The discovery of six original photo negative plates stashed away in a back vault of the Law School Library has stirred up new interest in an old case of political intrigue.

The plates include a photographic copy showing the Russian text of the notorious Zinoviev Letter, supposedly written by G. Zinoviev, president of the Communist Comintern in 1924.

The letter instructed the British Communist Party to support the British Labor Party's reelection and further the revolution. Released to the press on the eve of the 1924 election, the letter led to the defeat of the Labor Party and helped keep them out of power for ten years.

As in most historical finds, the Harvard photo plates have a little evidence for both sides in the forgery debate.

But William E. Butler, research associate at the Harvard Russian Research Center, who discovered the text, said the plates "add considerably to the notion that the whole letter is a forgery."

Copies of the letter in English appeared on the front pages of London papers just before the elections and Russian texts circulated among spy circles in Europe. Those copies have also been locked away in government files.

Secret Minutes

The recently discovered Harvard plates contain the first publicly known Russian text of the letter. In addition, the plates have what purports to be minutes of a secret meeting of the Executive Committee of the Comintern where the ideas in the letter originated.

"The secret minutes are obviously designed to add authenticity to the letter," Butler said yesterday, but the British government has never acknowledged the receipt of any minutes.

Stashed in a Vault

Butler discovered the plates by coincidence.

Walter R. Batsell bought a large number of old Russian documents for the library around 1929. Most of them, including the plates, were wrapped in brown paper and stashed away in a back vault of the Library.

In 1966 Butler, then a law student, heard about the glass plates with Russian writing in a casual conversation with former associate librarian Phillip A. Putnam. Putnam looked for the plates, but could not find them. He assumed they had been lost during World War II.

When Butler returned to Harvard in 1969, he asked Putnam to search again and this time the plates were found.

Missing Text

One of the major arguments pointing to forgery has been the absence of a Russian text of the Zinoviev letter. The British government "did not say where they got the letter or whether they received it in English or Russian," Butler said.

In December 1924, a sub-committee of the newly elected Tory government investigated the incident and found the letter genuine. The discovery of the Harvard Russian text supports the investigation.

"In all fairness, though, the British government is the only one that insists the letter is authentic." Butler said.

Zinoviev Denies It