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Lenin’s 'Eastern policy' and communism in Turkey and Greece, 1918-1923

Fouskas, Vassilis K.; Gökay, Bülent

Authors

Vassilis K. Fouskas



Abstract

Examining Lenin's strategy towards colonial and semi-colonial periphery is crucial in understanding the way in which early Soviet policy was shaped and implemented towards the crucial conflict in Anatolia between Greece-Britain's proxy-and Turkish national resistance movement based in Ankara. We show that, Soviet state interests kept a firm hand on-albeit in different ways-the development of communism both in Greece and Turkey and, for most of the period, it undermined the movement, especially in Turkey when they directly assisted Kemal's nationalism against the Greek campaign in Asia Minor while Kemal's movement was exterminating leading Turkish communists.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 16, 2019
Publication Date Mar 30, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies
Print ISSN 1944-8953
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 22
Issue 2
Pages 210-221
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2020.1746588
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2020.1746588