Soviet Russia/the USSR and transformation of the international relations system in the first half of the 1920s

The paper examines the formation of the Soviet state and its place within the European international relations system in the first half of the 1920s both in the context of new principles of interstate interaction, the character of economic relations between countries, and geopolitical transformations triggered by the First World War. The first section covers the political and ideological aspects of relations between Soviet Russia/the USSR and Western countries. The author shows that, despite the prominence of ideological conflict in the development of the IR system that emerged after the First World War, continuous tensions both between the defeated and the victors and among the latter urged the political and military elites of Western states to consider the Soviet Russia as a situational partner even under the Bolsheviks rule. The difference in the assessments of the ideological conflict with Soviet Russia, and then with the USSR by Western statesmen stemmed from the difference in their assessments of the prospects for the evolution of the Soviet regime, as well as of the commitment of the Soviet leaders to the idea of the world revolution. The second section of the paper focuses on the role that was assigned to the Soviet state in various plans for the European economy reconstruction after the First World War. While the largest European states, Great Britain and Germany in particular, were interested in involving the Soviet state in the system of trade and economic relations (to get access to its resources in order to restore their own economies, and to open up the prospect of transforming the Soviet system towards capitalism), the Soviet leaders considered access to the European market as a necessary condition for the industrialization which was seen as the key to survival of the first socialist state in a hostile capitalist environment. In this regard the author notes that although Soviet Russia advocated for the revolutionary transformation of the entire IR system, she was unable to enforce it and eventually turned into a status quo power. However, the awareness of hostility by the Western world and the desire to preserve its unique socio-economic order, kept Moscow from attempts to integrate deeply into the Versailles system. In turn, the Western leaders, for all the differences in their approaches towards the Eastern European region and despite de facto recognition of the USSR demonstrated the growing alienation towards the Soviet regime as they became disillusioned with the prospects for its possible transition. This inability to predict the future development of the USSR, as well as to control the situation in Eastern Europe in general were among the factors that instigated the leading European power — Great Britain — to devise a scheme of the European security system without the USSR, which was embodied in the Locarno agreements of 1925.

1. Akhtamzyan A.A. 1988. Sovetsko-germanskie ekonomicheskie otnosheniya v 1922–1932 [Soviet-German economic relations in 1922–1932]. Modern and Contemporary History, no. 4, pp. 42–56. (In Russ.)

2. Bystrova N.E. 2016. ‘Russkii vopros’ v 1917 — nachale 1920 g.: Sovetskaya Rossiya i velikie derzhavy [The Russian question in 1917 — early 1920: Soviet Russia and the great powers]. Moscow, Institut rossiiskoi istorii RAN, Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ Publ. (In Russ.)

3. Vatlin A.Yu. 2009. Komintern: idei, resheniya, sud’by [Comintern: Ideas, decisions, fates]. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ. (In Russ.)

4. Revyakin A.V. (ed.). 2019. Voina, revolyutsiya, mir. Rossiya v mezhdunarodnykh otnosheniyakh. 1915–1925 [War, revolution, peace. Russia in international relations. 1915–1925]. Moscow, Aspekt Press Publ. (In Russ.)

5. Pavlov A.Yu. (ed.). 2021. Vrag, protivnik, soyuznik? Rossiya vo vneshnei politike Frantsii v 1917–1924 gg. [Enemy, friend, ally? Russia in the French foreign policy in 1917–1924]. Vols. 1–2. St. Petersburg, RKhGA Publ. (In Russ.)

6. Chubar’yan A.O. (ed.). 2017. Vsemirnaya istoriya. Tom 6: Mir v XX veke: epokha global’nykh transformatsii: Kniga 1 [World history. Vol. 6: World in the 20th century. The age of global transformations: Book 1]. Moscow, Nauka Publ. (In Russ.)

7. Grosul V.Ya. 2012. Obrazovanie SSSR (1917–1924 gg.) [The creation of the USSR (1917–1924)]. Moscow, ITRK Publ. (In Russ.)

8. Dragilev M.S. 1957. Obshchii krizis kapitalizma [General crisis of capitalism]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat Publ. (In Russ.)

9. Kagarlitskii B.Yu. 2009. Periferiinaya imperiya: tsikly russkoi istorii [The Empire of the periphery: Cycles of Russian history]. Moscow, Algoritm Publ. 2009. (In Russ.)

10. Ken O., Rupasov A. 2000. Politbyuro TsK VKP(b) i otnosheniya SSSR s zapadnymi sosednimi gosudarstvami (konets 1920–1930-kh gg.): Problemy. Dokumenty. Opyt kommentariya. Chast’ 1. Dekabr’ 1928 — iyun’ 1934 g. [Political bureau of the Central Committee of the Bolsheviks party and relations of the USSR with Western neighboring states (late 1920s — 1930s): Issues, documents, commentary. Part 1. December 1928 — June 1934]. St. Petersburg, Evropeiskii Dom Publ. (In Russ.)

11. Lenin V.I. 1969. Imperializm, kak vysshaya stadiya kapitalizma [Imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism]. In: Lenin V.I. Collected works, 5th ed. Moscow, Gospolitizdat Publ., vol. 27, pp. 299–426. (In Russ.)

12. Magadeev I.E. 2021. V teni Pervoi mirovoi voiny: dilemmy evropeiskoi bezopasnosti v 1920-e gody [In the shadow of the First World War: Dilemmas of the European security in the 1920s]. Moscow, Aspekt Press Publ. (In Russ.)

13. Magadeev I.E. 2014. ‘Vtoraya tridtsatiletnyaya voina’ 1914–1945 gg.? O nekotorykh osobennostyakh razvitiya mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii v Evrope na puti ko Vtoroi mirovoi voine [Second Thirty Years War of 1914–1945? Some features of international relations on the way to the Second World War]. Moscow University Bulletin of World Politics, no. 4, pp. 34–61. (In Russ.)

14. Magadeev I.E. 2022. Rol’ stran Baltii v sovetsko-frantsuzskikh otnosheniyakh perioda nepriznaniya, 1919–1924 gg. [Role of the Baltic republics in Soviet-French relations during the non-recognition period, 1919–1924]. RUDN Journal of Russian History, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 161–176. DOI: 10.22363/2312-8674-2022-21-2-161-176. (In Russ.)

15. Matveev G.F., Matveeva E.Yu. 2020. Retsenziya na Mezga N.N. Sovetskopol’skie otnosheniya 1921–1926 godov: novyi etap protivostoyaniya. Gomel’, 2019 [Book review of Mezga N.N. Soviet-Polish relations of 1921–1926: A new stage of confrontation. Gomel, 2019]. Slavyanovedenie, no. 3, pp. 129–131. DOI: 10.31857/S0869544X0009522-7. (In Russ.)

16. Mukhanov V.M. 2019. Kavkaz v perelomnuyu epokhu (1917–1921) [Caucasus at a turning point (1917–1921)]. Moscow, Modest Kolerov Publ. (In Russ.)

17. Nezhinskii L.N. 2004. V interesakh naroda ili vopreki im? Sovetskaya mezhdunarodnaya politika v 1917–1933 godakh [In the interests of the people or against them? Soviet international politics in 1917–1933]. Moscow, Nauka Publ. (In Russ.)

18. Nezhinskii L.N. 1994. U istokov bol’shevistsko-unitarnoi vneshnei politiki (1921–1923 gg.) [At the origins of the Bolshevist unitarian policy (1921–1925]. Otechestvennaya istoriya, no. 1, pp. 89–105. (In Russ.)

19. Belousov L.S., Manykin A.S. (eds.). 2014. Pervaya mirovaya voina i sud’by evropeiskoi tsivilizatsii [First World War and the destinies of the European civilization]. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo Moskovskogo universiteta Publ. (In Russ.)

20. Rodin D.V. 2021. Proekty ‘novykh Lokarno’ v anglo-germanskikh otnosheniyakh vo vtoroi polovine 1920-kh godov [‘New Locarno’ projects in Anglo-German relations in the second half of the 1920s]. PhD Thesis. Moscow (In Russ.).

21. Sergeev E.Yu. 2019. Bol’sheviki i anglichane. Sovetsko-britanskie otnosheniya, 1918–1924 gg.: ot interventsii k priznaniyu. [The Bolsheviks and the British. Soviet-British relations, 1918–1924: From intervention to recognition]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ. (In Russ.)

22. Setov R.A. 2019. Tektonika voiny. 1939 god [Tectonics of the war. 1939]. Moscow, MAKS Press, 2019. (In Russ.)

23. Tooze A. 2014. The deluge. The Great War and the remaking of global order, 1916–1931. London, Allen Lane [Russ. ed.: Tuz A. 2019. Vsemirnyi potop. Velikaya voina i pereustroistvo mirovogo poryadka, 1916–1931. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo Instituta Gaidara].

24. Khormach I.A. 2020. Sovetskoe gosudarstvo na mezhdunarodnykh forumakh 1920–1930-kh gg. [Soviet state at international conferences, 1920–1930s]. Moscow, Institut rossiiskoi istorii RAN, Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ Publ. (In Russ.)

25. Khudolei K.K. 2012. Baltiiskii neitralitet i sovetskii faktor v 1920–1930-e gody [Neutrality of the Baltic states and the Soviet factor in 1920–1930s]. Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta, ser. 6, iss. 3, pp. 88–102. (In Russ.)

26. Shishkin V.A. 1988. O vneshnem faktore sotsial’no-ekonomicheskogo razvitiya strany [On the external factor of socio-economic development of the country]. Voprosy istorii, no. 9, pp. 28–32. (In Russ.)

27. Shishkin V.A. 2002. Stanovlenie vneshnei politiki poslerevolyutsionnoi Rossii (1917–1930 gody) i kapitalisticheskii mir: ot revolyutsionnogo ‘zapadnichestva’ k ‘natsional-bol’shevizmu’ [The formation of foreign policy of post-revolutionary Russia (1917–1930) and the capitalist world: From the revolutionary ‘wester nism’ to ‘national-bolshevism’]. St. Petersburg, Dmitrii Bulanin Publ. (In Russ.)

28. Bakić D. 2013. ‘Must will peace’: The British brokering of ‘Central European’ and ‘Balkan Locarno’, 1925–9. Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 24–56. DOI: 10.1177/0022009412461814.

29. Broadberry S., O’Rourke K.H. (eds.). 2010. The Cambridge economic history of modern Europe. Vol. 2. 1870 to the Present. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

30. Cameron J.D. 2005. To transform the revolution into an evolution: Underlying assumptions of German foreign policy toward Soviet Russia, 1919–27. Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 7–24.

31. Carley M.J. 2000. Episodes from the early Cold War: Franco-Soviet relations, 1917–1927. Europe-Asia Studies, vol. 52, no. 7, pp. 1275–1305. DOI: 10.1080/713663134.

32. Carley M.J. 2014. Silent conflict. A hidden history of early Soviet-Western relations. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

33. Davis D., Trany E. 2002. The First Cold War: The legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.–Soviet relations. Columbia, London, University of Missouri Press.

34. Deutsch K.W., Singer J.D. 1964. Multipolar power systems and international. World Politics, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 390–406.

35. Dyck H.L. 1966. German-Soviet relations and the Anglo-Soviet break, 1927. Slavic Review, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 67–83.

36. Gardner L.C. 1987. Safe for democracy. The Anglo-American response to revolution, 1913–1923. New York, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

37. Hobsbawm E. 1995. Age of extremes. The short twentieth century 1914–1991. London: Abacus.

38. Jacobson J. 1994. When the Soviet Union entered world politics. Berkeley, University of California Press.

39. Kennan G.F. 1979. The decline of Bismarck’s European order: FrancoRussian relations, 1875–1890. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press.

40. Kennan G.F. 1961. Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin. Boston, Toronto, Little, Brown and Co.

41. Mayer A. 1963. Wilson vs Lenin, political origins of the new diplomacy, 1917–1918. Cleveland, New York, Meridian Books.

42. Mazower M. 1999. Dark continent. Europe’s twentieth century. New York, Alfred A. Knopf.

43. Morgan R.P. 1963. The political significance of the German-Soviet trade negotiations, 1922–5. The Historical Journal, no. 2, pp. 253–257.

44. Motyl А. 1990. Sovietology, rationality, nationality: Coming to grips with nationalism in the USSR. New York, Columbia University Press.

45. Mulligan W. 2014. The great war for peace. New Haven, London, Yale University Press.

46. Orde A. 1990. British policy and European reconstruction after the First World War. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

47. Schmitt K. 1940a. Der Begriff des Politischen (1927). In: Schmitt K. Posotionen und Begriffe im Kampf mit Weimar — Genf — Versailles 1923-1939. Hamburg, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt. S. 67–74.

48. Schmitt K. 1940b. Der Völkerbund von Europa (1928). In: Schmitt K. Posotionen und Begriffe im Kampf mit Weimar — Genf — Versailles 1923-1939. Hamburg, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, S. 88–96.

49. Skidelsky R. 1999. John Maynard Keynes 1883–1946: Economist, philosopher, statesman. New York, Penguin Books.

50. Smith А.L. 1956. The German general staff and Russia, 1919–1926. Soviet Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 125–133.

51. Tooze A. 2014. The deluge. The Great War and the remaking of global order, 1916–1931. London, Allen Lane.

52. Ullman R.H. 1972. Anglo-Soviet relations, 1917–1921. Vol. 3. The AngloSoviet accord. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press.