The Littlejohn affair has drawn attention to the disreputable activities of the Special Branch in Ireland, but this should not obecure the fact that by far the greater part of their dirty work is done here in Britain. In major industrial disputes, for example, it is customary for government ministers to receive dally intelligence reports. They require accurate, first hand information on the morale of strikers, how long they are likely to hold out, and how much they would be prepared to settle for. And then a government agent working within a working class organisation can impede its efficient furictioning. Address books can be lost, money mislaid, and confrontations with the police engineered at the least opportune moment.
Even more dangerous is the encouragement of serious crime. In 1917 one Alex Gorden sought in implicating Mrs. Wheeldon, a Derby ILPer. She got a ten year sentence and was released from prison a dying woman, In 1924, on an unemployed demonstration in Newcastic, strangers approached Edward Gibson and asked him if he would carry a parcel for them. He agreed. It contained gelignite, and he was charged with planning to blow up an electricity HEARTLESSNESS works and sentenced to four years imprisonment. 'UNGENTLEMANLY MEANS' The Littlejohns are not the first criminals to have surreptitious meetings with Ministers of the Crown. One previous instance is Carl Graves, decribed at his trial by the Public Prosecutor as a 'menace to society, and a "most dangerous man", Within two months of his release, the same prosecutor (who had by then become Secretary of State for Scolland) was asking Carl Graves to work for the secret service, spying on trade unionists in These facts were revealed in Parliament by J. King, MP, on 8 March 1917, when he was challenging the government's right to use $620,000 for its spying activities. The secret service, he said, 'employed immoral, disreputable and ungentlemanly means. In the same debate, Ramsay MacDonald, the Labour Jeader, criticised agent-provocateurs who make their money by the manufacture of crime. Of course, information acquired by men of such calibre may well not be particularly accurate, As their wages usually depend on the news supplied, there is a natural rendency to exaperate -or even invent. Another problem for the government is that if agents are to they are infiltrating. In order to do this, they must pain a oertain credibility among its members. This meaits working hard for the cause. The amount of effort they might put in, say, to a socialist orpanisation may outweigh the damage done by the information they acquire This appears to have been the case with W.F. Watson, During and immediately after the Finst World War, he was the most outspoken militant in London. He worked extremely hard, addressing meetings, orpinising rallies and writing for journals like Solidarity and Workers" Dreadnought. But eventually it wus discovered that he-the chairman of the London Workers' Committeo-was a police spy, receiving a wage of E3 a week The authorities showed little gratitude for Watson's efforts on their behalf (a point, perhaps, the Littlejohns should note): although the home secretary, Sir George Cave, acknow lodged that he had given information found of value to the police " he was still sente noed to six months' imprisonment for sedition on 9 The home secretary displayed a similar beartless- were able to do this: perhaps he had committed ness towards Harry Johnstone. When Johnstone's activitios as a police spy in the Unemployed Workers' Movement started to come to light, the pressure became too much for him. He committed suicide, leaving a widow and four children. His wife wrote to the Unemployed Workers saying, 'I think you will recognise that the reaponsibility for my husband's action rests mainly on Scotland Yard? The Movement sent a letter to Scotland Yard. It called the attention of the police to the fact that one of tute, and asking them to face up to their respon- police muy have beeni reaponsible for it. their agents had died, leaving his family destisibilities. The letter received no reply. As Wal Hannington remarks in his book Unempioped Struggles, Scotland Yard uses such persons as Jolunstone like handrags and then throws them off without any compunction or feeling when they have no further use for them. CONFESSION Once he is sound out, a police spy is usually on his own, Useless to his employer, he has to endure the anger and hatred of those who previously regarded him as a comrade. Alex Gordon even had his epitaph written -a gentle bint that he should shuffle off the cares and woes of this world and make a quick entry into the next:
Stop! stranger, thou art near the spot Marked by this cross metallic, Where buried deep doth lie and rot, The corpse of filthy Alex.
And maggot-worms in swarms below, Comocte with one anoiner.
in shedding tears of bitter woe, To moum-pot cat-s brother.
Eventually Gordon's self-control cracked, He turned up in a Derby newspaper office, brandishing a pun, and had to be removed with the help of the polics. A fow weeks later - on 26 December 1919-he made his confesaion to the Daily Heraid. He told the paper his real name was F. Vivian, He had worked as a police spy for quite a time, receiving 42.10s his assignments had been to visit the headquarters of the International Workers of the World So Whitechapel Road and the Communist Club in Charlotte Street prior to polio raids. BLACKMAIL As with many others, the authorities had been able to blackmail Gordon. In his interview with the Daily Heraid, he did not explain why they somc serious offence say, a bank robbery in Smethwick-and was liable to he sent to jail for many years if he failed to comply with their orders. All Gordon said was: "the government agents had a hold over me which made it absolutely impossible for me to break away trom them'.
Soon after he had given his interview to the Daily Herald Gordon vanished, never to be heard of again. The police did not seem to be too worried by his disappearance. Indeed, the For the full facts about Alex Gordon and others like him, we will have to wait for the overthrow of British capitalism. Only then will the murky deeds of the Secret Service be fully revealed, Until that time, it is important not to be paranoic. While every effort should be taken to root out police spies in working class organisations, it must be realised that much more important is the question of sound policies and ideas. The Bolsheviks won-the Russian Revolution triumphed-despite the widespread infiltration of agents into the revolutionary movement The extent to which this had taken place a really staggering extent only became clear after 1917 when the secret files were opened. These revealed that a member of the Bolshevik group in the Russian parliament had been a police spy; that Father Gapon, who had led the peaceful protest which sparked off the 1905 Revolution, was also in the pay of the police: and most remarkable of all-it was a police spy who, in 1907, threw the bomb which killed the Minister of the Interiorhis employer!
So the lesson is: if you see someone about to throw'a bomb at Mr. Hobert Carr perhaps you shouldn't discourage him loo much... you might be charged with obstructing a polic officer in the execution of his duty
T he prospect of a major battle over the national wage claims of two of the most important groups of workers in the country -the miners and the engineers becomes more real as each day passes. The decision of the NUM special delegate conference on 26 October in favour of an overtime ban is the first serious shot in the war. The going is slower over the engineers claim, but some opening moves have been made. More important is the tremendous response of engineering workers to the NIRC fine: with more than a half million striking on 5 NovemThe mobilisations against the NIkC fines have must be taken at once to forge this alliance
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to inveigle militants into a plot to kill the Prime secure valuable information, they must first Minister. They refused, He did however succeed secure important posts within the organisation