The Gareth Jones Diaries - A Man Who Knew Too Much www.garethjones.org © 2006. All rights reserved. Nigel Linsan Colley.

Overview Part 1 – Who Was Gareth Jones? 1.Early Life / Education / Credentials. Part 2 – The Gareth Jones Diaries 1.Personal Diaries, Letters & Newspaper Articles of his Eyewitness Observations of Ukrainian Famine Conditions in 1930, 31 & 33. Part 3 – Covering-up the Famine 1.Denigration by Walter Duranty in The New York Times in 1933. 2.Gareth’s Forgotten Role in Randolph Hearst’s ‘Famine’ in 1935. 3.The Thomas Walker (Fake Photo) Affair - Hearst Stooge or Soviet Patsy? Part 4 – Shooting the Messenger & Airbrushing the Truth 1.Aftermath… Mysteriously Murdered by Japanese-Controlled Chinese Bandits in 1935 (or Soviet Retribution)? 2.Memorial Plaque - Aberystwyth, Wales, 2006

Early Life Mother, Former Governess to John Hughes’ family between 1889-92, founder of Hughesovka (now Donetsk). Father, Headmaster Barry County Grammar School.

Early Life Mother, Former Governess to John Hughes’ family between 1889-92, founder of Hughesovka (now Donetsk). Father, Headmaster Barry County Grammar School. Gareth, Born 1905 in Barry, South Wales.

Academic Career 1922-26 – 1st Class Honours Degree in French & German from Aberystwyth University, Wales. 1923-25 - Université de Strasbourg: Diplôme Supérieur des Etudes Françaises. 1926 – Exhibition Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. 1927, 1928 & 1929 - College Prizeman – Plus Senior Scholar in 1928. 1929 – 1st Class Honours in German and Russian, with distinction in Oral Examinations.

1930-31 – With Lloyd George One month unsuccessful trial with The Times and through family acquaintance Tom Jones, (the long-standing British Government Cabinet Secretary) is introduced to Former World War One British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. Appointed Foreign Affairs Advisor to Lloyd George Jan 1 st 1930.

1930-31 – With Lloyd George Visits USSR for 1 st time as the eyes & the ears of the Lloyd George, but with an ‘open mind’ in August 1930; soon after British Diplomatic relations are restored. On Leaving USSR, Gareth writes candidly to his parents:

Hurray! It is wonderful to be in Germany again, absolutely wonderful. Russia is in a very bad state; rotten, no food, only bread; oppression, injustice, misery among the workers and 90% discontented. I saw some very bad things, which made me mad to think that people like [the Webbs] go there and come back, after having been led round by the nose and had enough to eat, and say that Russia is a paradise. In the South there is talk of a new revolution, but it will never come off,

because the Army and the G.P.U. (Secret Police) are too strong. The winter is going to be one of great suffering there and there is starvation. The government is the most brutal in the world. The peasants hate the Communists. This year thousands and thousands of the best men in Russia have been sent to Siberia and the prison island of Solovki. People are now speaking openly against the Government.

In the Donetz Basin conditions are unbearable Thousands are leaving. I shall never forget the night I spent in a railway station on the way to Hughesovka. One reason why I left Hughesovka so quickly was that all I could [get to eat was a roll of bread.]

1930 – October -The London Times: “Two Russias” Through Lord Lothian, Gareth was introduced to Geoffrey Dawson, Editor of The Times (who had no Moscow Correspondent) & invited to write 3 ‘uncensored’ articles, in which he stated: Click HERE for link to articlesHERE

1930 - The London Times: “Two Russias” “…foreign delegations [are] blissfully ignorant of the hunger, discontent, opposition, and hatred.” “…Donetz Basin, where there has been a serious breakdown in food supplies.” A miner expressed …“Everybody is going away from the Donetz Basin, because there is no food here. There is nothing in Russia. The situation is terrible.” “The present food shortage was attributed by most Russians to two causes – the agricultural revolution begun last year and the absence of a free market... “It is all the fault of this collectivisation, which the peasants hate. There is no meat, nothing at all.”

1931 – Ivy Lee (PR), New York Head-hunted from Lloyd George’s Secretariat to work for world’s leading PR agency on Wall Street as their Soviet expert, Chaperoned 21 year old Jack Heinz’s on a month-long ‘unescorted’ visit to USSR in August 1931.

1931 – Ivy Lee (PR), New York Afterwards, Heinz compiled a privately published & ‘Anonymously written’ book in spring 1932, entitled: “Experiences of Russia – 1931 – A Diary” – i.e., Gareth’s Diaries. Arguably, the first Western book to ‘honestly’ report the onset of famine conditions within the Soviet Union, again citing variations of the word ‘starve’ on half a dozen occasions… Click HERE for link to full transcription of bookHERE

1931 Experiences of Russia – A Diary Gareth signed the Foreword: “With knowledge of Russia and the Russian language, it was possible to get off the beaten path, to talk with grimy workers and rough peasants, as well as such leaders as Lenin’s widow and Karl Radek [editor of Pravda]. We visited vast engineering projects and factories, slept on the bug-infested floors of peasants’ huts, shared black bread and cabbage soup with the villagers - in short, got into direct touch with the Russian people in their struggle for existence and were thus able to test their reactions to the Soviet Government’s dramatic moves.”

Extract from Gareth’s 1931 Diary [transcribed in next 2 slides]

Sept 5 Woke, Keen supporter came; later whispered to Vice President, then he came & there was a complete change in his attitude. “Its terrible. We can’t speak worse than before the Rev. But 1926-27, those were fine years”. Absolute change in [his] attitude & gestures. “We’ve got to keep quiet or they will send us to Siberia.

Then went to the Village Soviet, an old man came, whispered “It’s terrible in Kolhoz. They took away my cows & my horse. We are starving. Look what they give us. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing! How can we live with nothing in our dvor. But we can’t say anything or they’ll send us away as they did the others. All are weeping in villages.

Another Telling / Published Extract from Gareth’s 1931 Diary [transcribed in next slide]

1931 As published in ‘Experiences of Russia – A Diary’ A doctor’s wife on the boat said to Jones: “Exiles? The peasants have been sent away in thousands to starve. They were exiled just because they worked hard all their lives. It’s terrible how they have treated them; they have not given them anything; no bread cards even. They sent a lot to Tashkent, where I was, and just left them on the square. The exiles did not know what to do and many starved to death.”

1931 – Oct 14 th The London Times THE REAL RUSSIA - 3 Articles […In which he first used the Doctor’s wife’s anecdote.] Click HERE for link to articlesHERE

Back with Lloyd George in 1931 1932 - Oct 14 th - Letter to Parents - London Circles Knew of Raging Famine… “On Friday, I had exceptionally interesting talks … with Prof. Jules Menken (LSE) a very well known economist. He was appalled with the prospects: what he had seen was the complete failure of Marxism. He dreaded this winter, when he thought millions would die of hunger. He had never seen such bungling & such breakdowns. What struck him was the unfairness & the inequality. He had seen hungry people one moment & the next moment he had lunched with Soviet Commissars in the Kremlin with the best caviar, fish, game & the most luxurious wines.”

Planning a Trip to Expose the Soviet Famine Gareth immediately penned two articles for the Cardiff Western Mail published on Oct 15 & 17, 1932 to highlight the tragic situation entitled; “Will there be Soup?” In line with his Welsh Non-Conformist beliefs & virtues; Gareth decided to make a trip to view the conditions firsthand. On 23 February 1933, Gareth became the first foreign journalist to fly with the newly appointed German Chancellor (& afterwards dining privately with Goebbels…) He prophetically wrote in the Western Mail: “If this aeroplane should crash then the whole history of Europe would be changed. For a few feet away sits Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany and leader of the most volcanic nationalist awakening which the world has seen.” Click HERE for link to German articlesHERE

Malcolm Muggeridge Gareth’s 1933 Diary appointment with Muggeridge in Moscow on 6th March at 9pm. 10 Days Later Gareth Arrived in Moscow on 5 th March 1933

Muggeridge Collapse of Bolshevism. Returned from villages – terrible – dying. No seed for sowing. Practically no winter sowing. Outlook for next year disastrous – End of Party absolutely inevitable, Stalin hated by Party, but Party cannot do anything. 95% of Party opposed to Stalin’s policy, but there s no discussion. Any opposition and man is removed.

1933 March 10th – Gareth Packed a Rucksack Full of Food from Moscow Torgsin & Caught ‘Local’ Train to Ukraine. Boy on train asking for bread. I dropped a small piece on floor and put it in spittoon. Peasant came and picked it up & ate it.

Peasant woman: “Many are dying. We’re starving. There is little cattle left. They take all grain away. Ukrainian peasant: “They took away my grain. Cattle (maлo) a little. But there were a lot.

Member Politdel “I’ve been a member of the party for 12 years. They are now sending 2,700 from Moscow Politdel. They are the best, the strongest. It is semi- military. We’ll smash kulaks and smash opposition. We’re promoting all men who served in the civil war. The elite, chosen ones. 60% of us have been in higher educational schools. He clenched his fist & hit down

…with every word: resolute, ruthless, cruel: “We are all workers mainly from the factories.” “We are going to organise. They’ll be about 4 of us in each MTC [Motor Tractor Station]. The MTC where I shall be will look after 15 kolkhozes. We’ll give them strict control.” “The weather for the harvest is good, i.e. Lot of snow.” “The methods of the kulaks have changed. They used to murder. Now they are subtle. Now they say “yes we’re for the Kolkhoz”,

they’ll steal & wont work & they’ll make difficulties. They try to wreck by mean tricks, but they are not dangerous any longer. “I was in Perekop [Crimea?] in cavalry served Budyonny’s 1st cavalry.” The conductor said that there were fewer travelling now, because it was difficult to leave factory. But soon there will be a lot of people leaving Moscow for south on account of passportisation. Also there were a lot about 2 months ago. I asked a man (Jew or Armenian) where he was going.

He had a lot of gold teeth and said: “I’ve left Leningrad and am going to Kharkov to look for a job. I have no vote. They have deprived me of my rights, because I was a private trader.” Boy Komsomolets: “Very strict now. They are dying in villages. In Belgorad there is bread, but that’s a town. “One woman stole 5 beets & got 10 years imprisonment.” “If you steel coal from station, 10 yrs. Very bad & we don’t know if it’ll be better.”

Talked to a group of women peasants; “We’re starving. Two months we’ve hardly had bread. We’re from the Ukraine and we’re trying to go north. They’re dying quietly in the villages. Kolkhozes are terrible. They won’t give us any tickets and we don’t know what to do. Can’t buy bread for money. A chicken was 20 rubles. Milk - 3 rubles a litre. I dropped orange peel in spittoon. Peasant picked it up, ate it. Later apple core. Man speaking German same story “Tell them in England, Starving, bellies extended. Hunger

“Be careful in the villages because the Ukrainians are desperate. They will grab any bread they can see.” Conductor gets 67 rubles a month, & a pound of black bread for journey (day); “I must work night and day”. Komsomolets: “When I left my mother and her sisters a couple of days ago, they had 2 glasses of flour left.”

First day[‘s] march From train, I walked about an hour, chatted to all. The same story. There was a kolkhoz. Asked children outside hut: God? “Of course not. There is no God.” Talked to men on track. It was getting [to] sunset. One of them said:- “you’d better not go…

…further, for hooligans will rob you of your coat & your food & all.” The other – handsome, determined young Communist, said “ Yes its dangerous. Come and stay with us in our village.” Communist took me along to a Selsoviet; full of young people, children. One of them belly swollen. All people say same ”XЛEБА HETУ BCE nyxnoie” (No Bread Here – All are Swollen) [Written phonetically in Russian – & translated later] One woman said:- “We are looking forward to death.” In one village, all bread had gone two months ago, & potatoes had run out, there was only bypяk (beetroot)

… for one month. How can they live till next harvest? The questions in the Selsoviet were most intelligent: about workers life, Japan, China, America, why the crisis? Good Listeners. Keen Discussions. Then to the cottage of the young Pres. of village soviet, decent fellow with smile, ruddy face, 27 yrs of age. His wife was there, with closely cropped hair with gold round earrings. Very kind. Discussions for hours: “there is only one communist in the village”.

March 11 The President of the Kolkhoz said they had enough seed, but move towards the South there was a lack of seed. He said that two families had been sent away from the village of 120 dvor. Probably he was kind-hearted. The discussion was very open, the peasants saying that it have never been so bad, the Pres. saying faint- heartedly that great sacrifices had to be made. One peasant: “If only Lenin had lived, we’d be living fine. He knew what was going to happen. Here they’ve been chopping and changing policy & we don’t know what’s going to happen next. Lenin would not have done something violently and then said that it was an oшибka (mistake).”

Two soldiers came … to arrest a peasant thief who had killed another. The thief had gone to steal potatoes from the hut of another. The owner of the hut had come out & the peasant had stabbed him with a knife. There were many cases of that happening. The Red Army soldier who came the next morning also said, “Don’t travel by night. There are too many wild…

uncultured men want food and to steal.” Went to bed late, slept on floor. In one bed; Pres., his wife & her sister & small bed the child. Woke up next morning before 8. The Communist leader of next village was there – Keen Revolutionary; “We have difficulties, but they have been overcome.” “There’s seed in this village.” Cattle decrease disastrous. There used to be 200 oxen, now 6 horses & cattle here down by tremendous amount. The new tax, the Communists

… think will increase the desire of the workers to work. But there have been too many wreckers, too many kulaks, who have been trying to influence the other peasants. Breakfasted, then sister of wife did algebra lesson. The Communists realised & admitted that there was no grain. That was ‘Bockrenchenka’ in the Black Earth region. Lower down it is much worse. Talked to all the people as I tramped along the railway track. Ravens or crows (with…

… grey cap). White expanse of snow. Moscow – Sebastopol train rattled past with sleeping wagon. Politdel party members, etc. Went into village. There is no bread. “We’ve had no bread for 2 months”. “Each dvor had one or 2 cows. Now none. There are almost no oxen left & the horses have been dying off.” There was a young worker in the village. “The unemployed are growing and they’re treated…

…like cattle. They’re told to get away & they get no bread card. They’re cutting down men everywhere. I worked in Kharkov. There they’ve dismissed thousands. “ “How can I live? I got a lb of bread for all my family & we came here for a short time, there is no food here. My family is in Kharkoff & I don’t know how they’ll live.” “We’re all getting (swollen) nyxnoie.” “In this village 5 or 6 kulak families were sent away to Siberia & to cut wood in the Northern forests,

…also to build a railway in Murmansk.” But some of the kulaks live better than those who remain in the villages because there is now more bread in the towns. “In the south 20% of the population have died of hunger” said the young worker “and in some parts 50%. They’re murdering us.” “A lot of factories cannot pay their wages.” Lunched with teacher: “potato soup, potatoes with a little meat (very little) & kasha.”

“I have my own cow” said teacher. He was a Marxist. His wife said that hardly any of the children believed in God. Walked out. The peasant; “No food. You [teacher] don’t work & get plenty of food. You’re the first kulak in the village and tried to throw me out of my hut.” Then, onto the railway and on to Ukraine. Wagons, oil, timber towards the South. Most important railway in Russia. Now in Ukraine. / Go back pages… [Gareth’s diary entries now fill space in previous diary].

In the Ukraine. A little later I crossed the border from Greater Russia into the Ukraine. Everywhere I talked to peasants who walked past – they all had the same story; “There is no bread – we haven’t had bread for 2 months – a lot are dying.” The first village had no more potatoes left and the store of БҮРЯК (beetroot) was running out.

They all said ‘the cattle is dying. (Nothing to feed.) НЕЧЕВО КОРМ ить.” We used to feed the world now we are hungry. How can we sow when we have few horses left? How will we be able to work in the fields when we are weak from want of food? Then I caught up…

…[with] a bearded peasant who was walking along. His feet were covered with sacking. We started talking. He spoke in Ukrainian Russian. I gave him a lump of bread and of cheese. “You could not buy that anywhere for 20 rubles. There just is no food.” We walked along and talked; “Before the war this was all gold. We had horses and cows and pigs and chickens. Now we are ruined. We are (the living dead) ПОГИБЛИ. You see that field. It was all gold, but now look at the weeds. The weeds were peeping up over the snow.” “Before the war we could have boots and meat and butter. We were the richest…

…country in the world for grain. We fed the world. Now they have taken all away from us. “Now people steal much more. Four days ago, they stole my horse. Hooligans came. There that’s where I saw the tract of the horse.” “A horse is better than a tractor. A tractor goes and stops, but a horse goes all the time. A tractor cannot give manure, but a horse can. How can the spring sowing be good? There is little…

…seed and the people are too weak. We are all weak and hungry. “The winter sowing was bad, and the winter ploughing was also bad.” He took me along to his cottage. His daughter and three young children. Two of the smaller children were swollen. “If you had come before the Revolution we would have given you chicken and eggs and milk and fine bread. Now we have no bread in the house. They are killing us.” “People are dying of hunger.” There was in the…

…hut, a spindle [which] the daughter showed me how to make thread. The peasant showed me his shirt, which was home-made and some of his sacking which had been home-made. “But the Bolsheviks are crushing that. They want the factory to make everything.” The peasant then ate some very thin soup with a scrap of potato. No bread in house. The white bread [of Gareth’s] they thought was wonderful.

Everybody on the track said the same: “Lots of people dying. Only beetroot. Too weak for spring sowing. One group: “There are thousands of unemployed. Their bread card is taken away and they have nothing. On April 1st there’ll be another (оқращєнue) cut. Go down to the Poltava district and there you’ll see hundreds of cottages empty. In a village of 300 huts only about 100 will have people living in them & others have died or gone away, but most have died.”

Escorted to ‘Kharkoff’ After two days ‘tramping’ along the track, according to one of Gareth’s 1935 American syndicated articles for Randolph Hearst, his trek came to an abrupt end: “It happened in a small station, where I was talking with a group of peasants: “We are dying,” they wailed and poured out the old story of their woes. A red-faced, well-fed OGPU policeman in uniform approached us and stood listening for a few moments. Then came the outburst, and from his lips poured a series of Russian curses. “Clear away, you! Stop telling him about hunger! Can’t you see he’s a foreigner?” He turned to me and roared: “Come along. What are you doing here? Show me your documents.” Visions of a secret police prison darted before my mind. The OGPU man looked at my passport and beckoned to one of the crowd, whom I had taken to be an ordinary passenger, but who was obviously in the secret police.

Escorted to ‘Kharkoff’ He came to me and in the most polite and respectful terms bade me follow him. “I shall have to take you to the nearest city, Kharkov.” Throughout the journey I impressed him with the fact that I had interviewed Lenin’s widow, and a number of commissars and great panjandrums of the Soviet régime, and by the time we reached Kharkov I believed he was thoroughly convinced that any real arrest of myself would plunge Russia and Europe and the United States into a world war. For he decided to accompany me to a foreign consulate in Kharkov and he left me at the doorstep, while I, rejoicing at my freedom bade him a polite farewell – an anti-climax but a welcome one.

Queues for bread. Erika [from the German Consulate] and I walked along about a hundred ragged pale people. Militiaman came out of shop whose windows had been battered in and were covered with wood and said: “There is no bread today.” Shouts from angry peasants also there. “But citizens, there is no bread.” “How long here?” I asked a man. “Two days.” They would not go away but remained. Sometimes cart came with bread; waiting with forlorn hope. Now in Kharkiv

Streets in terrible. Condition, houses rotten, ice thawing, wet dirty. Saw homeless boys. They are increasing. The influence of the film “Introduction to Life” has been bad & many boys from good family have run away. We examined houses, the stones were terrible, crumbled away when I touched. Many constructions were abandoned on account of financial difficulties. Rottenly built.

Churches taken down to make place for building. In one church place workers said that it was haunted & ran away. One church was exploded and the tower remained standing. Population said it was a sign of God. Still Religious but young people not. Bewilderment among the Village Communists. When they drove too hard, lots of peasants got into trouble. When they were too kind, accused of being pro-kulak. Many arrested 35 shot – in paper last Sunday. Policy has chopped & changed.

Queues of 7000 stand. They begin queuing up at 3-4 o’clock in afternoon to get bread next morning at 7. It is freezing. – many degrees of frost.

Terror much worse. In 1931 it was lightened. Now bad again for bourgeoisie. Stricter. When Consul telephoned the Foreign Office, said; ‘Yes Jones. He arrived on foot.’

Many beggars, peasants on the streets, crying for bread. GPU Land - green tabs. Town – blue tabs. Saw general pass, looking like ordinary soldier. Lots of GPU men in street. Supposed to be 250,000 in Ukraine, but this is exaggeration. These are peasants [who] hate them like poison.

GPU much stronger than it was & has complete control. 1921. German: Now much worse - much worse than war years also. Then there was no food in the towns, but the peasants had food. Now neither the peasants nor the town have food.

The GPU is getting more and more powerful. Stalin & GPU now ruling Russia. There is a struggle between Narkomindel [People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs] & GPU, but Narkomindel has nothing to say. New Ukrainian Policy. In the last few weeks there has been a beginning of Russification again. Muscovites have been placed in leading posts in Kharkoff & more Russian is to be taught in the schools.

Personal Letter to Lloyd George

Personal Letter to Lloyd George from Berlin 27 th March 1933 “I have just arrived back from Russia, where I found the situation disastrous. The 5-year Plan has been a complete disaster in that it has destroyed the peasantry & brought famine to every part of the country. I tramped alone for several days through a part of Ukraine… The situation is so grave, so much worse than in 1921 that I am amazed at your admiration for Stalin."

Who was Gareth Jones? From United Press Moscow Correspondent, Eugene Lyons’ 1937 book; Assignment in Utopia: “The first reliable report of the Russian famine was given to the world by an ‘English’ journalist, a certain Gareth Jones, at one time secretary to Lloyd George. Jones had a conscientious streak in his make-up which took him on a secret journey into the Ukraine and a brief walking tour through its countryside. That same streak was to take him a few years later into the interior of China during political disturbances, and was to cost him his life at the hands of Chinese military bandits. An earnest and meticulous little man, Gareth Jones was the sort who carries a note-book and unashamedly records your words as you talk. Patiently he went from one correspondent to the next, asking questions and writing down the answers...” Click HERE for Lyon’s chapter with more about Gareth; “The Press Corps Conceals a Famine”HERE

Gareth Held Berlin Press Conference where he Exposes the Famine. First USA Newspaper reports published same day on 29th March 1933. Click HERE for link to articlesHERE

Articles In Europe 31st March 1933 – London Evening Standard. 1st April 1933 – Berliner Tageblatt by Paul Scheffer. Plus Series of (20) Articles by Gareth in London Daily Express, Financial News & Cardiff Western Mail in Early April 1933.

Throwing Down Jones? From Eugene Lyons’ 1937 book; Assignment in Utopia: On emerging from Russia, Jones made a statement which, startling though it sounded, was little more than a summary of what the correspondents and foreign diplomats had told him. To protect us… he emphasized his Ukrainian foray rather than our conversations as the chief source of his information. In any case… with preparations under way for the trial of the British [Metrovik] engineers, the need to remain on friendly terms with the censors … was for all of us a compelling professional necessity. Throwing down Jones was as unpleasant a chore as fell to any of us in years of juggling facts to please dictatorial regimes, but throw him down we did… Poor Gareth Jones must have been the most surprised human being alive when the facts he so painstakingly garnered from our mouths were snowed under by our denials.

Duranty – 31 March 1933, New York Times “Mr. Jones is a man of a keen and active mind, and he has taken the trouble to learn Russian, which he speaks with considerable fluency, but the writer thought Mr. Jones' judgment was somewhat hasty and asked him on what it was based. It appeared that he had made a forty- mile walk through villages in the neighborhood of Kharkov and had found conditions sad.” “…There is no actual starvation or deaths from starvation, but there is widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition.” Click HERE for link to articleHERE

March 19. Met Litvinoff. “I don’t trust Duranty. He still believes in Collectivisation. “

Gareth Jones’ Rebuttal Letter to the Editor of the New York Times – 13 May 1933 …Journalists, on the other hand, are allowed to write, but the censorship has turned them into masters of euphemism and understatement. Hence they give “famine” the polite name of “food shortage” and “starving to death” is softened down to read as widespread mortality from diseases due to malnutrition.” … May I in conclusion congratulate the Soviet Foreign Office on its skill in concealing the true situation in the U.S.S.R.? Moscow is not Russia, and the sight of well fed people there tends to hide the real Russia. Click HERE for link to letterHERE

1933 – ‘Joneski’ Litvinov Ban – Correspondence from Gareth to a Friend… "Alas! You will be very amused to hear that the inoffensive little 'Joneski' has achieved the dignity of being a marked man on the black list of the OGPU and is barred from entering the Soviet Union. I hear that there is a long list of crimes which I have committed under my name in the secret police file in Moscow and funnily enough espionage is said to be among them. As a matter of fact Litvinoff sent a special cable from Moscow to the Soviet Embassy in London to tell them to make the strongest of complaints to Mr. Lloyd George about me."

1933-34, The ‘Wilderness’ Year Snubbed by Lloyd George (for using his name to give credence by association to Gareth’s famine allegations) and also by London Intelligentsia. 1933-34 - Worked as local reporter for Cardiff Western Mail, initially on stories relating to Welsh traditional arts & crafts, but later interviewing Irish Prime Minister, de Valera !

1933-34, The ‘Wilderness’ Year June 1934 – Meets Randolph Hearst at his Welsh Castle, St. Donats, Cardiff – invited to meet again in St. Simeon, California. January 1 st 1935 – Personally commissioned to repeat 1933 famine observations for Hearst; given carte blanche to write some of the most vitriolic attacks on the Stalinist regime whilst being equally heart- rending.

12, 13, 14 th January 1935, New York American, Los Angles Examiner & Other Hearst Papers Click HERE for link to articlesHERE

1935 – February – The Thomas Walker Affair Five articles published in American Hearst Press commencing 18 February 1935 relating journalist, ‘Thomas Walker’s’ observations of a continuing 1934 Ukrainian famine & illustrated with secretly taken photographs from his own camera.

1935 – February – The Thomas Walker Affair

1935 – 13 th March – Louis Fischer & The Thomas Walker Affair Marxist, Louis Fischer in a published letter to left- wing US weekly, The Nation, showed that: –Walker’s photos were from different seasons. –Some photos from 1921 famine. –Thomas Walker according to unverified Soviet- supplied records to Fischer, could never have visited Ukraine. –Not only were all his photos & articles bogus… Even Walker, himself turned out to be a fake! But whose fake was he? Hearst’s or Stalin’s? Click HERE for link to letterHERE

1935 – 13 th March – Louis Fischer & The Thomas Walker Affair –In Fisher’s March Letter’s Postscript: “P.S. Would the Hearst press oblige with a photo of Mr Thomas Walker, and with facsimiles of his US passport and of the Soviet visa stamped upon it?” British PRO Records of Deportees for June 1935 shows…

1935 – 13 th March – Louis Fischer & The Thomas Walker Affair Passport Fraud Charged’, New York Times, July 13, 1935 ‘Indicted Writer Also Accused as Escaped Convict’... “Robert Green, a writer of newspaper articles describing famine conditions in the Ukraine, was indicted yesterday …on the charge that he had made false statements obtaining a passport. George Pfann, Attorney, alleged that Green, who wrote under the pen name, Thomas Walker, was a fugitive from Colorado prison where he escaped in 1921 while serving a sentence for forgery…”

1935 – 13 th March – Louis Fischer & The Thomas Walker Affair 1.How did Fisher know Walker was travelling on a false passport, three months before his London arrest? Was he informed by the Soviets along with Walker's ‘supposed’ 1934 USSR travel dates? And, who tipped off the British authorities? 2.The American Daily Worker wrote; “Evidence at trial revealed he [Walker] had made a previous visit to the Soviet Union in 1930, under the name Thomas J. Burke” and was “expelled for attempting to smuggle out a ‘whiteguard’ out of the country”. Yet Walker, according to Soviet supplied information travelled again to the USSR in Autumn 1934, albeit under another name, but surely a very risky undertaking for the small remuneration of just five articles – unless he was perhaps, recruited from a Soviet Prison?

1935 – 13 th March – Louis Fischer & The Thomas Walker Affair Fischer’s letter combined with Walker’s subsequent (re)arrest effectively for half a century … –Destroyed the complete credibility of the Worldwide ‘Conservative’ press’ allegations of any Soviet famine in the 1930s. –Furthermore, in March 1933, when Gareth claimed millions were dying, Fischer then scoffed: “Who counted them? How could anyone march through a country count a million people?” –But in 1935, without ever mentioning Gareth’s name or even attacking his 1935 articles directly – Gareth’s eyewitness observations of 1933 were not only tarnished by the same brush as Walkers, but were completely forgotten for nearly 70 years.

Gareth Investigates the Far East Spring 1935 At the time of Walkers’ articles, Gareth was effectively ‘incommunicado’ having embarked on fact- finding mission of the Far East. After interviewing the Japanese Minister of War in Tokyo, he decided to visit Inner Mongolia to investigate the possibility of the Military Expansionism of their puppet state of Manchukuo, spreading across Northern China… Click HERE for link to Manchukuo Incident Book.HERE Click HERE for link to Gareth’s Far East ArticlesHERE

1935 – 28 th July – Gareth Kidnapped in Northern China by Bandits German Company, Wostwag kindly supplied vehicle for an extended trip into Inner Mongolia to witness the Japanese presence in the area.

1935 – 28 th July – Gareth Kidnapped in Northern China by Bandits Invite originally from German Journalist, Dr Herbert Mueller. Gareth assured by Mueller; “Absolutely Safe, No Bandits”. After kidnapping, Mueller released after two days as captive… Ransom later obdurately rejected by bandits … Gareth was tragically murdered after two weeks on eve of his 30 th birthday -12 Aug 1935 …

1935 – Sept / Oct - Immediate Aftermath London publication in The Week by Marxist, Claud Cockburn, claimed that Dr. Mueller was released because of secret Japanese-German Entente Cordiale Pact. Japanese initially implicated by Foreign Office concluded after 500-page report; ‘No Foundation Whatsoever’. Ultimately Gareth’s murder put down to the act of a miscreant Chinese bandit’s bullet… Not a single mention of Gareth’s Soviet ban or any of his famine reporting in whole report. The Soviet Union were never once considered as possibly being culpable despite…

Recently Released M.I.5 Records Reveal: 1.Wostwag, the company which gave ‘free transport’ were major arm of NKVD in China & allegedly ‘de facto’ bankers and arms dealers to Chinese Communist Party. 2.Dr Mueller, who invited Gareth on ‘Safe’ trip, was a known Comitern activist with a secret dossier on him from 1917 -1951 & at one time lived in the Soviet Consol at Hankow. Click HERE for link to PRO Evidence on Mueller.HERE Click HERE for link to PRO Evidence on Wostwag.HERE

MI5 Cover-up or Cock-up? MI5 never passed on relevant intelligence to F.O. for their enquiry, even though: –Sir Vernon Kell, founder and Director General of MI5, told US intelligence he knew of Wostwag’s financial tie-up with the Soviet Security Services back in 1929. –Mueller’s 34 year dossier from 1917 was active at the time in 1935. If they had, then their conclusions may well have been different… As it was, the F.O armed only with Marxist Cockburn’s allegations in The Week of a Japanese-German pact, weren’t even on the ‘scent’ of any Soviet complicity…

Who benefited from Gareth’s Murder? The embarrassment to the Japanese by being publicly implicated with Gareth’s murder in Mueller’s German articles resulted in effectively no further territorial expansion of their Chinese ‘empire’ until the ‘Rape of Nanking’ in 1937 – allowing Wostwag to continue to ‘operate covertly’ & trade profitably without hindrance. As a likely ‘marked’ enemy of the Soviet State for his Holodomor reporting, liquidation of Gareth by NKVD operatives in Inner Mongolia would certainly not have displeased the Moscow hierarchy. And not least of all, by former Chekist, Foreign Commissar Litvinov, who clearly was incensed by Gareth’s affront to embarrassingly expose the Holodomor ten days after affording him the privilege of a personal interview in Moscow…

Orwell’s Mr Jones – The Farmer One person who may have later seen through the cover-up of Gareth’s death by simple bandits, is arguably George Orwell (whose bête noire was also Cockburn)… In Brief: Tsar Nicholas was also murdered by ‘Napoleon’. ‘Jones’ is primarily a Welsh name, though all Orwell’s names were carefully & symbolically chosen. ‘9 [Ukrainian] hens had died of coccidiosis’ c.f. Duranty; ‘No Starvation, but …diseases due to malnutrition’ – GO certainly knew of Gareth & Duranty (having reviewed Eugene Lyons’ book in 1938.) Click HERE for link to full hypothesisHERE as to ‘Mr (Gareth) Jones; the Farmer

Gareth Jones – A Man Who Knew Too Much On Friday 16 th August, upon hearing of Gareth’s murder, Lloyd George commented in The London Evening Standard: “I was struck with horror when the news of poor Mr Gareth Jones was conveyed to me. I was uneasy about his fate from the moment I ascertained that when his companion, Dr Herbert Müller, was released he was detained.”

“That part of the world is a cauldron of conflicting intrigue and one or other interests concerned probably knew that Mr Gareth Jones knew too much of what was going on…” “He had a passion for finding out what was happening in foreign lands wherever there was trouble, and in pursuit of his investigations he shrank from no risk.” “…I had always been afraid that he would take one risk too many. Nothing escaped his observation, and he allowed no obstacle to turn from his course when he thought that there was some fact, which he could obtain. “ “He had the almost unfailing knack of getting at things that mattered.” Gareth Jones – A Man Who Knew Too Much

But One Might Wonder… 1.What might have become of Gareth, had he lived? Especially with all his knowledge & his ‘Who’s Who’ of contacts… E.g. Hearst had offered him senior position in his Berlin Press Bureau on returning from China. 2.What if the World had Listened to any of his ‘Cassandra-like’ Prophesies & Political Insights, as he had the ‘low- down’ on the 3 powers of evil? E.g. In The Contemporary Review of July 1931, Gareth predicted a future secret German-Soviet pact to carve up Poland. Gareth ‘gate crashing’ President Hoover’s garden party at The White House in 1931

Gareth Jones – In Conclusion Gareth’s diaries probably represent the only independent Western verification of Stalin’s Ukrainian famine-genocide. His Soviet articles were arguably the most accurate reporting of 5-year plan. With his ‘mysterious’ murder, an heroic ‘loose cannon’ was almost airbrushed out of history for more than half a century… He was indeed a “Man Who Knew Too Much”. Gareth ‘gate crashing’ President Hoover’s garden party at The White House in 1931

Ihor Kharchenko, London Ukrainian Ambassador at the unveiling of a Tri- lingual Plaque with Gareth's niece, Siriol, myself, the University Vice Chancellor, Chancellor, Lord Morgan and Prof. Lubomyr Luciuk. 2006 – May 2 nd Gareth ‘Recognised’ in Aberystwyth, Wales

Historical tri-lingual bronze bas relief plaque by Toronto sculptor, Oleh Lesiuk was unveiled at The University of Wales, inscribed:, “In Memory of Gareth Richard Vaughn Jones, born 1905, who graduated from the University of Aberystwyth and the University of Cambridge. One of the first journalists to report on the Holodomor, the Great Famine of 1932-33 in the Soviet Ukraine.” With my family’s personal thanks to the UCCLA, the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of Great Britain and of Canada, the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, the Ukrainian American Civil Liberties Association, and other donors… Click HERE for link to Press Coverage, Photos and SpeechesHERE

2006 November - Canada And finally, thank you to the the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Canadian Friends of Ukraine & the Shevchenko Scientific Soc. for the kind invitation & opportunity to speak to you about my great uncle, Gareth Richard Vaughn Jones Nigel Linsan Colley For further information, books & articles: www.garethjones.org www.garethjones.org

The Gareth Jones Diaries - A Man Who Knew Too Much www.garethjones.org © 2006. All rights reserved. Nigel Linsan Colley.

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The Gareth Jones Diaries - A Man Who Knew Too Much www.garethjones.org © 2006. All rights reserved. Nigel Linsan Colley.

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Presentation on theme: "The Gareth Jones Diaries - A Man Who Knew Too Much www.garethjones.org © 2006. All rights reserved. Nigel Linsan Colley."— Presentation transcript:

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