Foreign Policy Implications of Hunger Relief: Karelia between Finland and Soviet Russia, 1918-1922

• In Event: Liberation through Cooperation: The Politics of Food in Early 20th-Century Russia

Abstract

This paper bridges the topic of food politics and foreign policy by exploring the interconnection between Soviet Russia’s attempts to establish control over border regions contested by other powers and the pressure to alleviate domestic hunger. My case study is Soviet Karelia, an area on the Russo-Finnish border over which in 1918-1922 Soviet Russia and Finland waged diplomatic and military wars. Both powers believed – or claimed to believe – in the right of national self-determination, and used food provision as a tool to convince the Karelian population to join their own side. However, despite the high stakes, feeding Karelia proved to be a difficult and ultimately impossible task for the Soviet government.

Author

• Tamara Polyakova, U of Wisconsin-Madison / U of Eastern Finland (Finland)