Date: 09 Jun 97 03:09:14 EDT From: neil <74742.1651-AT-CompuServe.COM> Subject: M-I: pefidious Germany dear Chris and Louis P,, Chris B and Louis P can rummage thru the archival papers of capitalist (and state capitalist) Nazi and Russian diplomats and this can be of some use considering understanding the machiavellian tactics and strategies of imperialist powers, but it misses the key political and economic issues/contradictions that unleasehed the 2nd imperialist world war. Both Nazi apologists on the right and USSR apologists on the left all cover up the class nature of their conniving and predatory plans to enslave millions of workers and butcher millions more , incuding civilians thru armed aggression. In fact, it was the imperialist nature of the Nazi and Russian societies and the needs of their national capitals expansion to 'compete' which impelled them to unite to divvy up E. Europe culminating in the 1939 "Pact of Non-aggression" Spheres of influnece deals have a military/political and economic basis from a marxist point of view and attempts to separate these are at the least a retreat to bourgeios historical method. Indeed not only did the pact give the Nazis' the last green light to attack Poland but also for the USSR to sieze eastern Poland as their share of booty. you do not win workers from a weaker capitalist regime (Poland, etc) to socialism by bombing their homes and sticking them with bayonets.. So it is clear that this had nothing to do with strengthening the workers cause nationally or internationally . Russia also got to occupy the Baltics in 1940 out of secret codicils of the '39 pact. Russia also got Bessarabia from Rumania, increased bi-lateral trade with the Reich and transfers of important German industrial technology . The Nazi reich in turn also got cheaper oil and gas and other raw materials delivered from the USSR to grease up its huge war machine. It also got a couple hundred German communists turned over to the Gestapo who had previously fled the reich to the USSR . Gee, i wonder how they fared!? There are other parts of the secret codicils in the pact that some other posters on the list may want to fill in that info. The lucrative nature of the pact may also partially explain why the Russian rulers did not think they would be double- crossed and attacked in June '41. Of course there were the military tactics too, The Russians feeling confident that the fascists would not strike them until they had won outright the war against the British in the western theatre and that the Nazis would never undertake a 2 front war against major industrial powers. Also i think the USSR had concluded a similar mini-pact with Japan in April '41 and actually knew from its intelligence service in Japan (Victor Serge, etc) that Japanese imperialism would soon strike at the British, American and Dutch colonial posessions in the Far east. In any case this manuvering was clearly the diplomacy of imperialist states which were all counterrevolutionary. Neil --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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