Establishing of Anglo-Soviet relations in 1929 in the light of British documents

Abstract

After forming the government in Great Britain in 1929, Labour Party desired to establish diplomatic relations with Soviet Union. Directly this case was taken up by head of Foreign Office, Arthur Henderson. With help of Norwegian government contact was made with Moscow. This was the opening for negotiations, which lasted for a few months. Walerian Dowgalewski was the Soviet representative. This article describes the course of talks and main issues to deal with. The most important ones were problems of propaganda and mutual financial claims. The matter of trade agreement was accepted by both sides. Projects of treaties from 1924 were helpful in settling disagreements. Finally in December 1929 it came to exchange of ambassadors and official establishing relations between countries.