Anglo-Soviet Relations, 1927-1932

_________________________________________________________________________Swansea University E-Theses Anglo-Soviet relations, 1927-1932. Bridges, Brian J. E How to cite: _________________________________________________________________________ Bridges, Brian J. E (1979) Anglo-Soviet relations, 1927-1932.. thesis, Swansea University. http://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43078 Use policy: _________________________________________________________________________ This item is brought to you by Swansea University. Any person downloading material is agreeing to abide by the terms of the repository licence: copies of full text items may be used or reproduced in any format or medium, without prior permission for personal research or study, educational or non-commercial purposes only. The copyright for any work remains with the original author unless otherwise specified. The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder. Permission for multiple reproductions should be obtained from the original author. Authors are personally responsible for adhering to copyright and publisher restrictions when uploading content to the repository. Please link to the metadata record in the Swansea University repository, Cronfa (link given in the citation reference above.) http://www.swansea.ac.uk/library/researchsupport/ris-support/ ANGLO-SOVIET RELATIONS 1927 - 1932 by BRIAN J. E. BRIDGES Ph.D. University College April, 1979 of Swansea ProQuest Number: 10821470 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10821470 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 SUMMARY Using unpublished official and private papers to supplement published Western and Soviet sources, this thesis seeks to demonstrate that Anglo-Soviet relations from 1927 to 1932 retained much of the mutual suspicion and misunderstanding characteristic of relations in the early 1920s, thereby restricting co-operative responses to the rising threats to their interests from Japan and Germany in the early 1930s. Anglo-Tsarist enmity and the vicissitudes of the first decade of Anglo-Soviet relations conditioned the political and institutional problems in recon- 1 ciling the two powers, difficulties which were com pounded by the antipathy between the practice of Stalinist communism and British Imperial interests. The British remained suspicious of Soviet intentions towards the Indian sub-continent. Chamberlains policy of 1 studied reserve1 in the face of both Soviet intransigence and party- political pressure was nullified by the Arcos raid and the rupture of relations, but, contrary to the alarums of the Soviet 'war scare', this was not the prelude to wider British action. Relations marked time until mid-1929. For Britain, the results of the Labour Cabinet's renewal of relations were disappointing, * for controversy over Soviet internal conditions combined with the unresolved propaganda and debts issues to hamper the creation of mutual understanding. Under the National Government relations remained dis tant, and, with British export expectations unfulfilled, and a deteriorating economic climate in Britain and the Dominions, trade relations were re-assessed. For the Soviet Union, with Stalin taking effective control of Soviet foreign policy, internal considerations predominated over objective perceptions of the changing international environment in the West and the colonial world during the Depression. Whilst .France gradually became the focus of Soviet interest, no real Anglo-Soviet understanding emerged on either bilateral or international issues. CONTENTS Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 Chapter One: The Prelude 11 Chapter Two: Warning Noteg 53 Chapter Three: Breaking Relations 89 Chapter Four: War Scares 121 Chapter Five: From Geneva to Meerut 159 Chapter Six: Renewing Relations 209 Chapter Seven: Discordant Notes 255 Chapter Eight: Disillusionment 302 Chapter Nine: Changing Alignments 353 Chapter Ten: Ottawa and Denunciation 396 Conclusion 452 Appendices 479 Bibliography 484 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ♦ In thanking the many people, fellow students and teachers in both Britain and Japan, who have helped me at various stages in my research, I know that my greatest debt is to Dr. Eleanor Breuning, to whom I would like especially to express my gratitude for never failing thoughtfully and kb patiently^advise and encourage me, despite my periodic absences abroad. I would like to thank the librarians, archivists and staff of the various institutions holding the collections of papers utilised in this thesis, and also Mr . E . Gillett and Mrs. D. Woodrow for allowing me to see private papers in their hands. In bringing this thesis to its final form, my warm thanks must be extended to Mrs. P. Whyman for her careful typing and to my parents, Siew Bee, and Dr. S. Nonomura for their constant encouragement. INTRODUCTION The aim of this thesis is to examine the troubled course of relations between Britain and the Soviet Union during the years from 1927 to 1932, a period which contains ample evidence of the friction and frustration which were the substance of inter-war relations between the two powers. Although detailed research has been undertaken on the origins of the Anglo-Soviet relationship and on a number of incidents such as the Zinoviev Letter, the Arcos Raid, the resumption of relations in 1929, and the Metro-Vickers Trial, no published scholarly study has yet covered in detail the period under investigation here, that is, the period up until the arrival of Adolf Hitler on the international scene altered the foreign policy perspec tives of both countries. For the British side, in view of the fact , that the wide scope of the 'Russian question' brought it within the purview of other governmental departments besides the Foreign Office, the material available from the published Foreign Office documents has been supplemented by the use of a wide range of unpublished official papers, not only Foreign Office and Cabinet records but also, where available, the records of other Government departments (1). In addition, collections of private papers, particularly the papers of Austen and Neville Chamberlain and Ramsay MacDonald, have provided corroborative material and in some cases added new light to the picture available from the official sources. For the Soviet side, the primary material available is still woefully inadequate, but use has been made of the series of published foreign policy documents, which now cover the whole period of this study. To assist in setting the Anglo-Soviet relation ship in its international perspective, use also has been made of American, Canadian, French, German and Italian documentation and of unpublished material in the Japanese Foreign Ministry archives. The nature of the primary material available tends to encourage concentration on the vicissitudes of the Anglo-Soviet relationship as seen chiefly from 'the British side, but as far as possible due considera tion is given to Soviet perceptions and policies. Western and Soviet scholars are in general agreement on the unsatisfactory state of Anglo-Soviet 1. Enquiry has ascertained that certain classes of documents which undoubtedly contain important material of relevance to the theme of this thesis, for example Home Office records in class H .0. 144 and India Office records in class P & J (S), are still cbsed to researchers . relations during the inter-war period. A Soviet historian, Viktor I. Popov, has written that 'there were times when they were close and friendly, but there were also moments when Great Britain and the U.S.S.R. were enemies' (1), while a British historian, David Carlton, has argued that 'relations between the Soviet Union and Great Britain between the two world wars were marred by a complete ]ack of mutual trust and understanding' (2). American historian Robert Warth, in drawing parallels between the Cold War after the Second World War and Anglo-Soviet relations in the 1920s, has observed that 'during the decade following the Bolshevik Revolution the only occasion when the two countries might be described as reasonably friendly was under James Ramsay MacDonald's short-lived Labour Government of 1924'. (3). Scholarly opinion, however, has shown less unanimity on the reasons behind this troubled relation ship. More than thirty years ago two British Marxists, Ken and Zelda Coates, produced a general survey of Anglo-Soviet relations in which they argued that 'the attitude of successive British Governments towards the 1. Viktor I. Popov, Anglo-Sovetskie Otnosheniya, 1927- 1929, (Moscow 1958) p.3. ~ 2. David Carlton, MacDonald versus Henderson, (London 1970) p. 144. 3. Robert Warth, 'The Arcos Raid and the Anglo-Soviet "Cold War" of the 1920s' in World Affairs Quarterly, July 1958, p.116. Soviet Union was so unprecedented that it is no exaggeration to state that the normal state of Anglo- Soviet relations up till the time when the Nazi menace began to throw its ugly shadow over Europe was abnormal'

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