Economic Cooperation 

     During the 1920s and early 1930s, tensions between the
Soviet Union and the West eased somewhat, particularly in the
area of economic cooperation.  Following their consolidation of
political power, the Bolsheviks faced the same economic challenge
as had the government ministers of the tsarist regime:  how to
efficiently organize the vast natural and human resources of the
Soviet Union.  The economic situation was made even more
difficult by the immense social and economic dislocation caused
by World War I, the revolutions of 1917, and the Civil War of
1918-21.
     As factories stood idle and famine raged in the countryside,
Vladimir Lenin instituted the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921
to infuse energy and direction into the fledgling Communist-
controlled economy.  NEP retreated from Communist orthodoxy and 
opened up the Soviet monolith economically.
     For a variety of reasons -- compassion for the sufferings of
the Soviet peoples, sympathy for the great "socialist
experiment," but primarily for the pursuit of profit -- Western
businessmen and diplomats began opening contacts with the Soviet
Union.  Among these persons were Averell Harriman, Armand Hammer,
and Henry Ford, who sold tractors to the Soviet Union.  Such
endeavors facilitated commercial ties between the Soviet Union
and the United States, establishing the basis for further
cooperation, dialogue, and diplomatic relations between the two
countries.  This era of cooperation was never solidly
established, however, and it diminished as Joseph Stalin
attempted to eradicate vestiges of capitalism and to make the
Soviet Union economically self-sufficient.