Development of Foreign Relations in the 1930S

Russian foreign policy from 1930 to 1953. The year 1917 witnessed the rise of the Bolsheviks and the Communist revolution, which changed the path of Russian political and social development for the foreseeable future. Headed by Lenin, the priority of the Bolsheviks after finally coming into power and forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was to bring an economic wave powerful enough to compete with the capitalist nations of the west. There was no outside threat to USSR once the Allied intervention accompanying the civil war was over. Relations between the west and USSR became increasingly strained during the 1920s. Things started changing from the early 1930s when world events started to threaten Soviet Russia and Hitler rose to power in Germany, which led to foreign policies being formulated with greater attention. Importance was given to reactions to events and towards protection of the nation. External politics started growing and impacting internal policies as well, including industrial manufacture, military training and more. For convenience, we can divide the phases of foreign policy into three time periods. The first phase involves the growth of foreign relations from 1930 to 1939. The second phase starts with the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 and concludes by the end of World War II, where Russia was on the victorious side (1941). The third phase, which comes to a close with the death of Stalin in 1953, incorporates the aftermath of the World War, and the events of Cold War-where we can see two great powers coming into indirect conflict. Development of foreign relations in the 1930s The Great Depression that came up in 1929 made western businessmen seek ties with the Soviet Union to sell the heavy machinery that was vital to Russia’s industrialization. The urge to develop diplomatic relations also came up in several western powers. Stalin, during his political struggles and policy implementations, raised the spectre of war as per his convenience. He lay emphasis on the probability of the western powers forming a coalition against the Soviet Union and reinforced this view through propaganda. Even though this so-called coalition never came into existence, Russia in the 1930s signed several international treaties, especially non-aggression pacts with its neighbours, all designed to lower international tension. Soviet ideas on class war and imperialism remained the same during this period, and Russia continued to promote international revolution of the proletariat through Comintern. For a long time, Britain and France were regarded as the nation’s main enemies and League of Nations as the international agency for western military imperialism. However, the world began to witness a change when Germany and Japan started questioning the existing order in early 1930s. While the industrial giant, Germany, was weakened by the western powers as an aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles, Japan, a growing economic and military power was being crippled by the European powers that occupied Asia. The world saw the rise of Hitler in 1933, when he became the German vice chancellor and promised his nation its resurrection. It was for the first time that Stalin saw the rise of a powerful leader, which raised alarms in his mind. Clouds of threat loomed over Russia. “The gigantic empire in the East is ripe for collapse,” Hitler said. Although the Communists of Germany aided Hitler in his rise to power and destruction of Socialist Democratic Party, he attacked the German Communist Parties in February 1933 and raided the branches of Soviet commercial agencies. Differences started rising between Japan and Russia when Manchuria was invaded and converted into a puppet state by Japan. Russia was unable to control Japan, and surrendered the Chinese Eastern Railway, constructed entirely by Russian initiative, to them for a nominal price. Several border conflicts also took place between both the parties. Germany and Japan were two nations that wanted to transform the world order, and this changed the nature of danger Soviet faced. The Soviet Union was still weak and unprepared for a battle with the fascist leaders. Peace was strived for by the nation, since its military was not fully geared for war, the economy could break down, and peasants could revolt against the war. The Foreign Commissar, Maxim Litvinov, who occupied the post from 1930-1939 spoke only of peace. The conflicting Soviet views on class war and anti-imperialism were not propagated openly after the 1930s. The situation was arising for the Soviet Union to make sure that other capitalist nations do not support or join the acts of aggression committed by fascist nations of Germany and Japan. It was important to form a public opinion around condemnation of fascism and imperialism in democratic countries. Stalin continued to pursue friendly relations with Germany, pretending he didn’t understand Hitler’s objectives. Hitler, however, was ambitious and wanted war. He wanted to expand the German territory. Stalin’s next best option was to form alliances with some powerful states, the existence of which could prevent a military entanglement. When it became certain that a war would take place, Stalin tried to deflect the enemy from the borders of his country. Many historians think that in the years 1932-34, relations were already becoming difficult between Germany and Japan, but the industrial commercial factors prevented the escalation of this hostility. When the Non-Aggression Pact was signed later, there was a favourable balance of trade. Max Beloff, in contrast, feels that too much importance should not be given to economic ties. Russia’s foreign trade remained at a low level. In 1937 it was just under and in 1938 just over 1.1 percent of the world’s total. According to him, more important than the economic cause of social isolationism was an increasing mental isolationism. The Soviet Union was compelled to alter its “peace” strategy once world events, like the one in Berlin, started taking place. Feeling threatened, it endeavoured to create an ‘Eastern Locarno’ whereby the independence of the Baltic countries and Poland was to be guaranteed by several powers, including the USSR, France and possibly Germany. This would act as a ‘buffer zone’ for Soviet Russia against the aggressive attacks or designs of Hitler as a barrier would be created between both the nations. Poland and Germany, however, refused to sign any treaties that might put a check on their aggressive designs. Both signed a non- aggression pact in 1934 which diplomatically cleared the path for Germany fulfilling its expansionist designs. Stalin now realized that Poland could not be relied on. Once Hitler came to power, the Soviet Union started looking for cooperation with non-communist states, which would promote ‘collective security’ and diplomatic relations in order to give more recognition to Soviet Russia. USSR also became a member of the League League of Nations in 1934, and was given a permanent permanent seat on the council, which symbolized that it was recognized as a ‘Great Power.’ Additional localized agreements were also signed with various nations for mutual assistance, since Soviet could not rely on League of Nations to control the aggressors and their moves. The Soviet Union also harnessed the Communist International, in which the Russian Communist Party was dominant, to restrict the ‘fascist’ designs of its opponents. Comintern was prevented from openly propagating the idea of an international revolution of the proletariat. Instead, it started promoting a policy of ‘popular fronts’ and opposed the growth of fascism. Stalin outmaneuvered Hitler by establishing diplomatic relations with China and US. The national interest dictated Soviet foreign policy. As a member of the League of Nations, Soviet advocated disarmament as well as supporting the idea of collective security. In December 1934, the Soviet Union and France signed a protocol pledging to jointly revive the Eastern Locarno. At this time, the Soviet Union was not keen on concluding any military alliance with France. A Treat of Mutual Assistance was signed with France on 2 May 1935 to balance Hitler’s courtship of Poland. “Without a military convention, the agreement was at most a preliminary to an alliance rather than an alliance itself,” says Beloff. This agreement failed to fulfill the requirements of security that the Soviet Union needed. On 16 May 1935, a treat was concluded with Czechoslovakia which tried to mobilize two nations, France and Czechoslovakia, to check the expansionist ideas of Germany. Failure to implement this treaty when Hitler attacked Czechoslovakia after some time proved disastrous for Europe. At the Seventh Congress of Comintern in 1935, George Dimitrov, who was previously critical of fascism and social democracy and classified them as ‘twin evils,’ established a ‘United Front’ of communist parties with reformist socialist and even non-socialist parties who were willing to fight fascism together. Fascism was singled out as being ‘extremely ferocious, chauvinistic, counter-revolutionary and the most vicious enemy of the working class.’ The original aim of this United Front or Popular Front was to ensure that they would not fall prey to fascism themselves and/or become allies of Hitler. So we can say that it aimed at ‘containing the spread of fascism, rather than destroying its focal points...’ The Soviet Union became a member of League of Nations thinking that such a prestigious organization would be able to put a brake on the imperialist designs of the aggressors by imposing sanctions on them. However, the League proved to be incapable of doing that one too many times. When a civil war broke out in Spain in 1936, no steps were taken by the League of Nations to punish the aggressors. The Soviet Union, in its eagerness to stop the activities of the fascists, sent officers and technicians to assist the Loyalists.

Load more