THE NOVIKOV TELEGRAM, 1946

 http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~ppennock/doc-Novikov.htm


The Soviet ambassador in Washington, Nikolai Novikov, drafted this telegram in September 1946
stressing the dangers of possible U.S. economic and military domination worldwide. In his telegram,
Novikov attempted to interpret U.S. foreign policy for his superiors, much the same way America’s
George F. Kennan had done in his "Long Telegram" to the U.S. State Department earlier that year.


The foreign policy of the United States, which reflects the imperialist tendencies of American
monopolistic capital, is characterized in the postwar period by a striving for world supremacy.
This is the real meaning of the many statements by President Truman and other representatives of
American ruling circles; that the United Stateshas the right to lead the world. All the forces of
American diplomacy -- the army, the air force, the navy, industry, and science -- are enlisted in
the service of this foreign policy. For this purpose broad plans for expansion have been developed
and are being implemented through diplomacy and the establishment of a system of naval and air
bases stretching far beyond the boundaries of the United States, through the arms race, and through
the creation of ever newer types of weapons.


1a) The foreign policy of the United States is conducted now in a situation that differs greatly
from the one that existed in the prewar period.


Europe has come out of the war with a completely dislocated economy, and the economic devastation
that occurred in the course of the war cannot be overcome in a short time. All of the countries of
Europe and Asia are experiencing a colossal need for consumer goods, industrial and transportation
equipment, etc. Such a situation provides American monopolistic capital with prospects for enormous
shipments of goods and the importation of capital into these countries -- a circumstance that would
permit it to infiltrate their national economies.


Such a development would mean a serious strengthening of the economic position of the United
States in the whole world and would be a stage on the road to world domination by the United
States.


c) On the other hand, we have seen a failure of calculations on the part of U.S. circles which
assumed that the Soviet Union would be destroyed in the war or would come out of it so weakened
that it would be forced to go begging to the United States for economic assistance. Had that
happened, they would have been able to dictate conditions permitting the United States to carry out
its expansion in Europe and Asia without hindrance from the USSR.


In actuality, despite all of the economic difficulties of the postwar period connected with the
enormous losses inflicted by the war and the German fascist occupation, the Soviet Union continues
to remain economically independent of the outside world and is rebuilding its national economy with
its own forces.


At the same time the USSR's international position is currently stronger than it was in the prewar
period. � In formerly hostile countries, such as Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, and Romania,
democratic reconstruction has established regimes that have undertaken to strengthen and maintain
friendly relations with the Soviet Union. �.


The enormous relative weight of the USSR in international affairs in general and in the European
countries in particular, the independence of its foreign policy, and the economic and political
assistance that it provides to neighboring countries, both allies and former enemies, has led to
the growth of the political influence of the Soviet Union in these countries and to the further
strengthening of democratic tendencies in them.


Such a situation in Eastern and Southeastern Europe cannot help but be regarded by the American
imperialists as an obstacle in the path of the expansionist policy of the United States.


2a) The foreign policy of the United States is not determined at present by the circles that strive
to strengthen cooperation. The ascendance to power of President Truman, a politically unstable
person but with certain conservative tendencies, and the subsequent appointment of (James) Byrnes
as Secretary of State meant a strengthening of the influence of U.S. foreign policy of the most
reactionary circles of the Democratic party. �


3. Obvious indications of the U.S. effort to establish world dominance are also to be found in the
increase in military potential in peacetime and in the establishment of a large number of naval and
air bases both in the United States and beyond its borders.


In the summer of 1946, for the first time in the history of the country, Congress passed a law on
the establishment of a peacetime army, not on a volunteer basis but on the basis of universal
military service. The size of the army, which is supposed to amount to about one million persons as
of July 1, 1947, was also increased significantly. The size of the navy at the conclusion of the
war decreased quite insignificantly in comparison with wartime. At the present time, the American
navy occupies first place in the world, leaving England's navy far behind, to say nothing of those
of other countries.


Expenditures on the army and navy have risen colossally, amounting to $13 billion according to the
budget for 1946-47 (about 40 percent of the total budget of $36 billion). This is more than 10
times greater than corresponding expenditures in the budget for 1938, which did not amount to even
$1 billion.


Along with maintaining a large army, navy, and air force, the budget provides that these enormous
amounts also will be spent on establishing a very extensive system of naval and air bases in the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans. According to existing official plans, in the course of the next few
years 228 bases, points of support, and radio stations are to be constructed in the Atlantic
Ocean and 258 in the Pacific. A large number of these bases and points of support are located
outside the boundaries of the United States. In the Atlantic Ocean bases exist or are under
construction in the following foreign island territories: Newfoundland, Iceland, Cuba, Trinidad,
Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Azores, and many others; in the Pacific Ocean: former Japanese mandated
territories -- the Marianas, Caroline and Marshall Islands, Bonin, Ryukyu, Philippines, and the
Galapagos Islands (they belong to Ecuador).


The establishment of American bases on islands that are often 10,000 to 12,000 kilometers from the
territory of the United States and are on the other side of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans clearly
indicates the offensive nature of the strategic concepts of the commands of the U.S. army and navy.
This interpretation is also confirmed by the fact that the American navy is intensively studying
the naval approaches to the boundaries of Europe. For this purpose American naval vessels in the
course of 1946 visited the ports of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Turkey, and Greece. In addition, the
American navy is constantly operating in the Mediterranean Sea.


All of these facts show clearly that a decisive role in the realization of plans for world
dominance by the United States is played by its armed forces.


�


7a) The "hard-line" policy with regard to the USSR � is at present the main obstacle on the road to
cooperation of the Great Powers. ... The objective has been to impose the will of other countries
on the Soviet Union. �


b) The present policy of the American government with regard to the USSR is also directed at
limiting or dislodging the influence of the Soviet Union from neighboring countries. In
implementing this policy in former enemy or Allied countries adjacent to the USSR, the United
States attempts, at various international conferences or directly in these countries themselves, to
support reactionary forces with the purpose of creating obstacles to the process of democratization
of these countries. In so doing, it also attempts to secure positions for the penetration of
American capital into their economies.