Some excerpts from Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime (Pipes). Key...
arctotherium@arctotherium42
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Apr 22, 2025
~2 min read
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Some excerpts from Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime (Pipes). Key difference between Russia, where the Bolsheviks succeeded, and the rest of Europe, where they failed, is that the masses of the rest of Europe were at least a little bit patriotic.
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Of the big Euro socialist parties, the Italians PSI joined the Comintern, but was expelled for not expelling the minority who didn't want to. The German and British Communists were unable to take over SPD/Labour, respectively. Only in France did the major socialist party join.
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Communists being comparatively rare and treated with suspicion abroad, most Soviet support abroad came from liberals and fellow travelers.
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Liberals went out of their way to excuse, downplay, and minimize Soviet atrocities and express general support, if with criticism of specific details. The Labour Party in Britain took the same tack, saying "Jacobinism" was inevitable in a revolution and hence OK, if regrettable.
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"Fellow travelers" were more credible than actual Communists because they did not appear to be beholden to the Soviets, but acted the same way. They took over a large swathe of Western publishing/media and suppressed anti-Soviet views (eg Orwell).
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Many Western businessmen were also in favor of normalizing relations with the USSR to make money, and spread narratives that trade would civilize the Bolsheviks [sounds very familiar]. Lenin had a point about capitalists being happy to sell the rope with which to hang them.
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These commercial agreements paved the way for diplomatic recognition, mostly in 1920/21. France was the least compromising because a portion of French capital was in loans the Bolsheviks defaulted on.
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USG was hostile, but didn't care too much (this being right after WWI). Formal recognition would wait for FDR. Lloyd George (Britain) was pro-Soviet enough to want to set up commercial ties (the Soviets, correctly, saw him as a sucker).
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Soviet collaboration with Weimar to overturn Versailles is well-known; worth pointing out that this was desired across the political spectrum and the SPD was actually unusually anti-Soviet (because the Bolsheviks condemned them as reformists).
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The Soviets controlled press reports of them through the very simple mechanism of not letting in unfriendly journos. Of the major newspapers, only the (British) Times failed to comply. NYT's infamous Walter Duranty was anti-Communist to begin with, but changed his tune for $$$.
