Moscow, seeing that the Red Referendum manoeuvre had failed, threw all pretence aside and came openly out for letting Hitler in.
On October 14, 1931, Remmele, one of the three official leaders of the Communist Party, with Stalinist effrontery announced the policy in the Reichstag.
“Herr Bruening has put it very plainly; once they (the Fascists) are in power, then the united front of the proletariat will be established and it will make a clean sweep of everything. (Violent applause from the Communists)…We are the victors of the coming day; and the question is no longer one of who shall vanquish whom. This question is already answered. (Applause from the Communists). The question now reads only, ‘At what moment shall we overthrow the bourgeoisie?’…We are not afraid of the Fascist gentlemen. They will shoot their bolt quicker than any other Government. (Right you are! from the Communists) …”
The Fascists, so ran the argument, would introduce inflation, there would be financial chaos, and then the proletarian victory would follow. The speech was printed with a form asking for membership of the party attached and distributed in great numbers all over Germany.
Stalinist parties are led from above. Their leaders get the line and impose it. Disobedience is labelled Trotskyism, Right deviation, and what not, and the dissidents expelled. But the situation in Germany was too tense, and violent protests from the Left Wing caused the policy to be withdrawn. But from that moment it was certain that the Communist Party leadership would never fight, and the “After Hitler, our turn” [25] was the line on which they led the party. The German leadership did not follow blindly. Some of them carried on a ceaseless struggle to the very end. But built on Moscow they faced isolation if they broke with Moscow, and the organisational vice silenced or expelled them. [26]
It’s amusing how contemporary Stalinists put so much effort into justifying a pact that Stalin himself tried to keep from public knowledge and Russians rarely want to acknowledge.
That ought to tell you that the USSR wasn’t proud of Molotov-Ribbentrop.
What’s even more amusing is a bunch of history revisionists come here to defend the argument that the communists and not the fascists were the main partners of the Nazis, lol. Seriously. They were literally part of the same military coalition.
Communists and Nazis were literally part of the same military coalition. Stalin made sure of that. He even made a toast for Hitler’s continued good health.
'I know how much the German nation loves its Fuehrer; I should therefore like to drink to his health.’
You should really be reading this as an intelligently worded sleight. Particularly given they had already begun building the 102,000 tanks that would eventually kill him. It’s the perfect thing to say when you know this man took power on just 42% of the vote, and that support would actually be lower after killing and suppressing all opposition if not for the terror campaigns and suppression.
When you know you’re already planning to kill this man drinking to his health is quite apt.
Yes, the UK and France were likewise preparing for war. So how can Western nations be condemned for buying time by negotiating with Hitler, if you are willing to excuse Stalin for doing precisely the same thing?
Neither were doing anything of the sort. As I have already pointed out and as basically all academic historians agree - both were trying to steer Hitler towards attacking the USSR. They rejected every attempt of the USSR to do anything about the nazis, forcing the USSR to either accept fighting the nazis or to enter into their own non-aggression pact. They did not believe the USSR would do so.
The West was most definitely preparing for war, even if they hoped Hitler would attack the USSR. Peacetime conscription, previously unheard of in the UK, was established in the months before Molotov-Ribbentrop was signed.
Meanwhile, Stalin was preparing for war and hoped Hitler would attack the West.
Why didn’t the West cooperate with Stalin in those early days? Probably because they didn’t trust him. For good reason.
The Red Army and the Wehrmacht coordinated a combined attack on Poland. Sounds like a military coalition to me.
For all their faults, the armies of the West never conducted a joint offensive with Nazis. Almost a century later, the West considers its attempts to negotiate with Hitler a complete failure, even a source of shame. Nobody here will defend it.
But you can always count on Stalinists to shamelessly defend striking a deal with Nazis.
Yes, not subscribing to the idea that the ones who defeated the Nazis are their main allies - and not, you know, the other powers in their military coalition - means I’m a Stalinist.
Some people are so fucked up in the head, it’s fascinating.
I never said the main allies of the Nazis were the Soviets.
The Nazis were allied with fascist Italy and imperialist Japan. They were in a brief military coalition with the Soviets, betrayed the Soviets, and were defeated by the Soviets (with some help from their allies in the West).
At no point were the Western democracies in any sort of military coalition or alliance with Hitler.
I also thought it was funny for the guy to say this in !confidently_incorrect. Thank you for the history class.
They’re just repeating old Stalinist propaganda.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/works/world/ch12.htm
It’s amusing how contemporary Stalinists put so much effort into justifying a pact that Stalin himself tried to keep from public knowledge and Russians rarely want to acknowledge.
That ought to tell you that the USSR wasn’t proud of Molotov-Ribbentrop.
What’s even more amusing is a bunch of history revisionists come here to defend the argument that the communists and not the fascists were the main partners of the Nazis, lol. Seriously. They were literally part of the same military coalition.
Communists and Nazis were literally part of the same military coalition. Stalin made sure of that. He even made a toast for Hitler’s continued good health.
You should really be reading this as an intelligently worded sleight. Particularly given they had already begun building the 102,000 tanks that would eventually kill him. It’s the perfect thing to say when you know this man took power on just 42% of the vote, and that support would actually be lower after killing and suppressing all opposition if not for the terror campaigns and suppression.
When you know you’re already planning to kill this man drinking to his health is quite apt.
Yes, the UK and France were likewise preparing for war. So how can Western nations be condemned for buying time by negotiating with Hitler, if you are willing to excuse Stalin for doing precisely the same thing?
Neither were doing anything of the sort. As I have already pointed out and as basically all academic historians agree - both were trying to steer Hitler towards attacking the USSR. They rejected every attempt of the USSR to do anything about the nazis, forcing the USSR to either accept fighting the nazis or to enter into their own non-aggression pact. They did not believe the USSR would do so.
Stop inventing history. Read a fucking book.
The West was most definitely preparing for war, even if they hoped Hitler would attack the USSR. Peacetime conscription, previously unheard of in the UK, was established in the months before Molotov-Ribbentrop was signed.
Meanwhile, Stalin was preparing for war and hoped Hitler would attack the West.
Why didn’t the West cooperate with Stalin in those early days? Probably because they didn’t trust him. For good reason.
Holy fucking shit, the gall of saying communists and nazis were part of a military coalition, lol. This has to be a bit, given the community we’re in.
The Red Army and the Wehrmacht coordinated a combined attack on Poland. Sounds like a military coalition to me.
For all their faults, the armies of the West never conducted a joint offensive with Nazis. Almost a century later, the West considers its attempts to negotiate with Hitler a complete failure, even a source of shame. Nobody here will defend it.
But you can always count on Stalinists to shamelessly defend striking a deal with Nazis.
Yes, not subscribing to the idea that the ones who defeated the Nazis are their main allies - and not, you know, the other powers in their military coalition - means I’m a Stalinist.
Some people are so fucked up in the head, it’s fascinating.
I never said the main allies of the Nazis were the Soviets.
The Nazis were allied with fascist Italy and imperialist Japan. They were in a brief military coalition with the Soviets, betrayed the Soviets, and were defeated by the Soviets (with some help from their allies in the West).
At no point were the Western democracies in any sort of military coalition or alliance with Hitler.
Removed by mod