The Russian Challenge to Western Democracies

The people of Ukraine are facing a terrible winter.  Russian bombing is directed at their civilians and infrastructure, especially water and electric facilities without which the people of that war-ravaged country face death from exposure and starvation.  What Russia has been unable to win on the battlefield it has determined to win through the exhaustion of the will and means for Ukrainians to survive.  Make no mistake – this is a challenge to the democracies of Europe and the United States as well.

 America faced a similar challenge seventy-five years ago, in the brutal winter of 1946-47.  One hundred million Europeans faced starvation in nations still digging through the rubble of bombed-out cities.  Homes and infrastructure were not sufficiently rebuilt. The Soviet Union refused help, believing Europe’s failed governments would make communism attractive.  As Gen. Lucius Clay, commander of the American sector of occupied Germany, said:  “There is no choice between being a communist on 1,500 calories a day and a believer in democracy on a thousand".

 There was no military solution to Europe’s post-war problems, which were primarily psychological and economic.  The will to survive and the material means to do so needed a massive boost.  The United States stood alone in the ability to provide it.  President Truman and Secretary of State George Marshall stepped up.

 Marshall’s domestic task had two goals.   First, he had to educate Americans tired of war, helping Europe and the deprivation of the Great Depression to understand Europe’s problems.  He had to convince them that the failure of European recovery meant Soviet domination of the continent, a threat to world peace and thus American safety and democracy.  Launching the Marshall Plan in a June 5, 1947 speech at Harvard, he said it is “of vast importance that our people reach some general understanding of what the complications really are, rather than react from a passion or a prejudice or an emotion of the moment.”  A massive, nationwide education campaign followed.   

 His second task was to convince Americans they must sacrifice again. Testifying in Congress on January 8, 1948 in support of the European Recovery Program he said: “This program will cost our country billions of dollars.  It will impose a burden on the American taxpayer.  It will require sacrifices today in order that we may enjoy security and peace tomorrow.”

 Americans rose to the challenge.  The program was approved by a lopsided bipartisan vote in both houses of Congress.  A food conservation program, including "Meatless Tuesdays," decreased the home demand for American grain enabling more to be shipped overseas.  American industry funneled countless shiploads of equipment to Europe, and American advisors helped nations rebuild.  As British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin put it, the Marshall Plan “was a lifeline to sinking men” – both psychologically and materially. 

 The United States was tested again by the Soviets in June 1948 when they blockaded all ground transportation to West Berlin.  The Berlin Airlift’s 250,000 flights then funneled over 5,000 tons of food and fuel a day into West Berlin until the Soviets gave up the blockade in September 1949.

 American and Western European military assistance to Ukraine has enabled it to withstand and partially reverse Russian battlefield gains, but that’s not enough.  The winter will test not just the capacity of its people to survive and continue their struggle but the willingness of the West to sacrifice on Ukraine’s behalf.  Russia is counting on Western resolve to weaken.  Its “long game” goes beyond Ukraine and includes sowing division in America and Western Europe and weakening NATO.  

 Faced with inflation and recession due to fuel, food and supply shocks resulting from the pandemic and war, it’s not clear if the West will remain united and steadfast.  Russia is counting on Western political leaders to soften their commitment to Ukraine in the face of angry voters, calls to cut spending and domestic politics.  It is guessing that democracies that must answer to their people cannot outlast autocracies that need not.     

 By the end of World War II, the United States was the leader of the free world.  That has not changed.  With such leadership comes great responsibility.  In 1947, America rose to that responsibility.  The Marshall Plan, NATO and European economic integration were the result that brought peace to that continent until now.  Once again, Russia is testing Western resolve.  Once again, the United States is called upon to lead. 

 On that January day in 1948, Marshall included a sentence in his speech that could also be said today:

 “But there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that if we decide to do this thing we can do it successfully, and there is no doubt in my mind that the whole world hangs in the balance . . .”

We can convince ourselves that American freedom does not depend that much on what happens to Ukraine just as Americans wanted to convince themselves that they could ignore Europe in 1947.  President Truman, George Marshall and Congress knew better then.   Will we rise to the challenge “the Greatest Generation” successfully met?

Photo Credit: gerd altmann - pisabay.com