Introduction

The conduct of relations with the Soviet Union has caused difficulty to successive Western governments from the time of the October Revolution. The experience of Soviet diplomacy over two-thirds of a century leaves us with the essentials of the problem unchanged, its significance sharpened by the rise of the Soviet Union to a nuclear superpower. The official history of Soviet foreign policy, edited by Andrei Gromyko and Boris Ponomarev, states squarely on page one, 'The policy of any state is determined in the final analysis by its economic and social system.' But even in relation to the domestic roots of policy this Marxist analysis is scarcely adequate. State policy is in the last resort a matter of practical application and that, in any country, must reflect the character, power and interrelationship of the individuals and organizations responsible for its formulation and implementation.