Relations With The USSR (1919-1933)

The communist revolution in Russia led to strained relations with the rest of Europe.
This was primarily due to the fear that Bolsheviks aimed to spread communism, especially to Germany.

Lenin established the Third International (Comintern) in March 1919.
The purpose was to unite communist parties worldwide under Russian influence.
The Comintern aimed to demonstrate how to organize uprisings.
This caused worry among countries such as Britain, France, Czechoslovakia, and Japan.
These countries intervened in the Russian civil war on the side of the Tsarist Whites, albeit half-heartedly.
Bolshevik Russia was excluded from the Paris Peace Conference.

At the Third Comintern Congress in June 1921, Lenin acknowledged the necessity for peaceful co-existence.
He also called for trade contacts with the capitalist world.

The nature of relations depended on the ruling party in Britain; the Labour party was more sympathetic towards Russia.
Lloyd George (a Liberal) was open to reconciliation after Lenin showed a more open approach, resulting in an Anglo-Russian trade treaty in March 1921.
The treaty aided the Russians economically and marked the first acknowledgement of the Bolshevik government by a western power, eventually leading to full political recognition.
At the Genoa Conference in 1922, Lloyd George offended the Bolsheviks by suggesting they should pay war debts of the Tsarist regime.
This led to Russia signing the Treaty of Rapallo with Germany, causing concern for Britain and France.
In 1924, Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald granted full diplomatic recognition to the USSR and signed a new trade agreement.
The subsequent Conservative government saw relations worsen due to claims of Russia inciting Indian demands for independence; diplomatic relations were severed.
In 1929, the new Labour government restored relations and signed another trade agreement.
A Conservative-dominated National Government later cancelled the agreement, resulting in the arrest of British engineers in Moscow for ‘spying and wrecking’.
They were released in June 1933 as Stalin wanted to improve relations with Britain due to Hitler’s rise to power.

Relations were generally more consistent and friendly.
Germany saw advantages in friendship with the USSR, and the USSR wanted to be friendly with at least one major capitalist European democracy.
A Trade Treaty was signed in 1921.
The Rapallo Treaty was signed in 1922, which meant:
- Full diplomatic recognition.
- All mutual reparations related to WW1 treaties cancelled.
- Agreement to cooperate to keep Poland weak.
- The USSR saw Germany as a buffer against western attack.
- Germany was allowed to build arms and aeroplane factories in Russia to circumvent the Treaty of Versailles, with German officers training there.
- Russia agreed to supply Germany with grain.
The Treaty of Berlin in 1926 renewed the Rapallo Treaty for five more years.
- Germany would remain neutral if the USSR was attacked.
- Neither would use economic sanctions against each other.
In 1930, relations cooled slightly due to Soviet concerns about Germany's growing power.
- Germany's attempt to create a customs union with Austria was seen as a rise of nationalism.
- The rise of anti-communist Nazis was also a concern.
In 1934, Hitler ended any friendship with the USSR by signing a non-aggression pact with Poland.

Russia had historically been an important ally of France to check Germany, so the Bolshevik takeover was a major blow.
France viewed Bolshevism as a significant threat to western democracy and sent troops to fight in the civil war and refused to allow any Russian delegates at Versailles.
France also intervened in the war between Russia and Poland in 1920, and the subsequent alliance seemed more directed against Russia than Germany.
In 1924, diplomatic relations resumed under the more moderate Herriot, but they were never very friendly, partly due to Russian influence in the French communist party.
Relations began to improve with the rise of the Nazis as a common threat.