Editing Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (section)

==Soviet–German relations==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-121-0011-20, Polen, deutsch-sowjetische Siegesparade.jpg|thumb|German and Soviet soldiers meet in jointly-occupied [[Brest, Belarus|Brest]].]]

===Early political issues===
Before the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact was announced, Western communists denied that such a treaty would be signed. [[Herbert Biberman]], a future member of the [[Hollywood Ten]], denounced rumours as "Fascist propaganda". [[Earl Browder]], the head of the [[Communist Party USA]], stated that "there is as much chance of agreement as of Earl Browder being elected president of the [[United States Chamber of Commerce|Chamber of Commerce]]."<ref name="friedrich1997">{{cite book|title=City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940s|publisher=University of California Press|last=Friedrich|first=Otto|year=1997 |location=Berkeley; Los Angeles|page=[https://archive.org/details/cityofnetsportra00frie/page/24 24]|isbn=0-520-20949-4|edition=reprint |url=https://archive.org/details/cityofnetsportra00frie/page/24}}</ref> Gunther wrote, however, that some knew "communism and Fascism were more closely allied than was normally understood", and [[Ernst von Weizsäcker]] had told [[Nevile Henderson]] on 16 August that the Soviet Union would "join in sharing in the Polish spoils".{{r|gunther1940}} In September 1939, the Comintern suspended all anti-Nazi and anti-fascist propaganda and explained that the war in Europe was a matter of capitalist states attacking one another for imperialist purposes.<ref name="cohen110">{{cite book|last=Cohen |first=Yohanon|title=Small Nations in Times of Crisis and Confrontation|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1989 |isbn=0-7914-0018-2|page=110}}.</ref> Western communists acted accordingly; although they had previously supported [[collective security]], they now denounced Britain and France for going to war.{{r|friedrich1997}}

When anti-German demonstrations erupted in [[Prague]], [[Czechoslovakia]], the Comintern ordered the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]] to employ all of its strength to paralyse "chauvinist elements".<ref name="cohen110"/> Moscow soon forced the [[French Communist Party]] and the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] to adopt anti-war positions. On 7 September, Stalin called [[Georgi Dimitrov]],{{Clarify|date=February 2009}}<!--What for?--> who sketched a new Comintern line on the war that stated that the war was unjust and imperialist, which was approved by the secretariat of the Comintern on 9 September. Thus, western communist parties now had to oppose the war and to vote against war credits.<ref name="What Next">{{Cite web|last=Flewers|first=Paul|work=What Next|quote=Stalin was publicly making the none-too-subtle implication that some form of deal between the Soviet Union and Germany could not be ruled out|url=http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Newint/Redflag.html|title=From the Red Flag to the Union Jack: The Rise of Domestic Patriotism in the Communist Party of Great Britain|year=1995|access-date=14 February 2006|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 February 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223124354/http://www.whatnextjournal.co.uk/Pages/Newint/Redflag.html}}</ref> Although the French communists had unanimously voted in Parliament for war credits on 2 September and declared their "unshakeable will" to defend the country on 19 September, the Comintern formally instructed the party to condemn the war as imperialist on 27 September. By 1 October, the French communists advocated listening to German peace proposals, and leader [[Maurice Thorez]] deserted from the [[French Army]] on 4 October and fled to Russia.{{r|jackson2001}} Other communists also deserted from the army.

The [[Communist Party of Germany]] featured similar attitudes. In ''Die Welt'', a communist newspaper published in [[Stockholm]]{{Efn|Having been banned in Stockholm, it continued to be published in [[Zürich]].<ref>{{Citation|url=http://library.fes.de/fulltext/sozmit/som-von-aussen.htm|title=Sozmit|contribution=Som von Außen|place=[[Germany|DE]]|publisher=FES|access-date=19 September 2010|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517035922/http://library.fes.de/fulltext/sozmit/som-von-aussen.htm|url-status=live}}.</ref>}} the exiled communist leader [[Walter Ulbricht]] opposed the Allies, stated that Britain represented "the most reactionary force in the world",<ref>{{Cite web|place=DE|url=http://library.fes.de/fulltext/sozmit/1940-008.htm|title=Sozialistische Mitteilungen|publisher=FES|issue=8|year=1940|access-date=19 September 2010|archive-date=20 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020042906/http://library.fes.de/fulltext/sozmit/1940-008.htm|url-status=live}}.</ref> and argued, "The German government declared itself ready for friendly relations with the Soviet Union, whereas the English–French war bloc desires a war against the socialist Soviet Union. The Soviet people and the working people of Germany have an interest in preventing the English war plan".<ref>{{cite book|first=Walther|last=Hofer|title=Die Entfesselung des Zweiten Weltkrieges|year=2007|publisher=Lit|isbn=978-3-8258-0383-4|pages=224–5|quote=Die Welt, February 1940.}}</ref>

Despite a warning by the Comintern, German tensions were raised when the Soviets stated in September that they must enter Poland to "protect" their ethnic Ukrainian and Belarusian brethren from Germany. Molotov later admitted to German officials that the excuse was necessary because the Kremlin could find no other pretext for the Soviet invasion.{{Sfn|Nekrich|Ulam|Freeze|1997|pp=128–9}}

During the early months of the Pact, Soviet foreign policy became critical of the Allies and more pro-German in turn. During the Fifth Session of the Supreme Soviet on 31 October 1939, Molotov analysed the international situation, thus giving the direction for communist propaganda. According to Molotov, Germany had a legitimate interest in regaining its position as a great power, and the Allies had started an aggressive war in order to maintain the Versailles system.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Bianka|editor-last=Pietrow-Ennker|first=Bianka|last=Pietrow-Ennker|contribution=Stalinistische Außen- und Deutschlandpolitik 1939–1941|title=Präventivkrieg? Der Deutsche Angriff auf die Sowjetunion|publisher=Fischer|place=Frankfurt am Main|year=2000|edition=3|page=85|isbn=978-3-596-14497-6}}</ref>

===Expansion of raw materials and military trading===
{{Main|German–Soviet Credit Agreement (1939)|German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940)}}
Germany and the Soviet Union entered an [[German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940)|intricate trade pact on 11 February 1940]] that was over four times larger than [[German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1939)|the one that the two countries had signed in August 1939]].{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=668–9}} The new trade pact helped Germany surmount a British blockade.{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=668–9}} In the first year, Germany received one million tons of cereals, half-a-million tons of wheat, 900,000 tons of oil, 100,000 tons of cotton, 500,000 tons of [[phosphates]] and considerable amounts of other vital raw materials, along with the transit of one million tons of soybeans from [[Manchuria]]. Those and other supplies were being transported through Soviet and occupied Polish territories.{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=668–9}} The Soviets were to receive a naval cruiser, the plans to the [[German battleship Bismarck|battleship ''Bismarck'']], heavy naval guns, other naval gear and 30 of Germany's latest warplanes, including the [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Bf 109]] and [[Messerschmitt Bf 110|Bf 110]] fighters and [[Junkers Ju 88|Ju 88]] bomber.{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=668–9}} The Soviets would also receive oil and electric equipment, locomotives, turbines, generators, diesel engines, ships, machine tools, and samples of German artillery, tanks, explosives, chemical-warfare equipment, and other items.{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=668–9}}

The Soviets also helped Germany to avoid British naval blockades by providing a submarine base, [[Basis Nord]], in the northern Soviet Union near [[Murmansk]].<ref name="cohen110" /> That also provided a refueling and maintenance location and a takeoff point for raids and attacks on shipping.<ref name="cohen110"/> In addition, the Soviets provided Germany with access to the [[Northern Sea Route]] for both cargo ships and raiders though only the commerce raider {{Ship|German auxiliary cruiser|Komet||2}} used the route before the German invasion, which forced Britain to protect sea lanes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific.{{Sfn|Philbin|1994|pp=130–42}}

===Summer deterioration of relations===
The Finnish and Baltic invasions began a deterioration of relations between the Soviets and Germany.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kennan|first=George|title=Russian and the West, under Lenin and Stalin|place=NY|publisher=Mentor|year=1961|pages=318–9}}.</ref> Stalin's invasions were a severe irritant to Berlin since the intent to accomplish them had not been communicated to the Germans beforehand, and they prompted concern that Stalin was seeking to form an anti-German bloc.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cartier|first=Raymond|title=Hitler et ses Généreaux|place=Paris|publisher=J'ai Lu/A. Faiard|year=1962|page=233|language=fr|trans-title=Hitler and his Generals}}.</ref> Molotov's reassurances to the Germans only intensified the Germans' mistrust. On 16 June, as the Soviets invaded Lithuania but before they had invaded Latvia and Estonia, Ribbentrop instructed his staff "to submit a report as soon as possible as to whether in the Baltic States a tendency to seek support from the Reich can be observed or whether an attempt was made to form a bloc."<ref>{{Cite book|editor1-last=Sontag|editor1-first=RJ|editor2-last=Beddie|editor2-first=JS|title=Nazi–Soviet Relations 1939–1941|place=Washington, DC|publisher=State Department|year=1948|page=151}}.</ref>

In August 1940, the Soviet Union briefly suspended its deliveries under its [[German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940)|commercial agreement]] after relations were strained after disagreements over policy in Romania, the [[Winter War|Soviet war with Finland]], Germany's falling behind on its deliveries of goods under the pact and Stalin's worry that Hitler's war with the West might end quickly after [[Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)|France signed an armistice]].{{Sfn|Philbin|1994|pp=48, 59}} The suspension created significant resource problems for Germany.{{Sfn|Philbin|1994|pp=48, 59}} By the end of August, relations had improved again, as the countries had [[Second Vienna Award|redrawn the Hungarian and Romanian borders]] and settled some Bulgarian claims, and Stalin was again convinced that Germany would face a long war in the west with Britain's improvement in its [[Battle of Britain|air battle with Germany]] and the execution of [[Destroyers for Bases Agreement|an agreement between the United States and Britain regarding destroyers and bases]].{{Sfn|Philbin|1994|p=60}}

In early September however, Germany arranged its own occupation of Romania, targeting its oil fields.{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|p=720}} That move raised tensions with the Soviets, who responded that Germany was supposed to have consulted with the Soviet Union under Article III of the pact.{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|p=720}}

===German–Soviet Axis talks===
{{Main|German–Soviet Axis talks}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1984-1206-523, Berlin, Verabschiedung Molotows.jpg|thumb|Ribbentrop taking leave of Molotov in Berlin, November 1940]]
After Germany in September 1940 entered the [[Tripartite Pact]] with Japan and Italy, Ribbentrop wrote to Stalin, inviting Molotov to Berlin for negotiations aimed to create a 'continental bloc' of Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union that would oppose Britain and the United States.{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=59}} Stalin sent Molotov to Berlin to negotiate the terms for the Soviet Union to join the Axis and potentially to enjoy the spoils of the pact.{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=58}}{{Sfn|Brackman|2001|p=341}} After negotiations during November 1940 on where to extend the Soviet sphere of influence, Hitler broke off talks and continued planning for the eventual attempts to invade the Soviet Union.{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=59}}{{Sfn|Nekrich|Ulam|Freeze|1997|pp=202–5}}

===Late relations===
[[File:Europe before Operation Barbarossa, 1941 (in German).png|thumb|Situation in Europe by May to June 1941, on the eve of Operation Barbarossa]]
In an effort to demonstrate peaceful intentions toward Germany, on 13 April 1941, the Soviets signed a neutrality pact with Japan, an Axis power.{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=63}} While Stalin had little faith in Japan's commitment to neutrality, he felt that the pact was important for its political symbolism to reinforce a public affection for Germany.{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=66}} Stalin felt that there was a growing split in German circles about whether Germany should initiate a war with the Soviet Union.{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=66}} Stalin did not know that Hitler had been secretly discussing an invasion of the Soviet Union since summer 1940{{Sfn|Ericson|1999|pp=129–30}} and that Hitler had ordered his military in late 1940 to prepare for war in the East, regardless of the parties' talks of a potential Soviet entry as a fourth [[Axis power]].<ref name="weeks74">{{cite book|last=Weeks|first=Albert L|title=Stalin's Other War: Soviet Grand Strategy, 1939–1941|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2003|isbn=0-7425-2192-3|pages=74–5}}.</ref>

On [[1 May]] [[1941]] [[Soviet Union|USSR]] held an annual [[International Workers' Day|International Workers Day]] parade on [[Red Square]] in [[Moscow]] with German diplomat [[Ernst August Köstring]] and Wehrmacht general [[Hans Krebs (Wehrmacht general)|Hans Krebs]] invited as prominent guests.<ref>{{Cite web |title=История военных парадов на Красной площади, Фильм 2 |trans-title=History of military parades on Red Square, part 2 |url=https://tvzvezda.ru/schedule/films-online/201205021538-5equ.htm/201207091956-y60y.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512185957/https://tvzvezda.ru/schedule/films-online/201205021538-5equ.htm/201207091956-y60y.ht |archive-date=2021-05-12 |website=[[Zvezda (TV channel)]]}}</ref>