861.00/11884: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:03 p.m.]
934. My No. 922, May 7, noon. While there is, of course, much discussion here of Stalin’s “promotion” [the motives?] ascribed to this action are for the most part based upon pure speculation. It is clear, however, that in assuming the post of Prime Minister, Stalin becomes head of the Government in name as well as in fact and thus personally assumes formal responsibility for it. Some observers point out that this is a logical development in the fusion of the party and the Government which was begun in the purge of 1936.50 Although Lenin was also titular head of the party and the Government, many of the party leaders were not members of the Government in the early days of the regime. From the time of the purge the rank and file of the party became of diminishing importance in the actual governing of the country, while the party leaders began to take over responsible governmental positions. More recent manifestations of this policy were the establishment of unity of command in the army51 and the steps [Page 616] taken to prevent party members from interfering with the conduct of industrial establishments. By becoming chief of the Government, Stalin symbolizes the fact that the fusion has been largly completed and that the party has ceased to hold an independent and dominant position. Whatever the future role of the highest party organs may be with respect to policy making, it seems likely that in the administration of the Government, the Government official, whether a party member or not, will predominate over the outside Government official.
On the other hand the timing of this move is not without significance and is generally considered to have been determined by the international situation, and it must be noted that the Soviet Union is facing one of the most critical periods of its history, when perhaps vital decisions must be taken. I am convinced, however, that if this move was in fact dictated by a need to unite the full authority and prestige of the Government in time of crisis, such crisis lies in the future rather than in the past. In this connection it may be observed that, although Molotov relinquishes an important position, there is no reason to suppose that the step was taken with this end in view, and an American journalist was allowed by the censor to send a despatch stating that Molotov would be Stalin’s right hand man in the Government.
Stalin now holds the following positions: President of the Soviet of People’s Commissars of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the All Union Communist Party, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the All Union Communist Party, and member of the Supreme Military Council.
- See Foreign Relations, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, pp. 300–307.↩
- See the following communications from the Ambassador in the Soviet Union: telegram No. 508, May 9, 1940; despatch No. 568, June 25, 1940; and telegram No. 1011, August 13, 1940, Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. iii, pp. 200, 202, and 211, respectively.↩