Always in Need of Credit

In September 1927 Aristide Briand, the French foreign minister, and Carl von Schubert, the state secretary at the Auswdrtiges Amt, the German foreign ministry, met in Geneva to discuss matters of mutual concern during sessions of the League of Nations Council. The conversation was cordial, as befitted that brief, glorious period after the conclusion of the Locarno security accords and the return of European economic prosperity in 1925-1926. For the French, at least some French, the Germans were no longer the hated Boches; in the fleeting spirit of Locarno, Germany was a European power with whom it was possible and indeed desirable to conduct business of state. The talk between Briand and Schubert soon turned to Russia, often the subject of discussion after the Anglo-Soviet rupture of diplomatic relations in May 1927. Both men bemoaned the difficulty of getting along with the Misery liked company, it seems, for they also discussed trade relations with the USSR and the difficulties and inconveniences of giving credit to the cash-poor Russians. Russia is in need of credit, said Schubert, and they are always trying to get more.' Herein lay an important objective of Soviet foreign policy and a serious problem for the Western powers in the 1920s

Archaeology · Development economics · Economic history · Economic system · Economics · German · Political science · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History

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