthony Blunt). In 1935 he gave up postgraduate research to become the secretary of the Communist-led Rassemblement Mondial des Etudiants, a post he held until 1939. Evidence in the Soviet archives proves that during this time Klugmann helped the NKVD to recruit Cairncross.

Klugmann was conscripted into the Royal Army Service Corps as a private and later transferred to the Intelligence Corps. By 1942 he was a corporal in the Cairo headquarters of SOE; by June 1943 he was a captain; by October 1943 he was a major; and by June 1944 he was a lieutenant-- colonel. During 1945-6 he worked with the United Nations in Yugoslavia. The precipitous upward curve of Klugmann's career was partly due to the fact that, true to his name, he was a `kluger [clever] Mann' (he was fluent in French, German and Serbo-- Croat). However, M.R.D. Foot records that the turning point in Klugmann's progress was when, as an NCO, he took a cup of tea to Brigadier Terence Airey, who recognised him as a fellow Old Boy of Gresham's. It also helped that Klugmann's MIS file had gone up in smoke during an air raid in September 1940.

The accusation made by Sir Ian Fraser and by Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia (`King's move', 31 July) that Klugmann tampered with SOE reports to push Britain into supporting Tito instead of the royalist Mihailovic has been around for many years, confirmed by SOE records released into the Public Record Office. However, it seems most unlikely that Klugmann singlehandedly changed British policy. There were others lobbying hard for support to be switched to Tito, most notably Sir William Deakin and the late Sir Fitzroy Maclean, who can hardly be accused of having been communist moles. Whether his conduct was reprehensible is a moot point given that Mihailovic's Chetniks are clearly among the political ancestors of today's Serbian ethnic cleansers.

What Klugmann really deserves to be condemned for is his authorship in 1951 of a mendacious piece of tripe entitled From Trotsky to Tito, in which he denounced his erstwhile hero Tito as an agent of the West:

At a certain time, and exactly how and when history still has to disclose, the British political and military leadership, on a very high and top-- secret level, must have received information . . that there were leading elements inside the Partisan forces, inside the Yugoslav Communist party, spies and provocateurs, Gestapo elements, Trotskyites, who could be 'trusted' (from the point of view of British imperialism), and could be used to . . . carry out an Anglo-- American imperialist policy. This was the basis of the change of British policy from Mihailovic to Tito in the period of 194243. It was carried out . . . with that great measure of cunning and deceit for which British imperialism . . . has become notorious throughout the world.

He knew all this to be lies; but, being a dutiful communist functionary, he apparently felt obligated to perjure himself. Legend has it that, long after Moscow and Belgrade had patched up their differences, Klugmann was still haunting second-hand bookshops in order to buy up and destroy copies of his embarrassing opus.

David Turner Oak Lodge, Chestnut Street, Borden, Kent

Cricket's foul decline

From Mr David Kershaw

Sir: As a member of Michael Henderson's `proletarian subculture' (`Foul!', 14 August), I clearly have a lot to learn from his own beloved game: the tolerance and sensitivity of the Western Terrace at Headingley; the enforced closure of the Lord's Tavern in the afternoons; the charisma of Wisden-carrying anoraks; the pride induced by the overseas behaviour of the `barmy army'; the agressive 'sledging' of batsmen; the intimidation of umpires; the betting by players on results; and, of course, the embittered comments of a journalist covering a minority sport.

David Kershaw M&C Saatchi (and Upper West Stand, Highbury), 36 Golden Square, London W1

Reith's female rival From Mr Michael Carney

Michael Vestey needs to get to know his broadcasting history (Arts, 14 August). Once upon a time there was a woman, without a baby, who could have run the BBC. Her name was Hilda Matheson and she was the BBC's first director of talks from 1926 until 1931, when Reith forced her to resign. She was at least the equal of Reith. Her outstanding ability is evidenced by the rest of her career - MI5 in the first world war, Lady Astor's political secretary, successful journalist, editor of the great African Survey, and MI6 in the second world war when she directed a clandestine broadcasting service and initiated a series of propaganda books that are still collected today. Her pioneering work at the BBC was responsible for much that is still best in broadcasting. Yet she is unknown - not least because Reith couldn't abide a rival and did all he could to remove any record of her achievement. I hope that her biography, which I have just completed, has a better fate. All the publishers I approached said that the life of an unknown woman by an unknown author was hopelessly uncommercial.

Michael Carney.

Ignorant townies

From The Duke of Buccleuch, KT

Sir: It is often claimed that fox-hunting is opposed by a majority of the population. It would be surprising if it were not. After all, that majority lives in towns with limited knowledge of the countryside beyond antihunting propaganda meted out by massively well-funded animal rights activists. They know as much about the countryside as Scottish shepherds know about the London Underground. Why should they know more than what they are told? The majority of journalists are equally townsmen, so happily print what they, too, are told. And are MPs any more enlightened about country matters?

In contrast, the voice of the countryside has hardly been heard: the great Countryside March of 1998 has been almost the only significant response. The Countryside Alliance does have a huge task if it is to turn a majority against into a majority for. But is that an absolute necessity?

The UK has an admirable reputation for tolerating and respecting the rights and freedoms of minorities. Genuine country people are just as valid a minority as Asians or West Indians. If fox-hunting people were black, brown or yellow instead of being pink, no one would dare lift a little finger to shut down their perfectly harmless activities. (Incidentally, there is one black master of foxhounds.)

Furthermore, if all fox-hunters happened to be homosexuals, this broadminded government might even pass new legislation to facilitate hunting activities rather than ban them.

Of course, it all comes back to 'cruelty' and how it is defined. Everyone's view is different. I happen to deplore bull-fighting as others deplore fox-hunting. But I do most sincerely believe that the matter of cruelty and trauma in fox-hunting is often proclaimed for purely political reasons. If cruelty really did occur, as the opponents of hunting claim, where are all the prosecutions? Surely the messy band of hunt-saboteurs would have secured dozens of prosecutions if there really were cases of cruelty.

It is so easy for the self-appointed judges of morality to cry out 'barbaric', but are they any less barbaric for tolerating children being led into the drug world, or patients being left in hospital corridors? And is this noisy, intolerant group to be the final arbiter of who does what in the countryside?

Buccleuch Bowhill, Selkirk

Dook's premature death

From Mr Roderick MacLean

Sir: Congratulations to Bevis Hillier on 'A master with two mistresses', (Books, 7 August), which I read with great interest despite being a lifetime confirmed non-fan of Wilkie Collins. However, I do have one nit to pick. He writes that in 1842 Collins wrote to his friend Charles Ward about `The Dook', wondering what sort of funeral it would be. He was either a shade premature as the Duke died on 14 September 1852, or perhaps a Spectator gremlin inserted 1842 for 1852.

Roderick MacLean 4/8 Belhaven Place, Edinburgh

The real Kaunda

From Mr Garreth Byrne

Sir: I enjoyed Robert Oakeshott's review of a book on the life of Stewart Gore-Browne (Books, 7 August), but feel that his description of Zambia's independence struggle as `hectic and sometimes violent' is a bit exaggerated.

Compared with other parts of Africa, Zambia's path to post-colonial status was a rather tame affair. True, there were some potboiling nationalist speeches by such as the late Simon Kapwepwe. Yet in the last analysis it was the deep personal commitment to non-violence of the schoolteacher and evangelist's son Kenneth Kaunda that kept the independence struggle mainly peaceful. There was one tragic incident on a white farm near the Ndola-Bancroft (now Mufulira) road that led to the deaths of half a dozen members of one family. The murders were instantly repudiated by Kaunda at the time. Strikes, demonstrations and tree-felling across main roads were among tactics endorsed by the African leadership - but that is hardly violent.

Gore-Browne's sympathetic attitude towards African aspirations and the good relations he had with Kaunda and the Bemba-speaking population were important during the agitation of the 1950s. How sad for Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) that similar understandings did not prevail across race lines. About 50,000 lives were lost in Rhodesia's racial war of independence.

Garreth Byrne 10 Woodlands Avenue, Dromahair, Co. Leitrim, Republic of Ireland

From Mr William Marshall

Sir: In his review of Christina Lamb's biographical study of Stewart Gore-Browne, Robert Oakeshott mentions his threatening to drop his trousers if the management of Mpika's Crested Crane Hotel refused to serve an African who was not wearing a tie. I'm sure that this must have been a tongue-- in-cheek threat. The Crested Crane in the early Sixties was just a small, single-storey hotel, which together with a couple of police houses and surrounded by jacaranda trees was set in the vast area of bush in north-eastern Zambia. Being the only stop in those days on the long, dusty dirt road from the Tanzanian border to the nearest railroad in Zambia, this lovely little hotel offered a wonderfully refreshing and relaxed break on the journey. On the two occasions I stayed there it was all very informal and I'm sure that Gore-Browne, whose own home was not far away, would have known it to be so, and would hardly have meant his threat to be taken seriously.

William Marshall 9 Mentmore Road, Linslade, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire

Bourgeois? Cool From Mr VictorBlack

Sir: The Spectator, of all publications, should not be allowed to get away with sloppy thinking. In the excellent editorial on the eclipse (14 August), the phrase `dull bourgeois mind' was used.

This description is surely long out of date. As a term of political abuse, it was popular during the sad period when Marxism was the fashion in intellectual circles.

But how much of European art, literature or scientific progress in this century was the work of the aristocracy or the working class? Is it not time we stopped ridiculing the most valuable contributors to our civilisation? Vive la bourgeoisie!

Victor Black Lower Farm House, Coln Rogers, Gloucestershire

What about Heenan?

From Mrs Elisabeth Evans

Sir: Why does Piers Paul Read consider that having an Irish name is an impediment to becoming Archbishop of Westminster (`Hume's cardinal error', 7 August). What about his predecessor Cardinal Heenan?

Elisabeth Evans, 2 Lord Roberts Mews, Waterford Road, London SW6

Butlins' dolls

From Mr Moritz Frost

Sir: I fully endorse Rachel Johnson's comments ('I love Butlins', 7 August). I have been to Butlins many times over the last 30 years and what struck me when I first went there, and strikes me still, is how many attractive working-class females make it their favoured choice for a summer vacation. These women and girls are often not only very pleasing to look at but are also frequently great fun to be with. This is in contrast to the middle- and upper-middleclass British women who at this time of the year infest Pisa airport. Their uniform frumpiness, ghastly voices and chronic uptightness are a poor advertisement for the womanhood of Great Britain.

Moritz Frost 21 Dorchester Court, Oxford

Jennifer's loo

From MrM.CD. Holmes

Sir: The Good Loo Guide (c. 1960) gave three stars to the gentlemen's lavatory at Scott's restaurant: `Recommended by Miss Jennifer Paterson.' M.CD. Holmes,

Diogenes Club, London SW1

Copyright Spectator Aug 21, 1999
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