Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The British Commonwealth, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Volume III

861.9111/457: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State

Moscow, December 14, 1943—1 p.m.
[Received December 15—10 a.m.]

2214. For the Secretary and Under Secretary. It is my intention by this cable to inaugurate a monthly report commenting on and interpreting the more important developments in Soviet policy as reflected by editorials and leading articles in the press. In the scheme of things in Soviet Russia, Government opinions and policies are developed and explained to the people through the press.

We are of course sending daily and monthly digests of the Soviet press, but as these are in great detail and without interpretation I feel they can be of value only to those who have sufficient time and interest to study them currently.

I suggest that this new cable series be made available to the White House, to the members of the Cabinet, and to such other members of the administration as you consider advisable. In order that the series may be made most useful I would appreciate comment.

Report Begins. The Soviet press reveals the revolutionary change in attitude of the Soviet Government toward the United States and Great Britain.

“Historic decisions” was the favorite headline on Tehran. In effect, Stalin has proclaimed that the Soviet Union has strong fast allies; that the three nations accept one another as equal partners in war and in the peace to follow.

This wasn’t put in so many words, but the implications were clear.

Following the Moscow Conference there was general satisfaction, even enthusiasm. But there was a note of caution, too. In the blunt words of the authoritative War and the Working Class of November 15, the significance of the Conference would depend on the speed and tempo with which the military decisions were carried out by Russia’s allies. Unusual credit was given to the Allied air offensive against Germany, and to the Allied military effort in general, but the fact that Russia was bearing the brunt of the war was still stressed.

There are, however, no reservations and no note of caution in the press reaction to the Tehran Conference.

It was taken for granted that steps had been taken to shorten the war. This was a hope after the Moscow Conference. Now it has become a certainty.

The wholehearted editorial approval was embroidered with accounts of meetings in factories and at collective farms at which Stalin was hailed as the one who, having left the country for the first time since the Revolution, had brought home great benefits to the people—the new understanding with the United States and Great Britain to end the war quickly, recognition of the Soviet Union as a world power of first importance, and above all assurance of a secure future in a world friendly to them. In return, party members at organized meetings exhorted workers and peasants to give Stalin more factory and farm production. Thus the new association with the United States and Great Britain has been woven into the fabric of people’s consciousness as a basic policy of the Soviet Government.

The fact that these meetings were organized is evidence of the importance the Soviet Government attaches to the job of selling its people this policy. The fact that Stalin is hailed publicly as the father of the policy gives it the highest official seal of approval. On the other hand the genuine enthusiasm for the new unity between the Allies has not up to the present modified the Soviet attitude towards individual European problems.

The following are the other principal points of Soviet Government policy stressed in the press during the month of November:

1. The Soviet Government continues to regard the frontiers of 1941 as a closed issue guaranteed by the Red army alone.

2. Soviet opposition to federations in Eastern Europe was bluntly stated by Izvestiya.

3. The implementation of the Moscow Declaration on Italy⁴⁰ was emphasized as the most important immediate political task, thus justifying the appointment of Vyshinski, senior Vice Commissar for Foreign Affairs, as the Soviet representative on the Advisory Council on Italy.⁴¹ Articles in the press showed that the Soviet Government considers the right of Communist parties to function freely an integral part of the establishment of democracy in postwar Europe.

4. The criticism of the Polish Government in Exile continued while the Polish divisions operating with the Red army received much favorable publicity.

5. The press reminded neutral states of the service their neutrality was rendering to the enemy, but the strong emphasis on Turkey’s entry into the war just after the Moscow Conference was not followed up during the latter part of November.

6. Finland was treated by the press and in special lectures as a full-fledged vassal of Germany whose rulers should share equally with the Nazis their impending fate.

7. No comment was given to the Free German Committee in the Soviet press, but evidences of German atrocities against inhabitants of liberated areas were widely publicized.

8. Following up the inclusion of China in the Four-Nation Declaration, the press has given more attention to events in the Far East than in previous months and has revealed more clearly than heretofore with thinly disguised satisfaction the conviction that Japan was doomed to overwhelming defeat. An article in the navy paper Red Fleet bracketed Japan and Finland as examples of states which, while not at war individually with all members of the United Nations, were nevertheless within the category of common enemies of the United Nations.

9. On the home front the dominating theme continued to be patriotism and the development of national spirit in which socialism has become merely one aspect of Soviet life. Stalin’s warning in his November 6 speech on the anniversary of the Revolution that despite victories complacency or slackening of effort would be a crime against the country, was utilized as a spur to production in industry and agriculture and to arouse all people to greater effort.

10. The role of the party in the war effort received greater attention than previously. It was revealed that 1,200,000 new members had been added to the party since 1940 totaling now 4,600,000.

11. The publicity given to letters to Stalin on his anniversary speech from leaders of all religions further demonstrates the intention of the Soviet Government to recognize religion as a factor in national life.⁴²

Harriman

40. Vol. i, p. 759.
41. The creation of this Council was provided for at the Moscow Conference; see ibid., p. 758. For its organization and early operation, see vol. ii, pp. 402 ff.
42. For correspondence on the reestablishment of the patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, and religious conditions in the Soviet Union, see pp. 855 ff.