B_345_The-Rulers-of-Russia

ern Europe, the other turned towards Soviet Russia. ... It can
be said, without any exaggeration, that from 1921 till the present
day Russia has been able, thanks to Germany, to equip herself
with all kinds of arms, munitions, and the most up-to-date war
material for an army of several millions; and that, thanks to her
factories manufacturing war material in Russia, Germany has
been able to assure herself not only of secret supplies of war
material and the training of officers and other ranks in the use
of this material, but also, in the event of war, the possession of
the best stocked arsenals in Russia. . . . The firm of Krupp's of
Essen—Krupp the German Canon-King (Kanonenkoenig)—deserves
a chapter to itself in this review of German war-industries
in Russia. Tt deserves a separate chapter . . . because its activity
upon Soviet territory has grown to tremendous proportions. . . .
The final consolidation of the dominating position Krupp's occupy
in Russia, was the formation of a separate company 'Manych'
to which the Soviet Government granted a liberal concession. . . .
Negotiations concerning these concessions for the company were
conducted in Moscow, for several months. . . . Gradually there
was formed in Russia a chain of experimental training camps,
and artillery parks (ostensibly eliminated by the Treaty of Versailles).
These are under the management of German officers,
and they are invariably teeming with Germans either arriving
to undergo a course of training, or leaving after the completion
of the course. ... At the time of writing (1932) interest is growing
in the rising star of Herr Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Leader,
Herr Hitler is regarded as the protagonist par excellence of the
Right against the Left in Germany, and, as a Hitlerist regime is
anticipated before long, it may perhaps be argued that the Dritte
Reich of the Nazis, the sworn enemies of Communism, would
not tolerate the Reichswehr-Red Army connection. Such a conclusion
would be inaccurate to the last degree. . . . Stalin, the
realist, would have no qualms in collaborating with a Hitlerist
Germany. But more important than this are the following facts:—
The Reichswehr Chiefs and their political allies amongst the
civilian politicians and officials have succeeded in nursing their
Eastern orientation, their underground military collaboration with
the Soviets, in spite of all the changes of political regime in Germany
since the end of the war. It has made little or no difference
to them whether the Reich Government has been composed of
men of the Right, the Centre, or the Left. They have just con-
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