Vegetable storage
However, in view of the difficult economic situation. How Soviet foreign real estate never became Russian

However, in view of the difficult economic situation. How Soviet foreign real estate never became Russian

Resolution of the Allied delegations at the Genoa Conference

with a statement of the conditions presented to Russia

April 15, 1922

(Ignoring the political declaration of the Soviet delegation of April 10, 1922, the Western countries also rejected its economic proposals, formulating tough conditions for the return of the debt to Russia and the property of foreign citizens)

1. The allied creditor states represented at Genoa cannot assume any obligations with respect to the claims made by the Soviet Government.

2. In view, however, of Russia's difficult economic situation, the creditor states are inclined to reduce Russia's war debt towards them in percentage terms, the size of which is to be determined subsequently. The nations represented in Genoa are inclined to consider not only the question of deferring the payment of current interest, but also of deferring the payment of a part of the interest that has expired or is in arrears.

3. Nevertheless, it must finally be established that no exceptions can be made to the Soviet government regarding:

a) debts and financial obligations assumed in relation to citizens of other nationalities;

b) regarding the rights of these citizens to the restoration of their property rights or to compensation for damages and losses incurred.

Klyuchnikov Yu.V., Sabanin A.V. International politics of modern times. M.. 1929. part III. S. 158.

Plan:

I. Civil War

1.1 Causes of the Civil War

1.2 Periodization of the Civil War

1.3 Outcomes of the Civil War

1.4 Commanders of the White Army

1.5 Commanders of the Red Army

II. New economic policy

2.1 Reasons for the NEP

2.2 Characteristic features of the NEP

2.3 Reasons for canceling the NEP

Civil War.

Causes of the Civil War.

✔︎exacerbation of socio-economic and political contradictions caused by a change of power and a change in the form of ownership;

✔︎the predominance in society of a psychological attitude towards confrontation and the solution of political and Everyday life with weapons in hand;

✔︎the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly by the Bolsheviks, which was the collapse of the democratic alternative for the development of the country;

✔︎rejection by political opponents of the Bolsheviks of the Brest peace;

✔︎Agrarian policy of the Bolsheviks in the spring - summer of 1918;

✔︎lack of experience of compromise between various political forces and social groups;

Reasons for Intervention:

✔︎ refusal of foreign states to recognize the new political power in Russia;

✔︎ struggle for the return of capital invested in the Russian economy;

✔︎ elimination of the hotbed of “revolutionary infection”, prevention of “export of revolution” to Europe;

✔︎ refusal of the Soviet government from allied obligations and Russia's exit from the world war;

✔︎ maximum weakening of Russia;

✔︎ territorial division of the former Russian Empire;

The Reds participated in the Civil War - the proletariat, the poorest peasantry; whites - the bourgeoisie, the nobility, part of the intelligentsia; the greens are anarchists and peasants.

The political program of the "reds" and "whites" who participated in the Civil War.

comparison line	Reds (supporters of Soviet power)	Whites (opponents of Soviet power)
Target	✓ socialism immediately; ✓ world revolution, internationalism;	✓ salvation of Russia; ✓ "non-predecision": all issues to be resolved after the victory over the Bolsheviks;
Economy	War Communism: ✓ nationalization of all industrial enterprises; ✓ Withdrawal of food through surplus appropriation, food orders; ✓ requisitions, mobilizations, militarization of all life; ✓ egalitarian card distribution;	War capitalism: ✓ militarization of the economy, the use of all resources for the needs of the war; ✓- restoration of the old order of property relations, its return to the former owners; ✓ requisitions, mobilizations, coercion; ✓ restoring inequality in distribution and consumption
Domestic politics	✓ establishment of a rigid one-party political regime; ✓ formation of a command and administrative system, "emergency"; ✓Equality, self-determination of nations and peoples, creation of a military-economic union of Soviet republics; ✓ a combination of massive persuasion, coercion and red terror;	✓ Establishment of rigid military dictatorial regimes (A.V. Kolchak, A.I. Denikin, P.N. Wrangel) ✓ unwillingness to cooperate with liberals and moderate socialists; ✓ Russia is a single and indivisible, great-power national policy; ✓ first “appeasement”, then – reforms ✓ combination of propaganda, coercion and white terror;
Foreign policy	✓ salvation of the Russian revolution, Soviet state with the help of the world revolutionary movement ("Hands off Soviet Russia!"); ✓ condemnation of foreign intervention;	✓ cooperation with Western countries that sought to dismember Russia; ✓ condemnation of the internationalism of the Bolsheviks, their collapse of united Russia, etc.

Socialism - the first phase of the communist formation. The economic basis of socialism is social ownership of the means of production, the political basis is the power of the working masses, with the leading role of the working class, headed by the Marxist-Leninist Party; Socialism is a social system that excludes the exploitation of man by man and is systematically developing in the interests of raising the well-being of the people and the all-round development of each member of society.

Nationalization - transfer of land, industrial enterprises, banks, transport or other property belonging to private individuals to the ownership of the state.

Civil War- a form of struggle for power, characterized by a split in society into two or more opposing groups, each of which controls part of the country's territory and uses weapons against each other.

Intervention- forcible military intervention of foreign states in the internal affairs of Russia. It was carried out by the Entente countries in 1918-1920. under the pretext of returning the debts of the tsarist and provisional governments in the form of loans and arms supplies.

Chronology of the Civil War.

Stage I (May - November 1918) - the beginning of a full-scale civil war.

EAST	NORTH
May 25 - performance Czechoslovak Corps(prisoners of war Czechs and Slovaks of the former Austro-Hungarian army, back in 1916 agreed to participate in hostilities on the side of the Entente) in the territory from Penza to Vladivostok	August 2 - landing of the Entente in Arkhangelsk. Formation of the "government of the North of Russia" (head - N.V. Tchaikovsky). By September, the Bolsheviks control only ¼ of the territory of Russia. landing of the Entente in Arkhangelsk
May 29 - transition to general mobilization - mandatory recruitment into the Red Army
July 6 - the assassination of the German ambassador to Russia W. von Mirbach - the beginning of the rebellion of the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries (destroyed on July 7)
6-21 July - performance in Yaroslavl – anti-Soviet armed
July - introduction of universal military service (18-40 years old)
July 16 - shooting royal family In Ekaterinburg
August 30 - attempt on V.I. Lenin at the Michelson plant in Moscow
September 2 - declaration of Soviet Russia as a single military camp
September 5 - decision of the Council of People's Commissars on providing rear by means of terror
6 September - the creation of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic (RVSR) (headed by People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs L.D. Trotsky). Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Republic - I.I. Vatsetis (until July 1919), then - S.S. Kamenev (until April 1924)
MAIN FRONT EASTERN August - the beginning of the offensive of the Red Army on the Eastern Front. September October - the capture by the Red Army troops (S.S. Kamenev, M.N. Tukhachevsky, P.A. Slavin) of Kazan, Simbirsk, Samara M.N. Tukhachevsky
WEST	SOUTH
Violation of the conditions of the Brest peace by Germany, occupation of Bessarabia by Romania	Formation and first combat operations of the Volunteer Army(A.M. Kaledin - L.G. Kornilov - A.I. Denikin) - the capture of Yekaterinodar, the advance of Krasnov on Tsaritsyn, the capture by the Cossacks of A.I. Dutov Orenburg A.I. Denikin
	July - October – defense of Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd) from the advancing army of P.N. Krasnova P.N. Krasnov
	August 4 – the occupation of Baku by the British - on September 20, the execution of 26 Baku commissars

I Stage I (November 1918 - March 1919) - intensification of the military confrontation between the Reds and Whites, intensification of intervention. The fight against the invaders. The beginning of the withdrawal of their troops from the south of Ukraine. The establishment of Soviet power in the territories liberated from German troops.

EAST	SOUTH
November 18, 1918 - coup led by Admiral A.V. Kolchak in Omsk: the overthrow of the SR-Menshevik Directory - A.V. Kolchak - the supreme ruler of Russia and the supreme commander in chief	MAIN FRONT - SOUTHERN November 23 - the beginning of the Anglo-French intervention on the Black Sea coast
	November - offensive of the Red Army in the Baltic States (until January 1919) - the establishment of Soviet regimes in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
	November 30th - the creation of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defense (SRKO) (head - V.I. Lenin) - an emergency government body to which the RVSR is subordinate
	February 1919 - victory over the troops of P.N. Krasnov, advancing on Tsaritsyn

Stage III (March 1919 - March 1920) - the defeat of the main forces of the Whites, the evacuation of the main forces of foreign troops.

EAST	NORTHWEST
MAIN FRONT EASTERN Mass army A.V. Kolchak	May, September - October 1919- troops of the North-Western Army N.N. Yudenich, they are trying to capture Petrograd - at the end of November - the beginning of December they were thrown back to the territory of Estonia N.N. Yudenich
April 28 – June 20- counteroffensive of the Red Army units (M.V. Frunze, S.S. Kamenev) - offensive along the entire eastern front M.V. Frunze
June 21, 1919 - January 7, 1920 - the defeat of the army of A.V. Kolchak - the restoration of Soviet power in Siberia and the Far East
February 7, 1920 - execution of Admiral A.V. Kolchak in Irkutsk
SOUTH	NORTH
	February March – Bolsheviks take control of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk
May 19, 1919 – the beginning of the offensive of the army of A.I. Denikin on the Southern Front in the direction of the Volga
June – the capture of Kharkov by Denikin's troops. Tsaritsyn, Kyiv
3 July – Moscow directive (army to Moscow) Denikin. September 12 - the beginning of the offensive of Denikin's troops on Moscow
September – the capture of Kursk and Orel by Denikin
October 11 - November 18 – the counter-offensive of the Red Army, which was continued by the actions of the Southern and South-Eastern fronts (until March 1920) - the remnants of Denikin's troops took refuge in the Crimea
April 4, 1920 – A.I. Denikin announced P.N. Wrangel and left Russia P.N. Wrangel

IV stage (April - November 1920) - the war with Poland, the defeat of the army of P.N. Wrangel, the establishment of Soviet power in Central Asia and partly in Transcaucasia.

April 25 - October 12 - Soviet-Polish war

May 7 - occupation of Kyiv by Polish troops

June 5 - counteroffensive of the troops of the Southwestern Front (A.I. Egorov) - Zhitomir and Kyiv were taken

June 4 - the beginning of the offensive of the troops of the Western Front (M.N. Tukhachevsky) - in early August they approach Warsaw; the Bolshevik plan: entry into Poland should lead to the establishment of Soviet power there and cause a revolution in Germany

August 16 -“miracle on the Vistula”: near Wiepsze, Polish troops enter the rear of the Red Army and win - the liberation of Warsaw by the Poles, their transition to the offensive

June - the offensive of the Russian army P.N. Wrangel from Crimea to Ukraine

Troops of the Turkestan Front(M.V. Frunze) overthrew the power of the Emir of Bukhara and the Khan of Khiva - April 26 - the proclamation of the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic. October 8 - proclamation of the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic

April 28 - the entry of the Red Army into Azerbaijan - the formation of the Azerbaijan SSR

October 28 - November 17 - the defeat in the Crimea of the Russian army P.N. Wrangel by the troops of the southern front (M.V. Frunze): forcing Lake Sivash, assault and capture of Perekop (November 7-11). The flight of the whites from the Crimea - the ships of the allies evacuate to Constantinople more than 140 thousand people - civilians and military personnel of the white army - the first wave of emigration.

The defeat of Wrangel put an end to the White Movement

29th of November- the offensive of the Red Army in Armenia - the formation of the Armenian USSR

Stage V (1921 - 1922) - the end of the Civil War on the outskirts of Russia.

February 16 - 25, 1921 - the entry of the Red Army into Georgia - the formation of the Georgian SSR

March 18, 1921 - Treaty of Riga between Soviet Russia and Poland - Western Ukraine and Western Belarus retreat to Poland

"Small Civil War": uprisings of peasants in Central Russia under the leadership of A.S. Antonov and N.I. Makhno

February 28 - March 18, 1921- Kronstadt uprising of soldiers and sailors

February 12, 1922 - victory of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic (FER) near Volochaevka - entry of the People's Revolutionary Army into Khabarovsk .

October 9 - Defeat NRA of the Whites in the Spassky fortified area

November 15, 1922 - entry of the Far Eastern Republic into the RSFSR

The main reasons for the victory of the Bolsheviks:

🖊 social and ideological heterogeneity of the white movement;

🖊 the use by the Bolsheviks of the possibilities of the state apparatus, capable of carrying out mass mobilization and repression;

🖊 the creation of a politicized Red Army, ready to defend Soviet power;

🖊 held by the Bolsheviks national policy aimed at the real implementation of the right of peoples to create sovereign independent nation-states;

🖊 thoughtful ideological support of military operations by the Bolsheviks;

🖊 support by a significant part of the population of the slogans and policies of the Bolsheviks;

🖊 skillful use by the Bolsheviks of contradictions in the ranks of opponents;

🖊 lack of coordination in the actions of the white armies and foreign invaders;

🖊 features of the geographical position of the RSFSR - the ability to use the country's industrial base and maneuver resources;

Consequences of the civil war:

📌 in civil war the Bolsheviks won, but their victory cannot be called a triumph, because. the civil war was also a tragedy for the entire people - society was split into two parts;

📌 during the civil war, the most active social elements of the people on both sides died, whose energy, talent were not used for creative activities (from hunger, disease, terror and in battles, according to various sources, from 8 to 13 million people died, emigrated up to 2 million people).

From “War Communism” to NE Pu.

During the Civil War, the government of V.I. Lenin introduced the economic policy of the Soviet state, called "war communism":

✔︎ the introduction of surplus appropriation - the obligatory delivery of all bread and other products by the peasants to the state, with the exception of the minimum necessary for personal and household needs;

✔︎ militarization of the economy; introduction card system;

✔︎ free public transport, utilities;

✔︎ strengthening the centralized management of industry;

✔︎ forced nationalization of property;

✔︎ the actual abolition of legal commodity-money relations.

P reasons for the introduction of "war communism":

- ideological:

1. representation of a part of the leadership of the Bolsheviks about the possibility of a quick, immediate transition to communist production and distribution;

2. the Bolsheviks' focus on creating and strengthening the public sector in an economy with a rigid centralized control system

- economic:

1. economic disruption, disruption of traditional economic ties between town and countryside due to the prohibition of trade and the introduction of a food dictatorship

- political:

1. international isolation - non-recognition of the Soviet state by other countries - the need to rely in the development of the country only on internal reserves

- military:

1. the need to mobilize all material and human resources in the emergency conditions of the Civil War and foreign intervention.

Methods for implementing the policy of "war communism".

— economic: centralization and regulation of the production and distribution of consumer goods;

— ideological: the establishment of the dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party, the forcible imposition of communist views, the prohibition of the activities of other political parties;

— administrative: command and repressive management of the economy and the life of society;

— political: violation of democratic freedoms. Subordination of trade unions to party-state control, "Red Terror"

Effects:

✳︎ folding the rigid dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party;

✳︎ formation of a command economy;

✳︎ nationalization of many aspects of public life;

✳︎ the concentration of material and labor resources in the hands of the Soviet government, contributing to its victory in the Civil War;

✳︎ the formation of a certain social psychology: the confidence of a significant part of the Bolsheviks in the possibility of the rapid construction of socialism by the methods of dictatorship;

In 1921, at the X Congress of the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks (RKP (b)) the program of the New Economic Policy (NEP) was adopted - economic policy (1921 - 1928), which replaced "war communism", aimed at introducing market principles into the Soviet economy .

Reasons for the introduction of the NEP:

📌 uprising of sailors and Red Army soldiers of Kronstadt (March 1921);

📌 uprising of the peasants of the Tambov region (“Antonovshchina”), Ukraine, the Don, Kuban, the Volga region and Siberia, dissatisfied with the surplus appraisal.

Goals of the NEP:

📍 overcoming the political crisis of the power of the Bolsheviks;

📍 finding new ways to build economic fundamentals socialism;

📍 improving the socio-economic condition of society, creating internal political stability - strengthening the base of Soviet power;

📍 overcoming international isolation and restoring relations with other states;

Characteristic features of the NEP:

✔︎ replacement of the surplus with the tax in kind - the exact fixation of the norms for the delivery of grain by peasants;

✔︎ development of industrial and consumer cooperation;

✔︎ creation of a national banking system; freedom of small and medium business;

✔︎ monetary reform (1922-1924), which ensured the convertibility of the ruble;

✔︎ freedom of trade;

✔︎ creation of concessions with the attraction of foreign capital;

✔︎ introduction of cost accounting at enterprises;

✔︎ cash wages.

Under the NEP, the unified state economic plan GOERLO (general electrification of the country), which worked after October 1917, was canceled. Large-scale industry remained in the hands of the government, and the state's monopoly on foreign trade was maintained.

By 1928, the country's national income reached the pre-war level.

Reasons for canceling the NEP:

📍 foreign policy crisis of 1927-28. - the severance of relations with England, the threat of war from the side of the capitalist powers was perceived as real, because of which the terms for industrialization were adjusted to ultra-short, as a result, the NEP could not now provide sources of funds for industrialization at a super-accelerated, forced pace;

📍 contradictions and crises of the NEP itself (the marketing crisis of 1923 and 1924, the grain procurement crises of 1925/26 and 1928/29 → the last of them led to the disruption of the industrialization plan);

📍 inconsistency of the NEP with the ideology of the ruling party.

Contradictions of the NEP: liberal reforms affected only the economic sphere, in the socio-political sphere, the old priorities were preserved.

1929 - the final abolition of the NEP, the transition to a command-administrative economy.

Events of foreign history of the XX century (1918 - 1924)

✳︎ Paris Peace Conference - 1919-1920 - XX century;

✳︎ establishment of the League of Nations - 1919 - XX century;

✳︎ Washington Conference - 1921-1922 - XX century;

✳︎ the coming of the Nazis to power in Italy - 1922 - XX century;

(found in the exam):

✔︎ establishment of the League of Nations - 1919 - XX century;

The Soviet state in the 20th century (1918 - 1924) (found in the Unified State Examination):

Processes (phenomena, events) and facts:

📍civil war in Russia - the defeat of the troops of P.N. Wrangel in the Crimea; the offensive of the troops of General N.N. Yudenich;

📍 the policy of "war communism" - the introduction of universal labor service;

📍 NEP (conducting a new economic policy) - replacing the surplus appropriation with a tax in kind; financial reform under the leadership of G.Ya. Sokolnikov;

📍the exit of the USSR from international isolation - the establishment of diplomatic relations with Great Britain;

Events and years:

✳︎ adoption of the first Constitution of the USSR - 1924;

✳︎ the defeat of the troops of P.N. Wrangel in the Crimea - 1920;

✳︎ Rappal Treaty - 1922;

✳︎ death of Lenin - 1924;

✳︎ the transition of the Bolshevik government to a new economic policy- 1921;

✳︎ announcement of the "Red Terror" - 1918;

✳︎ the performance of the Left SRs against the Bolsheviks - 1918;

✳︎ offensive of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia under the command of A.I. Denikin to Moscow - 1919;

Terms that are related to the period:

✓ surplus appropriation ✓ Nepman

✓ comedy ✓ educational program

✓ food orders ✓ food dictatorship

✓ sales crisis ✓ war communism

Terms and their definition (recording the missing word):

🖍commercial enterprises with foreign investments (full or partial) that existed on the territory of the USSR in the 1920s - early 1930s. - concessions;

A fragment of the source and its brief description:

did not come across;

Which of the following events relate to the 1920s (selection from the list):

♕ adoption of the first Constitution of the USSR;

♕ the speech of the "Trotskyist opposition";

♕ rupture of diplomatic relations between the USSR and England;

Which of the following provisions relate to the policy of "war communism" (selection from the list):

✑ implementation of surplus appraisal;

✑ prohibition of private trade;

✑ forced labor service;

Which of the following applies to the New Economic Policy (1921 - 1928) (selection from the list):

✑ introduction of cost accounting at state enterprises;

✑ the emergence of a credit and banking system and stock exchanges;

✑ introduction of concessions;

Events and participants:

⚔️ civil war in Russia - A.V. Kolchak; A.I. Denikin;

⚔️ struggle for power after the death of V.I. Lenin - L.D. Trotsky;

⚔️ Defeat the army of P.N. Wrangel in the Crimea - V.K. Blucher; M.V. Frunze;

⚔️ suppression of the anti-Bolshevik uprising in Kronstadt - M.N. Tukhachevsky;

⚔️ formation of the USSR - V.I. Lenin;

Read an excerpt from the memoirs of a politician and indicate the word missing in the text:

📚 “... The party was talking about how fast the nationalization of trade unions should go, while the question was about daily bread, about fuel, about raw materials for industry. The Party was feverishly arguing about the "school of communism", while in essence it was a question of an economic catastrophe that was imminent. The uprisings in Kronstadt and in the Tambov province broke into the discussion as a final warning. Lenin formulated the first, very cautious theses on the transition to _____________ economic policy. I immediately joined them. For me, they were only a renewal of the proposals that I had made a year ago. The dispute about trade unions immediately lost all meaning”;

🖍 new

Read an excerpt from the resolution adopted at the international conference and write the name of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR during the period of its holding:

📚 “1. The allied creditor states represented at Genoa cannot assume any obligations regarding the claims made by the Soviet Government. 2. In view, however, of Russia's difficult economic situation, the creditor states are inclined to reduce Russia's war debt to them in percentage terms, the size of which is to be determined subsequently. The nations represented in Genoa are inclined to take into account not only the question of deferring the payment of current interest, but also of deferring the payment of a part of the interest that has expired or is in arrears. 3. Nevertheless, it must finally be established that no exceptions can be made to the Soviet government ... "

🖍 Chicherin

Read an excerpt from the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and write the name of the leader of the country at the time of its publication:

📚 “In order to ensure the correct and calm management of the economy on the basis of a freer disposal of the agriculturist with the products of his labor and his economic means, in order to strengthen the peasant economy and raise its productivity, as well as in order to accurately determine the state obligations that fall on the farmers, appropriation, as a method of state procurement food, raw materials and fodder, is replaced by a tax in kind ... "

🖍 Lenin

Century and event in the history of Russia:

✍️ XX century - the offensive of the army of A.I. Denikin to Moscow;

✍️ XX century - the collapse of the NEP;

✍️ XX century - anti-Bolshevik uprising in Kronstadt;

Correct judgments for a passage from a historical source:

📜 “To the entire population of the Tambov province. The hopes of our enemies did not come true. The attack on red Petrograd was repulsed, the enemy was crushed at its very gates, in Kronstadt. The majority of the workers and sailors of Kronstadt, seeing where they were being taken by the provocateurs, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the White Guards, came to their senses and helped our advancing Red Army to put an end to the vile undertaking. And Kronstadt again raised the Soviet banner. In the face of all our enemies and our friends, the invincible strength of Soviet power has been confirmed. Citizens! It's time for us in the Tambov province to put an end to SR banditism. Our province has already become emaciated during the war and crop failure, it needs a firm internal order, it needs calm, friendly work. All honest citizens are obliged to help the Soviet government to restore this order. From March 21 to April 5, in the districts covered by the bandit movement, a voluntary appearance of members of the white gangs is held. Those who voluntarily come with weapons will be forgiven. Citizens! Contribute to the success of this endeavor. Explain to those who are involved by their foolishness or deceit in robbery, all its harm to the working people. Explain that the Soviet government is merciful to misguided workers and harsh only to the unconscious enemies of the people. Banditry must be put an end to immediately and decisively. We must give the working peasantry the opportunity to freely take up field work. We must also rid the peasantry as soon as possible of the burdensome billeting of the Red troops. Now, by order of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets, a broad campaign of all-round assistance to peasant agriculture is being carried out. Now, by decision of the Communist Party, a law is being developed to replace food appropriations with a food tax.

✍︎ this appeal was written in 1921;

📜 “Do not idealize this period. It did not become a golden age for either the city or the countryside. The assumption of market relations made it possible to restore the country's economy destroyed by wars and revolutions, but the level of material security of the population remained low. Not abundance, but relative prosperity - an island between the devastation of the civil war and the hungry life of the first five-year plan - that's what it was. As money incomes of the population grew, limited production and trade began to have an effect: by the end of the decade, there was already an acute shortage of manufactured goods. However, it should be recognized that at this time the famine did not threaten the country. The nutrition of the population improved from year to year ... This well-being rested on a few whales. Chief among them is the individual peasant farm. Thanks to him, more than 80% of the country's population provided for themselves. Being monopoly producers of food and raw materials, the peasants disposed of the grown products at their own discretion. Their only serious obligation to the state was the agricultural tax, which was paid first in kind and then in cash. The peasant himself planned his farm - how much to sow, how much to leave in the bins, how much to sell. He lived by the principle - first of all to provide for himself. Inside the peasant yard, clothes, shoes, simple furniture, and household utensils were produced in a handicraft way. And what was left to do? Rural trade did not indulge in abundance and was only an addition to the semi-subsistence peasant economy. If a peasant went to a village shop, then not for bread and meat. He bought there what he could not produce himself: salt, matches, soap, kerosene, chintz. Of course, handicraft home production was not of high quality and determined the low standard of living. The peasantry was not socially homogeneous. However, the prosperity of the village grew. The share of middle peasant farms has increased. The strong middle peasantry and wealthy peasants were a kind of guarantor against starvation for the poor and weak: in case of need, despite the onerous conditions of the loan, there was someone to borrow food until the new harvest.

✍︎ in the period described in the passage, market relations were allowed in the country's economy;

✍︎ the beginning of the economic policy referred to in the passage was laid by the decisions of the X Congress of the RCP (b);

📜 “Mironov did not have communist cells in the division, and he was suspicious of the commissars, but he was a good strategist, a good specialist in military affairs, he got out of all the most difficult situations with small losses. Therefore, the Cossacks strove for him. The population all sympathized with him (both Cossack and non-Cossack: the peasants of the Saratov province came out to him with bread and salt). There was excellent discipline among the units subordinate to him. He did not have robberies, robbery and violent requisitions. Its parts did not offend the religious feelings of the population. In general, the population did not see enemies in the units subordinate to it, and thus was attracted to Soviet power. This exalted Mironov all the more because in neighboring units, for example, in the Kikvidze division, this was not observed, due to the unbridledness of the units, the population treated them with hostility ... Most of the Krasnovsky regiments willingly surrendered to Mironov, who enjoyed special authority, both among the Red Army and among the labor Cossacks in the White Guard camp. But the more his popularity grew, and the closer he came to Novocherkassk, the more the discontent of the population in his rear grew, thanks to the inept construction of Soviet power, indiscriminate requisitions, mass executions, etc. In many places, uprisings even broke out, for example, in the Verkhnedonsky district (the villages of Veshenskaya and Kazanskaya), as well as in the Ust-Medveditsky district.

✍︎ the author of the report explains the dissatisfaction of the population with the Soviet regime with the inept actions of the Bolsheviks, indiscriminate requisitions, mass executions;

✍︎ contemporaries of the described events were K.E. Voroshilov and S.M. Budyonny;

The Russian delegation carefully considered the proposals of the Allied Governments set out in the annex to the protocol of 15 April; at the same time she asked her Government about this.

the proposed proposals, by recognizing her counterclaims. Nevertheless, the Russian delegation is ready to take one more step in the search for a way to settle differences and accept paragraphs 1, 2 and For of the said Annex, provided* that:

1) war debts and overdue or deferred interest on all debts will be cancelled; 2) Russia will be given sufficient financial assistance to enable it to get out of its current economic situation as soon as possible.

With regard to paragraph 36, subject to the above two conditions, Russian Government would be ready to return to the former owners the use of nationalized or confiscated property, or, where this would not be possible, to satisfy the just demands of the former owners, either by direct agreement with them or in accordance with an agreement, the details of which will be discussed and adopted at this conference.

Foreign financial assistance is certainly essential to Russia's economic recovery, and until the prospects for such a recovery open up, the Russian delegation sees no way to impose on its country the burden of debts that could not be paid.

The Russian delegation also wishes to make it clear, although it would seem self-evident, that the Russian Government will not be able to assume any obligations in respect of the debts of its predecessors until it is officially recognized de jure by the Powers concerned.

Hoping that you will find the above proposals a sufficient basis for resuming the discussion, I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant.

G. Chicherin

Print. by arch. Published in the collection "Materials of the Genoa Conference ...", M. 1922, pp. 168-169.

In the mentioned appendix to the protocol of April 15 of the informal meeting of representatives of the RSFSR, Great Britain, France, Italy and Belgium at the Genoa Conference, it was said:

"one. The allied creditor states represented at Genoa cannot assume any obligations regarding the claims made by the Soviet Government.

2. In view, however, of the difficult economic situation of Russia, the creditor states are ready to reduce Russia's military debt to these states lu in the amount of a certain percentage, which "should be fixed

flax afterwards). The countries represented in Genoa would also be prepared to consider not only deferring the payment of interest on financial claims, but also canceling part of the interest that is overdue or deferred.

3. However, it must be firmly established that no concessions can be made to the Soviet Government with regard to

a) as debts and financial obligations, the right of claim for which belongs to foreign citizens,

b) and the rights of these citizens to the return of their property and compensation for damage caused to this property, or its loss.

The Soviet delegation was besieged from all sides by journalists. There were so many of them that the villa had to transfer the conversation with them to the university. During the break of the meeting of the political subcommittee, the Soviet delegation was regularly visited by representatives of other powers.

On April 13, one of the visitors reported that Lloyd George and Barthou would like to meet with the Soviet delegation before the meeting of the subcommittee. Counting on the possibility of a split in the imperialist united front, the Soviet delegation agreed to take part in the proposed conference. On April 14, at 10 am, a meeting of representatives of the delegations of Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium and Soviet Russia took place at the Albertis Villa.

Opening the meeting, Lloyd George asked if experts needed to be present. Chicherin replied that the Soviet delegates had come without experts. The further meeting continued without experts, but with secretaries.

Lloyd George declared that together with Barthou, Schanzer and Belgian Minister Jaspar they had decided yesterday to organize an unofficial talk with the Soviet delegation in order to get their bearings and come to some conclusion. What does Chicherin think about the program of London experts?

The head of the Soviet delegation replied that the experts' draft was absolutely unacceptable; the proposal to introduce in the Soviet Republic a debt commission and arbitration courts is an attack on its sovereign power; the amount of interest that the Soviet government would have to pay is equal to the entire amount of Russia's pre-war exports - almost one and a half billion rubles in gold; categorical objections are also raised by the restitution of nationalized property.

After inviting Barth to discuss the expert reports item by item, Lloyd George delivered a speech. He stated that public opinion in the West now recognizes the internal structure of Russia as the work of the Russians themselves. During the French Revolution, it took twenty-two years for such recognition; now there are only three. Public opinion demands the restoration of trade with Russia. If this fails, England will have to turn to India and the countries of the Middle East. “As for war debts, they only demand,” the prime minister said about the allies, “that Russia take the same position as those states that were previously its allies. Subsequently, the question of all these debts can be discussed as a whole. Britain owes 1 billion pounds to America. France and Italy are both debtors and creditors, as is Great Britain." Lloyd George hopes that the time will come when all nations will come together to liquidate their debts.

Concerning restitution, Lloyd George remarked that "to be frank, restitution is by no means the same as return." Victims can be satisfied by leasing their former businesses. With regard to Soviet counterclaims, Lloyd George categorically stated:

“At one time, the British government provided assistance to Denikin and, to a certain extent, to Wrangel. However, this was a purely internal struggle, in which assistance was provided to one side. To demand payment on this basis is tantamount to placing the Western states in the position of paying indemnity. It's like they're being told they're a defeated people who have to pay an indemnity."

Lloyd George cannot take that view. If this were insisted on, Great Britain would have to say: "We are not on the way."

But Lloyd George suggested a way out here too: when discussing war debts, to determine a round sum to be paid for the losses caused to Russia. In other words, Lloyd George's suggestion was that private claims should not be set against government counterclaims. Write off war debts for Soviet counterclaims; to agree to the delivery of industrial enterprises to the former owners on a long-term lease instead of restitution.

Barthou, who followed Lloyd George, began with assurances that he had been misunderstood at the plenum. He recalled that he was the first statesman of France, who in 1920 offered to start negotiations with Soviet Russia. Barthou urged the Soviet delegation to acknowledge their debts. “It is impossible to understand the affairs of the future until one understands the affairs of the past,” he said. - How can anyone be expected to invest new capital in Russia without being sure of the fate of the capital invested earlier ... It is very important that the Soviet government recognize the obligations of its predecessors as a guarantee that the government following it will recognize its obligations ".

Lloyd George suggested taking a short break to consult with colleagues. A few minutes later the delegates met again. It was decided to take a break from 12:50 to 3:00, and during this time the experts should prepare some kind of conciliatory formula.

Since the Russian delegation had to travel several tens of kilometers to get to their hotel, Lloyd George invited the delegation to stay for breakfast. After the break, the number of participants in the meeting was replenished by the Belgian Prime Minister Toenis and some experts from England and France.

At 3 pm, the meeting could not be opened. Experts were expected with a formula of agreement. While they were gone, Lloyd George invited the Soviet delegation to inform what Soviet Russia needed. The Delegation presented its economic demands. She was bombarded with questions: who issues laws in the Soviet country, how elections take place, who owns the executive power.

The experts are back. They still haven't come to an agreement. Then Barthou asked what were the counterproposals of Soviet Russia. The representative of the Soviet delegation calmly replied that the Russian delegation had studied the experts' proposals for only two days; however, it will soon present its counterproposals.

Barthou began to get impatient. You can't play hide and seek, he said irritably. The Italian Minister Schanzer explained what this meant: I would like to know whether the Russian delegation accepts the responsibility of the Soviet government for pre-war debts; whether that government is responsible for the loss of foreign nationals resulting from its actions; what counterclaims it intends to make.

Lloyd George invited the experts to work some more. "If this issue is not resolved," he warned, "the conference will fall apart." Again a break was announced until 6 o'clock. At 7 o'clock a new meeting opened. The experts presented a meaningless formula. Its main meaning was that it was necessary to convene another small commission of experts the next day. Lloyd George emphasized that he was extremely interested in continuing the work of the conference. Therefore, he and his friends agree to convene a commission of experts to find out if they can not agree with the Russian delegation. It was decided on the 15th, at 11 am, to convene two experts from each country and then continue with the private meeting. Before dispersing, Barthou offered not to disclose information about the negotiations. It was decided to issue the following communiqué:

“Representatives of the British, French, Italian and Belgian delegations gathered under the chairmanship of Lloyd George for a semi-official meeting to discuss with the Russian delegates the conclusions of the report of the London experts.

Two sessions were devoted to this technical discussion, which will continue tomorrow with the participation of experts nominated by each delegation.”

A meeting of experts was held the next morning. There, representatives of the Soviet republics announced the counterclaims of the Soviet government: they amounted to 30 billion gold rubles. On the same day, at 4:30 a.m., the expert meeting reopened at Villa Albertis. Lloyd George reported that the Soviet delegation had named an astonishing amount of their claims. If Russia really presents them, then he asks if it was worth going to Genoa. Lloyd George went on to emphasize that the Allies would take Russia's plight into account when it came to military duty. However, they will not make concessions on the issue of debts to private individuals. There is no point in talking about anything else until the issue of debts is resolved. If an agreement cannot be reached, then the allies "will inform the conference that they have not been able to reach an agreement and that there is no point in further dealing with the Russian question." In conclusion, Lloyd George made the following proposal prepared by the Allies:

"one. The allied creditor states represented at Genoa cannot assume any obligations regarding the claims made by the Soviet government.

In view, however, of the difficult economic situation of Russia, the creditor states are inclined to reduce Russia's war debt in relation to them in percentage terms - the size of which must be determined subsequently. The nations represented in Genoa are inclined to take into account not only the question of deferring the payment of current interest, but also the further extension of the period for paying a part of the expired or deferred interest.

Nevertheless, it must finally be established that no exceptions can be made for the Soviet government regarding:

a) debts and financial obligations assumed in relation to citizens of other nationalities;

b) the rights of these citizens to the restoration of their property rights or to compensation for the damage and losses incurred.

The discussion began. The Soviet delegation refused to accept the proposal of the allies. Then Lloyd George said that he would like to consult with his colleagues.

The meeting resumed at 6:45 a.m. Already the first speech of the allies showed that they apparently agreed and intend to maintain a single line. Barthou, who had previously remained silent, issued a statement: “It is necessary, first of all, that the Soviet government recognize the debts. If Chicherin answers this question in the affirmative, the work will continue. If the answer is negative, the work will have to be completed. If he can't say yes or no, the job will wait."

Lloyd George supported Bart's ultimatum demand. The Soviet delegation defended its positions. In conclusion, she stated that she needed to contact Moscow. It was decided that the Italian government would take steps to organize communications with Moscow via London; pending the receipt of an answer, it was decided to continue the work of the political commission or subcommittee.

By the end of the meeting, Barthou again tried to put pressure on the Soviet delegates. He asked to be told whether they wanted an agreement, what separates them from the allies, why telegraph to Moscow? They speak only of principles, and meanwhile the Russian delegation has already accepted the conditions of the Cannes Conference, which include the recognition of debts. Why don't they repeat what they did by adopting the Cannes resolutions? If they go for it, 48 hours will be won.

The meeting ended there. It was decided to inform the press that the discussion was going on.

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The nationalization carried out by the Bolsheviks also affected foreign capital in Russia in terms of the nationalization of its property and the annulment by the Bolsheviks of all external and internal loans of the tsarist and Provisional governments. The most painful for foreigners were the issues of debts and the nationalization of banks.

The American ambassador reacted almost immediately to the nationalization decrees: “In December 1917, with a series of decrees, the Bolsheviks began their strange financial policy. These decrees declared banking a monopoly of the government, ordering that all owners of safes in bank vaults should immediately arrive with keys "to be present at the inspection of the safes"; otherwise, all their contents will be confiscated and become the property of the people.” “The diplomatic corps, excluding me, was unanimous in condemning all these decrees…..”

The external pre-war debt of Russia, taking into account mutual claims, was determined in the amount of 4.2 billion gold rubles (excluding German, about 1.1 billion) plus 970 million railway loans, 340 million city loans and 180 million loans land banks. In total, about 5.7 billion. In addition, 3 billion foreign investments in joint-stock and non-joint-stock enterprises were mentioned. The military (1914-1917) external debt of Russia was estimated at about 7.5 billion gold rubles. That is, during the three years of the war, Russia borrowed almost 1.5 times more from abroad than during the previous 20 years of intensive, catching up industrialization. Moreover, if peacetime loans were used mainly for investment purposes, then military loans were used to cover military expenses, that is, they were “eaten up”. During the war, almost a third of all the gold reserves of Russia were exported to "allied" England to secure loans.

“Russia’s military spending for the war amounted (to February 1917) to 29.6 billion rubles, orders abroad were almost 8 billion rubles, but, as N. Yakovlev writes, behind the outwardly significant amount of the latter lies a very small return. Russia fought the war to an overwhelming extent through its own production of weapons and equipment. Compared to what was made in Russia, the import of weapons from abroad amounted to: 30% for rifles, less than 1% for their cartridges, 23% for guns of various calibers, about 20% for shells, etc. .

The low effectiveness of allied assistance is explained primarily by the fact that Russian military orders were considered in the Entente countries and the United States as an unfortunate hindrance. They were carried out somehow, the delivery dates were not kept.” For example, Kerensky wrote on July 3, 1917: “Indicate to the relevant ambassadors that the heavy artillery sent by their governments (USA, England, France) is apparently largely defective, since 35% of the guns could not withstand two days of moderate firing (trunks were bursting)...” F. Stepun also writes that he acted mainly in a factory marriage. Or from France, for example, shells began to arrive ... made of cast iron!

Yakovlev continues: “Finally, Western industrialists considered Russian orders as a means of profit. Prices for weapons and equipment were inflated by 25-30% higher than for buyers in Western countries. Large advances, thoughtlessly issued even under Sukhomlinov, tied the Russian departments, which could not do anything with the failure of deadlines, with the supply of low-quality products. As for Russia's loans, as was customary in the usurious practice of Western banks, various commissions were taken from them, and stockbrokers warmed their hands on them. Ignatiev, who had learned quite well the financial cuisine of France during the war years, in the twenties witnessed the excitement raised in the West about the refusal of the USSR to pay loans until 1917. “When,” wrote A. A. Ignatiev, “ten years after the war, the same Messimi, with whom I experienced the first days of mobilization when I was his Minister of War, tried to burden Soviet Russia with the entire burden of the debts of tsarist Russia, I gave him the following simple answer: “Lend me until the next morning only two of your gendarmes. Having bypassed four Paris banks with them, I will demand an extract from a Russian account and tomorrow I will bring you a good half of the money left in France from Russian loans.

At the same time, the ease with which the tsarist government threw money abroad for military orders to the detriment of the development of its own industry speaks of such dimensions of corruption that were really tantamount to outright treason. On the other hand, Russian industrialists turned down such prices that, as a result, two English cruisers could be bought for the price of one Russian cruiser.

The provisional government, in order to obtain new loans, confirmed its obligations on royal debts. As a result, the Minister of Finance M. Tereshchenko, in April 1917, admitted: “It is no secret to anyone how dependent both in the military sense and on the issue of funds for the further conduct of the war, we are from our allies and mainly from America” . Western loans were provided to the Provisional Government not for "democratic achievements", but only on condition that Russia continued the war. “There will be no war - there will be no loans,” said I. Ruth. Russian "cannon fodder" in exchange for Western money is not new, but, besides this, after the war, Russia also had to return the same money, and even with interest - excellent business! General Judson had every reason to declare that the comparatively small expenditure on Russia would have paid off tenfold in a war. The United States put forward its terms "on credit" only at the end of May 1917, when Russia and the Russian army, having exhausted their material and spiritual resources, were on the verge of concluding a separate peace with Germany. Accidentally or not? In World War II, everything will repeat itself - Lend-Lease deliveries will reach really significant values only from the middle of 1943, when the territory of the USSR will be basically liberated and the allies will be haunted by the panic fear of a new "separate peace".

In 1917, the Provisional Government received loans. But the money had to be worked off, and in June the Russian army, hungry, ragged, exhausted by three years of war, launched its last offensive in the First World War... Loans to the Provisional Government reached only 125 million dollars - still far from the scale promised US allies. Meanwhile, House noted, "if there is no money, he [Bakhmetev] is sure that the government will not last." As the war continued, the politicians in the Petrograd Soviet moved more and more to the left. House seemed to understand the urgency of the situation. He warned Wilson: "I do not think that our attention to the Russian situation can be excessive, because in case of failure, our difficulties will be huge and numerous."

As a result, a paradoxical and tragic situation developed: Russia, which saved the Entente in 1914-1915, made the biggest contribution to the coalition war, followed the democratic slogans of the "allies", was abandoned by them to the mercy of fate...

The total (military and pre-war) external debt of Russia was determined in the amount of 12-13 billion gold rubles; in addition, foreign investments amounted to about 4-3 billion. That is, Russia's external debt accounted for half of all its expenditures for the First world war.

On the eve of October 1917, the total (external and internal) state debt of Russia amounted to 60 billion rubles, or seventeen pre-war annual budgets of Russia, including short-term debt on domestic debt - 17 billion rubles. The external debt was 16 billion rubles; of which short-term debt - 9 billion rubles.I. In the event of a “victorious” end to the First World War, Russia, devastated by the war, as the winner, had to pay only Western creditors at once more than four state gold reserves of 1913.

Meanwhile, by 1917, Russia was actually bankrupt, and the main demand of the interventionists, invariably presented to their white "allies" Denikin, Kolchak, Wrangel, was the unconditional return of the debts of the tsarist and Provisional governments. The United States, the main creditor of the allies, made almost no concessions after the war, with rare exceptions related to special interests ... If the whites had won, Russia would have had no chance of resurrection ...

For comparison: only Russia's short-term external liabilities in 1917 in the GDP-equivalent (1913) ratio were about 4 times higher than all of Russia's external debts in 2000. But at the beginning of the 20th century there were no volumes of oil and gas production comparable to those of 2000, and by 1917 there was only a country devastated by the First World War... and the Far Eastern ports ... The victory of both the Provisional Government and the Whites was tantamount to state suicide ... P. Krasnov rightly wrote about Denikin and the White movement: “What horror and shame! Make Russia an arena of world struggle, subject it to the fate of Belgium and Serbia, bleed it, burn its cities and villages, trample its fields and, hungry, scolded and spat upon, crushed to dust by its own impotence, finish it to the end!

But even if Russia agreed to sacrifice its internal debt and pay off all external debt, it simply did not have the currency to meet its obligations over the next century. The external debt in relation to Russia's exports exceeded the maximum reparations from Germany by more than 40%. Of course, Russia could give away all its gold reserves, but even that would cover no more than 25% of its obligations to foreign creditors.

The reasons for the annulment of external debts by the Bolsheviks and the nationalization of foreign property lie precisely in these premises, and not in ideology, which served only as an external form ...

First, the root cause lies in the failure of the Entente countries to fulfill their allied obligations to Russia.

Thus, by March 1917, British industry produced only about 20-25% of Russian military orders, and not all weapons were delivered to Russia. The same can be said about Japanese and Swedish orders. The first-class American plants "Remington" and "Westinghouse" fulfilled their obligations by only 10%. These cases of non-fulfillment by the allies of their obligations were rather not the exception, but the rule.

N. Yakovlev continues: “Orders for rifles were fulfilled only by 5%, for cartridges - by 1%. Most orders are 10-40% completed. When it came to the concession of weapons and equipment, often faulty or obsolete items were sent. "In 1922, the Soviet delegation at the international economic conference in Genoa estimated the damage suffered by Russia as a result of the allies' failure to fulfill their obligations in the field of material and technical assistance at 3 billion rubles." But this is only a relatively small visible part of the question.

The “underwater part of the iceberg” lies in the fact that it was the failure of the allies to fulfill their actual allied obligations that led to a radical overstrain of Russia's forces in the war. The average annual mobilization load of Russia exceeded the levels of England, France and the United States combined. It was the excessive mobilization load that caused both Russian revolutions and the Brest-Litovsk peace... This issue was substantiated in detail in the first volume of "Trends", even its financial assessment was made. The amount of the minimum actual debt of the Allies to Russia for the First World War was 1.5 billion pounds. Art., or approximately 14 billion gold rubles. The failure of the Entente countries to fulfill their actual allied obligations to Russia played a decisive role, became the key reason for the ruin of the country and the radicalization of Russian society, which led, among other things, to nationalization and cancellation of debts. It was not an act of seizing someone else's property - it was an act of self-defense, self-preservation...

Secondly, all countries canceled their foreign and domestic debts to some extent during revolutions. For example, the Americans during their revolution refused to pay taxes, duties and use the currency of England (in fact, they renounced their credit obligations to England); during the French Revolution, the French government renounced 2/3 of its public debts; the British government, during its bourgeois revolution, refused to pay all its external debts.

Refusal to pay debts necessary condition for the successful completion of any revolution, it is they who help break the vicious circle in which the society has reached a dead end. Refusal of revolutions at certain stages of the development of society means only its degradation, self-destruction and subjugation... to its destruction. The Bolsheviks, just like the American, British and French revolutionaries in their time, had every right to cancel debts - this right is dictated both by the highest natural laws of the development of human society and by the fundamental principles of democracy that the same West preaches ...

Thirdly, during the war, the economic laws of peacetime cease to operate, otherwise the war turns into a pure business, where money buys life and death, pain and suffering for millions of people, the future of tens and hundreds of millions. And it's all for the profits of creditors? This truth reached the Americans after the Second World War, when they forgave the debts of all their allies. The USA went the same way, came to the same conclusions as the Bolsheviks, only almost 30 years later. And this once again confirms the correctness of the position of the Bolsheviks, who refused to pay their debts. Critics will object: the refusal of debts is not at all the same as their forgiveness. From a lender's point of view, yes. But from the point of view of "democratic, universal values" promoted by the civilized West, such a creditor is no different from an aggressor against whom a war is being waged.

Fourthly, instead of helping the defeated ally, the Entente countries launched an intervention against him, and here the Bolsheviks had another good reason not to pay their debts - counterclaims. They included both direct damage from the removal and destruction of national property, as well as indirect losses associated with the general economic and human losses of the occupied territories. The total amount of claims presented by the Soviet side at the negotiations in Genoa for intervention in the Entente countries was determined at 50 billion gold rubles, or 1/3 of the total national wealth Russia.

In this case, the memoirs of N. Lyubimov and A. Erlich about the negotiations between the Soviet and Entente delegations on April 14 and 15, 1922 will be very interesting. Let us quote a rather long excerpt from it:

Lloyd George. In the document presented by Litvinov, an amount of 50 billion gold rubles was named, a value "completely incomprehensible." For such a sum, said Lloyd George, it was not worth going to Genoa. "Allied creditor countries would never recognize any claim that was not based on justice and on the right to indemnify for losses caused to Russia." The British have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, Lloyd George went on to say. The allied governments helped only that of the warring parties in Russia, which supported the allies against Germany. The Western Powers, if brought before a court of justice, could sue Russia for breach of treaty. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was such a violation. All the warring nations suffered enormous losses, and what fell to the lot of Britain was her debt of more than £8 billion. Art.

You can account for the military and other factors that have weakened Russia's economy, Lloyd George said, but you can't discount financial aid given to it by individuals such as British farmers. There is practically no point in dealing with the other proposals of the Allied experts set out in the London Memorandum (March 1922) “until the Russian delegation comes to an agreement on Russian debts ...” Lloyd George continued: the British government is incompetent to agree to any reduction in private, individual debt claims. Another thing is the state claims against Russia, where it would be possible to reduce the amount of debt and to reduce part of the overdue or deferred interest.”

G. Chicherin. The British Prime Minister's opinion that Soviet counterclaims are unfounded is erroneous. The Russian delegation could prove that the counter-revolutionary movement, until the moment of support from abroad, was powerless, crushed and lost all significance. He, Chicherin, remembers how on June 4, 1918, representatives of the Entente countries made a statement that the Czechoslovak detachments stationed in Russia should be regarded as "the army of the Entente itself", under the protection and responsibility of the allied governments. The Soviet government has at its disposal an agreement between Admiral Kolchak, Great Britain and France, an act on the subordination of General Wrangel to Kolchak and other official documents. “During these counter-revolutionary events, enormous damage was caused - up to 1/3 of the national wealth of Russia - caused by invasion and intervention, and the allied governments are entirely responsible for this damage,” Chicherin said in a categorical tone. At present, reparation for damage caused by government actions is the principle international law, already recognized in the case of the Alabama ... [In 1872, England paid the United States compensation for damage caused by the English cruiser Alabama, which helped the southerners in the civil war (1861-1865) with the North. (Lyubimov N. N., Erlikh A. N. S. 54.)]

The question of war debts was raised here. “And what did Russia gain from the war?!” Chicherin exclaimed. If we had received Constantinople, we would have handed it over to the current, from the point of view of Soviet Russia, the only legitimate government of Turkey. And the population of Eastern Galicia would determine its own will. In essence, the war debts concerned only the Allies who profited from the war. Russia, on the other hand, suffered more significant losses from the war than any other state. 54% of the losses of the Entente fall on Russia. The Russian government spent 20 billion gold rubles on the war, the profits from which went exclusively to the other side ... The Allied Powers sought to crush new Russia that emerged from the revolution, and failed. Thus, they freed the new Russia from any obligations to the Entente ...

Then MM Litvinov took the floor on the issue of claims by private individuals, former owners of nationalized enterprises, and on other grounds. It is practically impossible to separate private debts from government debts. In France and England, Litvinov said, there were quite a few advocates of intervention who wanted to take "their property" by force. For example, Leslie Urquhart, who helped Admiral Kolchak overthrow Soviet power. And now he, Urquhart, says that "he is not responsible, but he wants his money back." If he had done this five years ago, the situation would have been different, and now it is too late. Although the Russian delegation mentioned the figure of 50 billion gold rubles, it does not insist on the payment of this amount, continued M. M. Litvinov ... L. B. Krasin raised the question of the return of various courts to Russia in kind; for example, our country has already received twelve icebreakers from the British government ...

(After a break) Lloyd George, without any special prefaces ... declared that the allied creditor states represented in Genoa could not accept any obligations in connection with the claims made by the Soviet government; no discounts Soviet government cannot be done either on debts or on financial obligations .... the issue of reducing the military debt, deferring the payment of interest on financial claims and canceling part of the overdue or deferred interest, the creditor states "due to the difficult economic situation of Russia" are ready to consider and decide benevolently ... Further, the allied powers agreed to consider first the question of debts, and then - the restoration of Russia. The question of the return of property "in kind" should not be confused with questions about debts ...

G. Chicherin replied: “We need to resume the work of the first (political) commission and subcommission. There is no reason to blame the Russians as "scapegoats" for the break in work. Part III of the London Memorandum of Experts is not about debt, but about the future, which should be discussed.” Lloyd George: “British bankers will not discuss the future until the past is properly settled. A special subcommittee should also be set up to discuss a number of legal issues.”

“Be frank, Mr. Lloyd George,” G. Chicherin concluded with a bitter smile. “The Entente wanted to crush the new Russia. She didn't succeed. We are quits.” Lloyd George replied to G. V. Chicherin: “If a neighbor has a contention between two parties, we support the one that goes with us and refuse to compensate the other party for damages.”

Ultimately, the issue of debts was settled to one degree or another with all countries except the United States. But the story of royal debts did not end there. In the 1990s, the Yeltsin government paid $400 million in compensation to French investors for the tsarist debts annulled by the Bolsheviks, and at the beginning of the 21st century, European countries demanded recognition of the "debts of the tsarist government" from Russia when it joined the Council of Europe.