861.00/11874: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:48 p.m.]
138. Pravda and Izvestiya yesterday published in full the text of a speech made by Shcherbakov,11 the Secretary of the Moscow and Moscow Oblast Committee of the Communist Party, at a meeting attended by all of the principal Government and Party leaders and held in the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on January 21 on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of Lenin’s death. Shcherbakov’s speech contained nothing new, consisting first of a general paragraph of Soviet progress since the death of Lenin with especial emphasis on 1940. He praised agricultural and industrial achievements during the year and devoted considerable time to the 1940 labor legislation. Mentioning that violations of labor discipline had been responsible for heavy industrial losses during the period of the second five-year plan he urged further increases in labor productivity and economy in production. He said that poor technical operation had led to the ruining of a considerable amount of machinery and also that there was a serious wastage of metal in Soviet factories.
Turning to foreign policy, Shcherbakov remarked that the Soviet people must not be satisfied with internal achievements especially in times such as the present when the flames of the Second World War are raging in capitalist countries scattering their sparks everywhere. Strictly adhering to its policy of peace and neutrality the Soviet Union must, in order to pursue this course constantly, reenforce its strength. Soviet military weakness, he said, has disappeared into the past. The Soviet Union relies on its economic and military power and is following a policy which is dependent on no one and which emanates solely from the interests of the country. The greatest achievement of the Government and of the Party, he went on, is that they have created a strong Red army equipped in accordance with the most modern technique and have assured peaceful labor of the Soviet people.
[Page 600]“But the land of Socialism is growing and developing under circumstances of capitalist encirclement. We cannot view with indifference the events which are taking place beyond the Soviet frontiers. The international situation is now particularly complex and fraught with every surprise and it is therefore necessary to display intensified vigilance with respect to matters of external security and to the stress of all our positions. Therefore the interests of the defense of our country must take first place in all our work.”
Exhorting the Soviet people to make further strides forward toward perfect discipline, organization, unity and readiness to make any necessary sacrifices Shcherbakov concluded by stating that the enemies of the Soviet Union have not stopped the march of the Soviet people toward Communism and sounded a note of warning to any one who thinks of checking this advance.
- Alexander Sergeyevich Shcherbakov.↩