ABSTRACT
The first important event in Soviet foreign policy was the war with Germany, in which the new state was engaged when it was established. Lenin did not believe that Russia could survive the war. He desperately wanted peace. In contrast to the leftists, he believed that, provided peace was achieved, Soviet Russia could survive for some time in the absence of a world revolution. He concluded that, after the creation of the Russian Soviet Republic, “for us as well as from the international socialist point of view the preservation of this republic is the most important thing [vyshe vsego].” 1 These momentous words served as a foundation for Soviet foreign policy. The main world revolutionary task was to guarantee the survival of Soviet Russia. Further revolutionary expansion was desirable – in the long run even crucial – but the existing revolutionary bulwark should not be gambled away.
