Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874 - 1965) The Second World War
Volume IV The Hinge Of Fate (1950) How The Power Of The Grand Alliance Became Preponderant Book II Africa redeemed
CHAPTER XXVIII
MOSCOW
A Relationship Established
...Before leaving this urbane, rigid diplomatist’s room I turned to him and said, “Stalin will make a great mistake to treat us roughly when we have come so far.” For the first time Molotov unbent. “Stalin,” he said, “is a very wise man. You may be sure that, however he argues, he understands all. I will tell him what you say.
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All this part of the talk was easier, but when Harriman asked about the plans for bringing American aircraft across Siberia, to which the Russians had only recently consented after long American pressing, he replied, curtly, “Wars are not won with plans.” Harriman backed me up throughout, and we neither of us yielded an inch nor spoke a bitter word.
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I think the most probable is that his Council of Commissars did not take the news I brought as well as he did. They may have more power than we suppose, and less knowledge.
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When I thanked Stalin for the forty Boston aircraft lie made a half-disdainful gesture, saying, “They are American planes. When I give you Russian planes then you may thank me.” By this he did not mean to disparage the American planes, but said that he counted on his own strength.
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Silly tales have been told of how these Soviet dinners became drinking-bouts. There is no truth whatever in this. The Marshal and his colleagues invariably drank their toasts from tiny glasses, taking only a sip on each occasion. I had been well brought up.
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“Well, Churchill is finished finally,” said Lady Astor. “I am not so sure,” Stalin had answered. “If a great crisis comes the English people might turn to the old war-horse.” At this point I interrupted, saying, “There is much in what she said. I was very active in the intervention, and I do not wish you to think otherwise.” He smiled amicably, so I said, “Have you forgiven me?” “Premier Stalin, he say,” said Interpreter Pavlov, “all that is in the past, and the past belongs to God.”
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“Tell me,” I asked, “have the stresses of this war been as bad to you personally as carrying through the policy of the Collective Farms?”
This subject immediately roused the Marshal.
“Oh, no,” he said, “the Collective Farm policy was a terrible struggle.”
“I thought you would have found it bad,” said I, “because you were not dealing with a few score thousands of aristocrats or big landowners, but with millions of small men.”
“Ten millions,” he said, holding up his hands. “It was fearful. Four years it lasted. It was absolutely necessary for Russia, if we were to avoid periodic famines, to plough the land with tractors. We must mechanise our agriculture. When we gave tractors to the peasants they were all spoiled in a few months. Only Collective Farms with workshops could handle tractors. We took the greatest trouble to explain it to the peasants. It was no use arguing with them. After you have said all you can to a peasant he says he must go home and consult his wife, and he must consult his herder.”
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