Cannes Conference 1922

a conference of the supreme council of the Entente that was attended by representatives of Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, France, Japan, and Germany; members of the Reparations Commission (created in 1919 to determine the amount of reparations to be imposed on Germany and its allies and the ways of collecting the money); and an observer from the USA. The conference took place on January 6–13, in Cannes, France; it was a preparatory stage of the Genoa Conference of 1922.

On Jan. 6, 1922, the Cannes Conference unanimously adopted the resolution offered by British prime minister Lloyd George calling for the convocation of an economic and financial conference of all European states in Genoa. The Soviet government, which had repeatedly stated that it favored economic cooperation with other powers, accepted the invitation to attend the Genoa Conference as soon as it was received (it was extended by the government of Italy on January 7). The Cannes Conference prepared the way for the Genoa Conference by approving an outline agenda and a six-article statement on the “basic terms necessary for fruitful work.” The first article of “conditions” recognized that each nation has “the right to choose for itself the system it prefers.” Lenin remarked that in this article the Cannes Conference, “by recognizing the equality of the two property systems (capitalist or private property, and communist, so far accepted only in the RSFSR), is thus compelled to recognize, even if only indirectly, the collapse, the bankruptcy of the first property system and the inevitability of its coming to an agreement with the second, on terms of equality” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 45, pp. 192–93). The remaining articles envisaged guaranties for foreign capital and property in Russia and the recognition by Russia of all private debts and obligations of the former governments. It was especially indicated that the Western powers would recognize the Soviet government only upon the satisfaction of the enumerated conditions. These conditions were a hopeless attempt to force the Soviet government by diplomatic pressure to make serious concessions of principle to the capitalist countries.

The Cannes Conference granted to Germany a delay in making upcoming reparations payments. In the course of the conference the French and the British conducted negotiations on a prospective pact that would guarantee British assistance to France in case of an attack by Germany; however, no agreement was reached.