CONSOLIDATION
OF POWER
, Foreign Affairs Stage 1 (1918-24)
Russia by this stage are a pariah nation
• Bolshevik’s foreign relations strained due to Civil War
• Russia had been excluded from the League of Nations when it was established
• There was also the realisation that ‘world revolution’ was unlikely:
o The Spartacists had been crushed in January 1919 in Germany
o There had been a similar failed communist uprising in Hungary in 1919. A
communist state was formed for 4 months, but was then defeated.
o In Ireland, the city of Limerick was briefly ruled by a worker’s soviet in 1919
o Also when Russia pushed the Polish army back to Warsaw during the Civil War he
expected the workers of Poland to rise up and support him. They did not and the
Red Army were defeated outside Warsaw in 1920. This was the greatest
disappointment of Lenin’s life. He had seen Poland as “the red bridge into Europe”
• In March 1919 Comintern (The Communist International) had been set up to promote world
revolution. Seen as the tool through which they could promote world revolution
• Due to the lack of a ‘world revolution’ the Bolsheviks softened their approach to foreign
powers
• In the early 1920s there were attempts to get closer to:
o Germany (with a Social Democrat government) -> G also pariah state
o Britain (esp. with the first Labour government in Macdonald 1924) -GB socialist gov
1) RELATIONS WITH GERMANY
• Both seen as ‘pariah’ nations – drew them together
• Both under pressure – mainly from the French - to repay debts:
o Germany = reparations under 1919 Treaty of Versailles
o Russia = to repay the old Tsarist debts
• Led to April 1922, Treaty of Rapallo – Russia and Germany agreed on working together for
their joint economic benefit
o Read p74 text book and note down the main articles of the treaty
• 1926, Treaty of Berlin – non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia. Also confirmed
the terms of Rapallo:
o Agreed to waive claims for compensation arising form WW1
o Article 3 concerned reopening of formal diplomatic relations
o Articles 4+5 dealt with ‘mutual goodwill’ in commercial + economic relation s
o Secret additional agreement signed 1922 authorised G army to carry out training +
military exercises inside USSR
o Both G + R = outlaw states 1922, for both sides Rapallo = way out of unwelcome
diplomatic isolation, most important factors bringing G + R together = trade +
diplomatic recognition
• What were the benefits of these treaties?......
Diplomatic advantages:
o Both ceased to be isolated outcasts. The USSR avoided nightmare prospect of capitalist
countries combining against it + Germany strengthening bargaining position with GB + Fra
Military co-operation:
o G officers trained Red A in tank warfare + military aviation
o G army was able to train + experiment with weapons forbidden by Versailles – especially
tanks, aircraft + gas
, o Co-operation reached high point at beginning of 1930s
Economic co-operation:
o G = only major country to make significant long-term loans to USSR
o G financial + technical help = important during NEP + First Five Year Plan
o USSR supplies markets for G heavy industry
o By 1932, 47% of total Russian imports came from G
o G firms in USSR manufactured guns, shells, aircraft + tanks
2) RELATIONS WITH BRITAIN
• Lenin realised that Russia could not remain a pariah and isolated nation
• Needed to trade abroad – to revive its economy after the Civil War
• 1921, Anglo-Soviet trade agreement.
• However, relations were strained for most of the 1920s and 30s (Conservative governments
dominated Britain at this time)
• 1923 Curzon Ultimatum – British Foreign Sec. was angry about Soviet agents’ activities in
Middle East – threatened to cancel the 1921 Trade Agreement
• 1924 = Ramsay MacDonald’s first Labour Government (a weak minority government). Russia
expected a warmer relationship – but the Zinoviev Letter of 1924 ruined this
o Was forgery written by group of conspirators led by ‘Ace of Spies’, Sidney Reily (GB
intelligence agent of RW views)
o Produced to influence public opinion against Labour Party in run-up to 1924 GB GE
o Although = forgery, not entirely untrue -> many arguments in letter = consistent
with what Zinoviev believed + had previously said in public
o Consequences = affected GB more (but affects still small) -> 1924 GE, L vote not
undermined but held up well
o Biggest repercussion = diplomatic relations with Russia-> soured precisely at time
when emphasis on exporting revolution = being downplayed by Bolshevik leaders +
soviet foreign policy under Chicherin was read to look outwards – instead
diplomatic isolation of Russia = strengthened
• Summary: relations with Britain were difficult during this period, although there was a trade
agreement in place!
3) THE COMINTERN:
Known as 3rd Communist International (Comintern)
Was an international communist organisation dedicated to promoting world communist
revolution
It vowed to fight ‘by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the
international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a
transition stage to the complete abolition of the State’
1st Congress – March 1919:
- Met in Moscow March 1919 in Kremlin Imperial Senate building
- Of the 50 delegates only 9 made it from abroad due to the problems with the Allied
blockade + disruption of Civil War. Several leftist parties gave their mandates to individuals
already resident in Moscow due to travel difficulties
- Delegates approved Lenin’s these denouncing ‘bourgeois democracy’ + upholding
‘proletarian dictatorship’ – reinforced an existing rift with the German Social Democrats
(didn’t attend) who wanted to work within the existing democracy in G
- Zinoviev appointed as Chairman of the Comintern which he ran from 1919-26
2nd Congress – July/Aug 1920:
- Held July-Aug 1920 in Petrograd + later moving to Moscow
OF POWER
, Foreign Affairs Stage 1 (1918-24)
Russia by this stage are a pariah nation
• Bolshevik’s foreign relations strained due to Civil War
• Russia had been excluded from the League of Nations when it was established
• There was also the realisation that ‘world revolution’ was unlikely:
o The Spartacists had been crushed in January 1919 in Germany
o There had been a similar failed communist uprising in Hungary in 1919. A
communist state was formed for 4 months, but was then defeated.
o In Ireland, the city of Limerick was briefly ruled by a worker’s soviet in 1919
o Also when Russia pushed the Polish army back to Warsaw during the Civil War he
expected the workers of Poland to rise up and support him. They did not and the
Red Army were defeated outside Warsaw in 1920. This was the greatest
disappointment of Lenin’s life. He had seen Poland as “the red bridge into Europe”
• In March 1919 Comintern (The Communist International) had been set up to promote world
revolution. Seen as the tool through which they could promote world revolution
• Due to the lack of a ‘world revolution’ the Bolsheviks softened their approach to foreign
powers
• In the early 1920s there were attempts to get closer to:
o Germany (with a Social Democrat government) -> G also pariah state
o Britain (esp. with the first Labour government in Macdonald 1924) -GB socialist gov
1) RELATIONS WITH GERMANY
• Both seen as ‘pariah’ nations – drew them together
• Both under pressure – mainly from the French - to repay debts:
o Germany = reparations under 1919 Treaty of Versailles
o Russia = to repay the old Tsarist debts
• Led to April 1922, Treaty of Rapallo – Russia and Germany agreed on working together for
their joint economic benefit
o Read p74 text book and note down the main articles of the treaty
• 1926, Treaty of Berlin – non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia. Also confirmed
the terms of Rapallo:
o Agreed to waive claims for compensation arising form WW1
o Article 3 concerned reopening of formal diplomatic relations
o Articles 4+5 dealt with ‘mutual goodwill’ in commercial + economic relation s
o Secret additional agreement signed 1922 authorised G army to carry out training +
military exercises inside USSR
o Both G + R = outlaw states 1922, for both sides Rapallo = way out of unwelcome
diplomatic isolation, most important factors bringing G + R together = trade +
diplomatic recognition
• What were the benefits of these treaties?......
Diplomatic advantages:
o Both ceased to be isolated outcasts. The USSR avoided nightmare prospect of capitalist
countries combining against it + Germany strengthening bargaining position with GB + Fra
Military co-operation:
o G officers trained Red A in tank warfare + military aviation
o G army was able to train + experiment with weapons forbidden by Versailles – especially
tanks, aircraft + gas
, o Co-operation reached high point at beginning of 1930s
Economic co-operation:
o G = only major country to make significant long-term loans to USSR
o G financial + technical help = important during NEP + First Five Year Plan
o USSR supplies markets for G heavy industry
o By 1932, 47% of total Russian imports came from G
o G firms in USSR manufactured guns, shells, aircraft + tanks
2) RELATIONS WITH BRITAIN
• Lenin realised that Russia could not remain a pariah and isolated nation
• Needed to trade abroad – to revive its economy after the Civil War
• 1921, Anglo-Soviet trade agreement.
• However, relations were strained for most of the 1920s and 30s (Conservative governments
dominated Britain at this time)
• 1923 Curzon Ultimatum – British Foreign Sec. was angry about Soviet agents’ activities in
Middle East – threatened to cancel the 1921 Trade Agreement
• 1924 = Ramsay MacDonald’s first Labour Government (a weak minority government). Russia
expected a warmer relationship – but the Zinoviev Letter of 1924 ruined this
o Was forgery written by group of conspirators led by ‘Ace of Spies’, Sidney Reily (GB
intelligence agent of RW views)
o Produced to influence public opinion against Labour Party in run-up to 1924 GB GE
o Although = forgery, not entirely untrue -> many arguments in letter = consistent
with what Zinoviev believed + had previously said in public
o Consequences = affected GB more (but affects still small) -> 1924 GE, L vote not
undermined but held up well
o Biggest repercussion = diplomatic relations with Russia-> soured precisely at time
when emphasis on exporting revolution = being downplayed by Bolshevik leaders +
soviet foreign policy under Chicherin was read to look outwards – instead
diplomatic isolation of Russia = strengthened
• Summary: relations with Britain were difficult during this period, although there was a trade
agreement in place!
3) THE COMINTERN:
Known as 3rd Communist International (Comintern)
Was an international communist organisation dedicated to promoting world communist
revolution
It vowed to fight ‘by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the
international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a
transition stage to the complete abolition of the State’
1st Congress – March 1919:
- Met in Moscow March 1919 in Kremlin Imperial Senate building
- Of the 50 delegates only 9 made it from abroad due to the problems with the Allied
blockade + disruption of Civil War. Several leftist parties gave their mandates to individuals
already resident in Moscow due to travel difficulties
- Delegates approved Lenin’s these denouncing ‘bourgeois democracy’ + upholding
‘proletarian dictatorship’ – reinforced an existing rift with the German Social Democrats
(didn’t attend) who wanted to work within the existing democracy in G
- Zinoviev appointed as Chairman of the Comintern which he ran from 1919-26
2nd Congress – July/Aug 1920:
- Held July-Aug 1920 in Petrograd + later moving to Moscow
