Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact

[ROSSERJB@xxxxxxx]

      I realize that the current response of those lionizing
Old Uncle Joe on this list when he is seriously criticized is
to either declare that what he did was "in the long run interests
of the proletariat" or to dismiss the whole issue as "something in
the past."  ("How many legions do you have today?"---Stalin's line
about the pope complaining about Poland, guess who won there)  But
I cannot let pass without comment a claim made by several people
last week about the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact, namely that Stalin
signed it to have time to build up necessary defenses.  This is drivel.
     There would have been no invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939
without that Pact having been signed on August 22, 1939.  Stalin
sped up the process of the war, rather than slowing it down.  Needless
to say, he deflected it from himself for awhile.  But there is no
evidence of him moving factories beyond the Urals in anticipation of
Hitler's invasion.  There is no evidence of him building up the officer
corps he had decimated in the purges.  Rather, he was grabbing what he
could, Karelia, the Baltic states, eastern Poland (that was a carve-up deal,
that Pact), Bessarabia and Moldavia, western Ukraine, the latter never having
ever even been a part of tsarist Russia.
     Undoubtedly sooner or later, Hitler would have invaded Poland and
his other neighbors.  But the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact is one of the
more cynical episodes in this century.  Given its role in allowing the
beginning of World War II, I think most other agreements pale into
insignificance in comparison in terms of evil in this century.
     BTW, for those who say all this is irrelevant, it remains relevant
to the extent that the PCP partisans on this list continue to hang their
hats on Stalin and Mao.  It is perfectly relevant to ask what kind of
regime they wish to put in placel.   Yes, the Fujimori regime is tyrannical
and oppressive, despite having been recently elected (any serious comments
on that from anybody out there, btw?).  But power obtained from the barrel
of a gun cannot be maintained if it does not possess popular support (the
"masses").  Both Stalin's regime and Mao's regime have fundamentally changed
if not completely collapsed.  Massive unpopularity of their oppressive
and undemocratic policies is certainly involved here.  It is the failure
of the PCP supporters on this list to clearly denounce such policies which
has done more to damage their credibility on this list.
     As a final point on this, responding to such points with "COMRADES!
IGNORE THIS PROVOCATION!" when confronted with evidence of particularly
unpleasant outcomes of policies supported by them (e.g. evidence of
cannibalism during the GPCR, no, Ken zodiac, this is not a flame, it is
a reported fact unrefuted by anybody on this list) does little to enhance
their credibility.
Barkley Rosser


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