760F.62/1286: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:10 p.m.]
322. My 321 September 28, 6 p.m.96 The Acting Commissar for Foreign Affairs has just handed me a statement of which the following is a translation and which he asked me to transmit to my Government.
“The Government of the U.S.S.R. in its foreign policy [is motivated?] by an aspiration for general peace. Renouncing the use of force for the settlement of international conflicts the U. S. S. R. at the time supported the initiative of the Government of the United States which proposed in the Kellogg Pact the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy. Furthermore on the proposal of the Government of the U.S.S.R. in Moscow on February 9, 1929 there was concluded between the U.S.S.R. and a number of countries a treaty97 concerning the prior entry into force of this pact.
At the present time in Central Europe events are developing which threaten to grow into a new world war. At the grave moment the Government of the U.S.S.R. cannot but value the declaration of the President of the United States appealing for the pacific settlement of the conflict which has arisen. The Government of the U.S.S.R. accepts systematically the proposal made to it by the Government of the United States to assist in the prevention of war and in the pacific settlement of the present international crisis.
Noting the presence of obstacles in the way of Anglo-French mediation between the Czech Republic and Germany despite the declared willingness of Czechoslovakia to sacrifice its vital interests for the sake of general peace the Government of the U.S.S.R. sees in the immediate convocation of an international conference the most effective means of preventing further aggression and averting a new world war. As early as the 17th of March of this year after the forcible seizure of Austria98 which created a threat to the peace of Europe the Government of the U.S.S.R. proposed99 for the prevention of further and more dangerous international complications the urgent calling of such a conference which could explore practical measures for checking aggression and the preservation of peace by collective efforts. Faithful to its aspiration for peace the Government of the U.S.S.R. is prepared at the present moment as well to [Page 696] support the proposal put forward by the Government of the United States of America for the calling of an international conference and to take an active part therein.”
When the Acting Commissar delivered to me the Russian text of the foregoing, an official of the Commissariat read what purported to be a summary or translation of the statement in English and I thereupon pointed out to the Commissar that (1) the communication which I had read to him this morning related to a suggestion that the Chief of State or the Government of the Soviet Union send a message to Germany and Czechoslovakia along the lines of the appeal of the President of the United States the text of which as contained in the Department’s circular of September 27 I had communicated to him at the same time and that I failed to find in his statement any indication as to the intention of the Soviet Government in that regard and that (2) I was at a loss to understand the reference in his statement to the convocation of an international conference as no mention thereof appeared in the President’s appeal in question.
As to the first point, the Acting Commissar stated in reply that his Government had decided to deal with the matter by means of a statement of its views directed to the Government of the United States and that an explanation of the choice of this procedure might be found in the allusion in the statement to the obstacles which Anglo-French mediation had encountered in the present conflict. As regards the second point, the Acting Commissar stated that his Government had taken cognizance of a second appeal which had been made by the President to the German Chancellor in which the convocation of an international conference had been mentioned and that his Government preferring to base its views on larger aspects of the problem than those specified in my communication to him of this morning, had accordingly emphasized the matter of an international conference which had been a favored instrumentality in Soviet foreign policy. In reply I stated that I regretted that his Government had not seen its way clear to following the suggestion of my Government as communicated to him and that I was in no position to make any comment on the reference to the convocation of an international conference as contained in the statement which he was delivering to me other than to repeat that this matter was not raised in the suggestion which I had conveyed to him this morning and to state that I had only heard a report by radio of the transmission of a second message from the President to the German Chancellor but had not been apprised of its contents. I stated, however, that I would not fail to transmit to my Government the document which he had handed me.
[Page 697]In conclusion the Acting Commissar stated that the Soviet press tomorrow would carry the text of the statement of the Soviet Government together with the substance of my representations of this morning. I informed the Commissar that I was not in a position to apprise him of the intention or wishes of my Government as to any publicity to be given to the suggestion contained in the Department’s circular.
- Not printed.↩
- Protocol between Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Rumania and the Soviet Union for the immediate entry into force of the Treaty of Paris, August 27, 1928 …, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. lxxxix, p. 369.↩
- See pp. 384 ff.↩
- Statement by Maxim Litvinov, Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, March 17, 1938, Documents on International Affairs, 1938, vol. i, p. 314.↩