Jon Jacobson

This book was interesting mainly because it shows how contradictory the political thinking of the early Soviet leadership was. On the one hand they seriously believed in Marx's theory of history and expected proletarian revolutions to break out everywhere, at least if they could do a little bit of catalyzing. On the other hand, they recognized that the economic challenges their country faced would be easier to resolve through international cooperation than with deception and insurgency. Disagreements on these matters contributed to the rise of Stalin's dictatorship at the end of the period discussed in this book.

This is a good work of history, but a bit boring to a layman because the author ties the narrative so closely to the thoughts and actions of various individuals, both Soviet and western. He does not spend much effort on explaining things on a general level before the final conclusion. Furthermore, the book says so little about domestic developments in the 1920s that the reader's view of the actual political situation feels partial. I therefore think the book might be more rewarding to readers who already have a good understanding of the early political history of the Soviet Union, especially ones who are familiar with the most active Central Committee officials such as Chicherin and Bukharin.

This book was published in 1994, and its last sentence reads "However, many of the more antagonistic conclusions drawn from the first era of Soviet foreign relations would exert a powerful hold on the national political imagination for almost as long as there was a Soviet Union". In 2022 as I write this review, we can conclude that it has still not released the country from its grip.… (más)