The Road Leading from Soviet Rejection of the GATT to Russia’s WTO Accession Negotiations

Abstract

As explained in the first chapter, the Soviet Union, after a short period of support, followed the preparatory work on the ITO and the GATT with increasing hostility. This approach was based mainly on political considerations: in these years the Soviet Union considered the world-wide socialist system as an alternative to capitalism. Hardliners, who professed the imminent collapse of the capitalist system and the victory of socialism rose to the ideological forefront. For this reason, the Soviet leaders, neglecting the country’s obvious economic interests, decided against any real co-operation with the non-communist world and intensified their support of global socialist revolution. It was of no surprise that the Soviet Union took all possible opportunities to criticise the GATT which it considered an ‘instrument of economic expansion into the world market for U.S. monopolies.’³³ This openly hostile approach was maintained for about 15 years. Reportedly, the last open criticism of the GATT by a leading Soviet official was made in 1960.³⁴