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* al ty ray et re ew oe (\U¥ BURGESS and Donald Maclean, former members of 1} British Foreign Office, wish to make the following statement}: ‘It seems to us that doubts as to our whereabouts and speculatio about our past actions may be a “small but contributory factor | i ‘sigil -more, that has been and may again be ex- | ploited by the opponents of Anglo- | Soviet understanding. . Accordingly we have thought it best to issue the following statement: We both of us came to the Soviet | Union to work for the alm of hatter ; and the West, having both of us e convinced from official knowledge in pur possession that nelther the British qT. the American Government be at that time seriously working gor 5 & We had in the positions we occupied ery reason to believe that’ such an- understanding was essential if peace was to be safe. We had every reason to con- clude that such an understanding: was the aim of Soviet policy, We had had every opportunity, to know, and grounds for fearing, the plans and outiook of the few but powerful people who opposed this understanding. . Not Soviet Agents It was probably our action in neces- sarily giving up political activities by ta wel , entering the pubic service that, falsely | analysed, led the Foreign | Office to say through its spokesman it “ belléved” we had been Soviet agents at Cambridge. The Foreign Office can, of course, “believe " anything it wishes. The impor- tant point, however, is that on this question we know, and it does not. We néither of us have ever been Communist agents. 6o far the ground was common for us both. Details of our subsequent careers were completely different and had, therefore, better be deait with separately. As regards Maclean, he worked in but to many others. others. Logdon an in Paris, Washington and Cairo as a geguiar member of the Fore Serfice Bs a 1835 to 1951 and, as sugn, was| par the machine which, with the exception the war period, carried, a b & policy acceptable not only to j Syn ein ye STATEMENT The following is the full statement by Burgess and Maclean handed out in Moscow yesterday: understanding between the Soviet Unjon | 8 L anything but the + etl agen ty tee, ‘ Lamy A re 7“. rs = vo se Pe oe eae LN, Se IN FULL \. \BY NO MEANS THE ONLY ONE’ means alone inside the He was by no in objecting to British Foreign Gervice licy before the war, particularly | foreign a 3 Abyssinia, the Spanish Civil j nda Mu But he was increas- ingly fpolated 1 in ‘dolng ¢ so after nn wee a ame more and more difficult ard peeaae willing to think oF peak of of “me a ism” or to understand the folly an Sanger ef American policy in the Par East and Europe. service work in the Foreign Se wee becoming impossible, jn May, 1951, there were clear signs that, Yes future course he might work out for self, the Foreign Office and security authorities had plans of their own. sare *Microphones in Home’ in his office and private rh ee one as microphones. Plain cl@thes policemen followed him wh revet hd went and one of his colleagues was pu act as provocateur. Maclean, therefore, decided to | the Soviet Union to do whatever Je uld to further understanding betw ~ and West from there. The difficulty of leaving the count: while” being teiled-by ‘he - police was: solved by a, meeting with Burgess shortly. after the latter's return from the Wash- ington Embassy to London. The latter , + only agreed to make arrangement the journey but to come too. . (; visks of such” ‘ Journey. ou ; nee been too great’ tor” bars: Macle , who was shortly expecting & child. me au deed : 3YMPATHISED ' SOVIET - POLICY - See Fe ee aah. ah Mr. ni im: NM regards Burgess, when he dec shes Cambridge, he joined the B.B. Subsequently, positions were offered to ‘him which he accepted, first in a depart- ment of the Secret Service and secondly in the Foreign Office. . Throughout, he sympathised with : Soviet policy and became Increasingly alarmed by the post-war trend of Anglo- American policy. Most alarming of all was its fallure first to reach, and later even to seek to reach, a modus vivendl between East and West. BFotsh AYCILELED 4 aan Foreign Office, nor during the he was associated with the Secret Service and also M.J.5 itself, did he make any secre: from his friends or colleagues either of his views or the fact thet he had been a Communist, 4he Bane Wwic 2.5b.u, nor period that ae gOS In Agreement His attitude in these positions was completely incompatible with the allega- tion that he was a Soviet agent. This statement of Burgess's position ig necessary to understand the situation qwrtath asesnen moans wich arose a week or so after his return London from Washington in 19§1. e went to see Maclean as Head of the merican Department of the Foret ffice. They found that their informati d opinions about the political situati nd the danger of war were in agreement. What now happened was determined by the following facta. Burgess, who some months previously had himself initiated arrangements to obtain a new job with a view to leaving the Poreign faced with the fact that the Forelm Office had independently quently decided that they would no longer employ him. However, Office and its they should always held. gn affine his and subse DOUBTS WHEN THE - BREAK CAME when the break Burgess was doubtful whether he wanted or could conscientiously do the new job he had bees arranging. Therefore, when Maclean told Burgess that he himself had decided that he fould no longer work for the Forelgn licies and suggested that th go to the U.8.S.R,, Burgess had no difficulty in agreeing. There alone there appeared to both to be some chance of putting into practice in some form the convictions they am Lai fice, was came, As the result of living in the U.S.2.R. e both of us are convinced that we Were ght in doing what we did. dese.” are handing this statement to the Mr, Baar wa a ATT