—A directive for the Communist parties has been prepared [in German ]:
This war is an unjust, imperialist war, and the bourgeoisie of all the belligerent nations share equally in the guilt. In no land may the working class, much less the Communist Party, support the war. The bourgeoisie is fighting the war, but not against fascism as Chamberlain and the leaders of social democracy claim. The war is being fought between two groups of capitalist countries for control of the world. The international working class can certainly not defend fascist Poland, which has rejected the help of the Soviet Union and suppressed other nationalities.
The Communist parties have fought against the supporters of Munich because they wanted a true antifascist front that would include the Soviet Union, but the bourgeoisie of England and France have repudiated the Soviet Union in order to pursue a predatory war.
The war has materially altered the situation. The division of the capitalist states into fascist and democratic [camps] has lost its former significance. Strategy must be altered accordingly. The strategy of Communist parties in all warring lands at this stage of the war is to oppose the war, to expose its imperialist character; where Communist deputies are available, to vote against war credits, to explain to the masses that the war will not bring them anything but adversity and ruin. In the neutral countries, one must expose governments that seem to favor their own country’s neutrality but support the war in other countries in order to make a profit—as the government of the United States of America does with regard to Japan and China. Everywhere, Communist parties must undertake a decisive offensive against the treacherous policy of social democracy.
Communist parties, especially those of France, England, Belgium, and the United States of America, which have proceeded in opposition to this view, must immediately correct their political line.
[ ... ]
• 17 September 1939 •
—Report by Molotov over the radio about the Red Army’s crossing the border into western Belorussia and western Ukraine.
—Discussion with Springhall234 (English CP): he departs on i8 September 1939.
[ ... ]
234. Douglas Springhall (1901-1953), British Communist; member CPGB CC; in the International Brigades in Spain (1936-1937); representative of the CPGB to the ECCI; head of the CPGB organizational section (1939-1943). He was expelled from the party in 1945.
—We saw a film, A Night in September—the Donbas, Sergo [Ordzhonikidze].
• 19 September 1939 •
-The secretariat was shown a draft of theses regarding the war.
World History
