Russian Issue at the Paris Peace Conference in January - February 1919

Among the most important discussions at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference was the Russian question, which was addressed in several interconnected aspects. The most important of them was winning states' policy choice towards Russian Bolshevik government. Soviet historians argued that the hostile attitude of Western nations to Bolsheviks was their only policy possible, aimed at overthrowing Lenin's government and destroying Bolshevik's power. Those arguments have not been reconsidered by Ukrainian scholars yet. According to our hypothesis, in early 1919, it was possible to reach an agreement between the Allied and Associated Powers, on the one hand, and the Russian Bolshevik government, on the other. Namely, due to Prinkipo proposal, promoted by British and American governments. Though French and Italian governments had different views on Bolsheviks, they did not oppose the proposal. In January-February 1919 they actually sought to elaborate and pursue a joint policy towards Russia. This paper explores the Great Powers' policy towards Russia at the beginning of the Paris Peace Conference to test our hypothesis. The methodology is based on a detailed study of historical sources (proceedings of the Council of Ten and the Supreme War Council, diplomatic correspondence, speeches and works of Powers' leaders and diplomats) to describe discussions of Russian question at the beginning of the Conference, in January-February 1919. The author reconstructs Entente's and the U.S. leaders' point of view, to reveal their motives and arguments, and to explain their decisions. The paper argues that the agreement failed not because of Great Powers' anti-Bolshevik stance and the refusal of other Russian and national parties to participate in the Prinkipo conference, but because of the Bolshevik government's policies. It failed to comply with the only condition for participating in the conference, namely, ceasefire. Instead, Red Army led massive attacks at the fronts and expanded the Bolshevik rule to new territories, including Ukraine. Besides, the Soviet government did not stop the revolutionary propaganda and used its peaceful proposals addressed to Principal Powers for the purposes of world revolution.