Europe's overall economic situation was currently far from encouraging, Russia included. Post-war reconstruction had been delayed again and again, placing enormous constraints on economic recovery.
Because of the First World War, vast amounts of Europe's wealth had flowed away. The governments of the belligerent nations in particular did not have even half a penny left in their hands; instead, they were buried under mountains of debt. Russia was more barefaced and simply chose to default, but it also had to bear the price of its international credibility and reputation collapsing, along with sanctions from the entire world.
Britain, France, Germany, and Austria were in no better straits. If they could, they too wanted to follow the Russians' example and default outright. Thus, the one with the biggest headache now was the United States, the world's largest creditor nation. As the saying went, debtors were the masters, so the United States truly had to put some effort into figuring out how to recover Europe's debts.
November 23, 1923.
The first League of Nations conference officially convened. Most of the world's mainstream countries had been invited, and aside from discussing the post-war order, the recovery of the global economy, opposition to the Labor Party, and other issues, debt was also one of the key topics.
Thus, after discussing the reconstruction of post-war Europe's order and how to deal with the European Labor Party and related matters—
"Post-war reconstruction in Europe is progressing slowly. Production and living facilities have suffered severe destruction, which means Europe simply has no ability to repay large amounts of debt at present. Therefore, countries such as the United States, East Africa, and Japan should understand the difficulties facing the European nations today." At the League of Nations conference, the British representative was the first to launch an attack.