Item MAYHEW 4/2 - Copy papers, 1946-1949, relating to the anti-communist propaganda work of the Information Research Department, Foreign Office

Facsimiles of memoranda and official documents relating to Mayhew's efforts in the Information Research Department (IRD), Foreign Office, to create and distribute anti-communist information globally and to prevent the infiltration of UK government departments by alleged communist sympathizers. Papers include note of meeting at the Foreign Office, London, in which Mayhew was authorized by Rt Hon Ernest Bevin, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and Prime Minister Rt Hon Clement Richard Attlee, to establish the IRD as a means to provide information about communist activities and to provide counter-propaganda and political warfare capabilities, Dec 1947; surveys of trade unions in the USSR; descriptions of liaison activities between the IRD and UK information officers at Overseas Missions; liaison activities with the London Press Service, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and UK High Commissioners abroad. Papers also include memoranda and official documents relating to the founding of 'Freedom First', an anti-communist periodical sponsored by the UK Foreign Office and distributed to foreign trade unions, Jun 1948. 1 box.