Russian Foreign Office
<p class="indent">The Webbs went to the Soviet Union in 1931. Margaret Cole writes:
The Webbs, however, were visitors of a very special kind. In the first place, they were people of a very much higher calibre and standing than the majority of the flock of tourists; to convince them of the rightness of the Soviet system would be well worth while.
<a id="fnote32" name="fnote32"> </a>
The Webbs were royally entertained and adulated, according to Mrs. Cole:
They were met and welcomed by representatives of the Soviet Foreign Office, the consumer’s cooperatives, and the Soviet of Leningrad. Sidney commented: “We seem to be a new type of royalty.”<a href="http://keynesatharvard.org/book/KeynesatHarvard-ch02.html#note32" class="fnote-block">(32)</a>
Actually, the above account by Margaret Cole is misleading. The Webbs were already thoroughly wedded to the Kremlin and apparently they were assigned the task by the Russian Foreign Office of perpetrating a huge deception on the unsuspecting Free World.
<a id="fnote33" name="fnote33"> </a>
For upon their return the Webbs issued a two-volume work entitled <em>Soviet Communism—A New Civilization.</em> This presumably was written as an unbiased Fabian view. However, on April 7th, 1952, Igor Bogolepov appearing before the United States Senate sub-committee on Internal Security, as a former high official of the Soviet Foreign Office, testified as follows:
MR. MORRIS. Through the Foreign Office you had people in other countries write books favorable to the Soviet point of view.
<a id="p039" name="p039"> </a>MR. BOGOLEPOV. One British and one American. You certainly remember the British labor leaders, Sidney and Beatrice Webb, very reasonable people. They visited the Soviet Union in about 1935 or 1936, and the result of their visit was a two-volume work, Soviet Communism and New Civilization.
MR. MORRIS. That is, after the Webbs got back to England, having been in Soviet Russia—
MR. BOGOLEPOV. Yes.
MR. MORRIS. They wrote a two-volume work on Russia or the Soviet?
MR. BOGOLEPOV. That is right.
SENATOR FERGUSON. Now give us an example of Americans.
MR. BOGOLEPOV. I didn’t finish it yet.
SENATOR FERGUSON. Pardon me. Go ahead.
MR. BOGOLEPOV. The materials for this book actually were given by the Soviet Foreign Office.
SENATOR FERGUSON. Given to the Webbs.
MR. BOGOLEPOV. Yes. They had only to remake a little bit for English text, a little bit criticizing, but in its general trend the bulk of the material was prepared for them in the Soviet Foreign Office.
SENATOR FERGUSON. In the Soviet Foreign Office.
MR. BOGOLEPOV. In the Soviet Foreign Office, and I participated myself in part of this work.
SENATOR FERGUSON. So you were really preparing it under the Soviet, giving it to the Webbs so they might write it in English so it could be distributed in English.
MR. BOGOLEPOV. That’s right; yes.<a href="http://keynesatharvard.org/book/KeynesatHarvard-ch02.html#note33" class="fnote-block">(33)</a></p>