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It is necessary to describe the circumstance prior to the arrest and examination in the OGPU. in order that a clear idea may be obtain of the whole sequence of event.

As from the "denunciation" of the Anglo-Russian Trade by the British government, things seamed to go wrong with our business. It is an indisputable fact that up to that time, we had the best reputation of any foreign firm working in Russia. High officials of the soviet government were friendly with the senior members of our firm. Many of our erectors had certification which proclaimed them"shock workers".

I , myself, was informed that I should receive an industrial order for the assistance i had given the government is furthering their intensive power station construction programs.

After the denunciation of the Anglo-Soviet trade agreement, our troubles commenced, they were of two kinds, which we called among ourselves (senior English staff) situation A and B.

Situation A: Was anxiety caused by the complete change of policy towards us, shown by the people with whom we had businesses; doors which were once open to us, were now shut, troubles and controversy were made out of nothing and most important of all, it was very evident to me that the Soviet industrial and agricultural policy was being put thought with the greatest difficulty.

Situation B: Was persecution by the OGPU, of our staff and servants. From time to time i came to soviet Russia in 1924, we have always been closely watched by this organisation. Our Russia erector ,Efrenoff was arrested (page 4),kept i prison for 14 months and then shot. No official reason was given , except to me , when i was myself undergoing examination in the GPU ( see page 3,4 and 18)

It was extremely difficult to get any concrete information from the members of our Russian staff and any servants who were either arrested out right or sent for to be examined by the GPU. Under pain of instant death to them self and their families they were forbidden even to say they had been called to the GPU. let alone disclose anything which had happened there. Most of them did, however, drop hints as to the nature of the questions caked, but i did not realized up to the time of Miss Kutusova's (our secretary) arrest that these people had been forced into signing statements of the dictation of the GPU, officials.

From the information i did receive at this time from the Metro-Vick Russian staff who had been arrested of called up for examination by the GPU.,I gathered the following:

The false statement which the GPU. had dictated to the various person were intended for use in bargaining with the British Government; they would never be made public, Monkhouse,Cushny,Macdonald, were to be incriminated and myself in particular, I heard this from four difference sources,No arrest or search were to be made, as it was explained that countermeasure  might be taken by the British. I realize now that this was "Put over " by the GPU.

Miss Kutusova was arrested on january 25 th at 2.45 pm, the arrest was carried out as follow:

I happened to be in Mr . Monkhous's room at the Metro Vick Moscow office on Wednesday, January 25th 1933 at about 2 pm. As the telephone ring i answered it.The caller was a Mr XYZ who asked to speak to miss Kutusova. He gave me his name and i know he was a man from Leningrad with whom Miss Kutusova was formerly very friendly. 

 (Page 5)

I opened the door into the other office and asked Miss Kutusova if she would take XYZ's call. She said she did not wish to speak to him and would I tell him she was engaged. I did so , rang off, switched the telephone though to the outer office and forgot the incident.At 2.15 pm Miss Kutusova came into my room and asked permission to go down to the entrance of our office on the street to see XYZ. I said"I thought you did not wish to speak to him", She answered that he had he  had caught her on the telephone himself and that it was now awkward to refuse.

"I said Mr Monkhouse 's room is free, why not bring him up here?" She answers that she had already done so but that he had refused to come up, being afraid.  I knew XYZ quite well from the Leningrad days. He was a solicitor about 45 years of age and employed by one of the organization where we had contracts.

At 2.15 pm miss Kutusova went downstairs in thin shoes,with no fur hat, but her coat slipped over her shoulders, and only appeared again at 10.5 am the next day at the office in an hysterical state whit her finger covered with ink. She left her desk open , her keys on the table which was littered with books,documents, Torgains voucher and several of the drawers open. It transpired that XYZ had decoyed her a few yards up the street where our office was and stopped to talk. A Ford touring car with the hood up pulled in to the kerb, tow men jumped out, and dragged her into the car. She screamed and resisted , but the crowd stood away, being well astounded to such circumstances. XYZ disappeared in the crowd. Miss Kutusova would not give an account of what had happened expect that she had been arrested by the GPU.,but ultimately i gathered she had been forced to make an untrue statement, which turned out to be the case. Also the hints she gave confirmed, generally , statement of the others.

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The arrest of miss Kutusova brought matters to the head. It was an act of open warfare as far as the company's staff were concerned, and coming on to of the GPU's persecution since November 1932 and  the general hostility of the business , we were doing businesses with, and making our lives miserable, forced us to take immediate action .Mr. Monkhouse telephoned to Mr Richards reporting the circumstance of Miss Kutusova's arrest, and asking for instruction. Mr Richards instructed Mr Monkhouse and myself to place the matter before Ozersky (the soviet Trade commissioner to great Britain) who happened to be in Moscow at this time.

on January 26th, Mr Monkhouse and myself called on Mr Ozersky  by appointment and put the matter before him. We stated that our organisation had been subjected to persecution by he GPU. and that their last arrest had been carried out in barefaced and disgraceful manner, and we should be glad of an explanation as to

(a) if the soviet government had anything against the company, (b) anything against the staff or individual member of it. i also added, if they had , the staff or members of it would be removed and no questions asked. Ozersky said he would en devour to investigate the situation and let us know.

Knowing soviet politics, i was not in the least reassured by the interview with Ozersky. Shortly before the arrest of Miss Kutusova, macdonald (one of our erector) repored to me that his old housekeeper had disapeard from an erection site not far from leningrad, called Dubrovke. I had not the least doubt she had been arrested as Miss Kutosova had been told in the GPU. that she was in the Dutirkm prison, Another of our enginees wrote in from a place called Zuevka in the Dombas, where Macdonald was formerly employed, that tow f the latter's Russian friends, both turbine foremen, had been arrested . 

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Macdonald's engagement at Dubrovka had been terminated by the Russian before he had really finished putting the turbine into services. taking into account situation "A" and "B", I was very suspicious and determinate to find out if the authorities had any objection to Mcdonald's further employment in the USSR. I went to the communist manager of the erection department of Electro Import, and put the case before him, citting the arrest etc. After some argument, he promised to make enquiries and give an answer in four days.  I went to his office after the four days had passed and asked him if it would be all right to employ macdonald on some modifications at Orechovo, a place two miles from Moscow. He said, "yes, quite all right" The manager of the central department, called Dolgof, was also present at the interview. He followed me out of the office and said: "Don't employ Macdeonald", I questioned him, but could get nothing further from him. I realized now that Dolgolf wished to convey to me things were not all right as far as Macdonald was concerned. I should have taken the hint, but if i had always taken such hints, our organisation in Russia would have been shut down years ago, as the atmosphere of suspicion and mystery were ever present. Mr Monkhouse, Cushny and I were not at al satisfied with the position of affairs. we thought that things were boning to a head, we did not know what was going to happen, but knew something was going to happen.I was more worried by both situation, as i knew more than the others, having been born in Dupei, and had had pre-war experience there, Also i traveled more than anyone else an the staff. Mr monkhouse ultimately decided that he would go to England immediately and put the whole matter (situation "A"  and "B") before Mr Richards, as it was essential for the company to know what was going on. 

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Here's the corrected text with the adjustments made:

"Mr. Monkhouse went to England shortly after his arrival. He telephoned to me and said that Mr. Richard was ill, but that he had had lunch with Sir Felix, Paul, and Ozeresky (the Soviet trade commissioner to Great Britain), who had, by that time, arrived in London from Moscow. Ozeresky had himself breached the subject of our conversation with him in Moscow, stating that he had seen the GPU and that the GPU had nothing against the company, the staff, or any individual member of it. Mr. Monkhouse wrote to me in Moscow and confirmed this. With the idea, no doubt, that the GPU would photograph the letter for the records. We knew by this time that all letters were being photographed and that all our telephone conversations were being recorded. I was very disturbed by this telephone conversation and Mr. Monkhouse's letter, as it was incomprehensible to me. Since Mr. Monkhouse had said so, there was no question but that Ozeresky had made such a statement. On the other hand, by the rules of the game in Soviet Russia, no one, however important, was ever allowed to say anything about the activities of the GPU, let alone to a foreigner. I came to the conclusion that Ozeresky had been told what to say by the GPU, with the idea of lulling us into a false sense of security. This meant that the GPU or the Soviet government were going to do something very drastic, as they did not mind if their trade commissioner was discredited in the eyes of the British."

"The lulling policy was continued. The order for a large motor, which we knew positively had been placed in Germany, was canceled and placed with us. Mr. Monkhouse returned to Moscow some days before the arrest and confirmed and discussed Ozeresky's statement."

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Here's the corrected version without changing the text:

"The constent worry has from November 1932 had a great effect on me. I was run down and very nervous. I had an attack of influenza shortly before the arrest which pulled me down, also a slight recurrence of my ulcer trouble after my return from the last tour I made just before the arrest. Since I come out of Russia and lived again under a system where truth can and does help an innocent man, where the police are individual people helping in the administration of a system of law without the power to torture or kill in secret, and where everybody goes about freely and naturally and not in an atmosphere of terror and secrecy, I have asked myself time and again, how I could ever have been reduced to such a condition that I could sign the false statement contained in document 27. The confession was false; it was wrung from me after endless browbeating, questioning, pretended offers of help by some, threats by others, and by the production of a mass of false evidence obtained from Russians and others by methods which I knew only too well but against which I was driven to realize that truth was of no avail. It is not possible for anyone outside Russia as it is today, to realize what the feeling of danger and helplessness is like for those in Russia, but I have tried as shortly as possible in the following pages to give an account of how I came to submit, at last, to sign this document."

I need hardly say there is no truth in the document, but in the end when I signed it, I was so beaten and so convinced that nothing could help me or any of the others who were in the hands of the GPU and so desperate, that I would not have balked out any longer against signing anything.

 Page 10.

It is necessary to recount here in more details, and as far as I can remember, what happened in the GPU before this signing of the 'confession' so that the nature of the 

shocker i received may be more clearly understood. the name of Russians concerned have been suppressed for obvious reason.

The examination was conducted by the following officials:

David Cesidovitch Yeldman the deputy chief of the economic department of OGPU. I have never been able to make out this officers's rank, as he never wore badges.

The next person in importance was Dimitrioff he wore the badge of rank corresponding to approximately a lieutenant general. And Belogoreky and Sergey Antonovitch Jgelconikoff wore the badge of major general and Yertzoff the badge of brigadier general. Leff Gregorievitch Merodoff, the chief of the economic section of the OGPU, were the badges of full general . 

Feldman a tall jew , with an overbearing manner, assumed to dominate the others, including Merodoff, his senior officer. The method of the "examination"scenes to be that the examiner allocated to myself( Jzelcanikoff) put most of the questions, but he was directed by someone outside the room, the others officials taking part in the badgering on certain subjects which seemed to be of particular interest to them. Feldman was in and out of the room practically the whole time during the two days of the part of the examination narrated. Jzelcanikoff had a quantity of notes, folders and printed and bound album of photographs arrange on Feldman's desk, and made note all the time.this is not to be taken as verbatim report of everything that happen, but of all that i can remember, not, perhaps , in actual sequence, but all of it did happen.

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The examination commenced at about 9 am on Sunday march 12, 1933, nut i was on a "parade' at about 7 am

Question put to me by Jzelcanikoff : 

-Are you a qualified engineer? be very careful about answering this question.

-Yes, I am a chartered Electrical Engineer you have my diploma, together with the other papers.

-Are you sure you were a suitable person for electrical erection,apart from diplomas?

-Yes, i think so, you had better ask the authorities at the cable here in Moscow, I installed all the machinery in that works, put it onto commission and afterward engaged the works

-Are you a member of the British intelligence services?( this was always refereed to in the English language)

-No, I do not know anything about it

Have you ever given a note or letter of introduction to any soviet citizen to colonel Lawrence, expect by hearsay that are your relation with Anna Sergovsna kutusova? do you like and trust her?

-my relations with Anna are good, I do like and trust her

-Did  you live and have improper relations with Anna?

-No

-Have you ever given any money to soviet engineer or employees?

-No

-Do you know that C.I. Efrenoff was a spy, a wrecker, a member of the British intelligence service, and an ex officer. ( Efrenoff was a valued Russian employee of the company and employed on erection.

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-No, I do not believe it, he was an excellent technician and worker

-Do you know that we have shot Efronoff?

-No, I did not know.( I did not know this officialy , but was sure that he hhad been shot)

-It is a fact that Metropolitain-Vickers have deliberatly supplied foreknown (sevedoma) bad plant and equipment during the last ten years?

-Metro-Vickers machinery is the best that has been supplied to this country.At any rate, we have had little trouble with it. 

-Have you solicited information of a illegal nature and transmitted it abroad?

-No, not to my knowledge

-Answer yea or no?

-No

-Is MacDonald a good erector? do you trust him, and is he truthful?

-yes Macldonal is a good erctor, i trust him and he is truthful

-Have you ver received any money from the britsi embassy or consulate?

-No, never

-Are you a mason?

-Yes

-Is it a fact that it is a dangerous secret society?

-No

-Are you aware that Macdonald is a Mason?

-No

-Do you like and trust Monkhouse?

-Yes, he has been my friend for over twenty years

-And Cushny?

-Yes I like and trust him

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-Who is Peter Ebremdivitch Oleinik?

-An erector who has been in our employ for many years

-Is he a reliable and trustworthy person?

-Yes, I have always considered him so

-Is it true that your father was a wealthy woolen mill proprietor in St Petersburg?

-I do not know about being wealthy, but he was a member of the family that owned the Thornton woolen mills of St Petersburg.

-Do you believe on the success of the soviet regime?

-I am not sufficiently versed in political economy to understand if tit can be a success or not.

Feldman then stopped the examination and made a speech o the following lines, supported by Dimitrioff. 

"You have arrived at the most serious moment of your career. In answering the questions put to you by the examiner, you have lied infamously in every questions. you and your activities and the activities of greater people that you, have been watched for the last ten years, and we can prove that you are guilty of economic and military spying, wrecking, bribing also that you are unfaithful to your wife and family" diversion and other sets of counter-revolution, we can prove by photograph of your own handwriting and the testimonies of your own Russian friends, and by confrontation with your own British colleagues, that you are guilty on every count. the dictatorship of the proletariat do not object to open enemies, but you, for your own filthy gain, have eaten the bread and salt of the proletariat at the same time planning their downfall"

"Allow me to recount to you the situation in order that you shall understand that we know of the  plot of you and your superiors. The capabilities of the world do not approve of our revolution. At the beginning they attempted armed intervention. They were not courageous enough to send their own mercenaries against us, expect in the case of the British, and they officially stated that Archangel expedition was in connection with the world war. The capitalist nation, or rather the capital interest behind every government, subsided the so-called white interventionist, in turn we defeated the attack of Denikin,krangel, kachne,Kelchak, Udenitch, including the Poles.

The capital interest behind their various government at least understood that the revolution of the proletariat could not be overthrown by open warfare, and that other methods would have to be adopted. We know the measures adopted were as follow:

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'England and Germany, the nations most afraid of the success of our revolution, decided to trade with soviet government. Cartels were formed to buy the products of soviet industry at the lowest possible prices, thereby lowering the standard of living of the workers,and selling to the soviets government the most unsuitable and specially badly designed and manufactured machinery and plant at the highest possible price and worst credit terms, thereby crippling our industry. Home of the machinery and plant from abroad has given satisfaction. America is also involved in this lot. In order to obtain orders and get the plant accepted , we have the statement of hundred of our engineers and technician that they have been bribed abroad.

we know that you, in particular , were engaged especially to cover defects and breakdowns by bribing.Cover technical explanation when the plant was being erected and exploited in this country. We can prove that you knew the plant was defective. We know that the capitalist hoped to cripple our industry. and when the workers began dissatisfied , to arrange armed intervention again. To accomplish this , it was necessary to be in possession of the fullest possible information fro the use of interventionist when the time come. we know that use was made of the staff of your firm and other firms, who  were pretending to carry out, or possibly were carrying out, the work they had to do, at the same time carrying out illegal and counter-revolutionary work.

Diversion was also part of the work carried out,leading soviet specialist to take the wrong action by means of tricks or worse, as in the case of Unin cold storage, and the AEC. you know perfectly well of them instance. you will be discredited entirely in the sight of the world, your government will renounce you, your firm will renounce you, your wife will renounce you, the proletariat in this country will renounce you, you are done for. we are sure of our facts and nothing you can say will avert the consequences. at the same time, we can make things easier for you if you will confess fully as to the methods adopt, in order that we can combat such attacks in the future.

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