Potsdam Conference, by Feis

Reviewed by G.G.

Labour Review, vol. 6 no. 2, Summer 1961 · scan page 20

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[p020] Between. War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference. By Herbert Feis. Princeton University Press. London, O.U-P.. 36s. This book shows ‘peaceful co- existence’ in action. For instance, the Americans were very concerned about Manchuria and the maintenance of the Chiang Kai-shek regime in China. Stalin reassured them. Asked about Chiang Kai-shek he replied: ‘ He knew little about any Chinese leader, but he felt that Chiang was the best of the lot and would be the one to undertake the reunification of China. He said that he saw no other possible leader and that for example he did not believe that the Chinese Communist leaders were as good.’ Manchuria? ‘In Manchuria, as in any part of China where Soviet troops went, the. Chinese administration could be set. up by Chiang Kai-shek.’ It is clear that the Chinese Revolu- tion and the upsurge of the Colonial Revolution in the Far East was. against the plans and wishes of the Russian leaders. They were far more concerned to remain on good terms with the American government. In Europe, the thorny. problem was. the future of Germany and the East European _ states. Churchill was pressing for the Western armies to go: as far into Europe as possible and stay there. The Americans were not so keen (they had the atom bomb up their sleeves). It is rather strange: today to read that the Russian diplomats regarded the Americans as. a help in restraining the war-monger- ing British Government! Stalin’s aim was to create a set of buffer states in Eastern Europe—that meant governments which would be friendly to the Kremlin. If this could be assured, and the West agreed,then Stalin ‘was not concerned about changing the social system. There is no room in a short review to go into detail about the numerous. diplomatic squabbles and agreements. Enough to say it was all in the fieid of diplomacy. The class struggle. was kept outside. When it did break through it was against the wishes of the degenerate, cynical usurpers of the Russian Revolution. G.G. Road to Hiroshima