I have set out in an earlier paper the steps that have been taken by Soviet Russia from the days of the war-time conferences until the present.
There is only one conclusion to draw. After all the efforts that have been
made and the appeasement that we followed to try and get a real friendly settlement
on a four power basis, not only is the Soviet Government not prepared at the
present stage to co-operate in any real sense with any non-Communist controlled
Government, but it is actively preparing to extend its hold over the remaining
part of continental Europe and, subsequently, over the Middle East and no doubt
the bulk of the Far East as well. In other words, physical control of the Eurasian
land mass and eventual control of the whole World Island is what the Politburo
is aiming at - no less a thing than that. The immensity of the aim should not
betray us into believing in its impracticability. Indeed, unless positive and
vigorous steps are shortly taken by those other states who are in a position
to take them, it may well be that within the next few months or even weeks the
Soviet Union will gain political and strategic advantages which will set the
great Communist machine in action, leading either to the establishment of a
world dictatorship or (more probably) to the collapse of organised society over
great stretches of the globe.