FREE ESSAY ON MAJOR SOURCES OF DISCORD BETWEEN THE BOLSHEVIK AND EUROPEAN STATES

MAJOR SOURCES OF DISCORD BETWEEN THE BOLSHEVIK AND EUROPEAN STATES

Major Sources of Discord between the Bolsheviks and European States: 1917 to 1921
There were several major sources that created discord between the Bolsheviks and western
states in Europe from 1917 to 1921. Conflicting ideologies that each attacked the very
fabric of the other's respective society led to the notion that capitalism and communism
could not coexist. The attempts of both actors to hold control of their own political
system and to expand their political ideas internationally led to major conflicts between
them. Also, the lack of respect for the upstart Bolshevik government by the west led to
misperceptions concerning the actions of the Soviets. Russia's unsatisfactory involvement
in World War I and their abrupt departure from the war which affected the western Allies
war effort created much disenchantment between the two sides. The imperial and
expansionist nature of both groups of actors led to conflict as the creation of both
communist and non-communist blocs began with the independence of Poland as a free state
in 1919. By using the Communist party as a vehicle to inject Communism into societies
abroad, the Bolsheviks began to make free countries take notice of the threat that the
worker's party presented and began to act in strong opposition of Communism. The actions
of both sides began a race for an expansion of two different ideologies which created
conflict so strong that in due time another World War seemed inevitable. The Cold War had
begun.
The fundamental difference between Russia and Europe was extremely contrasting views in
ideology. The modernization of politics in the late 1800's and early 1900's had created
similar political movements in both Europe and Russia meant to increase the authority of
the masses over their own government. These movements replaced authoritarian regimes with
political systems that were created to better the lives of the common people (Harris).
Leading states of Europe such as France and Britain began to take the path of social
democracy in which the working class would be given a voice through parliamentary
elections (Harris). Also by organizing the proletariat through trade unions, social
democracy allowed for collective bargaining to lead to improvements in working
conditions, pay, benefits, and other factors that helped to limit the exploitation of
lower class labor (Harris). On the other hand, the Bolshevik model for serving in the
best interests of the common people was not to raise the level of the proletariat by
giving them more rights and a stronger political voice, but to bring down the upper class
that was exploiting them by destroying the caste system altogether. The goal of
Bolshevism was to use a governing body to place the masses into one equal social class
where everybody would work equally for the advancement of society as a whole (Harris).
Communism under the direction of Lenin called for the abolishment of private property and
the nationalization of all means of production thereby putting the state in control of
all economics, politics, and social concerns (Harris). With the direction of the
Bolshevik party, the Soviets were beginning to form a cohesive political machine that was
to shape a new communist Russia, and eventually, a new communist world.
An intrinsic trait of Communist ideology was the opposition of the imperialist and
capitalist ways of the west (Harris). The Bolsheviks contended that capitalism itself was
one of the human race's major evils and should be eliminated. Marxism states that
inequality and lower class exploitation creates inter-class struggle which he felt was a
major downfall of society (Harris). Fueled by materialistic greed, members of a
capitalist society found themselves constantly trying to better themselves at the expense
of others around them. The lower class of society such as the peasants and workers were
being exploited by the upper bourgeois in the way that they were paid and how they were
treated. 
The Bolsheviks felt that the ultimate example of capitalistic evil was the Western
imperialists who contended with one another for the accumulation of lands that they had
no right to control (Harris). States such as Britain, Germany, France, and
Austria-Hungary were proponents for the imperialist way which Lenin felt would lead to an
inevitable World War between the imperialist states (Ulam, p. 79). Lenin's idea was that
the competition for lands and resources as well as the expansion of various political
ideologies would lead to an inter-imperialist conflict as had happened in prior history
(Harris). The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought the idea of an inter-imperialist
war to fruition. 
Tsar Nicholas II led Russia into W.W.I. in 1914 with the prospects of defending itself
from the expansionist Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
(Harris). Russia entered the war on the side of France and Britain in what became a very
costly and unpopular World War. However, after the Bolshevik takeover of Russian
government in 1917, Lenin's main focus was to increase the stability of the new Bolshevik
regime and raise the credibility of the new government in the eyes of the Russian people.
In the years between 1914 and 1917, Lenin would try to find a way to stabilize the Soviet
Union by getting out of World War I (Harris). Lenin contended that the Soviet Union would
rather not participate in the war, but would rather gain strength and maintain the oasis
of Soviet power in the middle of the raging imperialist sea (p. 79). He felt that
fighting alongside imperialist countries such as Britain and France in an imperialist war
was not something that was in the best interests of Communist ideology (Harris). In the
early stages of Communist power, European states such as France and Britain would not
even recognize the Bolshevik regime as a legitimate governing force (Harris). Many of
these countries denounced the new Bolshevik government since the new regime forcefully
uprooted the democratic provisional government that took over power after the revolution
of February 1917 (Harris). Such an abrupt and rather uncouth upheaval gained little
respect in the international political community and weakened the credibility of the new
government (Harris). Western anti-ideological sentiment towards Russia would not come
until after the conclusion of W.W.I. but the rigid west set the stage for future dealings
with Russia. 
The lack of Russian effort in World War I created much strife between Russia and the
Britain/France coalition (Ulam, p. 90). Russia entered World War I in 1914 with the
objective of protecting her own lands as well as the lands of Serbia, and stressed that
acquiring land was not an integral part of Russia's military agenda (Harris). However,
the Triple Alliance was taking Europe piece by piece; fighting a two front war between
the Allies of the west, and Entente forces from Russia and the east (p. 90). By focusing
on attacking the Germans from both the east and western fronts, the Allies could cause
the Germans to spread their forces thin and consequently take Europe back (Harris). Much
to the dismay of France and Britain, Russia was not as strong an ally as they would have
hoped. The Soviet Union spent a good deal of its resources to reinforce the British and
the French against their enemies, yet well organized and efficient offensive attacks from
the east was something the Russians could not execute (Ulam p. 89). Russia could not give
the Allies much support since the war had taken a huge toll on Russia economically and
the upheaval that occurred on the home front left much of Russia's resources to be put to
use domestically. The Allies became frustrated at the Soviets for not giving them the
effort that they needed to defeat the Alliance (Ulam, p. 88). Russia's rather ineffective
involvement in the war came in 1918 when Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk. The
treaty that allowed Russia to achieve peace with Germany by giving concessions of land
and heavy economic resources to the Germans. 
To the Allies, it appeared that the Russo-German peace agreement simply saved Russia at
their expense. Now the Allies were incapable of fighting the Germans as effectively as
they could if Russia was involved in the war. It appeared that Russia had turned its back
on France and Britain by saving itself. The Allies also began to explore the possibility
that Russia had secretly aligned with Germany because the massive concessions given
basically made Russia an economic slave to Germany (Ulam, p. 91). With Russia bowing out
of the war, the Allies were on their own and they became more cautious in their future
dealings with the Russian state.
The events of W.W.I also brought major sources of discord between Germany and Russia.
Throughout the war, Russia chose to take more offensive positions against Austria-Hungary
than towards the Germans (Ulam, p. 80). They tried to fight the Triple alliance, yet at
the same time not acting in a way to infuriate Germany and cause a massive German assault
on Russia (p. 89). Due to Lenin's assumption that Russia would not be able to survive an
all out German attack, he signed the rather costly Treaty of Brest Litovsk and thereby
gave major concessions to the Germans in exchange for their neutrality (Ulam, p. 89). The
harshness (p. 89) of the treaty that was dealt by the Germans created much disenchantment
between the two sides (p. 89). The reparations called for the Germans to be paid 6
Billion German marks in gold and goods that would have inevitably made Russia an economic
satellite of Germany (p. 89) After the treaty was signed, Germany created tension by not
adhering to the treaty as they had agreed (p. 80). The Germans pushed the Bolsheviks out
of Ukraine and Finland and in many instances failed to withdraw troops from the front
lines (p. 80). Ironically, only an Allied victory of World War I saved Russia from
Germany's grasp. The Allies won the war in the end without the help of Russia and the
fall of Germany allowed the reparations to be paid in Brest Litovsk to be null and void
(Harris). However, the damage had been done. The Germans had little sympathy for a torn
Russian state and exploited Russia for all that it could. 
After the conclusion of World War I in March of 1918, the concern of a democratically
driven counter-revolution became imminent. Lenin knew that division between the new
Bolshevik regime and supporters of the provisional government known as Kadets drew a line
through Russian society. The Russian people were becoming disillusioned with the new
Bolshevik regime and a civil war between the Whites (socially democratic driven Kadets)
and the Reds (Bolsheviks) consequently erupted in 1918 (Harris). Lenin felt control of
Russia slipping away and knew that the focus of his regime had to be in the domestic
rather than international arena (Ulam, p. 84). The Allies attitude towards Russia had
changed as a result of World War I (Ulam, p. 84). By signing the peace treaty, for the
first time the Bolshevik regime was seen as being the official government of Russia by
most of the world, and free states of the west began to take notice of the ideological
differences between themselves and the Russians (p. 80). In 1918, near the end of World
War I, forces from the United States, France, and Britain gathered in Russia to expand
the eastern front against the Germans (p. 84). The purpose of these interventions at
first was to use Russian soil to win World War I, not to support either side of an
ideological civil war that had just begun and was occurring simultaneously (p. 84).
Before Russia made several questionable decisions in World War I, the ideology behind the
Bolshevik regime was not challenged heavily by the west (Harris). Ulam states, Until
November 1918, the Allied intervention in Russia had nothing ideological about it. It was
designed simply to give the Western Powers' armies in France, which at the beginning of
the German offensive in March 1918, were struggling desperately... (p. 92). However,
since the Allies already had troops in Russia already to fight the Germans, it became
convenient to offer aid to the White armies (p. 84). After the signing of the Treaty of
Versailles in 1918, Britain and France made several attempts to advance the positions of
the White counter-revolutionaries in the civil war by giving aid in the form of troops,
supplies, and arms (p. 91). The Allies felt they could also encourage White forces by
having a token troop presence that would stir up the healthy elements in Russia into
vigorous anti-Bolshevik activity (p. 91). However, the aid that the White armies received
proved to be offset by the lack of discipline, political focus, and capable
decision-making that inevitably doomed the White cause (p. 92). The western state's
interventions were also not of dynamic proportions. There were several instances
throughout the civil war when the western powers felt the Whites were going to win
convincingly (p. 92). The pro-White European states also were limited in the amount of
aid they could give considering the monumental casualties that World War I had created,
and getting heavily involved in another country's own civil war would not be popular in
their respective homelands (p. 86). The Allies also felt that as the Civil War went on
the mass of the population was turning against the Bolsheviks (p. 92) , and the Kadet
movement would at some time regain political power (p. 92). These miscalculations of the
Allies helped contribute to the Bolsheviks winning the Civil War in 1921, but the
intervention of the allies on Russian soil widened the gap between the west and Russia.
With the failure of the West to intervene and successfully defeat the Bolshevik
government, Lenin felt the democratic countries would compose their differences and
attack [The Soviet Union] (Ulam, p. 78). As a result, Lenin attempted to thwart further
intervention by retracting his comment that communists could not coexist with capitalists
(Harris). He also agreed to allow the French to take positions as they pleased and
enacted plans for trading between Russia and Britain that would allow people in the
business community to have a stake in Russia free of Communists (Ulam, p. 99). Lenin's
rather suave actions may have saved the Bolshevik regime by giving the Soviets time to
establish themselves free of potent intervention by the West.
From 1917 to 1920, as Russia found itself torn between entrenching a new government,
dealing with negative sentiments from Europe, fighting a massive world war, and
suppressing counter-revolutionary movements, Lenin knew that the opportunity to expand
communism into Europe did not exist at the time (Harris). However, as the Bolsheviks
gained more stability in Russia in the early 1920's, Lenin chose to push for the
expansion of the Communist ideology on a nationwide scale (Harris). He knew that
Bolshevism was fast becoming a political force in the international arena. Communists
were gathering support around the world in all countries through the sympathetic ear of
the proletariat, and the ideological curiosity of the intellectual. The success of the
Bolshevik uprising and 1917 set an example to Communists everywhere that they could also
create their own Communist state through a well organized revolutionary movement.
Communism was injecting a fresh, utopian ideology into what was becoming a democratically
driven world. They were fast becoming an enemy of social democratic states, and a threat
to their way of life.
In his plan for worldwide communism, Lenin concluded that Germany (the country that he
referred to as the giant) was the key to creating a Communist Europe (Harris). He felt
that if Germany (which was a heavily industrialized state with a strong economy and a
well educated population) would become communist, it would open the door for the
communism to expand throughout Europe (Harris). After the conclusion of W.W.I the German
regime was dissolved, and the Bolsheviks began to woo the German socialists (Ulam, p. 94)
into creating a Communist revolution in Germany. The Bolsheviks tried to obtain more
influence in German society by giving gifts and using the Comintern's influence to create
grass roots levels of revolution. However, when their labors did not yield a new
Communist regime, democratic nations of the world took notice of the Bolshevik's
revolutionary tactics (Ulam, p. 94). By trying to use Germany as the spark to create a
worldwide revolution the Soviets had failed, and in the process they created even more
strife with the west.
Lenin further pushed for Communist expansion in the 1920's by calling for a plan to
expand Communism into imperial colonies using a model of two stage revolution (Harris).
Lenin felt that imperial powers that controlled colonies were susceptible to creating
grassroots communist movements because these states did not focus on educating their
colonists and instilling them with a strong political ideology (Harris). Also, these
colonies were mostly poor colonies that were made up mainly of poor, lower class peasants
who could be sympathetic to the communist cause (Harris). Lenin's two step plan called
for colonies to free themselves of imperial control and establish their own governments
(Harris). After their independence was established, Communist Party influence in these
states would lead to organization of peasants and workers who would take over the state
waving the Communist flag (Harris). 
In 1919, Lenin had established an organization of worldwide communists known as the
Comintern whose goal was to increase the influence of the Communist Party in nations
around the world (Harris). The Comintern was created to allocate the resources and
provide the organization required to create radical socialist revolutions on an
international scale (Harris). Lenin began to use the Comintern vigorously in the 1920's
in an effort to increase the party's influence in Europe. Lenin's main goal was to create
a total communist world and the fall of Europe from the hands of democracy was the key to
achieving his goal. By making his motives clear on the expansion of Bolshevism, Lenin
caused much strife between Russia and the west by encouraging the growth of the Communist
movement on the soil of democratic European states (Harris). In many of these countries,
the Communist party was soon banned and its members were arrested to curb any threat that
the party held (Harris). 
In 1920 it was well noted by the western democracies that two stage revolution was a real
threat when Communist Party involvement was exposed in Turkey. Revolutionary leader Kemal
Ataturk fought against imperialist control with the help of Russia. He used the Communist
Party to build support for his movement, then later purged many of the members in order
to gain more influence and sever his ties with the Communist Party (Harris). Even though
communism did not reign in Turkey, it made the world realize the evident threat of
communism developing on a grass roots level in their own country.
Along with the threat of the expansion of Bolshevism in the 1920's, the imperialistic
actions of Russia became the principle source of tension between Europe and the Soviet
Union. A territorial concern that created much strife was over the Slavic area that lie
between Russia and Germany. After World War I, Poland was created as an independent state
out of the three empires that had once occupied it : Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary
(Ulam, p. 107). Poland had also created its own democratic government with the support of
the League of Nations (Harris). With Poland becoming its own free state, a buffer zone
was created between the Soviet/German border that would make it difficult for the
Bolsheviks to gain access to Germany and lead a Communist revolution (Harris). The Treaty
of Versailles had also created the countries of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia
and made careful arrangements to set up these counties as a bloc of democratic
governments to curb Russian imperialism (Harris). Lenin's plans for the expansion of
Bolshevism into Germany became complicated by the new Polish state (Harris). They no
longer had direct access to the German border. Russia also felt that Poland contained
lands that were rightfully part of Russia. As a result, the Soviets invaded Poland in
1920 in an effort to reacquire lands that they had lost as a result of the Treaty of
Versailles as well as regain access to Germany by taking further territory all the way to
the German border (Harris). Upon their planned occupation of Poland, the Soviets intended
to gather the support of the workers and lead a Communist revolution in Poland thereby
destroying the Pole's newly established non-Communist regime (Harris). Poland eventually
defeated the Russians with the help of French troops in 1921, and the upstart attempt to
create Communist revolution in the remains of a war tattered Europe failed (Harris). In
1921, Poland mounted its own offensive that pushed Russian troops all the way east to the
city of Kiev. The expansionist actions of the Soviet Union undermined the peace
negotiations that ended W.W.I. and caused much anti-Communist sentiment among the nations
of free Europe (Harris). 
With the Russian Bolsheviks coming to power in October of 1917, the spread of communism
on a worldwide scale began. The idea of the expansion of Marxist thought became a source
of tension that pitted Russia and its experimental communist society against states of
democracy and capitalism in Europe. The strife that developed between Russia and Europe
was the result of expansionist movements by the Communist Party either directly or by
encouraging grass roots communist growth within (Harris). Also, the questionable actions
of both the Bolsheviks and the western Europe during World War I as well as the Russian
Civil War created much hostility between the new Russian state and the establish states
of the west. The actions taken by the Western states to hold back Bolshevik expansion
clashed with the Communist's revolutionary aspirations and dreams of global dominance.
The struggle between two entities: one of rebellion and growth, and the other of
maintaining social order and suppression become prevalent, and subsequently the Cold War
had begun.
Major Sources of Discord between the Bolsheviks and European States: 1917 to 1921
STEVEN STILLER
PS 1510
First Paper
January 31, 2000
Johnathan Harris
STEVEN STILLER
PS 1510
First Paper
January 31, 2000
Johnathan Harris
Bibliography
The fifty years war, by richard crockatt 1995 London New fetter lane Publishing