3 Observations
1. Churchill had a similar view to Hitler, believing that one racial group should control all the power. Instead of believing the Aryans had all the power Churchill believed that English-speaking nations should rule over the world.
2. The world must notice that the Soviet Union has lost more men in German invasions then both the United States and the United Kingdom.
3. The common people are being controlled by Churchill and his party and need to think for themselves.
2 Questions
1. What was the international response to comparing Churchill and Hitler?
2. What was the reaction in England to Stalin’s comments about the “common people”?
1 Thought:
It is interesting to see Stalin alienate both sides of the war. He goes after Hitler, briefly calling him out for the Nazi racial theory and attacks Churchill. He has basically left himself with no one to lean on in war. However Stalin does not come across as worried. He says that the Soviet Union has lost the most men in the war and yet does not say they will give up. He gives strength to the Soviet Union in his speech while also taking away both possible allies.
It is important to note that this exchange between Churchill and Stalin occurred after the end of WWII, and that the United States and the Soviet Union emerged from the war as the two remaining superpowers. Stalin no longer needed the west as allies, nor would it make very much sense for them to remain allies at this point. The goal of each state at this time was to exert influence on Europe while it was rebuilding. The two conflicting ideologies-communism vs. capitalism- would split up Europe in the quest to exert influence. This is the nature of the “iron curtain” and the reason for the Cold War.
I think that Stalin dosn’t come across as worried is simply due to the fact that the Soviet Union is a superpower itself. It had a somewhat comparable military to that of the United States, as well as the possibility of creating atomic weaponry. This latter point is the great equalizer.
Your third point gets at the contradiction seen in Brezhnev’s support of self determination discussed in the Brezhnev Doctrine. According to him, self determination is only acceptable if it furthers socialist ideals. However, it cannot be self determination if the USSR is doing the determining.