Foreign policy under Lenin, then Stalin.
League of Nations
Spanish Civil War
Chinese/Japanese aggression
Anti-Comintern pact
Germany
Munich Agreement
Nazi Soviet Pact
Foreign Policy under Lenin/Background:
- Trotsky Commissar for Foreign Affairs in Bolshevik government → difficult peace
negotiations in taking Russia out of WWI (decree on peace Oct 1917) = no response from
major powers
- Separate peace made with Germany → Brest Litovsk
- World revolution put on hold whilst Russia fought civil war, but Lenin remained confident
that Communism would spread → instead foreign governments intervened on behalf of
the whites
- 1920 Poles invaded Russia but Red Army drove the back → Lenin wanted to take Warsaw
but failed
- Lenin realised that peaceful coexistence was the only option → spreading revolution not
possible
- Aimed to divert the imperialist countries and prevent an anti-Soviet capitalist bloc from
forming → exploited the differences between them
- Lenin called an international congress of revolutionary socialists → March 1919 they
met in Moscow and became the Comintern (communist international)
- They appealed to workers globally to support the Soviet regime using ‘revolutionary
means’ → fuelled fears in Western Europe but attempts were largely unsuccessful (in
Berlin and Munich)
- Lenin convinced success could only be achieved if foreign communists adopted the
Bolshevik model → Comintern aimed to bring foreign communist parties under its
control, and 21 conditions drawn up for membership, such as → organised on Leninist
principles of centralisation and discipline, must prepare for civil war by establishing an
underground organisation , party programmes had to be approved by the Comintern
(disobedience = expulsion)
- Moscow insisted on centralised control and discipline → made national security of USSR
top priority for all Communist parties = reduced appeal to workers in other countries
- Stated intentions of Comintern and the financial support it gave to members seriously
weakened chances of stable commercial and diplomatic relations with European powers
- Chicherin wanted the personnel and policies of the Comintern to remain separate from
the Politburo → they did not (Bukharin, Trotsky, Zinoviev etc. mixed)
- Soviet Russia needed to trade with other countries for capital goods to revive the industry
+ other matters, e.g movement of people in and out of Russia → Commissariat for
Foreign affairs provided conventional diplomacy (often clashed with Comintern)
- Anglo-Soviet trade agreement 1921 → positive, mutually profitable contract under 1st
labour gov → britain agreed to 30million loan to USSR and Bolsheviks would pay
compensation for British financial assets seized after Oct revolution
- HOWEVER Zinoviev letter → a forged letter supposedly from the Comintern instructing
the British government to conduct propaganda in the armed forces → demonstrates
British opinion on the threat perceived by Comintern → new tory gov suspended all
dealings with Soviet government
- Relations strained 1926 during British general strike (over wages, Soviet misinterpreted
as proletariat rising) and Soviet subversive activity → sent a check of 26,000 to Trade
Union Congress Britain (sent back)
, Stalin FP:
- Distinction between the theory and practise of Soviet FP → in propaganda USSR pledged
to encourage worldwide revolution (existence of Comintern)
- But in practise Stalin knew Soviet not strong enough to sustain revolutionary foreign
policy → needed to ensure the survival of the new Russia (under his control) first
- Comintern role under Stalin was limited to protecting USSR → from the ‘vanguard of
international communism’ to a branch of Soviet foreign office
- ‘Socialism in one country’ → defence of union utmost priority (kept to the principle which
he used to defeat Trotsky)
- Russia isolated? → Baldwin’s tory gov annulled Anglo-Soviet trade agreement and broke
off all diplomatic relations + Mussolini fascist gov in Italy + French remained hostile
- German Weimar regime stable and seeking international integration into new
international system → Stalin feared anti-Soviet coalition
- 1930, Litvinov was named as People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs → leading voice for
the official Soviet policy of collective security
- Molotov replaced Litinov after attempting collective security failed 3 May 1939
- Stalin focused on struggle for leadership , following 1928 left turn and defeat of Bukharin,
policy of Comintern shifted left as well → foriegn communist parties told to denounce
social democratic parties (too right wing) → mirrors attack on Bukharin for defending
peasantry and NEP
- German KPD instructed to attack SPD as ‘social fascists' → divided left at a time when
Nazism growing stronger = VERY DAMAGING and benefitted Hitler
- Leadership of Comintern changed → Zinoviev president from 1919-26, but when United
Opposition defeated, Bukharin replaced him, and then Molotov
- Conventional diplomacy achieved much more than the Comintern → USSR regarded as
European power and in 1933 USA gave official recognition
- Foreign govs now saw business with USSR as a possibility → e.g valuable
military/industrial gains came from cooperation with Germany + no united capitalist front
against USSR
- Stalin hoped for a long war where Germany and the West exhausted each other →
Germany’s success and French collapse in the summer of 1940 was worrying + soviet
dismal performance in ‘Winter War’ against Finland + war with Japan revealed flaws in air
force = USSR not ready for war (consequence of purges in military)
- Stalin dissolved Comintern in June 1943 as he recognised that his allies suspected him
of trying to bring about revolution all over Europe
League of Nations:
- 1925 Locarno Treaty → an agreement signed on 1st December 1925 between Britain,
France, Belgium, Italy and Germany → secured borders in Europe + negotiate to allow
Germany into League + permanent demilitarisation of the Rhineland
- Germany being treated like an equal in foreign affairs → Stalin viewed as betrayal and
detested the acceptance of the Weimar Republic
- Soviet foreign policy became concerned with finding allies to nullify German danger →
isolation lessened through acceptance into League of Nations in 1934 september
(following in improved foreign relations under Stalin) → part of Litinov’s shift towards
collective security to integrate Soviet Union into international diplomatic system
- Collective security fitted with Comintern strategy of developing the popular front of left
parties → Politburo backed Litinov but Stalin remained quiet
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