HISTORY OF USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-03362A000500170001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 18, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: SPEECH

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Sudden as the actual outbreak of revolution in the Russian
empire was in March 1917, its roots lay deep in Russian imperial
history. Medieval Russia continued to exist, feudal in practice
and concept, while other European nations developed new social
practices under the stimuli of eighteenth century enlightenment
and nineteenth century industrial expansion. Tsarist attempts at
reform had proved inept, inconsistent, and subject to the whims of
privileged persons or groups. The twentieth century found the Russian
empire blacked in its foreign policy and backward in economic and
social development. Weaknesses became apparent in the Russo-Japanese
war of 1904-1905 and in the abortive revolution in 1905. Faced with
failure abroad and at home, and under the impact of catastrophic
defeats in "Torld Nar I. the entire structure collapsed,
The Russian Revolution.
The March Revolution developed unexp6etedly out of strikes, food
queues, and a mutiny in Petrograd (now Leningrad) before the members
of the Duma, dissolved on March 12, could orient themselves. Its
progressive bloc for two years had urged a constitutional parliamentary
monarchy based on wide suffrage and full civil rights to citizens.
Although national in character, it was not really representative of
all the people. It feared to appeal to the masses becmse too
radical a program might cause a second failure at revolution,
The Soviet of Workmen's Deputies was canetituted bn the afternoon
of March 12. The members of the Duma, early in the morning of the next
day, finally decided to form a provisional government. Thus two
revolutionary centers were created: the Duma--formed Provisional
Government with the formal responsibility of power, and the Petrograd
Soviet with the real power. Until the Bolshevik seizure of full
power (November 7), this duality was the actual relationship. On
March 15, under pressure from the Provisional Government, Tsar
Nicholas It abdicated for himself and his son, Alexis, and pro-
claimed his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as his successor. The
latter was persuaded not to accept until a constitution had been
adopted. The imperial family was put under arrest. Prince
Georgy Lvov was named prime minister, Alexander Guchkov interior
minister, and Pavel ?ilyukov foreign minister. The Soviet refused
to enter the cabinet.
Soviets were formed throughout the country, thus disintegrating
it politically. Order Number One, issued bar the Petrograd Soviet on
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March 14, gradually undermined the armed forces bt7 disrupting the
discipline and introducing sbldierst committees between the men and
the command. The numer'ous nationalities in the Russian empire began
to break awatr, especially the Ukrp.inians and the Poles, first, b7
seakinp wide autonomy, and then by demanding virtual independence.
The Petrograd Soviet, in time joined by other soviets in successive
congresses, began to announce the policy which it expected, and
forced, the government to follow. On March 27 it formulated the policy,
first, of the continuation of the war only for the defense of the
revolution, and,second, of a peace without annexations or indemnities
and with self-4etbrmination of peoples. The Provisional Government,
which had been recognized ty the Entente (England and France),
failed to modify this, and TTilyukov notified the Entente of the
gatrernment program. On May 2 he added a covering latter to the effect
that Russia's engagements undertaken in the war would be preserved.
This led to a strugr'le between the Soviet and the Provisional Govern-
ment in which the latter lost. Guchkov and Milyukov resigned, May
12-16, and the Soviet was induced by Prince Lvov to enter the cabinet
to the extent of five portfolios.
As war minister, Alexander Kerensky became the leading figure
in the government. He ordered an offensive against the Germans from
June 29 to July 7; this ended in failure, precluding the peace aims
which Russia had hoped the Entente would accept in a special conference
in the event of a military success. The Russian defeat also weakened
the Provisional Government's position in the Entente, which began to
give less attention to its point of view. The return of Nikolai
Lenin to Russia on Apr. 16, 1917, was followed by his advocacy
of the policy that the Soviets should take over the whole cabinet
instead of forming a coalition. Disappoirito-d? in this, the Bolsheviks
staged their own coup, July 16-18, which failed. Lenin managed to
escape, but Leon Trotsky and others were arrested.
The Bolshevik bid for power led Kerensky, who had become prime
minister on July 20 after the resignation of Prince Lvov, to consider
an appeal to all classes, parties, and organizations in order to secure
a wider support. As a consequence, he called the Moscow Conference,
August 25-28. The Bolsheviks did not attend. An impasse had developed
which indicated, if anything, that to introduce discipline in the
armed forces .and order behind the front the government would have to
move to the ri^ht. Thus it was that the vague scheme to include
General L.avr Vornilov in a reorganization of the government was
conceived, but when Tferonsky realized that this might displace or
subordinate him he ord-red the general's arrest, and the military
support behind the idea oollr.psed_(September 9-14). This caused Kerensky
to lean to the left. His attempts to get further support at the
Democratic (Socialist) Congress, on September 29, and at the Council
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of the Republic, on October 20, were without result,
The Bolsheviks
Meanwhile, the German advance in the Baltic gained momentum,
and Petrograd, then the most important industrial war center, was
in danger of capture. Saarema (Oe8tel) fell on October 12. The
panic in Petrograd was utilized by the Bolsheviks to seize power,
They had infiltrated the soviets, and in a two-month period had
secured control of the Petrograd Soviet under Trotskyts chairmanship,
the Moscow Soviets and many others. They were confident that they
would have a majority in the Congress of Soviets, set for November
7, and that they would control it. In the guise of protecting the
Petrograd area, and in the face of vacillation and weakness by the
Kerensky government, they obtained military control of the area on
November 4. They seized power in the night of November 6. Kerenskyts
effort to get the army, under General Krasnov,, to retake Petrograd
failed between November 10 and 13. In the meantime the Congress of
Soviets, boycotted by the moderate Stcialists, had approved the
Bolshevik seizure of power. The Provisional Government vanished
overnight. Old Russia had completely disintegrated into hundreds
of Soviets.
On Nov. 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks organized the Council (Soviet)
of Peoplets Commissars, headed by Lenin as premier, Trotsky as commissar
for foreighn affairs, and Joseph Stalin as commissar for nationalities.
To crush non-Bolshevik elements, the Extraordinary Commission to
Combat Counter Revolution (later known as the G.P..U., and still
later as N.K.V.D.) was established. To win the favor of the peasants,
since the Bolsheviks numbered only about 200,000, the November 7
decree on land ordered the distribution to peasants of land from the
large estates, merely legalizing what had been taking place in the
countryside since October. The banks and industrial plants were
nationalized and the national debt repudiated on Jan. 28, 1918.
The elections to the Constituent Assembly authorized by the Kerensky
Revolutionaries returned 225 Bolsheviks. When the Assembly met on
Jan. 18, 1918, it refused to recognize the Soviet of Peoplets
Commissars as the government of Russia and the next day was dis-
persed by the Red Guards. The Soviet Constitution, calling for
monopoly of political power by one party (Communist), was approved
by the Fifth Congress of the Soviets on July 10, 1918.
The decree on peace, issued Nov. 7, 1917, asked that all
belligerents begin immediate peace parleys. Because only the
Central Powers responded, and Trotsky knew that a separate peace
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would be catastrophic, a second appeal on November 22 sought a
general peace on the basis of no annexations and no indemnities.
On December 5 Trotsky signed an armistice with the Central Powers
at Brest-Litovsk and published the secret treaties previously
negotiated by the tsarist government in order to force the hand of
the Entente. The peace negotiations were stalled on December 28
because of the exorbitant demands of the Central Powers, and
because it was hoped that the Entente might yet save Russia from a
separate peacy by negotiating a general one. The Germans forced the
hard of the Bolsheviks by making a separate peace with the Ukraine
on Jan. 28, 1918, Thus, without a general peace, the war was
ended by proclamation on February 10, but the German advance forced
the signi,hg:ron Mar. 3, 1918, of the catastrophic peace treaty of
Brest--Litovsk, which recognized the loss of the Ukraine and all
the non-Russian borderlands, and vitr'lally established a veiled
German domination over Bolshevik Russia, Lenin forced its acceptance.
Petrograd (Leningrad) ceased to be the capital, which was moved to
Moscow. Trotsky resigned, became war commissar, and was succeeded
as commissar for foreign affairs by Grigory Chicherin.
The twD objectives of the Bolsheviks, who had become known as
the Communist Party, were the establishment of a communist state and
the encouragement of a world revolution to establish a world union
of communist states, The dispersal of the Constituent Assembly and
the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk led to the creation of
independent governments along the borders, and to the civil war and
the intervention, which lasted for three years, Begun by the Social
Revolutionaries, who on July 6, 1918, assassinated the German
ambassador, Count Mirbach, the gathering forces against the Bolsheviks
began a civil war. In turn, the latter met terror with terror on
an extensive scale, thus beginning the long process of eliminating or
liquidating their opponents. The British landed troops at Murmansk
on June 23, and at Arkhangelsk on August 2, ostensibly to keep
Allied war supplies from being taken over by the Germans, while by
public announcement on August 3 the United States and Japan agreed
to an international expedition to Siberia to relieve the Czechoslovaks,
who, since the Treaty of 9rest-Litovsk, had endeavored to transfer
from the eastern front to the western, An Allied blockade of Russia
was begun. The war in Europe came to an end in November 1918, and
the menace of German rule was removed.
These events highlighted the militant communism which gives this
period its name. The crisis led the Bolsheviks to seek the immediate
communization of Russia. Their efforts had two results: industrial
production fell to 20 per-.cent of prewar output, agriculture to 50
per cent. Peasants and labor virtually engaged in a sit-down strike.
Famine spread in Bolshevik Russia, which had to appeal for international
assistance. This situation forced recognition of the failure of
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this type of communization by the adoption on Mar, 17, 1921, of the
New Economic Policy (N.E.P.), The grain tax was substituted for
the food levy, free trade was allowed to peasants to dispose of their
surplus, workers were paid for overtime and piece-work, and small
private commercial establishments were permitted. The great
industries, utilities, and mines remained nationalized,
The civil war and the intervention, continuing from 1918 to
1921, involved all of Russia and the borderlands, including Poland
and Mongolia. The opposition to the Bolsheviks, starting with the
liberal and socialist elements of the duly elected Constituent
Assembly, gradually became dominated by conservatives and reactionaries.
The intervention of the Allied powers, never concerted or in great
enough force in any one area, degenerated into schemes to partition
Russia. As a consequence, the peasants, who had seized the lands
and feared the return of the landlords, sided with the Bolsheviks.
The attempt to bring about a truce during the peace conference at
Paris failed. The T!~thite armies from the Baltic, the south, and
Siberia were unable to effect junction. The Red Army was able to
keep them separated and to defeat them singly. Thus, Nikol^i
Yudeniehts Baltic front ended 10 mi. from Petrograd in October
1919, and the recognition by Bolshevik Russia of the independence of
the Baltic states followed in February and October 1920. Admiral
Alexander Kolchakts army advanced to the Volga from Siberia in May
1919, but was beaten back through Siberia; Omsk fell November 14
and Kolchak was captured Fee 7, 1920. General Anton Denikin advanced
to Orel in October 1919, but by April 1920 he had been driven to the
Black Sea coast, General Pyotr "Trangel, who succeeded him, was
forced out of the Krym in November..
IM.2e,anwhile, Russia was involved in war with Poland, begun Apr.
25, 1920, in alliance with Petyura, who sought to seize the Ukraine
from the Bolsheviks. The Poles took Kiyev on May 7, but the city
was retaken by the Bolsheviks on June 11. A month later, the
Bolsheviks took Vilnyus, and in August threatened ?,;arsaw but were
forced to retreat. The Poles had planned to exact a second Brest-
Litovsk of Bolshevik Russia, and the Bolsheviks had drawn up plans
to sovietize Poland. The preliminary Treaty of Riga on October 12
was followed by the definitive treaty on Mar. 18, 1921; Poland
retained considerable sections of territory inhabited by Ukrainians
and 'mite Russians.
The Red Army drove the T-lhite Russian forces of Baron Roman von
Ungern-Sternberg out of Mongolia in January 1921, and on July 6 the
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Government was formed under Soviet
protection, Unable to force the Japanese out of Vladivostok and the
Coastal Province (the other foreign forces had already evacuated the
region), the Bolsheviks established the Far Eastern Republic at Chita
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as a buffer state. This existed until Nov. 19, 1922, after the
Japanese had evacuated as a result of pressure of the United States
and Japanese promises made at the Washington Conference.
Thus, in the period of about four years after their seizure
of power, the Bolsheviks had weathered both the civil war and the
intervention, but had failed in their effort to communize Russia.
In the midst of this strife, on Mar. 2, 1919, they founded the
Third International, also called Comintern, representative of all
Communist parties and having the objective of encouraging world
revolution. Thus, a new phenomenon developed in international relatims:
the duality of Soviet Russia as a state and as a revolutionary move-
ment reaching into other states but guided from the same center.
The New Economic Policy (N.E.P.).
The interim of temporary retreat toward capitalism found productiblrt
in industry a,.d agriculture approaching prewar levels by the end of
the period. The agrarian code and the land statute of 1922 confirmed
the possession of land acquired by peasants in the revolution on
the basis of hereditary leases, but with restrictions can leasing
lands and hiring labor. The aim was to develop the middle peasants.
A currency, chervonets, based on gold, ended the operation of the
printing presses (1921). In 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, with an initial federacy of four republics, was proclaimed;
to this, up until 1928, twelve other republics, chiefly on the
periphery, were added. The death of Lenin on Jan. 21, 1924, resulted
in a serious conflict for power between Stalin and Trotsky. The
latter took the stand that the N.E.P. should be ended and that the
world revolution should be resolutely promoted to save the revolution
in Soviet Russia. Stalin argued that socialism could be achieved
in a single state and that Trotskyts policy would lead to foreign
intervention which might be disastrous. In October 1926, Stalin
succeeded in having Trotsky expelled, along with the radical opposition
bloc, from the Politburo and from the party; on May 26, 1927, he
had him banished to Alma-Ata. In 1929 Trotsky sought refuge abroad.
He was murdered in Mexico, Aug. 21, 1940.
In foreign affairs, Soviet Russia sought the recognition of
foreign powers, and they, except for the United States, accorded it
at this time. The Treaty of Rapallo was a basic agreement with
Germany, signed on Apr. 16, 1922, during the abortive Genoa Conference
called to create an economic basis for relations with Soviet Russia.
By this treaty, Germany recognized Russia and agreed to mutual abandon-
ment of reparations and debts, It was supplemented by a commercial
treaty in 1925 and by a further political agreement in 1926, as a
reaction to the Locarno treaties. The close relations between the
two countries also included co-operation in the production of war
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materials until the coming of the Nazi regime in Germany in 1933,
Soviet Russia participated in the Lausanne Conference, November 1922
to July 1923, but only in regard to that part of it which dealt with
the Turkish Straits question. Russia argued for the closure of the
straits under Turkish sovereignty and the closure, mare elausum, of
the Black Sea to warships of nonlittor,al powers, but was defeated,
The straits were demilitarized and their control internationalized.
In May 1923, while this agreement was being negotiated, British
Foreign Minister Cruzon issued a virtual ultimatum against Communist
propaganda, to which Soviet Russia forthwith yielded. Recognition
by Great Britaints Labor government followed; China established
relations in 1924, and Japan in 1925, Meanwhile, in 1923, the
Communists had failed to create a revolution in Germany, which was
regarded as the key to Europe. In 1927 Chiang Kai-shek of China
expelled the Communists from the Kuomintang, thus preventing them
from seizing control of the Chinese national revolution and moving
toward what was regarded as a bid for domination of Asia and the
Pacific, In the same year Great Britain, as well as China, severed
relations with the Soviet Union on charges of secret revolutionary
activity by the Third International, The result of the aggressive
propaganda of the Third Internarional was the establishment of
governments leaning toward the right in nearly all of the states
bordering on Russia. The delegates of the Soviet:Union,.however., advocated
the coexistence,of the-two social` systems at 'the International' Economic
Conference dt Geneva,`May 4-23, 1927, and proposed-total and immediate dis-
armament.in .the. preparataory commission on disarmament of the League of 'Nations
Nov, 3O Dec., 3, 1927.
Socialist Reconstruction,.
The victory of Stalin over Trotsky led to the termination of
the N.E.P, Soviet Russia had virtually recovered its prewar production,
but faced the chance that capitalism might triumph. The idea of a
series of plans to transform agricultural Russia into a sufficiently
industrialized state to be able to produce its own war requirements
had been under contemplation for some time. This meant stress on
heavy industry (producer goods) instead of light industry (consumer
goods). The first five-year plan was inaugurated Oct. 1, 1928. To
provide securely for food for the growing industrial cities, and to
eliminate what the government termed trexploitativeut kulaks, collecti-
vization and mechanization of farms was begun in the summer of 1929.
This program, which reached such extremes in the next year that Stalin
was compelled to moderate iti precipitated the second agrarian
revolution. The first had occurred in 1917--1918 when private
ownership had been eliminated, but agriculture thereafter had still
been carried out on the principle of individual fariu4~ The move
to collectivize farms resulted in a great decline in livestock, the
peasants killing off and eating what they had; in the persecution
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and banishment of the kula.ks; and, in part at least, in the severe
famine of 1932--1933. ",Tith the seizure of Manchuria by Japan in 1931
and 1932, and the coming to power of the Nazis in Germany in January
and March 1933, the Russians realized that critical times had arrived-
times which called for changes in internal and foreign policy.
Puy and Peace Efforts.
Purgs and trials within the Communist Party followed from 1933
to 1937. These ruthlessly eliminated any who did not follow the
Stalin policy line, and the majority of the Old Bolsheviks disappeared.
To gain wider support among the nonparty people, the new constitution
of Doc, 5, 1936, was promulgated. A bicameral legislature (Supreme
Soviet) consisting of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of
Nationalities was established; it was based on universal, secrets.
suffrage on a territorial, not an occupational, basis. Gradually, as
war drew nearer, the aggressive Communist propaganda diminished, and
national history and national themes in the arts emerged. The
purpose was to strengthen the regime for the storm.
Manifestly, a period of such vast reconstruction in industry and
agriculture required a policy of peace for Soviet Russia. TT4r, was to
be avoided, if at all possible, so that Russia could catch up with the
capitalist states,. Russia, Stalin had argued in 1931, had always
been beaten in the past because of its backwardness, 1177e are 50 to
100 years behind the advanced countries," he had declared. " Te must
cover this distance in 10 years. Either we do this or they will
crush us," Japan's seizure of Manchuria had endangered Soviet Russia's
access to the Pacific via the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Amur River.
The rise to power of the Nazis and the circulation of the Pugcnborg
Yemora.ndum at the International Economic Conference at London, June
1933, in which Nazi Germany had asked for a mandate over Russia to
end the disorder in that country, even though disavowed, had led to
a series of nonaggression pacts between Soviet Russia and its
neighbors, Poland, the Baltic states, Czechoslovakia, and Romania
had entered into such pacts early in 1934. In addition, Russia
had entered the League of Nations on Sept. 18, 1934, and had made
alliances with France (May 2, 1935) and Czechoslovakia. (May 16)
after the failure of French diplomacy to achieve an
The Seventh Congress of the Third International, in the summer
of 1935, had called f'oa?a united front among anti Nazi nations
against the growing Nazi danger. Subject to avoidance of propaganda
and to suppression of subversive international organizations (by
which the Third International was meant), the United States had
recognized the Soviet Union as of Nov. 17, 1933? The intention had
been to strengthen the Russian position with reference to the aggressive
policy of Japan, but the United States' action had its influence on
Nazi Germany as well, On March 23, 1935, the Soviet Union had been
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forced, as an act of appeasement, to sell at a low price its share
of the Chinese Ea-btpra Railway and subsidiaries---ostensibly to
Manchukuo but actually to Japan. The danger that these two states
might ally themselves against Soviet Russia had grown as a result
of the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact, signed Nov. 25, 1936,
and adhered to the next year by Italy. While ostensibly directed
against the Third International, Soviet leaders had seen in this the
germ of an alliance which would ultimately seek to destroy and partition
the Soviet Unions as well as other states.
The retreat of the western democracies before Germany was
interpreted by the Soviet leaders as evidence in proof of their
assumption. ?,)hen the fatal dismemberment of Czechoslovakia was
consummated at the Munich Conference on Sept. 29, 1935, to which
Soviet Russia was not invited, the Soviet government protested against
this and preceding Instances of appeasements and called for collective
action. Also, while not required to aid Czechoslovakia by the
terms of alliance with France and Czechoslovakia, because Francets
failure to act had made them inoperative, the Soviet UrLon offered
its assistance, which was declined,
World Ysrar II,
In 1939 Nazi Germany set about the destruction of Czechoslovakia
(March 10-16),, singled out Poland as the next victim, and annexed
Memel (Klaipeda). The western democracies, about to give up the
policy of appeasement, began negotiations with the Soviet Union in
regard to the latter's attitude toward Germany. They failed because
Poland and the Baltic states feared Russian occupation, and probable
annexation, more than Nazi German aggression,
Hitler outbid the western democracies, and on Aug. 23, 19393
Germany and the Soviet Union signed a pact in which they promised not
to attack each other, each to remain neutral if the other was attacked,
and not to join any group directly or indirectly menacing the other.
This unleashed the Nani war against Palr.nd on September 1. Two
supplementary agreements defined the partition of the country between
the two powers and led to the absorption of the Baltic states in
1940. Although the pact disconcerted the policy of Japan, and gave
Russia a breathing space in respect to Germany, Russian fears of
Japanese attack were not laid aside until the signing of the neutrality
pact with that country on Apr. 13, 1941.
Meanwhile, the relations with Germany, which Soviet Russia
assisted greatly with necessary war materials, began to deteriorate
rapidly after France had collapsed in June 1940. Although the full
details of Russo-German relations are still to be published, it is
evident that the two powers could not agree on the division .ot.their
interests in the B-lkans and the Near and Mid-lle East. The Tripartite
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A'llia.nce (Germany, Italy, and Japan) of Sept, 27, 1940, implied
Russia's neutrality, in return for the promise of the participants
to leave each country's agreements with Russia in status quo. It
also included a secret clause that they would not conclude an agree-
ment with the Soviet Union contrary to the terms of the alliance. `iahile,
on one hard, this alliance led to the neutrality pact between the
Soviet Union and Japan, as already indicated, the increasing rivalry
between Germany and Russia centered around the domination of the
Turkish Straits, control of which the Soviet negotiators demanded.
Thus German control of Romania (July 1941) and Bulgaria (MMa.rch 1941),
the destruction of Yugoslavia (April 1941, the Russian annexation of
Bessarabia and a part of .Bucovina (June 29, 1940), and the Molotov
conversations in Berlin (November 1940) were merely the indications of
successive moves in a strenuous and veiled conflict in which the
Germans finally refused to accede to Russian demands because they
declared them to be exorbitant, On June 22, 1941, the Germans attacked
the Russians. Although the Soviet leaders had sought to avoid war
with either of the major Axis partners, they had failed. But they
had succeeded in their other objective: to fight on only one front
at a time.
For the soviet Union, the war unleashed by the Nazis was a
gamble for the highest stake; survival. Twice the Germans came
within a hairrs breadth of overrunning Russia-when their armies
penetrated the suburbs of Moscow on Dec. 6, 1941, and again when
they almost took Stalingrad in October 1942? They were unable to
take Leningrad. In each case the Russians, steeled by reaction to
an age-old enemy, held their lines. Later, reinforced by American
Lend-Lease aids they were to turn the tide against the Germans on the
eastern European front in a vast counteroffensive whiloh, because of
the sacrifices of the Russian people and the ability of their strategists,
will long remain among the great events of history.
?"hen the Russians signed the joint declaration of the Allied
nations on Jan. 1, 1942, so far as it pertained only to Germany (since
the U.S.S.R. was not at war with Japan), they committed themselves
to the terms of the Atlantic Charter of Aug. 14, 1941. Alre=ady,
through arrangements on Oct. 30 and Nov. 4, 1941, the United States
had extended Lend Lease tid to Russia, and this was regularized in
the agreement of June 11, 1942. Meanwhile, a 20--pear Anglo-Soviet
alliance was signed May 26, 1942. It was based on the Atlantic
Charter and on an international organization yet to be created.
Treaties with Poland, July 30 and Dec. 4, 1941, had annulled the
Soviet-German agreements, but had left the boundary between the two
states unsettled. The treaty with Czechoslovakia, July 18, 1941, was
to lead to outright alliance on Dec. 12, 1943. The Third International
was formally dissolved in June 1943.
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The first tripartite conference, the meeting of United States
Secretary of State Cordell Hull, British Foreign Secretary Anthony
Eden, and Soviet Foreign Affairs Commissar Molotov, in Moscow,
Oct. 19-30, 1943, initiated a series of conferences between foreign
ministers and heads of states, A second front in Western Europe
was definitely agreed to and the need of establishing an inter-
national organization in line with the principles of the Atlantic
Charter was recognized, Declarations on policies for a democratic
Italy and an independent Austria were issued. The Conference of
Teheran, Nov, 26-30, 1943, attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Soviet Premier Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
agreed on the timing of strategic blows against Germany, especially
of the western front offensive, and formalized their aims to banish
"the scourage of war for many generations." Thus, by the end. of
1943,, the bases of war unity among the great powers at war with
Germany had been achieved. Meanwhile, the Russians sustained staggering
losses, evacuated millions of people and a great don l of industry
to the eastward, and began a drive to win the war. Amazing both
friends and foes, the Russians displayed a high morale based on a
revival of national traditions.
In 1944 the Russians drove to the Vistula River in Poland,
forced Finland out of the war, overran Romania and Hungary,, and
encircled Budapest, while the Anglo-American armies fought their
way from the Normandy beaches toward the Rhino. The following spring
the Russians continued their drive to the gates of Rorlin, while the
western Allies overran Germany from the west, making junctures with
the Russians but observing a predetermined line marking the area to
be left for occupation by the Red Army. After the end of the war
in Germany in May 1945, the Russians, timing their notion in accordance
with an agreement made at the Conference of Yalta, Feb. 4-11, 1945,
moved against the Japanese in Manchuria. They began operations on
August 8 after the Japanese, despite heavy reverses caused by the
mounting American offensive in the Pacific, head refused to accept
the Potsc?apt Ultimatum (July 26) of unconditional surrender., The
Japanese surrendered uncon?iitionally on September 2, after the
American offensive had reached its final destructive peak, and after
Russia had signed the Sino-Russian Alliance Treaty of August 14 and
had occupied much of Manchuria, northern Korea, southern Sakhalin
Island, and the Kuril Islands.
At the meeting of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill,
and Premier Stalin at Yalta, in February 1945, these heads of state
had agreed to the establishment of coalition Governments in Poland,
Yugo3lavia, Romania, and Bulgaria, which would be recognized by them
on the basis of free and unfettered elections. At the Potsdam
(Berlin) Conference of the Big Three (United States, Great Britain)
and Russia) in July 1945, the Russians were given the right to remain
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in occupation of the Kaliningrad (K11nigsberg) area, and this right
was to be supported at the peace conference by the other powers, The
Poles were provisionally allowed to occupy German territory to the
Oder River, including Stettin (now Szczecin), subject to later decisions
i6t the peace conference, The military zones of occupation and
reparation claims, subject to the maintenance of German economic
unity, were arranged. The basis of Russian predominance in Eastern
Germany and the Balkans had been established.
Post-:'Torld 7Tar II Period,
As outlined by Stalin in February 1946, the industrial aims of
the Soviet Union included a threefold increase of iron, steel, and oil
production by 1960, as compared with 1940. This was to be accomplished
by continuing the series of Five Year Plans.,
Although production during 1950, the last year of the fourth
Five Year Plan, was adversely affected by the economic strain produced
by the war in :;area and the midsummer drought which threatened the
food supply, official sources stated in 1951 that major assignments
had been exceeded by a large margin. Accoring to figures released by
the Soviets, the over-all industrial output in 1950 exceeded that of
1940 by 73 per cent. Production of ferrous metals was up 45 per cent
above prewar figures; coal production was up 57 percraent; oil production
was up 22 per cent; and the production of electric power was up 87
per cent. By 1950, machine building; had increased 2.3 times above
the 1940 level. The national income, in terms of "comparable prices,!
was reported to have increased 64 per cent over 1940, and the five
successive sets of price reductions (three of them between 1947 and
1950) represented a considerable increase in real wages, The sixth
price reduction, announced in April 1953, after the death of Stalin,
covered virtually all foodstuffs and manufactured goods of general
consumption.
Vile these figures announced in 1951 by Lavrenti P. Beria,
Minister of Internal Affairs, could not be checked, they apparently
showed an increase in the '+olume of production. However, although
the Soviet Union appeared to be on its way to achieving, by 1960
or 1965, the industrial goals Stalin had set up in 1946, this achieve-
ment would bring Soviet production only to the point reached by the
U.S. in 1930.
Although some doubts were expressed, after the original announce.
ment in 1949, the consensus was that the U.S.S.R. had succeeded in
detonating an atomic bomb.
Foreign Relations.. Having refused any modification of the veto
power in the United Nations, the Soviet Union consistently employed the
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veto to block decisions which it regarded unfaror.ably. Outside the
U.N., after rejecting the 'Marshall Plan for United States economic
assistance toward European recovery at the Paris conference in July
1947, the Soviet Union organized her satellites into a bloc known as
the Cominform:.. Thus the gradual formation of plans for a common
European defense was balked, and the U.S. attempt to work out an all-
European solution to the problem of economic recovery had been blocked,
Although'-the Czechoslovakian cabinet had uhanimously accepted
participation in the Marshall Plan it withdrew its acceptance upon
pressure from the U.S.S.R., and as a result treaties, for the exchange
of goods were signed between the two countries,
By 1948, Russia had concluded military alliances and had as
well virtually exclusive economic and commerical relations witn
Yugoslavia, Poland, Finland, Hungary, Romania,.-and Bulgarian but
Titots regime so displeased the Kremlin that Yugoslavia was harshly
rebuked by the Cominform, and in 1949 Russia denounced her military
treaty with Yugoslavia,. In the same year the U.S.S.R. recognized
the Chinese Communists as the legal government of China and, in
1950, the Communist-led Viet Minh regime in Indochinat The war in
Korea increased existing tensions in the Far East, and the truce
talks, begun in 1951, bogged down repeatedly,
Soviet foreign policy both in Europe and in Asia created strong
opposition on the part of Great Britain and the United States and led
those countries, step by step, to a policy of firmness with the
Soviet Union. The touchy Iranian situtation, put before the United
Nations in 1946, had been handled by that bodyts forcing the
evacuation of Russian troops from Iran after an oil agreement was
concluded between the two countries. The land blockade of west
Berlin, conducted by Soviet troops in 1948 and 1949, was finally
broken by the Berlin Airlift, a triumph of western air transport
power.
Thile East--;Jest relationships continued to deteriorate, the
Cominform "peace" movement, undeniably appealing to some war-weary
Europeans, got under way. The first V7orld Peace Conference (Stockholm
1950) adopted the Stockholm Resolutions, an attempt to scuttle the
majority United Nations plan for control of atomic energy, This
was followed by other meetings and periodic calls for top--leva1
peace conferences (which, when held) proved fruitless). Simultay-
neously with this use of peace propaganda) the Soviets repeatedly
refused to put the disarmament question under an international
authority where the veto could not be exercised, Effective propaganda
use was also made of the liberation of colonial lands, playing on
the new nationalism of Asia and Africa. During the last months of
Stalinzs life the Soviet Union disseminated "Hate America" propaganda
on a hitherto unmatched scale.,
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C1,P~5SWIliw
The 19th Congress of the Communist Party was held in October
1952, Its major business consisted in revision of Party organization,
rearrangement of the members of the Central Committee, and adoption
of a fifth Five Year Plan.
Post-Stalin Period.
Upon the death of Marshal Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, Premier
of the Soviet Union, and Secretary General of the Communist Party of
the U.S.S.R., on Mar. 5,, 1953, Georgy M4 Maienkov was appointed
Chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) to succeed him. The
four Vice--Chairmen appointed were Beria, IvTolotov, Kaganovich, and
Marshal Bulganin, A drastic reduction in the membership of the
Presidium of tr:e Central Committee of the Party, established the
previous October, was immediately put into effect, From'25 members
with 11 alternates, membership was cut.to 10 members with 4 alternates.
So far as relations with the outside world Vap, concerned, various
striking changes were at once apparent. The "peace offensive" was
stepped up, the Soviets calling for Big Four talks on Germany; they
compromised on the choice of a new Secretary General for tha United
Nations; they gave eight U.S. press and radio representatives per-
mission to visit Moscow; and, with the resumption of the Korea truce
talks, agreemer?:t was reached on the exchange of sick and wounded
prisoners of war, which was accomplished shortly thereafter.. The
anti-Zionist ca-npaign started during Stalin's last weeks was
apparently abandoned. From virulent attacks on the "capitalist
warmongers" Soviet strategy seemed to have shifted so that the
emphasis for the time being lay, if not on friendship, at least
on co--operation with the western world. See also RUSSIA,, HISTp1ff OF.
R.J.K. and E.R.
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