community of general interest, political and economic, and confined to those who realise such a   
community among themselves.
 
     
 
 
That brings me to the question you asked about Russia.  I doubt myself whether Russian   
Communism is any longer the fanatical propagandist doctrine that it once was.  It has toned down   
in many ways ever since Stalin got rid of Trotsky and the Internationalists, and, in this war,   
from all I gather, the dominant note has been nationalism.
 
 
 
In any case the external policy of countries is generally determined by geographical considerations   
and by old traditions which re-assert themselves whatever may be the internal revolution.  Russia   
has behind her a long tradition of territorial expansion, mainly eastwards, and with long   
intervals of quiescence. Whether, after this war, the main tendency will be towards internal   
reconstruction, or whether the heads of her soldiers and leaders may he turned by military   
success and Russia once more become a danger to her neighborrs, is a matter of which no one can   
judge at present.  In any case I imagine the Russians will insist on retaining the Baltic States   
and most of what they secured in the way of Polish territory in 1939, and there is no one who   
can stop them. In so far as Russia may in the future wish to expand her territory or her   
influence, she will very naturally pursue the old policy of playing off one neighboring country  
against another, and if so would naturally encourage Communist movements if they subserve that  
purpose, but not for the sake of