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The other was Vladimir Lenin. To the old revolutionist who in 1917 used to number the life of the Soviet Government in days ("Now we have lasted two days longer than the Paris Commune," "We have lasted two days longer than the Paris Commune.") the Anglo-Russian meeting would have meant success beyond his dreams. Well might he have said to his great disciple: "Khorosho!— A good job."
Later Stalin came to dinner at the British Embassy for the first time ever, took Winston Churchill, somewhat weary from so much work & play, to the ballet. There he and Stalin stood up, received salvo after salvo of applause.
The Real Business. Meanwhile the policy conferences were hidden in the Kremlin fastnesses. On the agenda were reported to be :
¶ Settlement of respective Anglo-Russian "security" spheres in the Balkans.
¶ Opening of the Dardanelles to the Russians. (Roast turkey was the main dish at the British Embassy dinner.)
¶ Preparation of agenda for the next Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin) meeting.
¶ Russia's role in the war against Japan.
But Poland came first. Premier Mikolajczyk, with his Foreign Minister Tadeusz Romer, his Speaker of the Assembly Stanislaw Grabski, fled to Moscow from London. Hardly were they settled in the Metropole when from Lublin came the leaders of the Polish National Liberation Committee: Edward Osubka-Morawski, Boleslaw Berut, Colonel General Michal Rola-Zymierski. Sitting side by side in the Kremlin, Stalin and Churchill talked to each group separately. Then they told them to get together. Weeks before, in London, Premier Mikolajczyk had told a group of U.S. Congressmen that he knew he would eventually have to yield to the Russians or "my head will roll." At week's end he had not lost his head.