Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918-1921

Gary Hanson is an associate professor of history at the University of
Saskatchewan.

The title of this book aptly characterizes the Soviet government’s
foreign policy between 1918 and 1921. The author, a professor of Russian
history at Simon Fraser University, examines the political and
international issues surrounding the Bolshevik victory in the Russian
civil war.

The work focuses on how the Foreign Commissariat contributed to winning
for Soviet Russia, in Lenin’s words, “the right to an independent
existence.” The book explores the new political realities that emerged
in Eastern Europe with the simultaneous collapse of the German,
Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires in the aftermath of World
War I. Debo demonstrates that Bolshevik political and diplomatic skills
were superior to those of their indigenous opponents and many foreign
enemies.

In evaluating Soviet diplomatic achievements, Debo describes the Soviet
Union’s successes with Britain, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Finland, Afghanistan, Persia, Turkey, and Germany, as well as its
continued difficulties with Romania, France, the United States, and
Japan. He attributes Bolshevik strength to the ability of the Bolsheviks
to monopolize political power in Soviet Russia.