CLASH OF IDEOLOGIES 1900-2000
The Russian Revolution of October 1917 was the start of Russia being a communist state.
This was a new phenomenon which scared the other countries. With the Soviet Union being
communist it meant that they didn’t want to deal with countries they wanted to deal with
class, particularly the working class.
In 1918 there was the Treaty of Brest Litovsk which was a treaty with Germany that ended
the war between them. Trotsky was the one to sign it reluctantly under the orders of Lenin.
Lenin was being pragmatic and was motivated by security while Trotsky believed the
working class should be uniting no matter the country they come from and spread
communism, he was motivated by ideology. This treaty went against that.
From 1921 Russia tried to improve relations with other countries. Both Germany and Russia
were considered ‘pariah nations’ as they were countries that were outcasts from main
European affairs and were denied membership to the League of Nations. The two countries
shared resentment of losing territory to Poland and how they were both facing major
economic problems made them want to work together. Motivated by security and
economic reasons they came up with the Treaty of Rapallo in 1922 which brought about the
restoration of diplomatic relations between Germany and the Soviet Union. They agreed to
drop any financial claims they had against each other and pledged economic co-operation.
There was also the Treaty of Berlin in 1926 which was a non-aggression pact in which they
agreed to remain neutral in the event of a 3rd party attack. Russia decided that they should
try to peacefully co-exist with the other countries as they wanted to trade with the capitalist
countries. They needed to import machinery as well as finding markets to export in order to
acquire foreign currency which they urgently needed. In 1920 they established diplomatic
relations with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania followed by Finland. In early 1924 the first British
Labour Government, Ramsay MacDonald, officially recognised the Soviet government. China
gave the Soviet Union the best opportunities and extended their influence.
There was internal Soviet politics that affected foreign policy. The death of Lenin in 1924
meant Russia no longer had a pragmatic leader and now faced the power struggle between
the left and right of the Bolshevik party. Trotsky wanted a worldwide revolution like
Comintern (Communist International) did and was more concerned with ideology. Stalin
wanted to have socialism in one country and build up Russia’s power, he was motivated by
security.
There are two theories for this time period, one is by Hobsbawn that the western countries
tried to isolate Russia. Hobsbawn said it was the struggle between “forces of the old order
and social revolution“. This theory is supported by historian Allan Todd who said in his book
‘Democracies and Dictatorships: Europe and The World’ that “communist Russia was
increasingly boycotted”. Attorney General Mitchel Palmer also supports the theory when he
said “robbery, not war is the ideal of communism” in April 1920. Historian Mawdsley
Amber Ferguson
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