GEORGE KENNAN

Ideas originally appeared in a document known as the "Long Telegram". It was an 8,000 word telegram that Kennan sent from the US embassy in Moscow to the State Department. Kennan later fleshed out his ideas in a 1947 article for Foreign Affairs called the "Sources of Soviet Conduct" better known as the "X Article" because it was written by "Mr. X".

EXCERPTS

The ideology of the present Soviet leaders was inherited from the movement in which they have their political origin. The circumstances in which the Soviet Union has operated for three decades has caused certain policies to become the norm. The first problem within the Soviet history was the fact that the Communists had no long-range goals beyond the nationalization (government ownership) of industry and the expropriation (taking away) of large capitalistic holdings.

POST OCTOBER REVOLUTION- (POST OCTOBER 1917)

1. Civil war, foreign intervention, and the fact that the Communist Party was only a small minority within Russian political life made the establishment of a dictatorship necessary. The sense of insecurity among Soviet leaders was great.

2. They refused to believe that two rival forces-Communism and capitalism could coexist. For the Communists, all competing doctrines must be destroyed.

3. They would recognize no restrictions, either of neither God nor man, to carry out their goals.

4. The outside world was hostile to Communism and it was their duty to overthrow the political forces beyond their borders.

Once capitalism had been crushed within Russia, the dictatorship of the 1920s was kept alive by stressing the menace of capitalism outside. There was fear of a "capitalist encirclement". The Soviet Union saw itself in a state of siege.

POLITICAL PERSONALITY

1. There exists an innate antagonism between capitalism and Communism. No efforts from the outside, capitalistic world can be regarded as sincere. Therefore, Soviet diplomacy in insincere, secretive, and double-minded.

2. Soviets are not embarked on a specific timetable in which to overthrow capitalism. They believe that time is on their side and can be very patient.

3. The Kremlin is infallible and is the sole repository of truth. This permits leadership to create truth that may vary from week to week and is not grounded in objective reality.

HOW TO MATCH SOVIET EXPANSION

"The main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies." Soviet expansion cannot be defeated in a single battle. Counterforce measures must be varied and resourceful and applied in a variety of geographical and political points.