Chapter 13:

Chapter 13:

“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.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

“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.

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.