Britain and Russia Together

Here's a question that's going to divide opinion - Who or what saved Britain from losing the Second World War?

No, not Churchill. No, not the Americans. Not the Spitfire, nor the English Channel. It was Stalin and the Russians.

This is not just my opinion but, in 1940's Britain, it was the view of most of the British populace too. During the War, membership of the British Communist Party more than doubled, from 17,756 in September 1939 to 45,435 by March 1945.

Once Russia had been invaded in Operation Barbarossa, the British government was not slow in using propaganda to encourage the British to embrace their new ally. Stalin, the 'man of Steel' was portrayed as 'Uncle Joe', the cuddly leader who was going to keep us safe in our beds.

There's a nice clip of a wartime film called "Tawny Pipit" which shows the Russians being applauded for helping us in the war. Actually, it's a great film and worth watching in full because it contains lots of "messages" about the way we should behave and the perils of leaving ourselves unguarded from '5th columnists'.

The Internationale - "Tawny Pipit"

Here's a link to the full film "Tawny pipit"

The fact that Russia was now on 'our side' would not have gone amiss to my twenty-one year old newly qualified R.A.F. pilot, proudly Socialist, Grandfather, Howard Kelsey. He would have been elated that the political and military left was rising up to confront the Nazis at last. His early attraction to Russia and Communism was to remain with him all his life, despite the Cold War and the atrocities and purges carried out by Stalin that were revealed after the Berlin wall came down. He was learning to write in Russian and had a Russian pen-pal up until the time he lost his eyesight in his eighties. His political views were very important to him, but they did not make for an easy life. Indeed, with the anti-Communist atmosphere and McCarthyism in the late 1950's, his political stance would end his career in the R.A.F. with a great deal of acrimony.

Whatever we think about Stalin, there is no doubt that Russia had to confront the vast majority of the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, and the Russian people lost over 20 million people to the carnage. This fact is terrible enough, but made worse by the news that the Western leaders will snub the 70th V.E. day celebrations in Moscow this year. Guardian link to Moscow Snub We never learn!