Stalin and the European Communists after World War Two (1943-1948)

Compared with the years following the First World War, two basic differences emerge in the Soviet attitude towards Europe in the aftermath of World War II. First, revolution was no longer an imagined solution, at least in its original Bolshevik significance, although conflicts between imperialist interests, State rivalries over hegemony, economic crises, and social turmoil were expected to reappear. Second, Soviet Russia was no longer marginal to international politics, and its role appeared central to Europe’s future. No other continental power could stand against the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Soviet influence in Europe would be amplified by the formation of Communist parties whose experience in the Resistance and Anti-Fascism made them much stronger and legitimate than they had ever been. However, the birth of new Communist states, while representing a key achievement in terms of power, also created dramatic contradictions in the structure, influence and development of the Communist movement. The emergence of Soviet power as a world power had not been more crucial to the wartime growth of the Communist parties and to the authoritarian revolution from above in East Central Europe than it was to be for creating the stalemate – and later decline – of the Communist movement in Europe.