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From Socialist Appeal, Vol. IV No. 30, 27 July 1940, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Despite the multiplying signs of a coming shift in the policies of the Kremlin, it would now seem that this shift is to wait upon the conclusion of the Battle of Britain, now about to open.
This is due primarily to the development of the American position in the war. Had there been any possibility of immediate American intervention on an effective scale, the chances are Stalin would have already effected his latest flipflop. But this possibility has not existed. Neither the Roosevelt administration nor its Republican “opponents” has dared in the last few months to take an openly interventionist stand.
At the same time the advisability of attempting such a stampede was materially reduced by the unexpectedly swift victories of Germany in the battles on the European continent. It has been sufficiently apparent in the past few months that effective intervention by the U.S. in Europe may no longer be feasible. It became clear instead that the clash between the U.S. and Germany would more likely take place on broader battlefields following the German conquest of Europe.
This caution dictates a like policy in the Kremlin. Without American intervention, Stalin could not hope by himself to change the course of the Battle of Britain. He might succeed only in bringing upon the Soviet Union a full German attack earlier by months than he had any reason to expect. Stalin, in effect, is already pegging his policy on American policy, just as in the dim days before the war European currencies were being pegged to the dollar.
Meanwhile the pot goes on boiling. Walter Duranty, who still has an eye for such things, reported from Bucharest the same day that Hitler spoke (NY Times, July 20) that Rumanians expect Germany (before long to resume its drive to the East.
In Bucharest itself, Duranty said, the Germans were intriguing furiously to keep Rumania and the Soviet Union and Turkey and the Soviet Union as embroiled as possible without actual conflict. Most important of all, Duranty cites as authentic reports that both Red Army and German troops were being moved westward and eastward respectively in steadily growing numbers.
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