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There is a reason why the Western powers (especially France) supported the White Russians. The Bolsheviks had indicated the possibility of not paying back forei
by pm90 9y ago
There is a reason why the Western powers (especially France) supported the White Russians. The Bolsheviks had indicated the possibility of not paying back foreign loans that were taken out by the Russian Empire (they followed through on that promise and defaulted on all foreign loans; USSR was basically cutoff from the Western Financial system until WW2). France had provided most of these, but the other powers were involved as well. This was probably the most important reason for their opposition: if they let the Bolsheviks get away with not paying loans, not only would their bankers lose a shit ton of money, but what was to stop other foreign powers (possibly communist ones) from doing the same?
Most foreign wars have surprisingly banal reasons for taking place...
- cat199 9y ago'their bankers' -> look into the backers of lenins train full of gold..
- Synaesthesia 9y agoA few more reasons occur: Bolsheviks nationalized all foreign possessions in Russia (which were very substantial - foreigners owned 90% of the railways for instance). Also they appealed to the proletariat in the world and showed the potential of revolution to be real. Lastly they simply weren’t integrated with the western global financial and economic system. Really the source of the friction, more so than ideological reasons. For centuries before Russia was a virtual colony of the West, sort of like the third world today.
- digi_owl 9y agoReminds me of how during revolutions one of the first actions is to burn loan ledgers. Supposed the term jubilee comes from ancient rulers recognizing the problem of debt slavery and thus every X years would annul all outstanding debt.