Soviet Foreign Policy

Soviet foreign policy called for a continuation of military and political cooperation, in the spirit of Rapallo. Accordingly, the first act of the Soviet state taken on November 8, just one day after the Bolsheviks&s; seizure of power was the issuance of the Decree on Peace, approved by the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The victory of the European proletariat would be harder to achieve, because its internal enemies were stronger, but that victory would come if the Russian revolution was to be saved. It is entirely in the Leninist tradition to modify the action program or to discard tactics or instruments that are felt to have outlived their usefulness; flexibility is an inherent component of Leninism. In effect, there were two differing meanings of &s;socialism&s;, with Stalin using Lenin&s;s definition and Trotsky adding qualities of refinement and civilization. Tsarist diplomacy, unlike that of the Soviets, was not conducted against a backdrop of implacable hostility toward the outside world.