Members of the British Parliament in March 1940 were really furious that London's plans to launch a military strike against the USSR had been thwarted, as described in documents from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, published by the Presidential Library.
In essence, Britain, France and other Western countries acted then in the same way that their followers within NATO are now hatching aggressive plans against Russia. Saturday marks the 75th anniversary of the entry into force of the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.
England and France in early 1940 made a fundamental decision to go to war against the USSR, to strike from Finland, with which the Soviet Union was then fighting, to capture Leningrad, to strike from the Caucasus, destroying the local Soviet oil fields, and to establish a “national Russian government”. This decision was made by the Supreme Military Council, the official main body of the military leadership of England and France, it was headed by the Prime Ministers of both countries, Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier.
But the plans of London and Paris to strike the Soviet Union was not destined to come true. England and France did not care about them in connection with the military successes of Germany in the west of Europe in 1940. And on March 12, 1940 the war between the USSR and Finland ended, Moscow and Helsinki signed a peace treaty.
On March 14, 1940, the USSR Ambassador to England Ivan Maisky reported by cipher telegram to Moscow, to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, “about the mood in the English Parliament in connection with the conclusion of peace between the USSR and Finland”.
“I was today at a meeting of Parliament, where Chamberlain made a report on the conclusion of peace between the USSR and Finland, and once again could see how great was the danger of open intervention of England and France on the side of Finland” - reported Maisky.
He described the general mood of the members of the British Parliament at that meeting.
”
“It was a vivid demonstration of concentrated but impotent frenzy, and it is worthy of note that this feeling permeated both the Conservatives and very significant circles of the opposition,” the diplomat reported. “The parliamentary 'masses' were furious and met every anti-Soviet outburst with tumultuous approbation. I have rarely seen a parliament in a state of such irritation and excitement,” Maisky pointed out.
”
The most ardent supporters of supporting Finland with military equipment and men were British Labor. Maisky had reported this fact to the USSR NKID earlier, on February 11, 1940, when reporting on England's military aid to Finland. He described the details of his conversation with Richard Austin Butler, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in England.
“Butler told him that the Laborists, especially the 'working delegation' returned from Helsinki headed by Sitrin, were pressing the British government hard in the sense of strengthening and intensifying aid to Finland,” Maisky wrote.
The current British Labor prime minister, Keir Starmer, has asked the country's National Security Council to consider plans for more support for Kiev, The Times reported last week.
