British code name for intercepted and decrypted secret Soviet espionage messages between Moscow and agents who were Communist Party members in several countries, including the United States. So many messages passed between Moscow and the Communist Party of the U.S.A. (CPUSA) that an officer from the Comintern's International Liaison Department was stationed in the United States to operate the party's shortwave radio station.
The messages, sent between 1934 and 1937, principally concerned NKVD espionage operations involving Communist Party members recruited for spying. The recruitment was done through the International Liaison Department (also known as the Liaison Service) of the Comintern, the Soviet organ responsible for coordinating communist policy through national parties.
Several messages appealed for candidates to be trained in Moscow as operators of clandestine radios. The trainees -- female stenographers or music students were preferred -- had to have been party members for at least two years. “Perfect health essential,” one message said. “Most important that their eyes, ears and hands should be in perfect order, and they should not be suffering from any contagious disease.” One trainee was Marguerite Browder, sister of U.S. Communist Party leader Earl R. Browder.
