1 - Soviet Russia and the first Labour Government

Summary

Recognition

The commitment of both Labour and Liberals to granting de jure recognition to Russia suggests that there was little to prevent Ramsay MacDonald from embarking on such a course once the arduous task of forming a Cabinet had been completed. However, hopes of exacting concessions in return for recognition, wide divergences of public opinion on the subject, and MacDonald's long-standing opposition to Bolshevism militated against prompt action. These obstacles were matched, however, by the Russians' determination to gain unconditional recognition, by constant pressure from Labour's left wing and by apprehensions that the Italians, currently engaged in negotiations, might steal a march on Britain in recognizing the Soviet Union. MacDonald, outlining Labour's programme in an Albert Hall rally on 8 January 1924, had undertaken to end the ‘pompous folly of standing aloof from the Russians’. He failed to make clear, however, whether recognition would be immediate or conditional on the solution of controversial issues with Russia. MacDonald had already tried to convince Rakovsky, through an intermediary, that in view of the precarious position of the future Labour Government an early settlement of the differences of opinion would hasten recognition. He had even proposed to send a representative to Moscow immediately to open negotiations.

These early feelers were received coolly by Rakovsky. MacDonald's Albert Hall speech, however, encouraged him to make new approaches. In reaction to MacDonald's reference to propaganda, the bête noire of Anglo-Soviet relations, as an impediment to better understanding, Rakovsky agreed to give the British Government ‘formal assurances that if confidence is accorded to our country it, in its turn, will reciprocate by an act of confidence’.