861.00 Congress, Communist International, VII/13: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 3—4:45 p.m.]
262. Louis Fischer called on me today obviously under the instructions of some agency of the Soviet Government. He informed me that an unexpected result had been produced by the secret meetings of the leaders of the Third International now in progress in the country near Moscow. It had been decided that a full Congress of the Third International should be held in Moscow at the end of July or the beginning of August. Fischer said that while no outsiders would be admitted to the meetings of the Congress it had been decided that an account of the proceedings should be published.
He then asked me whether or not the United States would protest to the Soviet Foreign Office if Browder or some other American Communist should attack the United States in the Congress. I replied that I could not answer such a hypothetical question.
He then said that he had just been rereading the notes exchanged between the President and Litvinov42 and that he felt personally that such a speech at such a Congress would constitute a violation of Litvinov’s pledge with regard to propaganda and that he was most disturbed because of the possible effect on Soviet-American relations.
I should be glad to have the Department’s advice as to the line I should take if Litvinov or anyone else should by chance ask me a similar hypothetical question.