MORRISON, WILLIAM• 379three years he worked under the alias ‘‘Walter Campbell’’ as a radio
instructor at two special schools, one in the suburb of Metischev, the
other, opened in 1926 and known as the Wilson School, located at
Podlipki. Altogether while in Moscow, Morrison trained more than
50 British and American operators—and later identified several of
them by their true names to MI5. Even though all worked under party
aliases as a security precaution, many of the volunteers lived together
at the Hotel Lux and found it hard to conceal their true names and
backgrounds. MI5 later estimated that between 1927 and 1933, the
CPGB had sent 167 operators to Moscow for training.
Upon Morrison’s return to England via Stockholm in May 1935,
he took over the Wimbledon transmitter from Wheeton, who then
had traveled to the Soviet Union for treatment for his chronic tuber-
culosis, an illness that ultimately proved terminal. Meanwhile Mor-
rison married Mia Exell, a Lyons waitress who lived in Earlsfield,
and continued to work as the CPGB’s principal operator—using
Treasure Islandas a codebook—until October 1937 when he was
asked to join the 15thInternational Brigadefighting in the Spanish
Civil War, and themasktraffic appeared to come to an end.
Under instructions, and accompanied by five other volunteers,
Morrison went to Paris and then made his way to Figueres, where he
was assigned to Teruel as a wireless operator. After just six months
in Spain, Morrison deserted from the 2nd British Battalion and re-
turned to Gravesend on 23 April 1938. There he was interviewed by
an inquisitiveSpecial Branchdetective, Sergeant J. Blomfield, who
passed his report on to MI5. Under Blomfield’s questioning, Mor-
rison admitted that, disenchanted with the disorganization, muddle,
and petty jealousies, he had deserted on the Aragon-Belchite front
and had made for Barcelona, where he had stowed away aboard the
Canford Chine, a British freighter bound for Algiers and Rotterdam,
and then joined theBatavier 111to complete his voyage to England.
It was at this point that Morrison abandoned the CPGB, although his
wife continued to draw her separation allowance, the grant given to
the party’s volunteers in Spain. He found a job as a radio tester at
Peto-Scott Limited, a firm manufacturing equipment for the Air Min-
istry, and also enrolled in the Civilian Wireless Reserve—
developments that were recorded in his MI5 file and brought him to
the attention of Knight.