THE OUTER WORLD AND THE SOVIETS 261
business with Soviet Russia act most vigorously to prevent such
business from being hampered by public opinion.
The second reason why the competition for business relations
with Soviet Russia has everywhere been so much intensified is
to be found in the unhappy state of conflict which has existed
among the European states since the Great War. This conflict
has been a piece of luck for Moscow, since it has caused the
various states to enter into the most degrading competition for
Bolshevik favours. This fact was well illustrated by the events
during and after the conclusion of the Treaty of Rapallo. The
only valid reason which led the Germans to play off Soviet
Russia against the victors of Versailles was the political duress in
which Germany felt herself to be held at that time. All who lived
through those hours of Easter 1920 in Genoa will confirm
that for the Reich the real justification for that daring move—
the sudden conclusion of a treaty with the Soviet Union—was
the united front of the victorious Powers, which declined to
accord equality of treatment to Germany. This tendency was
undoubtedly promoted by the attitude of certain driving
forces on the German side. At the moment when the influence
of the neutrals and others had begun to bring about a certain
solidarity between the victorious and the defeated European
Powers during the first week of the general conference, the
Moscow representatives, Chicherin, Litvinov and others, left
no stone unturned to induce the German delegates to sign
the Treaty of Rapallo forthwith and thus to force Germany out
of the non-Communist front then in process of formation.1 So
if the Treaty was a triumph in Moscow, it is equally certain
1 The remarkable diplomatic achievements of the Soviet representa-
tives, whose first appearance it was on the international stage, especially
Chicherin, must be emphasized. The Soviet diplomats employed every device,
they succeeded in exploiting the personal relationships and ambitions of the
other delegates; nor did they shrink from the dissemination of falsehood,
with the one aim of reaching an immediate conclusion of the Treaty. This
naturally prevented the formation of a united economic front of the non-
Communist states of Europe, which, at the beginning of the Conference,
had seemed within the bounds of possibility.