CAB129-78 — Page 238

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Page 238 Britain and France had had the inclination to restrain Hitler and to prevent the unleashing of war they would have prevented Hitler from seizing Austria; they would not have concluded the shameful Munich Pacts.

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"It is known that France had a mutual aid treaty with Czechoslovakia. the moment, however, when Hitler undertook the seizure of Czechoslovakia, the French Government refused to come to her aid, although it knew well that the Soviet Union was ready to give immediate aid in the matter of curbing Hitler's aggression. It is after all no secret that the Soviet armed forces were then in a state of military preparedness so as to repel, jointly with French troops, Hitler's aggression against Czechoslovakia. The French Government, however, refused to do this. The history of the pre-war years convincingly testifies to the fact that the Western Powers made one concession after another to Hitler, pushing him to the East, towards our country. But things turned out in such a way that the one whom the then ruling circles of Britain, France and the United States were feeding up like their chained dog, intending to unleash it against the Soviet Union, slipped his chain and attacked those who were feeding him. In this connection we involuntarily ask ourselves: do we not see some analogy with the pre-war period if we look at some of the steps that are being taken with regard to Western Germany?

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Are not the very same countries to-day proceeding by the very same means in an endeavour to push Western Germany along the road of aggression and new adventures?

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They have involved Western Germany in NATO; they supply the funds for the rearmament of Western Germany, supply her with arms. Many of the leading lights of the Western countries do not even consider it necessary to hide the fact that they are training the West German Army against the Soviet Union.

Then why do you gentlemen, British journalists, take offence when we recall a few things from the past?

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"I want to speak also about the following: Russia never made war against Britain but Britain has attacked our country, both in the past and in our Soviet times. It is sufficient to quote such an example as the Crimean war. After all, the Russians had not then invited the English to the Crimea to destroy Russian people on our Russian soil. One can also recall the British intervention against our Motherland during the Civil war. When the Soviet Republic was only just beginning to get stronger, the British troops occupied Archangel; they came to us not as friends but as foes to shed the blood of our Soviet people on our Soviet land until they were thrown out of it. All this is also historical fact from which one cannot get away.

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'Remember, finally, the famous directive which Mr. Churchill issued at the end of the second World War to his Commander-in-Chief in the European theatre of war operations. Churchill had then issued orders to lock up and store the weapons which the Hitler troops abandoned when they were surrendering, and to keep these troops in readiness as they might come in useful in action against the Soviet Union, though the Soviet Union was Britain's ally.

"We are used to telling the truth always and to look truth in the face, even though it might be unpleasant. All our actions proclaim the fact that we do not want dissensions with the Western Powers; we stand for a true friendship with Britain, France, the United States and other countries. We want to be friendly with all the countries of the world. . .

"I want to return again to the events of the second World War. It is known that when Hitler's Germany treacherously attacked the Soviet Union and we found ourselves to be the allies of France, Britain and the United States in the struggle against her, our country fulfilled its duties as an ally honestly and conscientiously. The Soviet Union has shed much more blood in this war than all our Allies taken together, but we respect and give praise to the British, French, American and other troops who fought against Hitler's Germany and her satellites.

The struggle was stiff. But our joint armies, fighting for the happy future of mankind, for its freedom and independence, against bloody Hitlerism, gained the proudest of victories. This experience of joint struggle for a common cause was of great significance. The second World War has shown that British, French, American and Soviet people can be the best of friends not only in good times, but also in the years of the hardest and direst of trials. If we were Allies in the war, then what can prevent us being just as good friends in the struggle for maintaining and consolidating peace?

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