Why did the Soviets hate the USE from the gitgo

by domjewinger
International_KB

I assume that by USE you mean the United States of America?

If so, "hate" is far too strong a word. Soviet attitudes towards the US were deeply ambivalent from the outset. The failure to establish diplomatic relations (until 1933) was largely due to US reluctance. So while America was obviously a capitalist power - and one that had intervened in the Russian Civil War - it was rarely considered to be at the forefront of the 'camp of hostile powers'. While Washington was occasionally considered to the 'boss of Europe', ie home of finance capital, in practice Moscow was much more concerned about events in London, Berlin, Warsaw and Tokyo.

At the same time, America had many positive connotations in the USSR. Lenin had been a firm fan of Taylorism since before the Revolution and this theme was picked up by his heirs. To the Bolsheviks 'America' stood as a symbol of economic modernisation and technological advancement. Nor was this an elite concern: during the 1920s American cinema and fiction was very popular popular in the USSR, US-made machines were praised for their robustness and Henry Ford was the subject of a veritable peasant cult.

In short, the US was largely seen as the paragon of modernity, a society whose abundance and technological achievements were something to aspire to. To be a 'Soviet American' was to be efficient, energetic and get things done in pursuit of this vision. This fit particularly well with Stalin's industrialisation drive of the late 1920s.

This almost-admiration never existed apart from more critical voices of America (its race problems, foreign policy, etc) but while it existed it was a powerful modifier on Soviet views. However in the early 1930s, the Depression in America and the Soviet cultural turn inwards saw these positive themes disappear from the Soviet press. The negative critiques of the US thus came to dominate official discourse.

Jeffrey Brooks has a really good essay on Soviet press perceptions of 'America' in Russia in the Era of NEP.