'He is tiresome, but very wise'

Have you ever heard Joseph Stalin's voice? This radio broadcast is from 3 July 1941, 84 years ago today, and recorded 11 days after Hitler tore up the Non-Aggression Pact and invaded the USSR.

Wikipedia seems to suggest that Stalin wasn’t a great orator, that he was relatively softly spoken and a little bit stilted and halting. The Marxist Internet Archive has a translated summary page from 1925:¹

In public appearances Stalin is not a remarkable speaker. His voice is low, his style of delivery poor; he is even hard to understand in a big meeting. But in more intimate party conferences he is effective. One of his personal friends says that the beginning of his speech is not interesting, But as step by step he piles up argument, his words become convincing, then important—and therefore interesting. “He is tiresome, but very wise.” He attains emphasis, not by raising his voice, but by lowering if, until men strain to hear.

Certainly there is nothing too stirring or riveting about the delivery above. But the words themselves are a little bit spellbinding for a history nerd like myself. It’s also worth noting how clear and concise each sentence is. There are some flourishes, but it’s logical and easy to follow, and it follows the Don Watson rule of sticking to clear, active verbs. [speechwriter Watson was a guest on episodes 12 & 13 of my Speakola podcast.]

It’s amazing to think of where the world was at, the extent of the darkness of mid 1941 Europe, surely as dark a time as any in the last century. It’s interesting to read how Stalin deftly negotiated the humiliation of the Non-Aggression Pact failing, and his turn back towards Churchill and Roosevelt.

In this war of liberation we shall not be alone. In this great war we shall have loyal allies in the peoples of Europe and America, including the German people who are enslaved by the Hitlerite despots.

Our war for the freedom of our country will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic liberties.

It will be a united front of peoples standing for freedom and against enslavement and threats of enslavement by Hitler's fascist armies.

Stalin at Yalta, 1945, Creative Commons

I sometimes like to do a speech map when I’m writing a speech. Basically a dot point outline of where the speech is going to go. Here is one for Stalin’s July 1941 radio address:

A rough speech map regarding this address

• Greeting

• News update - it’s grim news, Germany is marching through the USSR

• Is Hitler invincible? No! appeal to history.

• Why are Germans moving forward? Hitler had the benefit of surprise and knowledge war was starting. Stalin was honour bound not to attack. ‘Naturally, our peace-loving country, not wishing to take the initiative of breaking the pact, could not resort to perfidy.’

• Defiending the Non-Aggression Pact - we did the right thing signing it (Hmmmma!)

• The German advanatage of surprise will be short lived

• Staking out the moral highground: That is why our whole valiant Red Army, our whole valiant Navy, all our falcons of the air, all the peoples of our country, all the finest men and women of Europe, America and Asia, finally all the finest men and women of Germany--condemn the treacherous acts of German fascists and sympathize with the Soviet Government, approve the conduct of the Soviet Government, and see that ours is a just cause, that the enemy will be defeated, that we are bound to win.

• What must be done? Total commitment to victory - the stakes catastrophically high. ‘Thus the issue is one of life or death for the Soviet State, for the peoples of the USSR; the issue is whether the peoples of the Soviet Union shall remain free or fall into slavery.’

• It must be a whole of country effort. Three paragraphs beginning ‘We must …’

• An Allied war effort with Britain and America (and others)

• Get ready for total war. ‘Comrades, our forces are numberless. The overweening enemy will soon learn this to his cost. Side by side with the Red Army many thousands of workers, collective farmers, intellectuals are rising to fight the enemy aggressor. The masses of our people will rise up in their millions.’

• Rally cry. ‘All our forces for support of our heroic Red Army and our glorious Red Navy! All forces of the people--for the demolition of the enemy!Forward, to our victory!

Below is the video and transcript.

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Tony

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Joseph Stalin: 'A grave danger hangs over our country', radio broadcast after Hitler invasion - 1941

3 July 1941, Moscow, USSR

Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Men of our army and navy! I am addressing you, my friends!

The perfidious military attack on our Fatherland, begun on June 22nd by Hitler Germany, is continuing.