THE RUSSIA OF 1917-18
Browder, Robert P.
The Russia of 1917-18 Russia Leaves the War, by George F. Kennan. Princeton University Press. 544 pp. $7.50. Reviewed by Robert P. Browder DIPLOMACY'S loss is scholarship's gain. It is neither...
...Around these two principals revolved a number of other official, quasi-official, and officious Americans in Petrograd and Moscow...
...Without accreditation or access to the government in power, lacking adequate directives or information from Washington, the object of derision and even intrigue by his staff and private zealots, he faced difficulties which would have staggered the most skillful diplomat...
...Kennan was fortunate in this respect to have his subject and period replete with colorful personalities...
...Soviet vituperation, insult, and provocation continued unabated during this period...
...However encouraging sporadic pronouncements and acts of the Bolsheviks may have been, the totality of evidence offers little or no support for the belief that red carpet treatment by the Allies would have insured Russian continuance in the war or a friendly regime in the following years...
...As a result of careful investigation of the internal and external evidence on policy statements and policy making in Washington, the author has contributed much to a clearer though no more flattering picture of actions and reactions to events in Russia...
...It is, of course, impossible in the brief space of a review to touch upon all of the theses advanced by Kennan or to enumerate the many diplomatic myths of this era which he carefully re-examines to emerge with fresh and precise interpretations...
...It seems clear that the meaning and concomitant significance of this episode have been misinterpreted and exaggerated by many historians...
...He soon became convinced of the efficacy of his program to keep Russia in the Allied camp...
...He acknowledges the mediocrity of Francis, the most frequent target of historical attack, but he does not overlook the terrible handicaps under which the ambassador was forced to work...
...It is neither necessary nor pertinent to review here the circumstances of George Kennan's involuntary retirement from the Foreign Service after a distinguished career of over twenty-five years and at a time in our relations with the Soviet Union when his training and experience would have been of immense value to the nation...
...However, in line with recent revaluations of the often maligned or underestimated Secretary of State, Robert Lansing emerges as a rather astute observer of the Russian scene...
...Bringing to his subject an understandable familiarity with the practical aspects of the diplomatic art and a rare sensitivity to its nuances, ramifications, and limitations, Kennan reveals as well a meticulous attention to detail, careful discrimination between fact and speculation, considered judgment, and an enviable literary flair...
...Only the most desperate alarms concerning the extent of German rapaciousness during the Brest-Litovsk negotiations prompted the Soviets to explore periodically the possibility of Allied aid...
...Kennan rejects this easy answer and presents for the first time a balanced evaluation of the individuals, problems, and policies involved...
...Certainly, in the bitter Party disputes over the proper course regarding the negotiations, the possibility of Allied assistance was given only fleeting consideration...
...In any case, the impracticability of such a solution should have been as clear to Robbins as it apparently was to Lenin and Trotsky...
...A number of earlier historians, confused by the complexity of the times and misled as to Bolshevik motives, have found Robbins the hero of this story and suggested that subsequent communist intransigence and aggressiveness would have been minimized or avoided had his advice been followed and the Allies adopted a more sympathetic attitude toward the Soviet state...
...Although the volume deals with events of forty years ago, its contents are of far more than academic importance to an understanding of contemporary issues...
...The American diplomatic mission to Russia was headed by Ambassador David R. Francis of Missouri, whose political and business background was substantial, but whose experience, training, and social resources were unequal to the complex situation in Petrograd before or after the Revolutions of 1917...
...But it is important to emphasize at once the excellence of this first endeavor in his new field of activity at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study...
...He recognizes the sincerity and frequent perceptiveness of Robbins, but he points out with equal care his weaknesses and delusions...
...The present volume, which begins his study of Soviet-American Relations, 1917-1920, covers the four crowded months between the Bolshevik coup of November 7, 1917 and the ratification of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 16, 1918...
...These queries were non-committal and of transitory importance in Soviet policy...
...In Washington, confusion was accompanied by a measure of apathy and a great deal of misunderstanding and misinformation on the basic questions at issue in Russia...
...Effective aid would have had to be immediate, and considerations of geography and transport made this an impossibility...
...This was revealed most strikingly at the highest level in the various statements and addresses of Wilson which touched on the problem...
...The most energetic among the unofficial representatives was Raymond Robbins of the American Red Cross Mission...
...Of greater significance is Kennan's reasoned appreciation of communist intentions and tactics...
...Although the book presents an almost day to day account of an extremely complicated period and is complete with scholarly paraphernalia, events and interpretations are recounted with such skill and lucidity that the layman as well as the student of history will find it rewarding and even exciting reading...
...Seldom has the United States shown so little understanding, offered so little leadership, and been so poorly represented in a diplomatic situation of such delicacy and potential importance...
...In connection with the most famous instance of Bolshevik appeal, at the time of the Brest-Litovsk ratification, Kennan makes a good case for the theory that the Soviets were employing a device to discourage or delay threatened Japanese intervention in Siberia, rather than seeking a method to avoid final approval of the treaty...
...It can be enthusiastically recommended to a wide reading public...
...Private status, the nature of his assignment, and admiration for the capability if not the doctrines of the Bolshevik leaders gave him an entree to Lenin and Trotsky denied to Francis...
...Occasionally concerting their actions, but more often working independently or at cross-purposes, they compounded the confusion of American policy toward the Soviet regime...
...Former Bull Mooser, idealistic, dynamic, and fired with a crusader's zeal, he fancied himself the real spokesman for the best interests of the United States in Russia...
...It establishes the author as an exceptionally able historian and whets the appetite for its sequels...
Vol. 20 • November 1956 • No. 11
