ANDRE MALRAUX
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elusively collective, is irreconcilable with the slightest material liberty
which communism and the modern world imply, in a very short
time."
Accompanied by his son, I returned to the city, abandoning the
lonely villa.
* * *
The next day we speak of the campaign in Poland:
AM:
Some specialists in France say that Tukhatchevsky was defeated
because the tactic of Weygand consisted in changing the axis of
the action in the middle of the combat, a tactic which the Russian
general did not understand. I always distrust specialists in such
matters.
L T:
Tukhatchevsky knew very well that it is permissible to change
the axis of the battle . That is not the question. There were two
causes for the defeat: in the first place, the arrival of the French .
AM:
This has been said in France but in a way to incite disbelief in
the absence of more detailed information .
LT:
No, it is true. The French staff arrived in all this disorder-dis–
order is putting it mildly. They were in a country not their own;
they hadn't suffered one crushing defeat since the beginning of the
campaign. They were serene. They were able to examine every–
thing with coolness. In the second place, the army of Lemberg did
not throw itself upon Warsaw, which is what it should have done.
That was the essential.
AM:
I know that Stalin figured in the army of Lemberg.
L
T:
But with all that it was a question of an adventure . I was
decidedly opposed. We went through with it finally because Lenin
insisted, especially because of the Polish proletariat, whose situa–
tion and disposition were difficult to grasp at that time . Add to
that the fact that a revolutionary army is always exceedingly ner–
vous; when it finds itself separated from its base of supplies, it can
become demoralized by the slightest defeat , especially after a
series of victories.
AM:
Is it to this that you attribute the defeat of the Red Army after
its successes in the war of occupation?
LT:
Yes. In the war of occupation we were stronger because our
forces radiated from the center- Moscow .
AM:
Could the Red Army actually maintain itself industrially and
chemically against a European or Japanese Army?
L
T:
It could place itself quickly at the level of any of them . But the
