View source for Stalin's speech of 19 August 1939

{{Short description|Secret speech allegedly given by Joseph Stalin}}
{{Expand Russian|date=January 2021}}
A secret speech was allegedly given by [[Joseph Stalin]], on 19 August 1939, to members of the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]], wherein he justified the [[Foreign policy of the Soviet Union|Soviet strategy]] to promote [[World War II|military conflict in Europe]], which would be beneficial for [[Eastern Bloc|the future territorial expansion of the Communist system]]. The strategy included [[Soviet-Nazi collaboration]] and the suggestion of what has become the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]].

The [[historicity]] of the speech is still the subject of academic debate. Plausible textual evidence of this speech found in various reputable archives has been academically studied and published, however no formal first-hand evidence of a [[Politburo]] ''meeting'' held on 19 August 1939 or the delivery of the quoted speech has yet been proven.

== Source material and timeline ==
The first version of this speech was published partially on 28 November 1939, in the [[Paris]] newspaper ''Le Temps'' by the [[news agency]] ''[[Havas]]'' despatch from [[Geneva]].<ref name="Carley">Review: Soviet Foreign Policy in the West, 1936–1941: A Review Article Author(s): Michael Jabara Carley Reviewed work(s): Stalin and the Inevitable War, 1936–1941 by Silvio Pons Stalin's Other War: Soviet Grand Strategy, 1939–1941 by Albert L. Weeks Source: Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 56, No. 7 (Nov. 2004), pp. 1081–1093)</ref> Since then several versions, varying in content, have been in circulation.

In 1994, the Russian publicist Tatiana Bushuyeva ({{langx|ru|Татьяна Семеновна Бушуева}}) published the text of the speech in an article printed in the ''[[Novy Mir]]'' magazine<ref name= bushu>Бушуева Т. "...проклиная - попробуйте понять...", Новый мир, 1994, no. 12, pp. 230-237. ([https://magazines.gorky.media/novyi_mi/1994/12/proklinaya-poprobujte-ponyat.html text online], retrieved August 5, 2023)</ref> based on what she claimed was recent findings in the  Special Archive of the USSR of a text,<ref name=f1223>The archive files location: Centre for the Preservation of Collections of Historical Documents, formerly Special Archive of the USSR; fund 7, list 1, file 1223, in Russian: Центр хранения историко-документальных коллекций, бывший Особый архив СССР, ф. 7, оп. 1, д. 1223</ref> which according to her was supposedly recorded by a [[Comintern]] member present at the meeting (and she published the Russian translation thereof).<ref name= bushu/> Sergey Sluch questions its authenticity remarking that the document was in French and stored in the "Trophies Funds" of the Archive, and that the text mostly matches the one from Havas, but Bushueva skipped some dubious passages.<ref name=Sluch/>

== Historicity and debate ==
Whether this speech was ever given by Stalin is still the subject of dispute by historians. According to [[Viktor Suvorov]]'s book ''[[Icebreaker (Suvorov)|Icebreaker]]'', [[Historiography in the Soviet Union|Soviet historians]] laid special emphasis on claiming that no [[Politburo]] meeting took place on 19 August 1939, but the Russian military historian [[Dmitri Volkogonov]] has found the evidence that a meeting really took place on that day. However the only military issue in the agenda of the meeting, according to Volkogonov, was the deferment from [[conscription]] of the construction workers of the [[Akmolinsk]]&ndash;[[Kartaly]] railway.<ref>{{Cite news|date=15 January 1993|author=Dmitri Volkogonov|title=Эту версию уже опровергла история|pages=9|publisher=[[Izvestia]]}} ([https://yeltsin.ru/archive/periodic/52194/ newspaper image] at [[Yeltsin Center]]); criticism of [[Viktor Suvorov]]'s book ''Icebreaker''</ref>

The speech took place according to research book ''[[Stalin's Missed Chance]]'' by the military historian [[Mikhail Meltyukhov]], which covers the alleged offensive plans by Stalin. However, the third edition of the book, in 2008, omits any mention of 1939 speech.

Historian {{ill|Sergey Sluch|ru|Случ, Сергей Зиновьевич}} of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] also reviewed the history of the subject.<ref name= Sluch>[http://vivovoco.rsl.ru/VV/JOURNAL/RUHIST/STANET1.HTM С.З.Случ, "РЕЧЬ СТАЛИНА, КОТОРОЙ НЕ БЫЛО"], ''Отечественная история'' (now ''[[Russian History (RAS journal)|Russian History]]''), no. 1, 2004 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070128034757/http://vivovoco.rsl.ru/VV/JOURNAL/RUHIST/STANET1.HTM |date=2007-01-28}}</ref><ref>[http://gkaf.narod.ru/kirillov/ref-liter/slutch-00.html#tn54 Случ С.З. Советско-германские отношения в сентябре-декабре 1939 года и вопрос о вступлении СССР во Вторую мировую войну<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071125205042/http://gkaf.narod.ru/kirillov/ref-liter/slutch-00.html |date=2007-11-25 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060520110755/http://www.carlonordling.se/ww2/stalin_speech_complete.html Stalin's speech to the Politburo on 19 August 1939, reconstructed from renderings in Novyi Mir, Moscow, and Revue de Droit International, Geneva], pieced together by [[Carl O. Nordling]], [[Sweden]]
*{{in lang|fr}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060520110715/http://www.carlonordling.se/ww2/stalin_speech_french.html Pourquoi l’U.R.S.S. aurait signé son accord avec le Reich], Revue de Droit International, de Sciences Diplomatiques et Politiques (The International Law Review), 1939, Nr. 3, Juillet-Septembre. P. 247–248. (alleged text of Stalin's speech by Havas, with English translation by Nordling)
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://magazines.russ.ru/novyi_mi/1994/12/knoboz03.html Tatjana Bushuyeva’s article in Novyy Mir]
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://tapirr.com/texts/history/suvorov/pravda/pavlova.htm Irina Pavlova about documents related to beginning of World War II]
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.grani.ru/opinion/m.136132.html Irina Pavlova about findings by Bushueva]

{{Joseph Stalin}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stalin's Alleged Speech Of 19 August 1939}}
[[Category:1939 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Documents of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:World War II speeches]]
[[Category:Forgery controversies]]
[[Category:Joseph Stalin]]
[[Category:Works by Joseph Stalin]]
[[Category:August 1939 in Europe]]
[[Category:1939 speeches]]
[[Category:Speeches by politicians]]