Why the west likes neither Molotov, nor Ribbentrop 6 страница
254
Why the west likes neither Molotov, nor Ribbentrop
commitments made on the part of England. Things proceeded in this train till the beginning of the war. The treaty only provided for British military assistance to Poland without concretizing how, when and where. The French acted in the same fashion. They led the Poles up the garden path, and the Poles just could not believe that their country would be betrayed in the same way as Czechoslovakia, a short while before. The Polish-French cooperation was initialed on May 19, 1939 by General Gamelin and General Kasprzycki1. According to this agreement, the French Air Force was to strike Germany, as soon as the war broke out, and the ground troops were to be engaged on the 15th day after declaring mobilization2.
All is plain to see. And that is why it is no good. The French government would later refused to confirm this military agreement on the grounds of the absence of a political agreement between France and Poland. As a result, England and France got a good hand: now it was up to them to decide how to assist Poland. Stated differently, they gave her no assistance at all. This “assistance” has gone down in history by the meaningful phrase the Phony War. It will be discussed a little below.
Stalin soundly estimated the probability of fair play on the part of his Western partners as zero. This caused him to make an important conclu-sion that it was vital to make an agreement with Hitler. On May 3, 1939 the Foreign Minister Litvinov was discharged, his position being taken by Molotov. Thus, Moscow gave a signal to Berlin. It was not because Litvinov was a Jew, whereas the new minister was a Russian. To understand Stalin’s job swap it is necessary to look over Comrade Litvinov’s biography. It will make things clear…
Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (Meher-Genoh Moiseyevich Filkenstein, or Max Vallakh) was no ordinary Bolshevik. A member of the Bolshevik Party since 1898, he specialized in purchasing and trafficking arms to Rus-sia. It is no exaggeration to say that traffic in arms is a specific business that required contacts in some spheres involving careful treatment, such as special services of different countries. Looking over Comrade Litvinov’s
To initial an international treaty means confirming the authenticity of the text of a treaty in each language by the initials of the Authorized Representatives of the parties concerned. There is nothing more to it. It does not mean ratification (executive force) of a certain treaty.
|
|
|
Meltyukhov, M. P. 67.
255
Who made Hitler attack Stalin
activities, one could notice a peculiarity: all his revolutionary work was oddly connected with Great Britain. For one thing, this “champion of a happy life for all working people” was married to an English woman that had kept her British citizenship all her life, including the period when her husband headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union!1
It was from London that the English steamer “John Grafton” loaded with arms set out for Russia in the summer of 1905. Luckily, running aground, she did not deliver the awesome cargo for the purpose intended. No one knows how many such ships had arrived at their points of destination. But it is well known that the arms were shipped by Comrade Litvinov…
After the first Russian revolution he found himself in exile again. In 1908 Maxim Maximovich was arrested in France in the legal case of an armed robbery of the CIT vehicle. If someone thinks that a desperate and hungry йmigrй attacked cash-in-transit providers in Paris, one is in error. Comrade Vallakh did not suffer from dearth of money. This gentleman was arrested following an armed robbery in Tbilisi, arranged by Kamo, a famous Bol-shevik expropriator. The Leninists tried to change 500-rouble notes, but the bank note numbers were communicated to all European banks. The French police seized the future MFA head with such a bank note.
The Russian 500-rouble note looked like a large piece of paper (13 ∙ 28 cm). There were no wallets this size at the time, so they car-ried paper money in bags. The lower right corner of a light-green note showed the series and the serial number: two red letters and six figures. These figures also showed under the colored denomination — 500 — in the white background. When examined in the light, the background showed a watermark — a well-drawn portrait of Peter I. Such a pack of anti-counterfeiting measures brought about a situation disappointing for the Bolsheviks, because it was impossible to change a prodigious sum of money (340 thousand roubles) in 500-rouble denominations.
|
|
|
What was a penalty for hustling stolen property, according to the then French legislation? It may have been imprisonment. But Comrade Litvinov was not imprisoned. Did he have a good lawyer? It was possible. But he also
At that time the purge of the apparatus involved the whole territory of the USSR. Even a charwoman from a railway station refreshment room could be imprisoned for “contacts” with foreigners from a train running by. Thus, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs married to a foreigner was something extraordinary.
256
Why the west likes neither Molotov, nor Ribbentrop
had good connections with special services and, consequently, with gov-ernmental structures of European states. If all the Russian revolutionaries were imprisoned in Europe, who was supposed to make a Russian revolu-tion? France could not extradite Maxim Maximovich to Russia because of Russian imprisonment in store for him. So they found a way out: he was extradited to England!
He stayed in England 9 years — till the beginning of the Bolshevik revo-lution. Since June 1914 Comrade Litvinov had been a representative of the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks’ party in the International Socialist Bureau and a member of London’s fraction of his party. In other words, as a party functionary he received a salary in English pounds. This is not surprising. Russian revolutionaries were all pros; so they professionally spread chaos, confusion and crackpot ideas and could not do anything more. Nobody knows what Comrade Litvinov was busy doing in England the first six years of his sojourn (from 1908 to 1914). He was unlikely to just wear out the seat of his trousers in London pubs all this time! Somebody was certain to be supplying him with money for sustenance. This period of time between the two Russian revolutions was financially the most difficult one for Lenin’s party. By that time Maxim Litvinov’s running expenses had increased, too, because he married a beautiful Englishwoman. So who paid for his bunches of flowers and sweets and theatre-goings hand- in-hand with his bride? Did the Party pay for his entertainments? But an English merchant’s daughter is not an artless village girl. You can’t make do with only a bottle of liqueur and tales about life abroad. But let the reader get things straight himself…
|
|
|
When the Bolsheviks came to power, Lenin named Litvinov Plenipo-tentiary Envoy of Soviet Russia to England. The reason was simple: he had proved a reliable man purchasing and trafficking arms due to his connec-tions with the British intelligence service and spent a long time in Britain. So it would be easier for him to come to terms with the state bodies of that country. At the very beginning of the Bolshevik rule they did not discuss cultural contacts, or oil and gas supplies. The Bolshevik rule was at stake. It was up to England to define the winner in the Civil War. In the final analysis, the White Guards did not get relevant assistance, which predetermined the Bolsheviks’ victory. Litvinov deserves credit for this.
From then on all Litvinov’s energy would be used exclusively in the dip-lomatic service, starting with the post of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
257
Who made Hitler attack Stalin
Comrade Chicherin, the minister, had never been a Trotskyite; yet, when Leo Trotsky was exiled from the USSR in 1929, Litvinov was directly placed in Chicherin’s position. He was at the head of the ministry until May 3, 1939, when he was discharged by Stalin for the sake of rapprochement with Hitler. Historians make a mistake in interpreting this event. The main factor is not the minister’s Jewish nationality, but his pro-English political orientation! Stalin discharged England’s “best friend” to give Hitler an unequivocal signal. Besides, the dismissal of the “pro-English” Litvinov was aimed at causing England to take some more active contacts with the USSR, if the English really wanted to keep Moscow from making a treaty with Berlin.
But Litvinov’s career had not stalled. His further appointments justified his contacts with British politicians and British special services. After be-ing removed from office, he lived in his country-house near Moscow. But as soon as Hitler attacked the USSR, Stalin made him ambassador in the USA in order to arrange American supplies of military equipment vitally important to the USSR. Litvinov spent the whole crucial period of the war till 1943 overseas; he got back home, with a clear conscience, only when the star of the Third Reich was set.
|
|
|
Hitler appreciated the “reshuffle”. “Following Litvinov’s dismissal the Kremlin’s interest in reconsidering its relations with Germany had en-hanced lately, which gave me a chance, after some successful preparations, to send my Minister of Foreign Affairs to Moscow to conclude a treaty. This is going to be the broadest possible non-aggression pact that will be revealed to public. The pact will not be confined to terms and includes the commitment to consult on all questions affecting the interests of Germany and Russia. I can tell you, Duce, that this agreement will guarantee Russia’s benevolence in case of any conflict”1, — Hitler wrote to Mussolini in a letter of August 25, 1939.
The Germans were determined and persistent. Their requirements were clear and their moves showed that they were eager to eliminate a threat from the East. Hitler had a good reason to hurry, having fixed the date of attacking Poland: August 26, 1939. So The Germans had to sign the German-Soviet Pact before that date, and the sooner — the better. So Germany was pursuing a definite and accurate policy as to her aims. The essence of the
Source: The USSR — To be made public: The USSR — Germany in 1939–1941: Documents and materials / Compiling editor Y. Felshtinskiy. M., 1991.
258
Why the west likes neither Molotov, nor Ribbentrop
German proposals and her approach to the situation may be comprehended from the cable of August 14, 1939 of the German Minister of Foreign Af-fairs Joachim von Ribbentrop to Germany’s ambassador in Moscow Count von der Schulenburg.
“I ask you to contact Mr. Molotov in person and tell him the following: Ideological difference between the National Socialist Germany and the So-viet Union is the only thing that has previously polarized Germany and the USSR… The period of hostility may terminate once and for all; the road to a new future is open for both countries… The living space of Germany verges on that of the USSR, but there is no natural need for conflict… Germany has no aggressive plans directed against the USSR. The Imperial Govern-ment is of the opinion that there are no problems between the Baltic and the Black Seas that cannot be settled to the reasonable satisfaction of both the states… There is no doubt that the present state of German-Soviet rela-tions has come to the turning-points of history. The decisions concerning these relations which will be made in Berlin and Moscow tomorrow will be crucial to the German and the Soviet peoples… It is true that in the result of the longstanding ideological antagonism Germany and the Soviet Union are suspicious of each other. Much rubbish must be removed… Thanks to their experience, the Imperial Government and the Soviet Government must take account of the fact that the capitalist democracies of the West are irreconcilable enemies of both National-Socialist Germany and the Soviet Union. Today, by concluding a military alliance, they are trying to involve the USSR into a war against Germany. In 1914 this policy resulted in a catastrophe for Russia. It is in the interests of both countries to safeguard the existence of Germany and the USSR forever, while the collapse of each country would only play into the hands of the West democracies. The crisis in the Polish-German relations stirred up by the Britain’s policies, as well as the British propaganda aimed at establishing an [anti-German] block, offer an incentive to normalize the Soviet-German relations in the shortest time possible…”1
What was going on in London and Paris, while the German diplomacy was actively working for rapprochement with the USSR? Both London and Paris decided to conclude a treaty with the USSR with the view of thwart-ing a German-Soviet pact that was in the making. The English intelligence
Izvestiya. №228. 15.08.1989.
259
Who made Hitler attack Stalin
was well aware of Germany’s imminent onslaught against Poland1. If Stalin and Hitler did not manage to come to agreement at that moment, then war between Russia and Germany was very likely. To this end, the main tactic for the Western diplomats was “to buy time”…
The joint delegation of Paris and London went to Moscow long before the German delegation that signed the Pact on August 23, 1939. A month earlier, on July 23, 1939 Halifax informed Maiskiy, the Soviet ambassador in Great Britain, that the Government of His Majesty was ready for negotia-tions. All the delaying tactics were used. For example, the joint delegation went to Russia by sea, not by plane. It would be a mistake to suggest that the military mission representing two major maritime nations decided to board a fast cruiser. The delegation preferred the “City of Exeter”, a slow-speed passenger ship. It looks like a trifle, but it took the ship five or six days to reach Russia…
As a result, the negotiations began only on August 11. The composition of the delegation is noteworthy, too. The USSR was represented by the highest military ranks: Minister of Defense K. E. Voroshilov, the Chief of General Staff B. M. Shaposhnikov, the Naval Force Commander N. G. Kuznetsov and the Air Force Commander A. D. Loktionov. Britain and France were represented by “second-rate” generals. This is no coincidence. The minis-ter of defense was not the same as General “Asshurl”. The delaying tactics of the delegation might be even more “efficient”, if it had no subscription right. The French General Doumenc had credentials “to make agreements concerning all questions related to cooperation between the armed forces of both the sides”, while the British Admiral Reginald Drax… had no letter of authorization at all!2
It is worth mentioning that in autumn 1938 during the Munich confederacy a group of German generals shared their proposal to kill Hitler with their British colleagues. By the autumn of 1939 these high-standing German generals were opposed to war against England and they kept communicating information to Britain. The well-known chief of the German intelligence Admiral Canaris was executed by the Nazis for cooperation with the British intelligence. On the eve of Germany’s onslaught against Poland he conveyed the particulars of the German plans to Britain through the counselor of the German embassy in London Th. Kordt (source: Falin, V. P. 105).
A letter of authorization is no mere formality. Normally, ambassadors hand in their letters of credence when presenting themselves. The absence of such
260
Why the west likes neither Molotov, nor Ribbentrop
Molotov and Ribbentrop signed the Non-aggression Pact that cancelled the efforts of the West to nourish Nazism for crushing the USSR. That is why historians of “progressive mankind” dislike this document, as well as the parties to the agreement
Why did the admiral come to Russia? One may learn about this in item 8 of his instruction: “Hold negotiations as slowly as possible”1. Other items are peculiar, too: “hold negotiations in the hope that they will become a de-terrent in their own way” and “strive for a situation which makes it possible to reduce the subject to general statements”2.
Time flies, and the German Army is winding up its preparation for invading Poland. What the Germans want is do a snow job on the Russians within only two weeks, and after that things will straighten out. That is why the head of the British delegation keeps smiling and proposes that the talks… be transferred to London. Then he will be able to submit his letter of authorisation! By the way, it was not Germany alone that was going to attack the USSR, because since the spring of 1939 the threat of Japanese aggression was increasing. The Japanese regular troops set out to invade Mongolia on May 11, 1939. London did not respond to it3.
a letter is equal to that of the passport of a person who wants to get a driver’s or a marriage licence.
Volkov, F. D. Nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest. P. 13.
Bezymenskiy, L. The Special file “Barbarossa”. P. 67.
Falin, V. P. 88.
261
Who made Hitler attack Stalin
In the summer of 1939 the Pact was concluded. On that occasion the Soviet and the German delegations drank champagne to their hearts’ con-tent. But that summer there was also Khalkhin-Gol. So the Soviet Union was greatly interested in negotiations. Who did the USSR want to negotiate with? The Soviets were ready to conclude an agreement, no matter what country, to prevent an aggression against the USSR.
According to the treaty of March 12, 1936, the Soviet Union was bound to defend the territory of Mongolia in the same way, as if it were the Soviet territory. The hostilities lasted all summer, while the diplomats held their multilateral negotiations, trying to outsmart each other. Finally, on the eve of signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet troops went into the offensive on August 20, and by August 24 the Japanese forces were surrounded. In spite of the hot and strong resistance, the 6th Japanese army was crushed.
Дата добавления: 2019-07-17; просмотров: 254; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!