throughout the duration of the Soviet-Finnish War. All the abuse in the Soviet press was reserved for the Western democracies which, it was now claimed, were more anxious
than ever to "generalise the war" and to drag the neutrals into it. As early as January 17, Pravda began to speak about Anglo-French designs on the neutrality of the Scandinavian countries. Hitler's speeches continued to be politely reported, notably the one on January 30 in which he said that, thanks to the Soviet-German Pact, Germany had a "free rear" in the East: the state which Britain had guaranteed had disappeared from the face of the earth in eighteen days. Pravda also duly reported his threats to England and his announcement that "Germany would be victorious".
On February 11, with the Soviet-Finnish war still in full swing, a new Soviet-German economic agreement was signed. This, said Pravda, was a very good thing: "Present-day Germany is a highly-developed industrial power requiring many raw materials; and these the Soviet Union can largely supply. We also are a great industrial power; nevertheless, we can do with certain forms of imported industrial equipment... Our trade with Britain and France has dwindled, and the increase in our trade with Germany is only to be
welcomed... The new economic agreement had been welcomed by the Völkischer
Beobachter and other German papers."
[ Pravda, February 17, 1940.]
The volume and exact nature of these exchanges was not stated. Three days later Pravda reported another Hitler speech again boasting of the quick victory over Poland and
announcing that there was "more to come". As Pravda put it: '"I am determined to pursue this battle to the finish,' Hitler said with particular vigour."
[ Pravda, February 18, 1940.]
There was a clear suggestion here that an attack in the West was now in the offing.
Molotov waited till the end of March before making a statement to the Supreme Soviet on the termination of the Finnish War and on the international situation generally. This speech was, at least outwardly, the most violently anti-British and anti-French ever made.
He was no longer regretting the breakdown in the Anglo-French-Soviet talks during the previous year; on the contrary, he now said that "the Soviet Union had been determined not to become a tool in the hands of the Anglo-French imperialists in their anti-German struggle for world hegemony".
"The Anglo-French imperialists," he said, "wanted to turn the war in Finland into a war against the Soviet Union. But they failed in this, and the Soviet Union's relations with Germany continue to be good." The Anglo-French hostility to the Soviet Union, he went on, had been most violent in connection with the Finnish question, and he then
indignantly spoke of the police raid on the Soviet trade delegation in Paris, and of the
"virtual expulsion" from France of the Soviet Ambassador, Jacob Suritz. The Soviet Government had had to recall him.
After referring to the satisfactory economic relations with Germany, Molotov then
complained of British and French interference with Soviet-German trade: "They seize our ships in the Far East, because they are alleged to 'help Germany'; yet Rumania sells half her oil to Germany, and Rumania remains unmolested." He then protested against the various "fabrications" concerning Russia's alleged designs on India and other parts of the British Empire. "Our policy is a policy of neutrality, and I know it isn't to the taste of the Anglo-French imperialists, who want to inflict on us a policy of hostility and war against Germany."
Pointedly he remarked that Chamberlain, who had hoped that the Finnish War would
develop into something different, was greatly distressed when he heard of the Finnish-Soviet peace settlement. He spoke of the 141 planes and the other equipment Britain had sent to Finland, and of the military help France and Sweden had given her.
He concluded somewhat morosely by saying that the war in Finland had cost the Soviet Union 48,745 dead and 158,000 wounded—for a small "frontier rectification".
[The Finns put the Russian losses much higher.]
Saying that the Finns were minimiising their losses, Molotov then "estimated" that they had lost 60,000 dead and 250,000 wounded. These figures gave the Russians but little grounds for boasting, nor were they likely to foster Finnish-Soviet relations. Significantly he was very sparing in his praise of the generals who had conducted the campaign.
Altogether, as I was later told by many Russians, Molotov's report on the Finnish War had left them with an unpleasant and frustrating feeling. The only two things that could be said in favour of the war were that it had achieved its immediate objective (but at a terrible price, and in very unfortunate conditions)—and that it was now over. Here and there, questions were also asked about the "Terijoki Government", but it was soon made clear to the bright young people who asked them that they had better shut up.
[Wolfgang Leonhard, op. cit., p. 86.]
Pravda briefly announced that, in view of the changed international situation, the Finnish
"People's Government" had been dissolved. This was the end of that absurd experiment.
At one time, while the war was still on, Pravda had published a long list—covering two whole pages of the paper—of the officers and soldiers decorated for bravery; but there was remarkably little flag-waving over the conclusion of the Finnish War—much less,
indeed than over the "victory" won in Eastern Poland. Here at least much could be made of the, more or less genuine, enthusiasm with which the Ukrainians and Belorussians
welcomed the Red Army; there was nothing like that in Karelia, where practically the entire population had been evacuated, or had fled, to Finland. Viborg, the only large city occupied by the Russians, had been abandoned by all its inhabitants. Above all there was the depressing effect of the heavy casualties suffered and of the suspicion that all was not perfect with the Red Army. Then, less than a month after the signing of the Soviet-Finnish Peace Treaty, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. This gave rise to more
anxiety.
During that short interval nothing of any consequence happened in Russia, with the
exception of the meeting of the Supreme Soviet at the beginning of April which approved the 1940 budget. Already the effects of the Finnish War could be felt here. As Pravda wrote in its editorial of April 5: "The Supreme Soviet has approved the budget of the USSR for 1940. With great enthusiasm it voted a large increase in our defence
expenditure. Our country must have an even more powerful Red Army and Navy if it is
to discourage the warmongers. The fifty-seven milliard roubles to be spent on
strengthening our defence will help the Red Army and Navy to solve any problems
connected with the security of our State."
The tone of this editorial was remarkably free of the usual bluster, and was perhaps intended to convey that the Red Army would, in the future, give a better account of itself than it had done in the Finnish War.
Before the actual German attack on Denmark and Norway, the Soviet press tended to
echo the German charges of "Anglo-French violations of Norwegian sovereignty". This was, indeed, the phrase used by Pravda on April 9. By the time the paper had been printed, the Germans were already busy occupying the two Scandinavian countries.
During the days that followed, the Russian press continued, on the face of it, to follow the German line. Thus, on April 10, together with the news that German troops had occupied both Copenhagen and Oslo, the Soviet papers published under a three-column heading