861.00 Congress, Communist International, VII/56–62: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Bullitt ) to the Secretary of State 58

363–369. Your 189, August 19, 7 p.m. The Congress of the Communist International which closed last night was a flagrant violation of Litvinov’s pledge to the President.

The mere holding of the Congress in Moscow under control of the Soviet Government would have constituted a technical breach of Litvinov’s pledge. The violation, however, was far more serious.

The participation of American delegates in the Congress, the inclusion of Browder and Foster in the Presidium, together with Stalin, Manuilski and Pyatnitski, the inclusion of Americans in other committees of the Congress, the numerous speeches by American delegates in which Stalin was referred to as their leader, the numerous references to the United States in other addresses and the election at the last session of the Americans Browder, Green and Foster to the Executive Committee of the Communist International, place beyond the question of fact that the Government of the United States would be juridically and morally justified in severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Government.

In mitigation the Soviet Government can plead only that attacks on the Government of the United States were less severe than attacks on other governments and that no direct attacks were made personally by members of the Soviet Government. There is of course, no doubt [Page 245] concerning it, also no proof that the entire course of the Congress was dictated in advance by Stalin.

To break relations would satisfy the indignation we all feel and would be juridically correct; but in my opinion this question should be decided neither on emotional nor juridical grounds but on the basis of a cold appraisal of the wisest course to pursue to defend the American people from the efforts of the Soviet Government to produce bloody revolution in the United States.

If we should sever relations now on the ground that the Soviet Government has broken its pledged word to us and cannot be trusted, resumption of relations would be inordinately difficult and we should almost certainly not be able to reestablish relations with the Soviet Union during this decade. In this decade the Soviet Union either will be the center of attack from Europe and the Far East or will develop rapidly into one of the greatest physical forces in the world. In either event an official observation post of the United States Government in Moscow will be desirable, not only to gather information on conditions in the Soviet Union and relations of the Soviet Union with the nations of Europe and the Far East, but also, and more important, to inform the Government of the United States with regard to activities of the Soviet Government directed against the lives and interests of American citizens.

American diplomatic representatives in the Soviet Union are harassed and restricted; but there is no way in which a sense of reality with regard to the Soviet Union may be obtained and preserved except by the painful process of living within its confines. As the Soviet Union grows in strength it will grow in arrogance and aggressiveness and the maintenance of an organization in Moscow to measure and report on the increasingly noxious activities and breach of faith of the Soviet Union seems definitely in the interest of the American people.

Moreover, unless we should expel from the United States along with the Soviet diplomatic representatives all Soviet citizens including officials of such organizations as Amtorg59 and Intourist,60 the Soviet Government for all practical purposes would still have representation in the United States, while the Government of the United States would be without representation in the Soviet Union.

I have no adequate information regarding the reaction of American public opinion to the Congress of the Communist International and my recommendations, therefore, may be so totally out of touch with the feelings of the American people, the President and yourself, that they may seem absurd. But as you have instructed me to cable you my suggestions and recommendations I must venture to do so.

[Page 246]

I believe that we should not now break relations with the Soviet Government.

I believe that we should not make a written protest to the Soviet Government. Such a protest would produce only a violent and insulting reply and a fruitless exchange of notes.

I believe that an oral protest to Troyanovsky and the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in Moscow would be inadequate to meet the menace set forth in the new “united front” tactics of the Soviet Government and its servant the Comintern.

I believe that we should employ this occasion to make clear to the American people the aims of the Soviet Government which lie behind the mask labeled “united front against Fascism and war.”

I believe we should revoke the exequaturs of all Soviet Consuls in New York and San Francisco, leaving only the Consular Section in the Soviet Embassy at Washington.

I believe that we should restrict to a minimum the granting of American visas to Soviet citizens.

And after most careful thought I venture to suggest that the President either before he leaves Washington or in the first of his addresses on the tour he is about to undertake should give utterance in his own words to a sequence of thoughts of the following nature:

1.
The solemn character of Litvinov’s pledge before recognition.
2.
The facts with regard to the Communist International and the present Congress. (The boasts with regard to Communist leadership of the San Francisco and other strikes should not be forgotten.)
3.
Although Litvinov stated at the time of recognition that his Government hopes that relations between the peoples of the United States and the Soviet Union might “forever remain normal and friendly” the rulers of the Soviet Union under the mask of friendship are directing preparations for the overthrow of our system of government and democratic liberties.
4.
The leading orator of the Congress (Dimitrov) laid down the course to be pursued by Communists of the United States and all other democratic countries. Communists in all democratic countries have been ordered by the Communist Congress in Moscow to worm their way into the labor unions, farmers organizations, the women’s peace organizations, all organizations of youth, all liberal, political, social and religious organizations, and into the ranks of the intellectuals, there to work as bosom friends of their fellow members of these organizations until the day comes when they hope to be able to establish Soviet tyranny in the United States and destroy their fellow workers who have trusted them. The American Communists are also directed to work especially among our negro fellow citizens to the end that they may be incited to a massacre of their white brothers. And all this is to be accomplished by Communists wearing the mask of peace and anti-Fascism while the intended victims of the Communists are to be lulled into brotherly friendship by appeals to their American devotion to peace and love of democratic liberty.
[5.]
There can be no question that if the Government of the United States should break relations with the Soviet Government it would be juridically and morally justified and, if we do not today take this course, it is because of a consideration which lay close to our hearts when we recognized the Soviet Union, and still lies close to our hearts, that is, the cause of world peace. At a moment when the peace of the world is threatened in many quarters, a government like ours which deeply cares for peace must hesitate to shake the unstable structure of international peace by withhold action [withholding?] diplomatic relations with any other government.
6.
It is clear however that the people of the United States must be warned of the intentions of the Soviet Government and of the American and foreign Communists who take their orders from the dictator of the Soviet Government. Steps must be taken for the protection of our lives and liberties. To permit Soviet Consuls to remain in American cities after the boasts of the Communist Congress with regard to fomenting strikes in the United States is impossible. As a first protective action the Secretary of State today has directed that the exequaturs of all Soviet Consuls in the United States shall be cancelled. He has also directed that all Soviet citizens who desire to come to the United States must be scrutinized with greater care than heretofore. We must prepare further methods of protection. And we must be vigilant in watching for the intrusion of those American and foreign agents of the Soviet Government who, in the simile of Dimitrov, will adopt the tactics of the Trojan horse and sneak into our midst, concealed by a covering of anti-Fascism and peace to destroy our institutions, liberties and lives.

With reference to the statement above about scrutinizing more carefully Soviet citizens who desire to visit the United States, I venture to suggest that henceforth the law excluding Communists from the United States should be applied rigidly and that you should instruct all American Missions to refuse visas to Soviet citizens unless they present entirely satisfactory evidence proving that they are not and have never been members of the Communist Party or Communist International and are not candidates for admission to the Communist Party or Communist International and are not members of the Profintern.61

The two steps of canceling the exequaturs of the Soviet Consuls in the United States and rigorously enforcing the law with regard to visas to Communists should become an irreducible minimum.

I have considered carefully whether or not it would be advisable to withdraw our Military Attaché62 in Moscow and to request the withdrawal of the Soviet Military63 and Naval64 Attachés in Washington. I believe this action should not be taken at present. It might be held in reserve in case the Soviet Government should retaliate or [Page 248] should take further offensive steps. Some sort of violent Soviet reprisal or replay is to be expected. As the Military and Naval Attachés are not in the direct diplomatic line and as the Red Army representatives are unquestionably on a higher plane as human beings than other Soviet citizens, and as Voroshilov (for his own purposes to be sure) desires genuinely friendly relations with the United States, I consider that this step may be held in abeyance.

It must be foreseen that Soviet reprisals to such steps as we may take may assume specific form in addition to dialectic violence. There will probably be first a demonstrative reduction in Soviet purchases in the United States. We must therefore reconcile ourselves and prepare public opinion as well to accept a material loss which however will be relatively negligible in our national economy and a small price to pay in order to defend ourselves against Communist encroachment. In case the President should wish to refer to this probability I venture to suggest a statement of the following nature:

“It is conceivable that the Soviet Government, which never hesitates to use its monopoly of foreign trade for political purposes may curtail orders in the United States in an effort to prevail upon certain American business circles to rally to the defense of its agents in this country. I have sufficient confidence in the patriotism and public spirit of American businessmen to believe that few of them in pursuit of personal gain will permit themselves to be used as tools of enemies of the American people.”

The question of reducing to a skeleton the staff of the Embassy in Moscow is one which depends entirely on the amount of work that the Department of State and other departments of our Government intend to demand of this mission. I expect to return to the United States as usual to spend Christmas with my daughter and I feel that extremely radical reduction of the Embassy staff should be the subject of discussions at that time.

I regret deeply that I cannot be in Washington this evening, as within the limits of a telegram I am unable to give you fully my reasons for the views outlined above. I can assure you that they have been considered most carefully and that they are concurred in by the officers of this mission.

In conclusion I venture to express the opinion that a statement by the President to repeat the thought expressed above, not in my words but his own, might have a powerful influence in stripping the mask from the united front movement, not only in America, but also in Europe.

Bullitt
  1. The seven sections of this message, transmitted as telegrams Nos. 363–369, are printed as one document.
  2. Amtorg Trading Corporation, 261 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y.
  3. Official travel agency for the Soviet Union.
  4. Red International of Labor Unions.
  5. Maj. Philip R. Faymonville.
  6. Vladimir Alexandrovich Burzin.
  7. Naval Attaché not in residence; Capt. Alexander Mikhailovich Yakimichev was the Assistant Attaché in the United States.