Message to W. Churchill (Correspondence Vol. 1, No. 234)

1944-01-29 Correspondence V1, No. 234, to Churchill

I have received your message of January 24.
I am a little late with this reply due to the pressure of front affairs. As regards the
Pravda
report,
its significance
should not be overrated, nor is there any reason to question the right of a newspaper to carry reports or rumours received from tried and tested correspondents. In any case we Russians have never laid claim to that kind of interference in the affairs of the British press, even though we have had, and still have, far more reasons for doing so. Our TASS denies only a very small part of the reports printed in British newspapers and deserving to be denied.
To come to the gist of the
matter, I cannot agree with you that Britain could easily have made a separate peace with Germany, largely at the expense of the U.S.S.R. and without serious loss to the British Empire. I think that that was said rashly, for I recall statements of a different nature made by you. I recall, for example, that when Britain was in difficulties, before the Soviet Union became involved in the war against Germany, you believed that the British Government might have to move to Canada and fight Germany across the ocean. On the other hand, you admitted that it was the Soviet Union which, by engaging Hitler, eliminated the danger which undoubtedly threatened Great Britain on the part of Germany. But if, nevertheless, we grant that Britain could have managed without the U.S.S.R., exactly the same could be said about the Soviet Union. I should have preferred not to bring this up, but I had to do so to remind you of the facts.
Concerning
War and the Working Class
all I can say is that
it is a trade-union magazine for whose articles the Government cannot be held responsible. However, this magazine, like our other magazines, is loyal to the fundamental principle - closer friendship with the Allies - which does not preclude but presupposes friendly criticism as well.
Like you I was favourably impressed by our meetings in Tehran and our joint work. I will certainly see Mr Kerr when he arrives.

January 29, 1944