Battle of the Superpowers
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the end of World War Two, the USSR was considered one of
the two major superpowers along with the USA. However
Russia's disposition was far worse both economically and
socially than the world was led to believe. The impact of
Germany's Operation Barbarossa had created an immense
paranoia within Russia and after the war it was not
prepared to remain so vulnerable. Stalin and the USSR
sought security, a security which they found in Eastern
Europe. Stalin's major concern at the end of the war was the security of Russia. Germany had launched the surprise attack known as Operation Barbarossa and caused great loss for the Russians and so therefore Stalin was looking to avoid any future possibility of invasion while also using Germany to compensate for their post-war difficulties. Stalin looked to Eastern Europe as an opportunity to confirm Russian security in three main ways. Firstly he saw the opportunity to spread communism throughout the line of countries on Russia's western border and therefore to combat the American democratic imperialism. Secondly by having surrounding 'satellites' as they were called, Stalin could create a buffer zone between communism and democracy. This buffer zone was later known as the Iron Curtain. The countries that were to make up the zone would all be communist and would all be loyal to Moscow. This point was particularly important to Russia, as the buffer zone would create a line of defence to repel any invasions. Finally the communisation of Eastern Europe was an opportunity to rival the Western countries in the Cold War. Just as the USA had set up Marshall Aid and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), acts that Stalin considered to be cultural imperialism, Russia planned the establishment of organisations such as COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) and later on the Warsaw Pact. These organisations were only to be open to countries that were loyal to Moscow and had communist governments. The USA were spreading democracy, the USSR did the same with communism. Stalin's plans went ahead with the main objective to achieve communist governments in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. It is in Stalin's attempts to gain communist governments in the Eastern European countries that his objectives become questionable. It is apparent that immediately following the Potsdam Conference Stalin was prepared to allow coalition governments with a majority of communists as long as they were loyal to Moscow. However he soon changed his mind and proceeded to discriminate against non-communists in the satellite states. It is not known whether Stalin had always planned a precise three-step method of gaining communist states or whether he did so due to Western hostility and the Cold War. The first explanation would be plausible as it fit in with Marxist Theory of creating a communist world with no national borders. However the second explanation would be just as plausible as it agreed with the security policy that entailed a rejection of all Western intervention so as to avoid the effects of imperialism. Nevertheless the communisation of the Eastern European countries went ahead with the three-step method of gaining communist control. Firstly a coalition government would be formed containing at least a few communist members. Secondly the discrimination against non-communists would begin. This often took a similar form to the purges that took place in the 1930's. Finally after all opposition was eliminated a one party communist state was established. After trialing a simple coalition government in some countries, all but one of the satellite countries were completely communised. The one exception was Yugoslavia. The communisation of Yugoslavia actually began before the war had finished. Stalin had appointed the task to Marshal Tito who was in control of his own forces, separate to the Red Army. In 1944, Tito's forces captured Belgrade and proceeded to set up a communist state. The only thing that was disappointing for Stalin was that Tito did not plan to be loyal to Moscow. Instead he established the first communist state that was not under Soviet influence. As can be imagined Stalin acted quickly to apprehend Tito's new state and bring Yugoslavia under Soviet control. Stalin became worried that if Yugoslavia remained independent for too long, it would demonstrate to the other Eastern European states that Soviet communism was not the only option. In 1947, Stalin established the Cominform (Communist Information Bureau) which was basically a propaganda agency. In an attempt to monitor Tito's actions and possibly undermine his support, Stalin chose to establish the Cominform headquarters in Belgrade. Despite this apparently foolproof action, the Slav followers of Tito remained loyal to their Slav leader. Finally in 1948, Stalin ordered the Cominform to expel Yugoslavia, the affair was simply to difficult to resolve in a way that would be favourable for Russia. Unfortunately for Russia Yugoslavia caused further damage after their expulsion. The introduction of factory competition rather than nationalisation was a clear deviation from Soviet ideals. This innovative combination of Soviet and Western production methods was an example to the other Soviet satellites of the alternative to Stalinism. Following the war Russia held a very dim view of Germany and therefore Stalin had two intentions for the Soviet controlled East Germany. Firstly he planned to strip it of all war making potential, a plan which he had hoped to extend to all of Germany but was held back by the Western powers who were in control of the other zones. Secondly he wanted to use the supplies and resources taken from Germany to boost Russia's disposition and revive its economy. In addition to these main objectives, Stalin also intended to communise East Germany. After making a great deal of progress in stripping East Germany of its resources Stalin soon came up against opposition from the Western powers. Initially Stalin had been exchanging food for industrial supplies with the other zones of Germany. However after a disagreement in the value of certain supplies the Soviet zone stopped the transfer of food supplies. This action was soon followed by the Western stoppage of industrial supplies. The situation quickly escalated as the Cold War tensions increased. Despite all the difficulties with the other zones, Russia was able to establish a communist government in East Germany. Therefore East Germany remained a satellite of Russia, however loosely attached. Soviet objectives in Eastern Europe were largely based around the desire for the expansion of communism. Although there was an initial hope to confirm Russian security, this was soon overwhelmed by the intention of establishing communist governments within the states of Eastern Europe. Nevertheless the issue of security was never completely forgotten as was shown by Stalin's urgency to apprehend Marshal Tito's rebel communist state. Despite Russia's success in establishing communist governments in most of its satellites, the failure to maintain control of Yugoslavia and Western Germany marked the line where Russia's ability ended. It indicated that Russia could certainly control communism in a limited area, but it was simply not capable of achieving world communism. References:
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