I Became Stalin?!

“When the Bolsheviks came to power they were soft and easy with their enemies… we had begun by making a mistake. Leniency towards such a power was a crime against the working classes. That soon became apparent…”

― Joseph Stalin

Chapter 13

He sighed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The US Congress was more hostile than he expected to the idea of supporting the Soviets. 

They had already given some aid to Britain, but to the Soviets as well? 

This was a major obstacle in convincing the American lawmakers. 

The British were their comrades who fought together in the First World War, and shared the same language and culture.

But the Russians…? 

Ever since the Bolsheviks seized power, the Soviet Union had betrayed and fled from their fight against Germany. 

No matter how much they had internal turmoil, they were seen as traitors by the other allies.

Then they tried to join the military alliance with Britain and France in the midst of the chaos in Central Europe, but also signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, switching sides like a bat. 

They also split Poland with Germany, which was an unforgivable sin as long as Poland was under Soviet control.

No matter how much they claimed that it was a self-defensive measure to survive, no one would believe them easily. 

Molotov, who himself had joined hands with Ribbentrop and helped the Nazi fascists invade France, was bound to be suspected of having some ulterior motive this time.

No, he was actually being suspected. 

The bureaucrats of the US State Department had thrown him some ‘American-style’ blunt questions.

“How can we get our money back from this aid?”

“How can you guarantee that the aid we give you will not be used to point your guns at us?”

Molotov had to persuade them. 

The vast territory of the Soviet Union was rich in resources. 

The resources that America needed – oil, gas, iron and rare minerals – were buried endlessly, and he was willing to share them with his ‘friend’ America.

There were plenty of resources in the American continent as well, he snorted at a senior official who sneered. 

He had to ignore him as a diplomat.

Anyway, the Soviet Union had gold. 

Gold made the State Department and Treasury officials quiet down a bit.

Gold, silver, platinum. 

Molotov remembered clearly how much gold he had scraped out from the bottom of the Soviet Treasury vaults, following Stalin’s order to scrape every single gold bar.

The Americans needed gold. 

They needed a lot of money to support their expanding economy, and they needed gold to print money. 

More, more gold.

Molotov fiddled with his glasses habitually. 

He was practically the second-in-command of the Soviet Union, but his glasses were made of cheap copper. 

Well, it was hard to say ‘cheap’ now that the war had broken out.

“America needs gold to support its economy… The Soviet Union has a lot of gold. We have brought documents that show how much gold the Soviet Treasury has ‘initially’ secured.”

His accompanying secretaries handed over some bundles of documents to the American officials. 

The bureaucrats from the State Department and Treasury hurriedly looked through them and expressed their astonishment at the amount. 

Some of them poked their colleagues in the ribs to remind them not to show their cards too easily.

This was a battlefield of diplomacy, and anyone who revealed their cards too easily would be devoured.

“The Soviet Union knows well the difficulties that America faced during the Great Depression. We hope you don’t resent us for not being able to help you then. We were not in a good situation either… Actually, we are not in a good situation now either hahaha!”

Some laughed at Molotov’s black humor. 

They didn’t know exactly what was happening on their land, but it didn’t seem very good. 

France, the strongest land power in Western Europe, had surrendered to Germany in just six weeks. 

What about Russia?

“When the war is over and depression comes again – you have overcome it now with your president’s amazing leadership – you will need more gold. The Soviet Union is willing to use its gold generously for a fair trade with you.”

Some nodded at his argument. 

Gold was always right. 

In the last war, America had gained huge profits by joining the war and became one of the hegemonic powers. 

They still remembered how sweet it was after suffering from severe depression.

“We also… don’t have much greed for land. Unlike that greedy old Churchill?”

He didn’t know if he really had no greed for land. 

Anyway, Molotov claimed so. 

No one asked him rudely if he hadn’t split Poland with Germany. 

How important was Poland’s independence to Americans?

“Churchill wants to keep the Mediterranean in his hands. He will never give up his African colonies or India, which he calls the pearl of the British crown. Even after defeating the German fascists, he will have to spend a lot of money! Not to fight against fascist fleets, but against colonial people!”

His voice began to rise. 

The Americans started listening more attentively to his speech. 

Predicting whether another debtor would pay back or borrow more was an important skill for a creditor.

“I can’t say for sure whether the British will be able to pay you back or not, but the Soviet Foreign Ministry is not very optimistic about it.

They have lost many ships and planes, and they have sunk into the sea under the English Channel. 

The colonial people will never submit to the defeated suzerain.”

If they don’t submit easily, the Soviet Union will have to make them. 

Molotov didn’t say the rest of his sentence. 

He didn’t like Trotsky, who shouted for world revolution and exporting revolution through military victory. 

He preferred the realistic Stalin.

Just as Lenin had led the Bolsheviks to power in Russia with the slogan of anti-war, Stalin liked to combine diplomacy and negotiation – not always with ‘nice words’ – with war. 

And as a diplomatic expert of the Bolsheviks, he suited Stalin better.

Of course, the liberation of oppressed nations was another matter. 

It was hard to send the Red Army all over the world and hammer the two letters of re.vo.lu.tion into the heads of the oppressors. 

But they had to help the oppressed people who rose up to overthrow their oppressors. 

As they had done so far.

“Mr. Churchill will have to join the war against his colonials as soon as the war with Germany is over. Will you still fill his fat imperialist hands with battleships then? I thought America was a country that loved freedom. I bet my mustache that he won’t have much gold to pay you back. Haha.”

“That’s not a reason for us to help the Soviet Union, Mr. Foreign Minister. Personally, I’m tempted by your mustache.”

The voice of a man who had been quietly watching the meeting room croaked like a crow. 

Molotov knew his face. 

The Soviet intelligence had given him plenty of information about the American high-ranking officials in order to gain more benefits from the negotiations with America. 

He was one of the most important figures among them.

“Oh, Chief of Staff. Then let’s talk about what our Soviet Union can offer.”

He was definitely a bureaucrat. 

The report from the intelligence department showed that they tried to suppress their admiration for how he was creating an American army out of nothing.

What did he have to do to make a ten times larger army from a 200,000-strong army? 

It took a lot of effort to train unskilled people into skilled soldiers. 

The work of extracting 8 million cavities and producing 500,000 vehicles was unimaginable for him.

But this meeting room was a stage of diplomacy, and he was a diplomat. 

If he had a partner who could take a joke as a joke, even if he looked stern? 

It was an ideal stage for a diplomat to dance.

The information that the secretary-general had carefully selected and brought him gave him wings.

The cards that Molotov offered were very diverse and attractive. 

Roosevelt wanted to project America’s influence and values overseas. Marshall, as Roosevelt’s closest aide, knew that very well. 

Churchill was an anachronism in Roosevelt’s worldview. 

He might even be an enemy.

They were helping him now against Germany, their biggest enemy, but they might be their opponents in the next war. Just 15 years ago, America had planned a war against Britain and its colonies.

Anyway, the Soviet Union was offering enough attractive cards now. In a way that bureaucrats who loved numbers like Marshall would like. 

The oil in the Middle East and Far East, and the mineral deposits in Siberia were things that he couldn’t access.

Dividing Europe from liberated France to the Baltics into spheres of influence for US/UK/SU after defeating Germany was a dream for Marshall, a thorough realist.

America was a continent. 

But it was also an island. 

If it wanted to project its influence across the Atlantic or Pacific oceans, it needed a partner.

The greedy imperialist Churchill who wanted to keep everything in his hands was not a very good partner. 

He would squeeze India and Egypt and Africa dry and ask America for more money if depression hit again.

Many Americans had been prejudiced against ‘the Reds’ until now, but the Soviet Union that came up as an actual dialogue partner was more realistic. 

In Molotov’s proposal, the Soviet Union only wanted a buffer zone in Eastern Europe and Far East. 

And that was justified by nationalism.

The Slavs living in Poland and Baltics and Balkans were reasonable for the Soviet Union to demand as buffer zones. 

The division and disarmament of Germany were also acceptable.

China? 

The Far East had a huge Pacific Ocean anyway, and Japan and China were fighting each other. 

If they became one or two, they could be buffers in their own way. 

Anyway, America would be a better partner than the Soviet Union who had to fight on their border.

The bureaucrats from the State Department, Treasury and Defense Department seemed somewhat convinced by Molotov’s proposal. 

They nodded at each other and eventually turned their eyes to Marshall.

“I have listened very well to what you have proposed, Mr. Foreign Minister. I admire your excellent insight.”

“Thank you. You flatter me too much. I am only amazed by your bureaucratic skills, Chief of Staff.”

“I think I have to leave now to report this meeting to His Excellency the President. I hope we can have more conversations next time.”

Marshall got up quickly and reached out his right hand to him. 

Molotov didn’t speak English very well, and he had to listen to Marshall’s words through the interpreter.

But he could tell that Marshall’s eyes were sparkling and his lips were tightly closed in a smile. 

Molotov got up from his seat and shook his hand firmly.

“It’s an honor. Thank you.”

He could tell by his diplomatic intuition. It was a success.

Roosevelt was among the Americans who liked the Soviet Union very much. 

Now only the president’s decision was left, but it was almost a done deal if he was not negative.

And he had also achieved the most important goal that the secretary-general had secretly told him. 

The officials seemed to accept his proposal without knowing its importance. 

He didn’t know why it was important either, but anyway, the secretary-general had asked for it, so there must be a reason.