cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11765430

The film is a diary of the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joseph E. Davies sent to the Soviet Union by FDR to asses if the Soviets are serious about pursuing peace and opposing Hitler and to figure out what is the state of their military.

The “tankie” talking points include:

• demystifying the Soviet factories and agricultural cooperatives,
• exposing the Trotskyite sabotage rampant in the years leading up to the war,
• positive assessment of the “Moscow Trials” and the purges as a justified and valid reaction to the treasonous plot by the “Trotskyite block” to overthrow the government and partition the country with Nazi and Japanese help,
• showing how the American industrialists supported Hitler and Japan, with quotes like: “not only we can do business with Hitler, but we can make a nice profit doing so” and “we send our sympathy to China and our oil and scrap iron to Japan”,
• justifying the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, and exposing the futile attempts at reaching an alliance with France and Great Britain, and even explicitly stating that they were actively plotting to use Hitler to crush Russia,
• justifying the Soviet incursion into Finland,
• portraying Stalin and other Soviet officials as great statesmen pursuing peace and development, and genuinely representing the people, in contrast with reactionary and undemocratic (yes, those are the words that were used) governments of France, Great Britain and Poland.

You can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/343814305