156

p The Soviet government had every reason to believe that the German aggressors could still have been checked, should they have had a united front of non-aggressor nations standing up against them. It considered it necessary, in particular, to prevent the Nazis overrunning Czechoslovakia.

p The Soviet Union was prepared to make its sizable contribution to peace-keeping. It had enough forces and possibilities for that. Following the successful fulfilment of its Second Five-Year Plan, the Soviet Union came to lead Europe and rank second in the world (after the U.S.) in industrial output.

p The USSR was determined lo take all the necessary measures to avert a further expansion of the German aggression and, in particular, to carry out its commitments under the Treaty of Mutual Assistance with Czechoslovakia. On March 15, 1938, Deputy People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. P. Potemkin assured Czechoslovak Minister in Moscow Zdenek Fierlinger that, in the event of an attackon Czechoslovakia, the Soviet government would fulfil its allied commitments in full. At the same time, a similar statement by the Soviet government was communicated to the governments of France and Great Britain.^^56^^

On March 17, the Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs made an official statement regarding the exacerbation of the situation in Europe. Me noted that the German annexation of Austria, situated in Central Europe, had created an indisputable danger to all European nations. Referring to the obligations devolving on the USSR from the Covenant of the League of Nations and the treaties of mutual assistance with France and Czechoslovakia, the People’s Commissar declared that the Soviet government "is still prepared to participate in collective action that could be decided on in co-operation with it and would have the object of arresting the continued development of aggression and removing the increased danger of another world shambles.

157 It is willing to start immediate discussions with other powers in or outside the League of Nations on all practical steps dictated by the circumstances. Tomorrow it may be too late, but today there is still the time for it, if all the nations and, in particular, the Great Powers, take up a firm and unequivocal position with regard to the problem of collective peace keeping.”^^57^^

p The texts of this statement were forwarded to the governments of Britain, France, the United States, Czechoslovakia, the Balkan, Baltic and Scandinavian states as well as Poland, Belgium and Turkey.

p The British Ambassador in Moscow Lord Chilston, admitted, as he conferred with Maxim Litvinov on March 19, 1938, that the Soviet government’s statement has touched off a great movement among the British members of parliament. To explain the substance of this statement, the People’s Commissar said that it had to be understood as an invitation to start negotiations and the venue and timing of these negotiations can be considered, depending on reaction fi’om the Western powers. It is necessary, he pointed out, to find out the opinion of the countries concerned in advance so that "the invitations to the conference could be sent out".^^58^^

The Soviet Union’s proposal for collective action to safeguard peace had, however, no support from the Western powers.