Interesting little piece of archival research on this day, the anniversary of the start of the Korean War — a Korean history professor at Peking University obtained from a Russian archive in 2005 a letter between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Czechoslovak president Klement Gottwald discussing the Soviet rationale in sitting out the UNSC vote on Korea.
Fascinating stuff, actually. For example:
We left the Security Council for four reasons: first, to demonstrate solidarity of the Soviet Union towards the new China. Second, to underscore the foolishness and idiocy of the United States policy seeking the appointment of a Guomindang clown as the China’s representative to the Security Council; third, to render the decision of the Security Council unlawful as a result of representatives of two great powers missing; fourth, to give American government a free hand to gain the majority vote in the Security Council, make more mistakes, and show its true colors to the public.
I believe that we have achieved all of these goals.
Following our withdrawal form the Security Council, America has become entangled in the military intervention in Korea and is now wasting away its military prestige and moral authority. Few honest people can now doubt the fact that America acts as an aggressor and tyrant in Korea and that, in military terms, it is really not as powerful as it claims to be. Besides, it is clear that the United States of America is presently diverted from Europe and the Far East. Does it not give us an advantage in the global balance of power? It surely does.
Uncle Joe also discusses China’s role in the conflict as well. Read the document in English (.doc file) here, and in Russian here.
7 Comments
Despite being a murderous bastard, he was a good judge of character…
I think murderous bastard is unfair, I do believe that Stalin was born in wed-lock.
“America … is now wasting away its military prestige and moral authority.”
Hahahahaha. Tell that to the supporters of The Great Leap Forward, Joe, you fuckstick.
No matter how well substantiated the FACTS may be, I doubt this historical documentation will do anything to debunk the myth of U.S. blame for war and partition in Korea.
I still think the Soviets sitting out the key votes on Korea in June 1950 was a mistake. It sounds to me like Uncle Joe is trying to make excuses. The last bit especially where he explains why they returned to the SC only two months later.
It sounds from the letter like Comrade Gottwald was blasting the Soviets for sitting out the vote. Stalin was trying to reassure him that he wasn’t an incompetent idiot who, for example, would send supplies to Germany the day before Barbarossa, continually dismiss foreign intelligence that the Germans were about to attack, purge his military of all their best generals bringing the country to the border of calamity or get severely embarassed by his attempts to cut off Berlin.
Yes, the UN forces were pinned down in August 1950, but the front was stabilising and I expect Uncle Joe was in for a shock in September at Incheon. That the Americans subsequently got themselves into hot water with the PRC, can hardly be accredited to Stalin’s foresight.
I agree with Eujin. Stalin was a brutal thug, fit for a job as a union boss, not leadership of a global superpower. It is likely that Pravda and Isvestia carried the same “talking points”… after the fact…
Russia has many interesting documentation about Korea, but it is not all released. This will help the true story come out.