861.00/11934: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Standley ) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]60

292. Embassy’s 284, April 6, 8 [7] p.m.61 The Moscow press of April 6 reports the conclusion on April 5 of the record All-Slav meeting in Moscow, with the issuance of an appeal to all Slavs outside the Soviet Union.62 This appeal declares that the hour has come when all Slav peoples must rise in a decisive fight against Hitlerism. It states that whether or not the possible German spring offensive against the Soviet Union will be converted into the complete destruction of the enemy depends upon the Slav peoples. This destruction must be accomplished not only by the arms of the Red Army but also by the hands of all Slav peoples, all of whom must be mobilized for the struggle against the enemy. Passivity is characterized as a crime [Page 434] and it is stated that the liberation of the Slav peoples depends upon their active participation in the fight. The appeal urges all Slav peoples outside of the Soviet Union to intensify guerrilla warfare against the Hitlerites and to carry on industrial and agricultural sabotage.

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Standley
  1. The omitted portion is a listing of the names of some of the prominent participants of the II All-Slav Congress. The I All-Slav Congress had been held in Moscow about August 11, 1941.
  2. Not printed.
  3. The Third Secretary of Embassy, G. Frederick Reinhardt, noted in a memorandum enclosed in despatch No. 8 of May 5, 1942, that the First Secretary of the Yugoslav Legation in Kuibyshev, M. Bogich, declared that his Government believed that “the meetings were a product of the Comintern” (the Third, or Communist International, founded by the Bolsheviks in Moscow during March 1919). M. Bogich said it was also believed that “the Czech Minister [Zdenek Fierlinger] and the greater part of the Czech Legation in Kuibyshev could almost be characterized as Soviet agents … that evidence was accumulating to the effect that the Czechoslovak Legation is spending a good deal of its time in serving the interests of the Soviet Government in such matters as reporting everything that is heard from other diplomatic colleagues.” Another source of information cited in this despatch pointed out that “in general all of the participants [in the Congress] who are not Russians are residents of the Soviet Union, some of them having resided in this country for many years.” (861.00/11951)