740.0011 European War 1939/10718: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:48 p.m.]
928. The following analysis of the recent attitude of the Soviet press is submitted in the belief that, apart from the outstanding developments which are reported in the Embassy’s daily telegrams, the trend of the treatment accorded international news by the Soviet press is not without significance.
The attitude of the Soviet press in recent months toward the progress of the war has been objective and generally noncommittal. Recently, however, there has been discernible a tendency to emphasize the strength of the Allies. Although German and Italian communiqués [Page 614] continue to hold the place of honor, British and American news despatches predominate and German news stories are rarely quoted. The result is that a reader of the Soviet newspapers receives an impression of world events that tends to be favorable to the Allied cause. On the other hand, while there are occasional articles criticizing internal developments in Great Britain and other countries, statements critical of developments in Germany and Italy are scrupulously avoided and there has been no indication that the Soviet Union desires an improvement in its badly strained relations with Great Britain.43
The frequent surveys of international events have, despite their tone of lofty impartiality, consistently endeavored to offset German successes by emphasizing that the belligerents in the present struggle are evenly matched. In this connection there has been a very strong emphasis upon the importance of the defense program of the United States and of American aid to Britain. While each article on the American program has been objective, the quantity of news items and surveys dealing with this subject has been striking. I have learned that some weeks ago the Soviet press was cautioned not to publish articles likely to offend the United States and, with the exception of the Pravda editorial in reply to foreign press comment on the Soviet-Japanese pact (see my 802, April 19, 2 p.m.44), recent criticism of the United States has been confined to a few articles dealing with internal economic affairs.
The press has not concealed Soviet displeasure at German penetration of the Balkans.45 Beginning with the denial that the Soviet Union had urged Hungary to join the Tripartite Pact,46 the press has with increasing directness expressed Soviet dissatisfaction over developments in this area. Bulgaria’s action in joining the Axis47 was openly criticized. German pressure on Yugoslavia was ignored by the Soviet press until the coup d’etat and the conclusion of the Soviet-Yugoslav pact,48 after which much publicity was given to [Page 615] events in that country. For some months it had been evident that the Soviet press was endeavoring to minimize Axis successes in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean area. After the attack upon Yugoslavia this attitude became more pronounced and, as was reported in my 894, May 2, 3 p.m.,49 the Soviet press on May Day published articles which cautioned the public against attaching too much importance to temporary successes.
With the exception of the editorial referred to above, the attitude of the Soviet press toward the conflict in the Far East has shown no perceptible change since the conclusion of the Soviet-Japanese pact. The few articles on this subject which have been published have been objective accounts of developments.
The press continues occasionally to refer to the dangers of capitalistic encirclement, the “imperalist war”, and to the enrichment of the bourgeoisie at the expense of the workers as a result of the war, but the chief emphasis is upon the benefits of peace accruing to the Soviet Union as a result of the “wise Stalinist foreign policy”.
- For correspondence concerning the relations of Great Britain and France with the Soviet Union, see pp. 155 ff.↩
- Not printed.↩
- For correspondence regarding activities of the Soviet Union in the Balkans, see pp. 272 ff.↩
- Three-power pact of assistance signed at Berlin on September 27, 1940, between Germany, Italy, and Japan; for text, see Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. ii, p. 165. For the negotiation of this treaty, see Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. i, pp. 633 ff. Hungary adhered to this treaty by a special protocol signed at Vienna on November 20, 1940; see Reichsgesetzblatt, 1941, Teil ii, p. 31.↩
- Bulgaria adhered to the Tripartite Pact by a special protocol signed at Vienna on March 1, 1941; see ibid., p. 228.↩
- Signed at Moscow on April 5, 1941. Regarding the negotiation of this treaty, see telegram No. 698, April 6, from the Ambassador in the Soviet Union, p. 301. There is a text in the New York Times, April 6, 1941, p. 1.↩
- Not printed.↩