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“There is no bread” – “We are waiting for death,” Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones 1905-1935. ++++++ Gareth Jones’ brief, but fascinating story commences in 1868 when Czar Alexander II invited John Hughes, a Welshman from the mining district of South Wales, to prospect for iron ore and coal in the Donetz Basin in order to establish the steel industry in Russia. From this enterprise grew the great city of Donetsk.
In 1889, a young girl aged 20 years, Annie Gwen Jones arrived in the town as tutor to two daughters of Mr. Arthur Hughes, the second of John Hughes’ four sons. In a small biography Annie Gwen has written in glowing terms about her experiences in the town, Hughesovka, the name of which was granted by the Czar. 15 years later a son was born to Annie Gwen, Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones. At his mother’s knee she recounted the stories of the three memorable years spent in ‘South Russia’ and this inspired him to study the language with a view to make his own pilgrimage to this small, thriving industrial town in the Donetz Basin.
Gareth attended first his father’s school in Barry, South Wales, then Aberystwyth College and finally Trinity College, Cambridge. Not only did he speak Welsh and English fluently, but he gained First Class Honours in French, German and particularly Russian. By the time he left University, he was, for his age an authority on the Soviet Union, its culture, its language and its history.
He had hoped in 1927 to make his first visit to Ukraine, but this was thwarted owing to the Arcos Affair, diplomatic relations having been cut off with the Soviet Union. Instead he worked as a stoker on a coal-carrying ship to spend the summer in Riga hoping to practice his Russian. There he stayed in a house of a noble, but impoverished Russian lady.
In 1930 Gareth commenced his employment as Foreign Affairs Adviser to David Lloyd George, the former Prime Minister in the Great War, one of the signatories of the acrimonious Treaty of Versailles. In the summer of 1930 during his employ with the eminent man, Gareth was able to undertake his first visit to Russia and Ukraine. (Ukraine was usually referred to as Russia in the West). He was shocked at what he saw and on reaching Berlin he wrote one of his most important letters –significant in the fact it was truthful - to his parents. He was horrified to find things had so changed from his mother’s time in the town:Berlin, Near the Station for Saxony, 12.30 p.m. Wednesday. August. 26th, 1930.
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 [deleted] 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 O.G.P.U. (Soviet 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 Hughesovska so quickly was that all I could get to eat was a roll of bread –and that is all I had up to 7 o’clock. Many Russians are too weak to work. I am terribly sorry for them. They cannot strike or they are shot or sent to Siberia. There are heaps of enemies of the Communist within the country.
Never the less great strides have been made in many industries and there is a good chance that when the Five-Years Plan is over Russia may become prosperous. But before that there will be great suffering, many riots and many deaths.
The Communists are doing excellent work in education, hygiene and against alcohol. Butter is 16/- a pound in Moscow; prices are terrific, boots etc. cannot be had. There is nothing in the shops. The Communists were remarkably kind to me and gave me an excellent time.
Last Sunday I flew from Rostov to Moscow as their guest. You will get this letter probably before my Sunday letter. Germany is a fine place. I am looking forward so much to seeing the Haferkorns and getting your letters there, because I have had very little news. Thank goodness I am not a Consul in Russia – not even in Taganrog!
Just had a fine lunch. When I come back I shall appreciate Auntie Winnie’s dinner more than ever.
On Gareth’s return to Britain he was invited to Churt, the home of the Welsh wizard Lloyd George for the weekend. Among the guests were Seebohm Rowntree who had influenced Lloyd George to bring in his reform acts of the Old Age Pension (1908) and the National Insurance Act (1911) and Lord Lothian, later to be British Ambassador to the U.S.A. in 1939. The latter introduced him to Geoffrey Dawson of The Times who published Gareth’s first three major articles, ‘The Two Russias’. Gareth was now only just 25 years old.
Soon afterwards the Russian expert, Sir Bernard Pares, Gareth’s mentor recommended him to Ivy Lee who was considered to be the ‘founder of public relations’. Gareth joined him in May 1931 and within a month of arriving in New York the father of Jack Heinz II of the Heinz organization invited him to take Jack for a six weeks tour of the Soviet Union and Ukraine. Among the people they met in Moscow were Walter Duranty who was charming to everyone, Louis Fischer, Maurice Hindus and also Lenin’s widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya and Karl Radek. Gareth was to write three more articles in The Times, ‘The Real Russia’. Jack Heinz compiled a small book much of the facts taken from Gareth’s diaries entitled Experiences in Russia-1931, published anonymously to which Gareth wrote the foreword:
With a 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. 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.
In 1932 owing to the Depression Gareth left the employ of Ivy Lee and returned to his old boss “The Chief” where unbeknown to many he researched secret material for Lloyd George who was writing his War Memoirs. In the autumn of that year news was slowly reaching London that there was famine in Ukraine. A party of British journalists had toured the U.S.S.R that summer, one of whom was Prof Jules Menken. Menken wrote three articles published in October in the Economist, following which he and Sir Walter Layton, the editor were called to the Soviet Embassy and reprimanded by the Ambassador Maisky for the content and that it ‘painted too black a picture’.
Gareth wrote to his parents in October 1932
“On Friday I had exceptionally interesting talks on Russia which bears out what I have said. The first was with Prof. Jules Menken (London School of Economics) 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 and such breakdowns. What struck him was the unfairness and the inequality. He had seen hungry people one moment and the next moment he had lunched with Soviet Commissars in the Kremlin with the best caviar, fish, game and the most luxurious wines. I have got heaps of facts from the Press which confirm there is a severe crisis. The harvest is a failure: there is shelter lacking for 1,000,000 head of cattle; potato plans have broken down; in July only 40% of the grain collecting plan was carried out. The peasants are refusing to give up the grain. There the Soviet Press at least is honest about the situation.
Menken is the sort of man one would expect to be impressed with Russia. He is the man who wrote the articles in the Economist. He has asked me to dine with him a week Wednesday at the Reform Club. He was so impressed by the failure in Russia that he feared the régime might collapse. Menken says there is already famine in the Ukraine.
This meeting with Menken prompted Gareth to write two articles entitled “Will There be Soup” published in The Western Mail. Gareth also had lunch with Walter Eliot, the Minister of Agriculture and it is to be noted that the British Government was well aware of the situation in Ukraine.
In the early part of 1933 Gareth left the employment of David Lloyd George intending to join the staff of The Western Mail in April. He wrote for the newspaper a series, ‘A Welshman Looks at Europe’. Gareth was present in Leipzig on a very auspicious occasion; January 30th, 1933. Adolph Hitler had been made Chancellor and on February 23rd 1933 Gareth was to fly with the dictator. He wrote these words in the Western Mail, one of Gareth’s many uncanny predictions:
“With Hitler Across Germany: If this aeroplane should crash 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.”
After returning quickly to London to give two lectures Gareth arrived in Moscow on March 5th. He briefly met Malcolm Muggeridge and then planned his journey to Ukraine. Despite journalists being banned from going there, he stocked food in his knapsack and took a slow train from the outskirts of Moscow en route to Kharkiv. He descended from the train on the border of Ukraine and walked from there-on talking to peasants as he went about the situation and he stayed overnight in their homes. What he saw was heart-rendering – starving peasants and children with bloated stomachs. Everywhere was the cry “There is no bread” – “We are waiting for death,”
From the Soviet Union his letters home were brief and non-committal, but on reaching Berlin he made a press announcement of his arduous, but soul-searching journey and it was published by H.R. Knickerbocker in the New York Evening Post on March 29th, and other newspapers world-wide. Articles describing the situation soon followed in the Daily Express, The Western Mail and The Financial News, but then no more after April 20th 1933 in Britain. It poses the question why?
It is unknown whether Gareth expected the tirade of denigration, humiliation and denial that were to flood in the wake of his press release and articles. The New York Times published Walter Duranty’s denial on March 31st ‘Russians Hungry but not Starving’ followed by ‘ Mr. Jones Replies’ on May 13th. The press officer, Constantine Oumansky called the Moscow correspondents together for Vodka and zakuski and ordered them to brand Gareth a liar. Reporting on the smoke screen of famine, ‘The Show Trial’ of the Six British Engineers was of prime importance to these journalists as the need to remain on friendly terms with the censors was a compelling professional necessity. Even Malcolm Muggeridge used Gareth’s anecdote of throwing a piece of orange peel in the spittoon in his 1934 book, Winter in Moscow. Gareth was sorely treated, but never appeared to show bitterness. Never again was he able to use his expertise and the vast knowledge that he had acquired about the country for which his mother has felt so much affection.
On April 8th in London, A.J.Sylvester, David Lloyd George’s secretary was called to the Embassy where Ivan Maisky informed him that Gareth had been placed on the Black List of the Secret Police and that he had been accused of espionage by Maxim Litvinov. Litvinov and Lloyd George were friends and Lloyd George appeared to ignore Gareth forever afterwards, though in the past he had called him affectionately “My Dear Boy”. In fact Gareth wrote to Lloyd George with words ‘I am amazed at your admiration for Stalin.’ The British Intelligentsia whom Gareth had known in London ostracized him. The Times did not publish, though promised, any of his articles. Geoffrey Dawson, the editor was friendly with Stanley Baldwin, the de facto Prime Minister and Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Appeaser of Nazi Germany. The ego-centric clown, Bernard Shaw called the Soviet Regime “Utopia”. The British Establishment was a close knit clique, feared the rise of Nazism and condoned the famine in Ukraine for political reasons.
Gareth then spent a period in the ‘Wilderness’ writing delightful stories about rural Wales, about Ireland, unemployment and the Depression and later a few more about Germany published in the Western Mail. He needed time to spend in the bosom of his family.
On October 26th Gareth left Britain on the S.S Manhattan bound for New York. He arrived in time for the Congressional Elections. In the offices Herald Tribune he met Ralph Barnes, a former Moscow Correspondent who heralded him as a ‘leading journalistic figure’. Gareth at last was acclaimed.
Gareth spent three months in the U.S.A. January 1st was a significant day as he had been invited to Randolph Hearst’s Ranch, St Simeons. Hearst requested him to write of his experiences in Russia and Ukraine and these were published in Hearst’s syndicated newspapers on January 12th, 13th and 14th 1935. Unbeknown to Gareth, Hearst was to continue with anti-Soviet stance and there followed a great deal of controversy. But this is outside the realms of these articles.
Gareth left for the Far East on January 18th on the S.S. President Monroe first for Hawaii and then on to Japan on the S.S. President Coolidge. There he met and interviewed some of the most important politicians of the time:- The Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Amô Eliji, The Naval Minister, Admiral Osumi Mineo, Shidehara Kijuro who became Prime Minister in 1945, Matsuoka Yosuke who took Japan out of the League of Nations, The Former Minister of War, the firebrand, General Araki Sadao and The Minister of War, General Hayashi Senjuro. In Tokyo Gareth stayed in the same apartment as Gunther Stein who turned out to be a Soviet Agent
Gareth spent five months touring the Far East in what is known today as the Pacific Basin questioning the views from experts and persons in the countries he visited as to the designs of the Japanese Government and Japan’s desire for territorial expansion. But all this is another story and not applicable to these articles. Eventually Gareth arrived in Beijing where he was invited by Baron von Plessen and with Dr Herbert Müller, to the meeting of the Mongolian Princes. Following this gathering, the curious journalist, Gareth wished to investigate the designs of the Japanese. He had read in The Times that a town on the border of Manchukuo, Dolonor was a center of Japanese military activity. It was possible that he was persuaded to go there by a third party as Müller refers to this in his later statement of events. Müller who accompanied Gareth was found later to be a Soviet Secret agent or possibly even a double one. The pair were loaned a vehicle from a company called Wostwag which was a trading company in furs and a cover for the O.G.P.U. Arriving in Dolonor they discovered between 15 - 40,000 Japanese troops massing and about 200 armed vehicles in preparation for invasion. Soon they were apprehended by the Japanese and finally after 24 hours allowed to go. According to Gareth they were told there were either two ways, but Müller stated there were three ways back to Kalgan, (Zhanqjiakou) the capital of Chahar. The pair were captured by bandits the following day and held for a 100,000 Mexican Dollars ransom. Within two days Mueller was released supposedly to fetch the ransom. The bandits then changed hands – a hundred strong and Gareth was held by them alone. After 16 days in captivity Gareth was murdered on the eve of his thirtieth birthday despite the ransom, it was said, being forthcoming, though the coffers might have been empty.
The ‘Verdict Remains Open’ as to the motive for Gareth’s murder and there are many unanswered questions. Was it a vendetta because of Gareth’s exposure of the famine in Ukraine? Were the Soviets afraid that Gareth was being used as a decoy by the Japanese and as an excuse to invade Inner Mongolia and thereby rescue him from the bandits? The Japanese had already invaded Manchuria, naming it Manchukuo and had designs on further territorial expansion. There had been on-going disputes on the Japanese-Siberian border since 1905 and the Soviets feared incursion into their territory. 200,000 Soviet troops were stationed on the border at the expense of the Five-Year Plan. The Japanese had wished to ‘Strike North’ to gain more colonial provinces. Chang Hsueh-liang, the Governor, had lost his province, Manchuria to the Japanese and as deputy Commander-in-Chief to Chiang Kai-chek, was in position to muster troops to follow the bandits. Following de-militarization the Chinese were in weak position and could not defend their land and may have killed Gareth to prevent an invasion. It is possible there was collusion between the Soviets and the Chinese, each in fear of an invasion of Chahar. Or it might just have been the bandits in fear of their lives as the militia were in pursuit. As it was Gareth’s death may have prevented an invasion of north China in 1935. Two years later the Japanese did invade and it culminated in the terrible atrocities known as the Rape of Nanking. All is in the realms of speculation as to why Gareth was murdered while in the hands of the bandits. For whatever grounds, the Japanese covert ruse to invade Inner Mongolia was thwarted by Gareth’s untimely death.
To quote R.T .Barrett: of the The Hong Kong Critic in the article ‘The Heart of Things’:
“It is quite obvious that efforts were made to create another international incident. The life of a gallant young Englishman, who had already dared to expose the hell-black villainy of the Russian government in concealing a famine, and dooming millions to death, rather than cease export of grain, and call for foreign aid, was nothing to ‘commercial interests at home’.
“He was pursuing that task out East, as he had pursued it in Russia, and he was one of those who knew too much”.
So with Gareth’s death 1935 he was silenced until recently when we cleared the family house in Barry, South Wales and I saved his articles, his diaries and his letters written to his family and treasured by his mother, Mrs Annie Gwen Jones. With the aid of the World Wide Web Nigel Colley published them on the web.
Gareth’s death was a tragic loss to his parents, Major and Mrs Edgar Jones, to the Principality of Wales, to the Ukrainian Community and to the world at large. ***** These articles are published with his mother, Mrs Annie Gwen Jones in mind coupled with that of his father, Major Edgar Jones.
Margaret Siriol Colley www.margaretcolley.co.uk/Various_articles.htm
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