Stalin Foreign Policy

Question 1

Grain exports

Answer 1

Necessary to procure funds for industrialised
Problematised by the Great Depression

Question 2

Franco-Soviet Pact

Answer 2

Stalin was passive, did not protest the suppressions of the KPD
USSR gained US diplomatic recognition and joined the LON, signed a non-aggression pact with Poland and signed a non-aggression pact with France in 1932 which led to the Franco-Soviet Pact in 1935 - but the activation clauses were vague, Western observers noted that it was an ineffective form of deterrence
USSR-Czechoslovakia pact - soviet aid only if France acted first

Eval:
Soviet shift towards collective security and building alliances with Nazi Germany
However, early passivity undermined communist credibility - the pacts lacked enforcement mechanisms and clarity
- ultimately did not prevent the eventual collapse of collective security

Question 3

Soviet Reaction to Western Appeasement and the Munich Conference