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The Soviet War Scare was a crisis in Anglo-Soviet relations involving a threat of a full-scale war between the USSR and the British Empire and Poland in 1926 and 1927. The conflict is mostly interpreted as a sham[1] by the western historians, suggesting that it was predominantly a product of a Soviet propaganda overreacting to theoretical considerations written by anonymous British military in May 1926.[2]
While Anglo-Soviet relations of that time were overall marked by distrust, in May 1927 the relationships between the two countries were severed [3] following the police raid on the All Russian Co-operative Society (ARCOS), which became known as an "Arcos affair" or "Arcos raid".[4]
In the course of the "Soviet War Scare" the soviet government issued instructions for the Politburo to incorporate slogans into the propaganda campaign such as those listed below:
"a) The fascist crushing of the mass revolutionary and national liberation movement in Western Belorussia by Piłsudski is a preparation of the rear for Piłsudski's future attack on the BSSR.
b) By means of fascist coups [here mostly likely the May Coup of Piłsudski is referred to] in the states bordering the USSR, England is preparing the attack on the USSR. Be on the alert.
c) The task of the workers of the BSSR is to strengthen the defense of the USSR and thus to ensure the peace policy of the USSR."[5]
The result of it was a considerable mismatch between the reports of the Red Army stating that "no immediate preparations [of the supposed enemy] for war can be discerned" and the media telling people to prepare for the war. The "war hysteria" was eventually used to fight the political opposition.[6]
Yet, the other result of such rumours was, that Soviet Union obtained the chance to validate the attitudes of the civil population towards the government. It is stated, that in rural settlements only poor people were ready to defend the government, while middle-class [referred as "sredniak"] and wealthy peasants [referred as "Kulak"] expressed the desire, if armed, to fight against the government instead.[6] Later in 1928–1929 the government has officially announced the policy known as "dekulakization".
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