• George Barnes was a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet. This meant he was a minister but he did not run a department like trade, education, etc.
• He was a Labour politician and a trade unionist. This meant he was a Socialist - not quite the same as a Communist but agreeing with some of the ideas of Communism. Labour politicians were usually more sympathetic towards Communism than Conservatives like Churchill or Bonar Law.
• The Bolshevik government was based on Soviets, or Workers Councils. In 1924 Russia was renamed the USSR or Soviet Union.
• Just before this extract, the Cabinet was discussing the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. George Barnes felt that Britain had done everything it could for the people of these states.