Defender of oppressed Morocco": treatment of the Rif War question in the Soviet Union in the 1920th

The article considers the peculiarities of treatment of the Rif War question in the Soviet Union. Struggle of tribes of the mountainous region of Rif in Morocco against the French and Spanish colonialism in 1921-1926 was widely covered by the Soviet press; it was the subject of research in the scientific works and articles of Soviet statesmen. The aim of this research was to identify the reasons of great interest in the USSR to the events in North Africa; to carry out the analysis of ideological postulates on which the Soviet position was based; to define the main questions drawing attention of the Soviet researchers of Morocco of that period; to consider the international reaction and consequences of the position on unconditional support of liberating fight of Moroccans taken by the Soviet Union. This research is based on articles of heads of the countries of that period, Comintern documents, publications in Oriental, ideological and military press of the Soviet Union in 1920, in such magazines as "Novyy Vostok [New East]", "Vostok i kolonii [East and colonies]", "Bor'ba klassov [Class Struggle]", "Voennyy vestnik [Military Herald]", "Voennaya mysl' i revolyutsiya [Military thought and revolution]", "Mezhdunarodnaya letopis' [International chronicle]" and "Bolshevik". Fastidious attention of some Soviet specialists to all the details unfolding in the North African conflict was due to the serious international complications and, not least, the expectations in Moscow on the growth of the revolutionary movement in the Arab East. Supporting the struggle of the Rif tribes for liberation from colonial rule, Soviet authors, guided by ideological dogmata, based on the postulate about the "anti-imperialist" and "national liberation" war. However, this assessment had many weaknesses. Feudal and Patriarchal Morocco did not fit the role of the country in which could happen the proletarian revolution. Due to the ensuing discussions, the question of the nature of the war in the Rif was discussed at the Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Comintern. The heads of the young Soviet Republic also identified their position. Special attention in the USSR was devoted to such aspects of the Rif war, as the lack of a clear religious nature of the movement under the leadership of Abd al-Karim; the possibility of escalation of the war in Morocco in the pan-Arab uprising in North Africa and international consequences of this confrontation. The open position of the Soviet Union for moral support for the rebels reefs caused in European capitals obvious opposition in the level of propaganda. Madrid and Paris were inclined to explain their own failures and defeats in Morocco by the intervention of the "hand of Moscow". Although there are no ties, in addition to moral support, between the Soviet Union and the Republic of the Rif existed, the USSR was ready to defend the interests of the Moroccan people by diplomatic means. Main conclusions: although the analysis of the Soviet position in support of the liberation struggle of Moroccans shows the presence of some contradictions and ideological exaggeration, but objectively progressive and humane position of the Soviet Union undoubtedly contributed to the formation of the Russian-Arab friendly relations.

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