Stalin's War: A New History of World War II by Sean McMeekin

Author:Sean McMeekin [McMeekin, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781541672796
Amazon: 1541672798
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2021-04-19T19:00:00+00:00

23

Capitalist Rope

ROOSEVELT ’S DECISION TO devote scarce tonnage and naval resources to Soviet lend-lease supplies was a priceless gift to Stalin. In exchange for opening up this vital lifeline for the beleaguered Soviet war effort, the US government could have asked any price: payment in cash, by loan, or in kind; political concessions inside Russia; or promises from Stalin of better behavior abroad, such as abandoning his spying operations in Washington or offering token support for the US-British war against Japan. Instead, the Americans simply gave and demanded nothing in return aside from a vague, nonbinding promise of loan repayment beginning five years after the war was over, at no interest. 1

There was little Soviet gratitude. Everything the Americans gave turned out to be less than what Stalin wanted. As early as October 1941, Andrei Gromyko, sent to Washington as Stalin’s personal lend-lease envoy, complained to Averell Harriman that the US Maritime Commission had devoted exclusively to Russia “only” thirty-one merchant vessels with six million cubic feet of capacity, whereas Stalin needed forty ships at a minimum. “It should be borne in mind,” Gromyko lectured poor Harriman, “that tanks and airplanes occupy much space on ships.” 2

Nor was Stalin any more polite at the Moscow lend-lease conference. As a bewildered Harriman reported to Roosevelt after a grueling session on September 29, 1941:

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