Full title: The Soviet-Polish Peace Process as a Factor in the Creation of the Soviet Union

Author: Jerzy Borzęcki, Ph.D.

Abstract/summary:

Lenin originally formed a two-stage plan – to Sovietize Ukraine and Belarus as ostensibly independent republics and then merge them into Soviet Russia. Local Bolsheviks supported this plan. Foreign policy considerations, however, made Moscow postpone the planned merger indefinitely, while granting Kharkov and Minsk some attributes of formal independence. The effect of these measures on local Bolsheviks was then compounded by the fallout from the Soviet-Polish peace process. Kharkov’s participation in it as an ostensible subject of international law made it begin to appreciate independence. Minsk underwent a similar change in attitude, as popular indignation at the iniquities of the peace process acted as a stimulant of national feeling. Their attempts to act independently put them in conflict with Moscow, which decided to resolve it by implementing the old concept of merger. This time, however, local Bolsheviks opposed it vehemently. Fearing an irreparable rift between Moscow and the republics, Lenin devised a new, compromise formula – the Soviet Union, where the republics would retain their ostensible independence, while Moscow would exercise unquestioned authority.