Publication of the Forged Zinoviev Letter
Poet involved
What happened
Four days before Britain's general election, the Daily Mail published a letter supposedly sent by Soviet official Grigory Zinoviev to the Communist Party of Great Britain. It called for intensified agitation and appeared to confirm fears of revolutionary interference. The document was almost certainly forged but damaged Labour politically.
Literary impact
The affair deepened interwar writers' suspicion of newspapers, official documents and manufactured political fear. Its atmosphere of ideological manipulation informed the world later examined by W. H. Auden, George Orwell and Britain's documentary poets.
Source: Wikipedia
