FREE ESSAY ON BOLSHEVIKS IN WWI

BOLSHEVIKS IN WWI

There were several major sources of conflict between the Bolsheviks and the western states
in Europe from 1917 to 1921. Conflicting ideologies that each attacked the core of each
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 of the Bolshevik government by the west led to
misperceptions concerning the actions of the Soviets. Russia's unsatisfactory involvement
World War I and its 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 "workers
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 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 . 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 . 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. 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. Communism under the direction of Lenin called for the abolishment of
private property and the nationalism of all means of production. This was done in order
for the state to be in complete control all economies, politics, and social concerns.
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. 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 . 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 Capitalist evil was the Western
Imperialists who contended with one another for the accumulation of lands that they had
no right to control . 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 . 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 it had happened in previous history . The outbreak of World
War I in 1914 brought the idea of an inter-Imperialist war into being. 
Tsar Nicholas II led Russia into WWI in 1914 with prospects of defending itself from the
expansionist Triple Alliance consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. 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 WWI. 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" . 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. 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. 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 . Such an abrupt and rather
uncouth upheaval gained little respect in the international political community and
weakened the credibility of the new government . Western anti-ideological sentiment
towards Russia would not come until after the conclusion of WWI but the rigid west set
the stage for future dealings with Russia. 
The lack of Russian effort in WWI created much strife between Russia and the
Britain/France coalition. Russia entered WWI in 1914 with the objective of protecting her
own lands as well as the lands of Siberia, and stressed that acquiring land was not an
integral part of Russia's military agenda . However the Triple Alliance was taking Europe
piece by piece; fighting a two front between the Allies on the west and the Entente
forces from Russia on the east . 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 . 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. 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. Russia's
rather ineffective involvement in the war came in 1918 when Lenin signed the Treaty of
Brest Litovsk. The treaty allowed Russia to achieve peace with Germany by giving
concessions of land and heavy economic resources to the Germans.
To the Allies, it appears 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 had been 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 . 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 WWI 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 . 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.
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 . The "harshness" of the
treaty that was dealt by the Germans created much disenchantment between the two sides.
The reparations called for the Germans to be paid six billion German marks in gold and
goods that would have inevitably made Russia an "economic satellite" of Germany . After
the treaty was signed, Germany created tension by not adhering to the treaty as they had
agreed. The Germans pushed the Bolsheviks out of the Ukraine and Finland and in many
instances failed to withdraw troops from the front lines. Ironically, only an Allied
victory of WWI 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. However, the damage had been done. The Germans had
little sympathy for a torn Russian state and exploited Russia for all that they could.
After the conclusion on WWI 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", who were socially democratic driven
"Kadets", and the "Reds", who were the Bolsheviks, consequently erupted in 1918 . Lenin
felt control of Russia slipping away and knew that the focus of his regime had to be in
the Democratic rather than the international arena . The Allies attitude towards Russia
had changed as a result of WWI . 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; free states of the west began to take notice of the ideological differences
between themselves and the Russians . In 1918, near the end of WWI, forces from the
United States, France, and Britain gathered in Russia to "expand the eastern front"
against the Germans . The purpose of these interventions at first was to use Russian soil
to win WWI, not to support either side of the ideological civil war that had just begun
and was occurring simultaneously . Before Russia made several questionably decisions in
WWI, the ideology behind the Bolshevik regime was not challenged heavily by the west.
Ulam states, "Until November 1918, the Allied intervention in Russia had nothing
ideological about it. It was designed simply to give to Western Powers' armies in France,
which at the beginning of the German offensive in March 1918, were struggling
desperately…" . However, since the Allies already had troops in Russia ready to
fight the Germans, it became convenient to offer aid to the White armies. After the
singing 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 . 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" . 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 . 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. The pro-White European states were also limited in the amount of aid they
could give considering the monumental casualties that WWI had created; also, getting
heavily involved in another countries own civil war would not be popular in their
respective homelands. The Allies also felt that as the Civil War went on "the mass of the
population was turning against the Bolsheviks" , and the Kadet movement would at some
time regain political power. 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]" . As a result,
Lenin attempted to thwart further intervention by retracting his comment that Communists
could not coexist with Capitalists . 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" . 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
sentiment from Europe, fighting a massive world war, and supressing counter-revolutionary
movements, Lenin knew that the opportunity to expand Communism into Europe did not exist
at the time. 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. 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 injected 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 was the key to creating
a Communist Europe. 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 Communism to expand throughout Europe. After the conclusion of WWI the
German regime dissolved, and the Bolsheviks began to "woo the German socialists" 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 Bolsheviks revolutionary
tactics. 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" . Lenin
felt that Imperial powers that controlled colonies were susceptible to creating grass
roots Communist movements because these states did not focus on educating their colonists
and instilling them with a strong political ideology. 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. Lenin's two step plan called for colonies to free
themselves of Imperial control and establish their own governments. 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.
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 . The Comintern was created to allocate resources and provide the
organization required to create radical socialist revolutions on an international scale.
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 . In many of these countries, the Communist party was soon
banned and its members were arrested to curb any threat that the party held.
In 1920 it was well noted by the western democracies that the "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 .
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 Bolshevism in the 1920's, the imperialistic actions on 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 lies between Russia and
Germany. After WWI, Poland was created as an independent state out of the three empires
that had once occupied it: Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary . Poland had also created
its own Democratic government with the support of the League of Nations. 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. The Treaty of Versailles had also created the countries of
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia and made careful arrangements to set up these
countries as a bloc of Democratic governments to curb Russian Imperialism . Lenin's plans
for the expansion of Bolshevism into Germany became complicated by the new Polish state.
They now 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 require 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. 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 . Poland eventually defeated
the Russians with the help of French troops in 1921, and the upstart that attempted to
create Communist revolution in the remains of a war tattered Europe failed. 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 WWI and caused much anti-Communist sentiment among the nations of free
Europe.
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. Also, the questionable actions of both
the Bolsheviks and western Europe during WWI as well as the Russian Civil War created
much hostility between the new Russian state and the established 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 the two entities: one of rebellion and growth, and the other of maintaining
social order and suppression become prevalent, and the subsequently the "Cold War" had
begun. 
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