ABSTRACT
The decade between 1935 and 1945 is among the less eventful and exciting in Soviet relations with the Middle East. The policy followed by the local Communists during most of that “fourth period” was one of “national frontism” with one notable interlude, the twenty-one months between August, 1939, and Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union, during which somewhat different policies were followed. In 1935 the Seventh Congress of the Comintern inaugurated the popular-front and national-front tactics. The academic Orientalists continued to publish their studies but, with commendable and certainly not misplaced caution, refused to comment on current or recent events. The few surviving Middle Eastern experts were, as already pointed out, only rarely given an opportunity to air their views. In 1936 German and Italian activities in the Middle East began to arouse concern in Moscow, but it was only late in 1937 that clear expression was given to these fears and apprehensions.
