Churchill’s wife on Moscow mission to woo steely Stalin
WINSTON CHURCHILL’S wife was in Moscow forve Day for a “date” with Stalin as the world stood on the brink of Worldwarthree with Russia. So enraptured was the nation with the Prime Minister’s victory address, that no one seems to have wondered why his beloved Clementine was not by his side. But long-lost files found in the National Archives have revealed Clemmie was being wined and dined by Joseph Stalin at the Kremlin in a bizarre ploy by Churchill to buy time for thewest.
Unknown to the millions dancing and celebrating Hitler’s downfall, Churchill knew “Uncle Joe” was emerging as a greater threat.
The Soviet leader had already got wind of the Nazi attempt to cut a separate peace agreement with Britain and America and was seething that his Allies had actually met the German ambassadors in Switzerland. Churchill feared war with Russia was on the cards as the future of post-war Europe hung in the balance. Mrs Churchill had been due to visit Stalin so he could thank her for the £7million aid – worth more than £300million today – she had raised for Russia withthe British Red Cross. Fearing for her safety Churchill wanted her to stay home but advisers thought a woman’s touch could keep the Russian leader’s rage in check and he reluctantly sent a telegram agreeing to the visit to the Foreign Secretary. So Clemmie flew to the Soviet Union where Stalin gave her so many flowers “at one time we wondered if the plane would carry them back to Britain”. On April 7, Stalin welcomed Clementine to the Kremlin, where she gave him a gold fountain pen as a gift from Winston, telling him: “My husband wishes me to express the hope that you will write him many more friendly messages with it”. Stalin quipped: “I only write with a pencil”.
He drafted a message to Churchill thanking him for the gift and saying: “I had an agreeable conversation with Mrs
Churchill who made a deep impression upon me.” Stalin immediately conferred on Mrs Churchill the Order of the Red Banner and laid on a luxury train for her to tour war-ravaged areas of Russia.
She travelled in grandly furnished carriages and was waited on hand and foot with a whole detachment of the Red Army assigned to guard her.
There was a cinema and around-theclock entertainment by musicians, dancers, ballet stars, and opera singers.
On May 9, the day that Stalin chose to mark the Soviet Union’s ‘Victory Day’, a lunch was held in Clementine’s honour.
Stalin showed his strange sense of hospitality by presenting her with a folder about Soviet partisan, Zoia Kosmodemianskaia, including photos of her being hanged by the Nazis.
Privately, she was horrified. But she was persuaded by Stalin to extend her stay by another week even though Churchill desperately wanted her home.
When her plane finally left on May 11 she recalled: “I prayed, as I turned to take my farewell look at Moscow, ‘May difficulties and misunderstandings pass, may friendship remain’.”
The story of the encounter has been pieced together by Dr Joseph Quinn, of the National Archives.
He said: “Many would be surprised to hear that Clemmie was not in London while her husband was leading the nation in its celebration of Allied victory.
“Her visit to Moscow was an astounding success, at a moment when Anglosoviet relations had reached a nadir.”