Dyplomacja sowiecka a paryska konferencja pokojowa w 1919 roku (Kilka refleksji)

Abstract

Already on the eve of the Paris Peace Conference, the Bolsheviks activated their diplomats, with neither ideological hostility nor the involvement of the victorious Entente forces in the Russian Civil War on the side of the “white” army disturbing this process. In December 1918 and January 1919, Soviet diplomats addressed US representatives with notes suggesting the termination of hostilities, negotiations of economic, political and military issues, and even the establishment of diplomatic relations. On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Lloyd George, proposed to invite an all-Russian delegation, which could also include Bolsheviks, to the Paris Peace Conference. These proposals ended in a fiasco. Soviet diplomats were very interested in the course of the Paris Peace Conference and analyzed the provisions of the Versailles Treaty in detail. The Moscow authorities opposed the order established by the said treaty as well as the League of Nations. Still, Soviet diplomats emphasized that in accordance with Article 116 of the Versailles Treaty, Russia was owed war reparations and other damages compensation. However, the receipt of such compensation would have to result from Moscow at least partially accepting the Versailles Treaty. This issue determined the decision made by Soviet diplomats in later years to cancel the debts and liabilities that Russia was owed and to compensate the costs of foreign intervention in the Russian Civil War by setting them against the debts incurred by Russia in the Entente countries until the outbreak of World War I.