851.00B/2–1947: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
741. Remytel 719, February 17, 6 p.m.1 Viewed from the vantage point of Paris, the “Comintern” gathering at London,2 timed as it is upon the eve of the Moscow Conference, reflects the highly complex nature of Soviet policy so well orchestrated here through the vast network of the French Communist movement, as well as various Comintern organizations and auxiliaries such as the WFTU, Women’s International Democratic Federation, World Youth Federation, and similar groups. The long hand of the Kremlin is increasingly exercising power, or at least influence, in all European countries, largely through its principal lever, the French Communist Party and its fortress the CGT. All these organizations function primarily as public pressure machines designed to promote Soviet aims and ambitions, while attacking the “imperialism” of the Anglo-Saxon “capitalist” powers, and undermining French authority in the colonies.
Posing to the average Frenchman as the strongest defender of his fatherland, especially against the German “menace” and “international [Page 691] capital”, the Soviet Trojan horse in France is so well camouflaged that millions of Communist militants, sympathizers, and opportunists have been brought to believe that the best way to defend France is to identify French national interests with the aims of the Soviet Union. Accordingly, Moscow is taking the initiative all along the line in utilizing its own auxiliaries like the WFTU and Women’s International Democratic Federation for purpose of raising a hue and cry about British and American “imperialism”, racial discrimination, promotion of “international trusts”, et cetera, and thus diverting attention from the extremely ugly aspects of the Soviet brand of “socialism” in the Soviet Union and its surrounding satellites. Owing to the fact that Paris has become the center of these activities, this city now resembles a veritable hive of Comintern agents with their swarm of followers and dupes, of whom the already large number almost daily increases, and who are endeavoring to “bore from within” international pacifist and idealist organizations like UNESCO and International United Nations Association.
The Comintern “brain trust” here is more active and bolder than at any period since the liberation. One of the Comintern’s spokesmen here, Courtade, openly proclaims that Stalin continues to pursue the strategy laid down by Lenin in the aim of exploiting all weaknesses and contradictions arising within the “parliamentary and bourgeois democracies” and asserts that it is absurd to accuse the Soviet Union of pursuing imperialist policies, since imperialism is the outgrowth of “capitalism” and consequently cannot exist in the “socialist” Soviet Union. Courtade insists that the “steps and efforts of a socialist state in the aim of assuring its defense and augmenting its authority are legitimate”, and divulges that “even when a conflict arises between a progressive state and one which is not so progressive, it appears normal to us in all cases to support the demands of the progressive state”. Basing his thesis on the myth that Soviet Union is really socialist and democratic, Courtade has the effrontery to announce that, “We do not separate our patriotism and the defense of French interests from the defense of the positions already conquered by the socialist revolution.”
Courtade’s Soviet patriotism and that of other French Communists, such as Thorez, was well tested and found loyal by the Kremlin in 1940, when in support of the Hitler-Stalin pact,3 he engaged in secret Communist activities designed to disintegrate the French army at a time when his own country was at war with Germany.
[Page 692]The real nature of the Soviet advance in Europe is cloaked under the Stalinist doctrine of the unequal development of “socialism”, that is, the thesis that the extension of Soviet power depends upon the gradual and uneven breakdown of “bourgeois democracy” in countries situated on the perimeter of the Soviet Union. This thesis is well reflected in the recent remark of the chief spokesman of the Communist parties for western Europe and America, Jacques Duclos, to the effect that “Frenchmen can sleep more tranquilly over the thought that Silesia is no longer in the hands of the Germans”. This remark, made on the occasion of the Polish elections on January 19, gave the signal for the French Communists to take an ostensibly French nationalist position on the western frontiers of Poland. Last Saturday, the weekly organ of central committee of Communist Party France Nouvelle condemned former Secretary Byrnes’ “generosity” at Stuttgart “in proposing the return to Germany of western Polish lands contrary to Potsdam decision”,4 insisted that Silesia should “never” return to Germany.
This publication added that this attitude is based on the “simple principle which should not be forgotten a single moment at Moscow Conference,” namely, that “everything which weakens Germany reassures us, so true is it that Germany becomes more or less dangerous according to whether it is strengthened or weakened.”
In view of implications of this latest outburst on part of French Communists, it will be interesting to see whether a German delegation will attend the “Comintern” Conference in London, and if so how it will present there the highly “nationalist” line of the German Party. In any event, treatment of German problem at this conference should evoke the greatest possible attention.
Viewed from here, Germany appears as the pivot of power in Europe, and so long as we do not fully exploit the contradictions and weaknesses arising from the fundamental conflict of interests between the Soviet Union and its “fifth columns” in Germany, France, and other countries, the Kremlin will remain in the position simultaneously to pursue its own ends (including demand for heavier reparations) without essentially endangering the position of the French, Polish, and other “nationalist” Communist parties in Europe.
Repeated London 143, Moscow 80, Berlin 61, Rome 41, and Vienna 14.
- Not printed.↩
- The 19th annual conference of the British Communist party was held in London on February 22, 23, and 24, with representatives of various foreign Communist parties present. It was followed by the 1st conference of Communist parties of the British Empire, February 26–March 3.↩
- For text of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, signed August 23, 1939, see Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, series D, vol. vii (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1956), pp. 245 ff.↩
- For text of Secretary Byrnes’ speech of September 6, 1946, at Stuttgart, see Department of State Bulletin, September 15, 1946, p. 496.↩