§ Commander BELLAIRSWith your permission Mr. Speaker and with the leave of the House, I desire to make a short personal explanation. In the 1600 official Communist journal published in Moscow, in connection with some comments on the anti-Soviet campaign in Finland which arose in connection with the persecution of Ingrians by the Soviet Government the "Pravda" makes the following statement:
One of the inspirers of this 'Ingrian campaign' is the well-known 'specialist' on 'forced labour in Russia,' Commander Bellairs, Member of the English Parliament, who is in the pay of Finnish timber traders and who now speaks out as the 'defender of Ingrians.'That is a very serious charge against a Member of Parliament—that he is in the pay of any foreign Government or any foreign persons—and, as that charge has been made in the official Communist journal which has the largest circulation in Russia, and is read in many of the capitals of Europe, I desire to take this opportunity of saying that neither directly nor indirectly, in any shape or form, have I received any payment from any Finnish source or any source whatever in connection with Russian agitation or Russian matters.