VARIETY
the truth; that people cease think–
ing in a country that has been at
war; that intellectual life has
stopped in recent years. On the
contrary, a great crisis like a war
steps up interest in political prob–
lems and calls for a "great verifi–
cation" of the theories inculcated
in the
pre~ar
period.
Among the dozens of Stalin's
forecasts that did not come true
there are two that are of the great–
est importance. Every intelligent
man in Russia knows them; every
former pupil, every student, every
member of a party circle recalls
these forecasts, because all of them
studied Stalin's speeches and writ–
ings. The two errors are closely in–
terrelated.
When the war loomed on the
horizon, and the problem of the
defense of Russia became urgent–
this was in 1934-Stalin con–
firmed and repeated old Commu–
nist theory by declaring that "the
war will beyond doubt unleash the
revolution and put in question the
very existence of capitalism in a
number of countries." According
to Stalin, the revolution would take
place among the enemies of the
Soviet Union, and would be one
of the most important factors in her
defense. "The war against the So–
viet Union," he declared, "will be
most dangerous for the bourgeoi–
sie, because it will be waged not
only at the fronts, but also behind
the enemy's lines. . . . The nu–
merous friends of the Soviet work–
ing class will strike at the rear of
the oppressors who plan a criminal
war against the fatherland of the
131
working classes of all countries."
This was the old pattern, carried
over from the First World War,
which seems to have been con–
firmed in the course of the inter–
vention of 1918 and 1919. It be–
came one of the Communist ca–
nons; it was a corner-stone of the
Communist philosophy that inter–
national solidarity was to be
counted on in the crisis of war. ·
These predictions of Stalin were
in no way confirmed by events.
Directly connected with these
"Marxist prophecies" are Stalin's
prognostications of 1941 and 1942,
after the beginning of hostilities.
In November 1941 he said that
"the
re~r
of the German Wehr–
macht is a volcano ready to blow
up and bury the Hitlerite adven–
turers." "In the German people,"
he said, "there developed a criti–
cal revulsion against the continua–
tion of the war, a desire for the
liquidation of the war. More than
two years of bloody war ... could
not fail to turn the German people
against the unnecessary and
rui–
nous struggle."
Lozovsky, implementing Stalin's
ideas through the Commissariat of
Foreign Affairs, hastened to write
that unknown persons had pla–
carded houses in Berlin with the
slogan:
"Heil Moskau!"
And, ob–
viously counting on an explosion
of the German volcano, Stalin, in
his order to the Red Army of May
1, 1942, said: "I order the whole
Red Army to see to it that 1942
should become the year of the
final rout of the German-fascist
troops and the year of liberation
