Evening star., 1951-04-29

which time the damage would be
done.
But one thing is quite certain:
1t is that Stain could never carry
The Russian people into an aggres-
sive war as such. And he himSels
knows this. It would be 1941 al
over again, and worse. The most
he could hope for would be to
disguise an. aggressive war as
defensive war fought for peace.
But to my mind what he is really
trying to do is to insure that the
Russians would fight a purely de-
Ifensive War-a matter which he
can by no means take for granted.
Nothing in the world IS more
difficult to assess than the state
lof a nations morale, even when
lit is possible to move freely among
the people. All the world has seen
how hopelessly at fault was Won
Ribbentropps rash assessment of
the morale of the British in 1899.
In face of the Soviet Union our
task is 10 times more difficult.
since we know so very little about
the thoughts Of the ordinary Rus
sian. But we do know how the
Russian people behaved in the last
war, and we can ask what caused
them to behave as they did and
what, II anything, has happened
to make them behave differently
today.
Contrary to popular belief, Hit
Ter was not faced in 194l with a
united and defiant Russia. In
fact, Soviet morale was about as
bad as it could be; and it is no
exaggeration to say that in spite
OF the size and might of the Red
Army, had not the Germans made
certain elementary mistakes, they
would have driven the Russians
into Siberia and broken the Stain
regime - because the soldiers
would not fight and the people
would not support them in the
rear. When the Russians did be-
gin to fight back (in the winter of
1941 in front of Moscow; and six
months later in the South, after
the fall of Rostov) they were not
fighting for Stain. they were
fighting against the atrocious
policies of the Germans, whom at
first, above all in the Ukraine and
White Russia, they had welcomed
as liberators from the Kremlin's
tyranny.
In those terrible first months
whole army formations simply
surrendered; others went over to
the Germans, others withdrew
without serious fighting; and
those troops who did fight Loyalty
found their f1anks exposed by re-
treating comrades and their rear
harassed by a hostile peasantry.
When the Germans reached the
outskirts of Moscow in October
and the whole government ma
chine, apart from Stain himself
and his closest colleagues, was
Evacuated to Kuibyshev and the
Urals, the discipline of the city
broke down entirely. and the
remnants of the NKVD, whose
senior officer had fed, were pow
efless to stop the rioting and loot
ling.
IStalingrad Was Turning
/ This would have been the final
picture if Hitler had treated the
Russians like human beings in
stead of slaves = slaves more
l harshly dealt with than at any
\ time in the history of Western
man. The heroism and self saeri-
flee came later, in response to
German brutality: but it was not
until Stalingrad that the Russian
j people began to rally round Stain
as the great leader who, despite
all past sins, came to symbolic
their own resistance.
Il In thinking of Stalin's capacity
!; for war we should remember what
l. happened in 1941-and why. The
people of the Soviet Union had
toiled beyond their strength and
| for no reward to carry out Stalin's
industrial revolution and to builo
, up the Red Army. They had done
this to make Russia strong enough
to stand on her own feet and war;
off would-be invaders. Stain hae
promised them that if they
frightened their belts and slavec
for 10 years nothing could hurt
: them. With their own bitter sac.
rif1ce they had built up an arm.
which, they were told, was in.
! vincible. They had seen the Soviet
government cover itself and then
with dishonor by signing the pact
with Hitler-which was offered al
e the only guarantee against war
against attack by the ever-ruth.
J, less and predatory capitals
E powers. And then, suddenly, botf
S sacrifice and dishonor were showr
4 to have been in vain.
0 They won their victory. At th'
! end, with European Russia il
!. ruins and the flower of their man.
a hood dead, they did not expec
S much; but they had achieved {
4 new sense of unity with Stain
Y who had led them to victory; ant
4 they believed that, having proves
e themselves, Stain would Shoy
more trust and begin to relax hi
: grip. Stain himself in the las
- year of the war and the first yea
: Of the peace certainly encourage
= them in many ways to believe pre-
y cisely this. There seemed a stron
y y chance that government and peo
= pie. would at last settle down, i
T. spite of the terrible struggle fo
E. recovery that lay ahead. into a
le easier relationship. and that tn
IS new Soviet patriotism might de
le velop into genuine sense of ma
T. tional unity. But soon, for a VAR
n ETY. of reasons, the atmosphere be
ct gan to change, until today til
0f grip of the Kremlin is Strongt