1. Stalin and Union Square.
- Author
-
Wechsler, James
- Subjects
RADICALS ,SOVIET Union politics & government ,WORLD War II ,RATIFICATION of treaties ,GOVERNMENT policy ,LIBERALS - Abstract
For two decades American radicals have participated vicariously in the triumphs and retreats of the Soviet regime. Events in the Soviet Union have molded their thinking, overshadowed native politics, and conditioned their emotional level. The ten days of October that activist John Reed chronicled were to influence American radical thought for a generation; and in August 1939, the ten days that elapsed between Germany's announcement and the Soviet's ratification of the German-Russian pact seemed equally momentous. This article aims to give an outline of what representative radicals and liberals were thinking in this period of upheaval. The central fact is that these are moments of transition among radical and liberal forces. If the issue of Russian policy has once more troubled and divided them, it must now be seen in the context of the greater issue of the war itself.
- Published
- 1939