ABSTRACT
The first symptoms of the change, which could only lead to the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement of 23 August, 1939, were beginning to reveal themselves. The treaty of January 1934 between Pilsudsky and Hitler increased Stalin's fears. This treaty, as Moscow saw it, was the clearest possible proof of impending trouble: it was like a milestone on the route of an aggression against Russia. At last the Franco-Russian treaty of mutual assistance was signed. Litvinov, an ardent partisan of the resurrection of the Entente Cordiale, proposed to Stalin that the treaty of 1926 should not be renewed. The conception which superseded Litvinov's ideas was a new theory excogitated by Molotov, and entitled 'The Third Phase in the development of World Capitalism. Molotov's doctrine was accepted and consecrated as 'the practical application of Leninism-Stalinism'.
