How far do you agree that Stalin paid more attention to the practical rather than to the ideological aspects of soviet foreign policy in the years 1929 to 1941
History Homework: Essay Question
How far do you agree that Stalin paid more attention to the practical rather than to the ideological aspects of soviet foreign policy in the years 1929 to 1941?
By the end of 1928, Stalin had broken away from Lenin’s new economic policy and started the first of his own five year plans, as well as collectivisation and heavy industrialisation. In February 1931, he made a prediction that the USSR was ‘50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries’, but Russia had to make this up in 10 years or ‘go under’. Stalin wanted to delay what he viewed as an inevitable war for ultimately as long as possible. So to achieve everything in 10 years and for the Soviet Union apparently needing to catch up with the West, Stalin arguably didn’t care if his foreign policy seemed in check with Communism, or not.
From 1929 to 1934, Stalin seemed to implement very few foreign policies on the basis of ideology. He had set up the Comintern 10 years before 1929, and in 1928 they became far more extreme than before, expelling any foreign members who didn’t follow Russia. Stalin, for all intents and purposes, originally followed an “isolationist” policy in foreign affairs. However, even with this, through 1929 to 1933 the USSR’s relationship with Britain and the USA had greatly improved, which perhaps shows Russia being less ideological in having relationships with these capitalist countries. Joining the League of Nations in September 1934 also shows this. Stalin’s then commissar for foreign affairs Maksim Litvinov was trying to create Collective security arrangements, as the Red Army were in no position to fight or protect Russia, but this then again shows Russia being more practical in terms of foreign policy.
