THE VOICE OF MOSCOW
IF the speech delivered by M. Molotov to the Supreme Council of the U.S.S.R. on Tuesday was credited in advance in this country with an importance which, in the event, its content has hardly justified, that was mainly because expectation had been so highly keyed up by German agencies. According to Berlin, which habitually knows so much more about Moscow than Moscow does itself, last week, and then this week, were to be decisive periods, and M. Molotov's speech was to mark a turning-point in the war. The first predic- tion has been already falsified ; the second has still three days to run ; and the third to all appearance is like the first. It is true that if words appeal to Berlin, as they seem to so long as they are not pledged words, M. Molotov offered that in full measure. He attacked Britain and France, particularly Britain, with all the lavishness and resource in epithet that he was employ- ing against Nazi Germany. up to some three months ago. They were the aggressors, concerting an assault on an unoffending Germany after the Polish question had been settled and done with once for all ; they were fighting a barren battle of ideologies like—not any con- flict Soviet Russia had ever preached or meditated, but the religious wars of olden times. Russia, happy in her new kinship of soul with Hitler's Reich, stood only for peace. Her purpose was to halt the war, and M. Molotov predicted she would succeed.
All this has fallen gratefully on Berlin ears. But much that was not said would have fallen more grate- fully still. There had been confident talk, up to the very eve of the speech, of the announcement of a mili- tary alliance. M. Molotov announced no military alli- ance. He declared with emphasis Russia's complete neutrality, and Berlin, adapting itself rapidly to the situ- ation, has made it known that this, not military assist- ance, was what she always wanted. Russia, therefore, like Italy, is neutral. Of the imposing facade of the Anti-Democratic Front, which reached from Spain to Japan by way of Italy, Germany and Russia, Germany remains, alone and unsupported, in the field. That is the hard fact that emerges from M. Molotov's declarations.
That statement, of course, must be attended by reservations. A speech by M. Molotov, no less than one by Herr Hitler, may as easily veil as reveal its author's true intentions. The military alliance which was not announced may exist in the form of a secret understanding. But that seems unlikely. All the signs indicate that Russia wants to get all she can without serious conflicts, and is under no temptation to fight Herr Hitler's battles. Russia's aims M. Molotov defined as (f) a free hand in international affairs—which no one has denied, or is likely to deny, her ; (2) the continuation of the policy of neutrality ; and (3) the cessation of the war. By what means the third objective is to be attained M. Molotov did not indicate, and if indeed the war did not cease, but continue till all three participants became gradually exhausted, he would probably be capable of mastering his distress. The passage that rings truest. in the speech is the one insisting on Russia's neutrality. Russia will no doubt supply Germany with much that Germany needs. She is equally ready to supply us if we are disposed to enter into trading agreements with her, which we certainly ought to do. Russia, quite naturally and reasonably, puts her own interests first. We are as capable of serving them in many directions as Germany, and we cannot afford to leave the field undisputed.
