Poland in Soviet Foreign Policy from late 1919 to 16 July 1920

At the end of 1919, the leadership of the RSFSR was concerned about the restoration of industry and the establishment of international economic relations, primarily with Great Britain. On December 5, 1919, the 7th Congress of Soviets invited the Entente countries to conclude a peace treaty, thus beginning the policy of “peace offensive” of the RSFSR. The Baltic republics were the first to respond to the appeal. On February 2, 1920, peace was signed with Estonia, and negotiations with Lithuania and Latvia began. Only Poland was in no hurry to respond, despite the direct appeal to it by the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, Council of People's Commissars, and All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) and the promise of territorial concessions. J. Piłsudski was waiting for the spring. On April 25, 1920, he resumed the offensive that had been halted in October 1919. Yet, even after that, Moscow, which established direct contacts with London in May and June, hoped for peace with Warsaw. Even after the Red Army broke through the Polish front, the Soviet side did not abandon its course. Its policy changed after receiving a note from G. Curzon on the immediate commencement of peace negotiations on July 12, 1920. While discussing a response to it at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on July 16, V.I. Lenin unexpectedly proposed “to help the proletariat and the working masses of Poland to free themselves from their bourgeoisie and landlords”. In making this decision, Moscow was moving away from the policy of “peace offensive”. Yet, it did so only in the Polish direction.

Keywords

civil war in the USSR, foreign policy, RSFSR, Baltic states, Great Britain, Poland, V.I. Lenin, J. Piłsudski, diplomatic negotiations, Sovietization of Poland

Acknowledgment

The reported study was funded by RFBR and the National Science Foundation of Bulgaria (NSFB), project № 20-59-18007.

Received

15.01.2021

Publication date

01.05.2021

Number of characters

48419

Cite

GOST	Matveev G. Poland in Soviet Foreign Policy from late 1919 to 16 July 1920 // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2021. – Issue 3 C. 130-143 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640014696-3-1 (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640014696-3
MLA	Matveev, Gennadij "Poland in Soviet Foreign Policy from late 1919 to 16 July 1920." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 3 (2021):130-143. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640014696-3
APA	Matveev G. (2021). Poland in Soviet Foreign Policy from late 1919 to 16 July 1920. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (3), pp.130-143 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640014696-3

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