Kennan Excerpt

In this excerpt, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," written by X (George F. Kennan) from Foreign Affairs, 1947, Kennan discusses the conduct of the Soviet Union and how it relates to communism and the United States. In the first paragraph, Kennan says that the main element of any United States policy concerning or towards the Soviet Union must involve a patient but firm containment of Russian expansive tendencies. He states that the U.S. should view Russia as a rival, not a partner, due to the fact that Soviet policies reflect no real faith in the possibility of a permanent, happy coexistence of the Socialist and capitalist worlds. Soviet policies reflect a persistent pressure toward the disruption and weakening of all rival influence and rival power. Kennan also says that Russia is the weaker party, and that its society may contain deficiencies which will eventually weaken is own total potential. Kennan tells the reader that American behavior alone cannot bring about the early fall of the Soviet power in Russia, but has in its power the ability to increase the strains under which Soviet policy must operate.