Foreign Relations of the United States, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939

711.61/666

The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State

No. 1886

Moscow, November 25, 1938.
[Received December 16.]

Sir: With reference to my telegram No. 391 of November 16, 1938,⁹⁹ I have the honor to transmit herewith copies in the original Russian as well as complete English translations of the editorials on Soviet-American relations printed in Izvestiya and Krasnaya-Zvezda on November 16, 1938, entitled respectively “The Two Giants” and “Soviet-American Relations.”¹

Since the publication of these articles there have been no further statements in the Soviet press stressing the importance of strengthening relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. In fact the papers have continued to carry articles critical of certain phases of life in the United States with the attendant emphasis on the evils of the capitalist system of which those phases are characterized as the natural manifestations. The articles in question have given rise to certain comment in foreign circles in Moscow but no tendency is detected to evaluate the statements contained therein excepting from a realistic standpoint. The position of isolation in which the Soviet Union now apparently finds itself and its campaign of open hostility towards fascist states which, since the Munich accord, has expanded to include those governments whose policies are regarded as furthering aggression, are naturally conducive to the selection for favorable attention of any country or group of countries which do not in Soviet eyes fall into the above categories. The enclosed articles, in stressing the value of solidarity between the United States and Soviet Russia, may be interpreted as a gesture towards a closer cooperation between the governments of those countries. Circumstances therefore might develop which could be taken advantage of by the United States to bring about the profitable settlement of outstanding matters of which the solution has been delayed owing to difficulties either actual or assumed which the Soviet Government has adduced in the course of past negotiations. No statement in these articles, however, nor, in fact, any past manifestation of Soviet policy would indicate that there is any sincere purpose on the part of the Kremlin to depart voluntarily from its policy of envisaging negotiations with other countries from a strictly realistic standpoint and to grant any concessions except in isolated instances on the basis of strict reciprocity. The normal process of cooperation between countries in conformity with the established principles which govern the relations of the United States with friendly governments does not appear to constitute a basic factor in Soviet foreign policy and, if the repeated utterances of Soviet leaders are considered, it may be assumed that the Kremlin does not envisage cordial relations with the capitalist governments on any permanent basis but rather as a temporary expedient dictated by the more immediate objectives of Soviet policy.²

Respectfully yours,

Alexander C. Kirk

99. Not printed.
1. Neither printed.
2. To this composite despatch prepared by Alexander C. Kirk, Chargé, Stuart E. Grummon, First Secretary of Embassy, and Charles E. Bohlen, Second Secretary of Embassy, there is attached a memorandum of December 21, 1938, by Pierrepont Moffat, Chief of the Division of European Affairs, observing that these writers “seem to feel that no foreign Government mapping out its foreign policies should place any dependence upon sustained Soviet cooperation or should consider Soviet gestures of friendship as other than opportunistic moves taken in order to meet some international exigency.”