—Manuilsky reported on the progress in forming national committees of prisoners of war and political emigres. Work has been held up, owing to unfavorable discussions in England and America regarding the German Free Germany committee. The formation of Hungarian, Romanian, and Italian committees has been suspended.
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Dimitrov’s health deteriorated steadily after August 1943. He suffered from several maladies—notably, acute inflammation of the prostate. At the end of 1943 he wrote resignedly, “The last four months of 1943 were especially difficult ones for me. Very nearly died.” In fact, he was bedridden and had plenty of time on his hands. He read a great deal of Balkan history and concerned himself, as much as his condition permitted, with the affairs of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, but also China, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Spain. Still, Manuilsky controlled most of the departmental work.
The ailing Dimitrov displayed tenderness and suspicion, obsequiousness and impatience, but for the most part he was marginalized. Hence, he was thrilled to learn that the American leftists and liberals were commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Leipzig trial with celebrations in Madison Square Garden, presided over by Paul Robeson, Lillian Hell-man, George Kaufman, and Arturo Toscanini. His entries for the second half of i943 are as interesting for their significant lacunae as for their slim contents. There is no paper trail regarding Soviet annoyance with Tito over the Jajce conference, where Tito took a harsh line against the exiled King Peter of Yugoslavia. Moreover, the queries sent to Tito in late December i943 suggest that Moscow knew very little of the guerrilla movements in Greece or generally about the state of the Greek Communist movement.
In early i944 Dimitrov continued the work of what he himself refers to (in quotation marks) as the Soviet CC “Foreign Department.” But because
Of either his illnesses or something else, he was increasingly responsive to his nominal deputy Manuilsky—in effect, to Molotov. The steady decline of German power concentrated attention on the opportunities that would come with victory. Poland’s fate was already being decided, as were the moves in the Balkans, particularly Bulgaria. The Chinese Communists continued feuding, but Mao was eager to demonstrate loyalty. The resolution of the CP split in the United States was suggested in exchanges with Earl Browder and William Z. Foster as early as February-March 1944, as was Stalin’s thinking on postwar governments in Western Europe, in exchanges with departing Togliatti (March 1944). And there were early warnings about Yugoslav-Bulgarian contention over Macedonia.
By the spring and summer of 1944 the German retreat was increasingly dramatic. Despite some scares (such as the attack by the Germans on Tito’s headquarters at Drvar in May 1944), the Nazi retreat was clearly irreversible. Balkan affairs loomed increasingly large as the Ukrainian front swung toward the Bug and the Dniester. By July Manuilsky was installed in Kiev as Ukraine’s nominal minister of foreign affairs; by August the Red Army had entered Romania, and three weeks later Bulgaria. Dimitrov was not overwhelmed by the Communist takeover of his homeland during the night of 8-9 September 1944. He was busier than ever with Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Yugoslav affairs and kept in touch with Stalin and Molotov about these matters, as well as with the Bulgarian Communists and Tito (in Moscow himself in September 1944). The Communists, helped by the Soviet Army, were now in charge of Romania, Bulgaria, and the eastern portions of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Macedonia). Throughout, Dimitrov had time for Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Greek, Chinese, and even Spanish party affairs. But there is not a word in the diary on the Warsaw uprising or about the Soviet passivity on the right bank of the Vistula, as the Germans destroyed the Home Army insurgents.—i. b.
• 25 August 1943 •
—Lieutenant General of State Security Fitin, Marty, and Stepanov [Minev] to see me. Fitin reported that Pierre Cot333 is assisting Sov[iet]
Organs in New York with valuable information, but he could do a great deal more in this regard—as Cot himself has stated—if he possessed written approval for such work from Thorez or Marty. We arranged for Marty to provide Fitin a memo along these lines for Cot.
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• 31 August 1943 •
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In connection with events in Bulgaria, sent Stalin (copy to Molotov) the following letter:
The death of Tsar Boris334 has revealed a serious political and state crisis in Bulgaria.
On the basis of the Bulg[arian] constitution the ministerial council has declared Boris’s six-year-old son the new tsar of Bulgaria, to be known as Tsar Simeon II.
According to the constitution, a Great National Assembly must be convened within a month to constitute a three-member regency council [to govern] until the new tsar comes of age. There can be no doubt that the Hitlerites and their Bulgarian agents will do everything possible to keep Bulgaria and her army in the hands of Hitlerite Germany.
However, the current situation makes it entirely possible to develop a broad national movement against Hitler’s agents and Bulgaria’s pro-German foreign policy.
For the Fatherland Front, which includes clandestine representatives of the largest political parties with the greatest authority for the people and army—the Democratic Party (Mushanov),335 the Agrarian Union (Gichev)336 and the Workers’ Party (the Communists)—broad opportunities are now appearing to overthrow the Filov government with the support of the popular movement and to form an anti-Hitler Bulgarian coalition government, which would administer the constitutionally mandated elections to the Great National Assembly. All of this could deliver a crushing blow to the Hitlerites in Bulgaria and their Bulgarian agents.
The basic position of our Bulgarian party is stated in the two attached broadcasts of the clandestine people’s radio station Radio Hristo Botev.
I would be most grateful if you could receive me to discuss this matter, as I urgently request.
[ ... ]
—Rakosi: consulted with me on Hungarian issues, particularly the position of the Czechosl[ovak] Com[munist] Party and the Hung[arian] Com[munist] Party as regards Carpatho-Ukraine. There are disagreements between the Czech and Hungarian Com[munist] parties over this matter. Directed him to state the Hungarian Com[munist] Party’s point of view in writing and to call on the Czech [sic] Com[munist] Party to do the same. Then we will discuss this matter jointly.
[ ... ]
—Pieck, Florin, Ulbricht, and Ackermann. Come to consult with me on German issues. Brought to their attention that they are to proceed on the basis of the most likely prospect, the destruction of fascist Germany under the blows of the armed forces of the Sov[iet] Union and its allies, [and] thereafter the temporary occupation of Germany, with all the ramifications of this fact. Therefore the task of the German Com[munist] party (as regards the postwar period) lies first of all in creating the sort of organized national force that, with the help of the Soviet Union, would be capable of taking upon itself the rebirth of Germany as a genuinely democrat[ic] country.
[ ... ]
—Manuilsky and Morozov to see me at the dacha regarding the breakdown in Warsaw (the CC secretary, Finder, has been arrested; so has the radio operator Bortusziewicz; code’s been broken, and so on). Gave instructions regarding precautionary measures for radio communications with Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, because these had had dealings with Finder. Assigned Morozov to obtain through Fitin any possible detailed information on the breakdown and the status of the Polish center since the breakdown.
—Lieutenant General Ilichev with a member of his staff, recently arrived from Yan’an (China). Reported on the situation of the Eighth [Route] Army, the Special Region and the Com[munist] Party. No hope whatsoever for normalizing relations between the Guomindang and the Com[munist] Party.
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• 13 December 1943 •
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Sent Wang Ming (Yan’an) the following message through Ilichev: “Letter for Fanichka arrived.337 She is living with us. She is growing up and developing well. Straight A’s at school. Sends her papa and mama warmest regards and best wishes. A great loss has befallen us: in April our Mitia died of malignant diphtheria. As for your part[y] affairs, do your best to settle them yourselves. Intervening from here is for now inexpedient.”
A pact of “friendship” and so on has been concluded between the USSR and Czechoslovakia. Signatories: Molotov and Fierlinger338 (Czechoslovak ambassador to the USSR).
World History
