861.9111/507: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 22—11:30 p.m.]
1369. For the Secretary and Under Secretary. Herewith follows my fourth interpretive report on developments in Soviet policy as reflected in the press for the period March 9 to April 15 for distribution as suggested in my number 2215, December 14, 2 p.m.42
Report begins, number 4.
The press continues to concentrate on the war and to publicize accomplishments on the home front as well as the military with apparently the general purpose of exhorting the people to increased efforts for the drive for final victory.
With the advance of the Red Army toward and into neighboring countries Soviet political policy is unfolding as applied to the specific problems of individual countries. Soviet diplomacy is becoming increasingly active and positive. The pattern of these developments is consistent with the basic policies previously outlined by Soviet officials but in some cases is startling in its aggressiveness, determination and readiness to take independent action. Through the announced policies and articles in the press it is increasingly clear that the Soviet Union intends to play an important role in international affairs commensurate with its power and with the sacrifices it has made toward winning the war.
There is no indication that the Soviet Union does not value the relations they have attained with the British and ourselves. On the other hand, it is obvious that they are unwilling to compromise certain basic principles which they believe are essential to Soviet interests and security. With the exception of the compromise Curzon Line43 for the boundary with Poland, the western boundaries established in 1940 are considered fixed and irrevocable from Finland to the Black Sea. Any semblance of a cordon sanitaire is to be ended, but confirmation is evidenced by Molotov’s announcement regarding Rumania and exchange of representatives with the Badoglio government44 [Page 863] that Communist form of governments in Europe is not a present objective of the Soviets, although full opportunity for political expression of the Communist parties appear a fixed objective.
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Press comment on Great Britain and the United States was mixed. The Allied war effort was a major theme in dealing with Britain and America and special prominence was given to the Allied air war against Germany which received about as much space and prominence as the war in Italy and the Pacific combined. Expressions looking toward future cooperation with the Allies in the war and postwar period continued and in general news from Allied countries was treated sympathetically and prominence given to important declarations of Allied statesmen. Mr. Hull’s radio address of April 945 was given unusually full though not complete coverage. A long article in Red Star cautiously canvassed the possibilities for the 1944 American Presidential election confining direct comment only to statements to the effect that Roosevelt’s foreign policy had the support of wide sections of the American people and that foreign affairs were the chief problem confronting the United States at the present.
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- Not printed, but see telegram 2214, December 14, 1943, from Moscow, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. iii, p. 608.↩
- In regard to the origin of the Curzon Line and for a description of it, see Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vol. ix, pp. 272–273, 286, 434, 446–447; ibid., vol. xiii, pp. 793–794. Further details are in H. W. V. Temperley, A History of the Peace Conference of Paris (London, 1924), vol. vi, pp. 223–283, 317–322, and summary descriptions in S. Konovalov, Russo-Polish Relations: an Historical Survey (London, 1945), pp. 33–38, 57–63.↩
- Secretary of State Hull had already advised Ambassador Harriman in telegram 632, March 18 (vol. iii, p. 1061), that “this latest move of the Soviet Government has, however, added to the uncertainty and apprehension in the mind of the American public as to the sincerity and willingness of the Soviet Union to accept wholeheartedly the principle of collaboration in the conduct of international affairs.”↩
- Address on the “Foreign Policy of the United States of America” broadcast over the Columbia Broadcasting System; for text, see Department of State Bulletin, April 15, 1944, p. 335.↩