24th Aug 1939
Stalin was just picking his last papers, when there was a knock on the door. It was already past 11 pm., and he had had a long day of work. With a sigh, he opened the door. It was Molotov, who looked busy as usual. But it was different, somehow. This had to be important. He knew it somehow. "Well, what is it?", Stalin asked. "It's the Germans. They have sent us an offer.", Molotov replied quickly, as he handed Stalin the contract. "An offer of non-aggression pact?!", Stalin was surely taken off guard by these news. He hadn't expected an offer like this, at least, not from the Germans. British and French maybe, but not from Hitler. "Can you summarize it for me, I'm very tired.", said Stalin. "Of course. It defines our and theirs spheres of influence. Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Bessarabia and Eastern Poland will be in our sphere; Lithuania and Western Poland will be theirs. They would give up Eastern Poland after they have conquered it. Hitler won't support war effort of any of the nations in our sphere. They expect the same from us. In addition, they also require 30.000 units of oil from us. ", Molotov replied with anxiety. He was clearly in favor of accepting the unexpected treaty. "Assemble the Cabinet, we need to discuss this immediately." With that, Molotov left the room.
2 hours later...
Stalin was tired. He probably looked even more tired than he was. But this couldn't wait. "Well, you now know what they want. Opinions?" Uritskiy was the first one to speak: "Never! Those Nazi dogs are only trying to deceive us! Besides, what would people say? We can't make treaties with enemies of the workers. Have you heard what the unionists and socialist have to go thro..."
Uritskiy was interrupted by Stalin. "Yes, I think we all know how they treat our brothers and sisters. Does anyone else have anything to say?" Molotov was the fastest this time. "Comrades, this is an opportunity that we cannot simply throw aside. We would get Eastern Poland and we could take Bessarabia, Finland, Estonia and Latvia without any German intervention. And perhaps even more important, this will buy us precious time to build up our army. " Shaposnikov, the Chief of Staff, concurred with Molotov. "Yes, time is what we need. Our industrial base is huge, with time, we could have the most powerful army in the world. Even the Germans would tremble before us!" No one had still brought upthe main question: Can the fascists be trusted? Hitler had lied about his will of expansion. It didn't certainly end at the Munich Conference. Rest of Czechoslovakia, Memel and soon Poland... What did he want, another Great War? Stalin barely noticed that Kaganovich was already speaking, so entangled was he in his thougths. "I say we must not accept this. There are three reasons: First, the gain would be minimal. Our industries are large enough by now. Secondly, the ideological reasons. And finally, the economic reasons. As we have built up our industry, our need for oil and rubber has increased. We have only 60.000 units of oil in reserve. The oil fields of Baku can only produce so much oil. And oil is what Wehrmacht needs to fuel it's new planes and tanks. We also need oil if we want our own airforce of tanks. " Shaposhnikov was furious. "Don't meddle with things you don't know anything about, Comrade! Infantry is the essence of warfare, not tanks, nor planes. Leave military issues to the milit..." One angry glance of Stalin silenced Shaposhnikov. "There will be war for certain. When that madman will attack Poland, the Allies will be drawn to war. The war is going to be long. The question is, however, when will the war touch us? If it's the Germans who attack us, it's going to be a long battle. Therefore we need all the oil and rubber we can muster. But we also need time to raise an army. I think we should vote over this. " The secretary dealt everyone a piece of paper. After everyone was finished, Voroshilov being the last, the votes were counted. There were only two "yes" votes, and it wasn't particularly hard to guess who those two were. "So, comrades, it seems that we have to refuse Hitler's offer. " Stalin had himself voted no, since Kaganovich had said what he was thinking. Molotov looked a bit disappointed, but Shaposhnikov was furious. "What?! You are going to turn down the offer? Can't you see..." "Silence!" Stalin was growing tired of this. Decision was made, that's it. Was it so hard to understand? Well, he could always sack him anytime he wanted. But he was useful in his own way. He was pretty good in motivating the people to join the army. "Molotov, send Germany a formal refusal. Tell Pravda that Soviet Union is not going to make deals with fascist scum. ", Stalin said wearily. It was already 2 o'clock. As he rose from his chair, he could see Uritskiy smiling broadly. Sure, it was a good day for him. He was probably the most fanatic communist in whole Russia. That was why he still has his position. Stalin opened the door to his bedroom. He had a feeling that he wouldn't sleep well this night.
Will Hitler invade Poland? What will Britain and France do? Will Stalin sleep well?
Comments, please! Do you like the new style? Constructive critic is appreciated!
