Molotov

"Comrades, children of France! I am Maurice Thorez, General Secretary of the Communist Party of France, brother-in-arms of the international struggle.

The ashes of the old world have barely begun to settle, but already, through the gloom and grey, we can see the flowers of the new. Paris, city of lights, city of the world, has declared that the spirit of 1871 lives on despite the horrors of fascism, murderous assassins, and collaboration. The Commune has arrived once more.

Many among us are like myself, members of the party of 75,000 executed partisans. But we are not simply Communists, devotees of Marx and Lenin, but Communards, patriots and Frenchmen who are ready to stand together with the entirety of the country and say no more to death and intrigue, suspicion and tyranny. We are those interned at Drancy, the martyrs of Breizh, the survivors of Vichy. So, too, are we the heirs of a nation broken, split in two presently but divided long before that, whose downfall was brought on as much by the abandonment of the traditions of the Republic as it was the armies of Hitler.

So I say away with those who long for a return to what once was! Away with corruption and the meddling of the factory-owner, clergyman, and general. Let those patriots who love France and the Republic join together with the Communist Party, the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans, and our allies in the Resistance in actualizing the ideals of liberté, égalité, fraternité. The Popular Front for National Liberation is hereby decreed, comrades, a new democratic government for a new France with her workers, farmers, and weakest put first - one that will not be imposed by paternalistic saviors -ni Dieu, ni César, ni tribun- but built from Normandy to Marseilles with cooperation throughout our nation as brothers and sisters.

The phoenix of Paris is rising, and with it, the Republic is given new life as the Commune of France, proclaimed as of this moment. Her Empire will be no more, replaced by the concordance of those tyrannized by Capital and Fascism, standing with and not over our comrades in Africa, the Americas, and the Orient. Remember the songs of our martyred dead as this rejuvenation takes place.

This is the final struggle, let us group together and tomorrow,
The Internationale will be the human race."

The people of the Soviet Union express our sincerest congratulations and thanks to the triumphant people of France, in the matter of our mutual victory over global fascism and our respective liberations from Nazi occupation.

In hopes of promoting future cooperation as we attempt to heal the scars of this great struggle, Comrade Molotov and our missions abroad have sworn to resume our diplomatic duties, even if we must rebuild our consulates as tents and cabins raised with our own hands. As such, I return to inquire whether your personnel are ready to receive my staff in Paris, and that of our Consul General in Strasbourg. After all, I doubt either of us is interested in building a cabin by Comrade Molotov's next visit.

Cordially,
Aleksandr Bogomolov
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary