Maxim maximovich litvinov biography of michael

The Russian Government wished to state that, after the conclusion of the Anglo-Russian agreement, it had instructed its representatives in the East to abstain from any anti-British propaganda, although on its part it felt compelled to place on record that the attitude of the British Government had lately been far from friendly towards Russia.

At a time when France was inciting Poland and Rumania to make war on Russia, this did not induce the Russian Government to believe that it was the sincere desire of the British Government to foster friendly relations between the governments and peoples of the two countries. Chicherin had a cultivated, polished personal style but held strongly anti-Western opinions.

He sought to hold Soviet Russia aloof from diplomatic deal-making with capitalist powers. Infull diplomatic relations were restored under the MacDonald Labour government. Hodgson, who was privately sympathetic to some of Litvinov's complaints, communicated with the Foreign Office, giving various reasons for criticising Britain's position. Britain had signed a trade agreement in and given the Soviet Government de jure recognition inand HM Government had recently indicated that it intended to maintain its relationship with the Soviet Government.

Anti-red outbursts could prejudice its position in dealing with problems that needed discussion with the Soviet Government. Importantly, the Soviet Union, whatever her political complexion, was a badly needed market. Although anti-red sentiment might be useful in the political warfare at home, it was seen in Russia as an admission of weakness.

However, most pressing, was the incalculable commercial harm. The insecurity would make the Soviet Government hesitant about placing orders in Britain, cause British firms to fight shy of Russian orders and frighten British banks from financing them. The Conservative government, under pressure from Conservative MPs on the uncorroborated evidence of a dismissed employee that the Soviet Trade Mission had stolen a missing War Office document, [ 38 ] successfully asked Parliament to sever diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

The decision was no surprise to the Soviet Government. It had already for long been aware that a rupture of diplomatic relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was being prepared by the whole policy of the present British Conservative Government, which has declined all proposals of the Soviet Government for the settlement of mutual relations by means of negotiations.

The lack of results of the search of the Trade Delegation premises, which was carried out with utmost thoroughness over several days, is the most convincing proof of the loyalty and correctitude of the official agents of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. The Soviet Government passes over with contempt the insinuations of a British Minister regarding espionage by the Trade Delegation and considers it beneath its dignity to reply to them.

The Soviet Government places on record that the British Government had no legitimate ground for a police raid on the extraterritorial premises of the official Soviet agent. Hodgson agreed with Litvinov that the police raid on the Arcos building in London was deplorable and said so in a letter to The Times inshowing his pleasure at Litvinov's appointment as Soviet ambassador to the United States.

After the Labour Party won the most seats in the electionthe new Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, set about restoring relations with the Soviet Union on condition that the Soviet Union refrained from initiating propaganda in Britain. Litvinov supported disarmament, actively attending the Disarmament Preparatory Commission from 30 November until it was replaced by the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva in Initially he advocated total disarmament.

Supposing you had total disarmament; if there was no international organisation taking charge of security, if you had no international force to ensure the maintenance of this security, if you had no international law such as we are endeavouring to lay down here, a powerful and populous nation would always have the power when it wished to do so on a small nation equally disarmed, less populous and less well equipped to resist an attack which might be made upon it.

Would small nations be less insecure after their powerful neighbours who have disarmed than they are now when, in addition to economic, financial, territorial and other superiorities possessed by the great powers, the latter also enjoy the immense advantage of greater armaments. Litvinov's proposals won him favourable publicity in radical circles in Western countries that were eager for disarmament and impatient at the commission's slow progress.

Litvinov favoured Soviet participation in the Kellogg-Briand Pact ofwhich pledged signatories to the elimination of the use of war as a tool of foreign policy, a position opposite to that of his nominal superior Chicherin. The protocol was signed in Moscow in February by the Soviet Union, PolandRomaniaLatviaand Estonia[ 52 ] and later by several other countries.

Litvinov, who was a firm believer in collective security, worked to form a closer relationship with France and the United Kingdom, a policy seemingly at odds with the "class against class" line of the Third Period being advocated by Communist International. Stalin was largely detached from and uninterested in foreign policy throughout the early s, largely leaving the general operations of Narkomindel and the Comintern to their leaders.

Stalin frequently delegated oversight to members of his personal secretariat, including Karl Radekuntil mid On 6 FebruaryLitvinov made the most-significant speech of his career, in which he tried to define aggression. Many delegates, such as British delegate Lord Cushendunwho said the failure of the Disarmament Conference would be gratifying to the Soviet delegation, derided Litvinov [ 58 ] but due to the soundness of Litvinov's argument and eloquence, his standing grew.

It was with special pleasure he paid this tribute to the Soviet delegation since it demonstrated beyond doubt that when men rose above the contingencies of day-to-day politics and allowed themselves to be guided by the more maxim maximovich litvinov biography of michael ideas which should lead the civilised world, it was found that there was a community of ideals which was capable with a little goodwill of bringing to fruition the noblest and most difficult enterprises.

InLitvinov was instrumental in winning a long-sought formal diplomatic recognition of the Soviet government by the United States. Litvinov and Marx became friends and performed a routine on stage together. Walters expressed "astonished admiration", praising Litvinov's farsighted analysis: [ 60 ]. No future historian will lightly disagree with any views expressed by Litvinov on international questions Nothing in the annals of the League can compare with them in frankness, in debating power, in the acute diagnosis of each situation.

No contemporary statesman could point to such a record of criticisms justified and prophecies fulfilled.

Maxim maximovich litvinov biography of michael: Maxim Maximovich Litvinov was a Russian

Litvinov has been considered to have concentrated on taking strong measures against Italy, Japan and Germany, and being little interested in other matters. Indeed, Litvinov publicly endorsed the purges and the campaign against the Trotskyitesalthough this may have been out of self-preservation. After the Munich AgreementGerman state media derided Litvinov for his Jewish ancestry, referring to him as "Finkelstein-Litvinov".

According to Soviet records, Litvinov submitted detailed arguments in favour of the proposed pact, which Stalin accepted. Litvinov stated they ought not to wait for the other side to propose what the Soviets wanted. Litvinov summarised his proposals, which were for mutual assistance in case of aggression against the Soviet Union, Britain or France; and support for all states bordering the Soviet Union, including Finland and the Baltic States.

It also provided for rapid agreement on the form such assistance would take. There would be an agreement not to conclude a separate peace. By 16 April, Stalin still had faith in Litvinov and had no immediate plans to remove him. Litvinov said: "We can expect urgent and complex negotiations with the French and especially the British.

We need to monitor public opinion and try to influence it. Litvinov had a poor opinion of Neville Chamberlainand was not surprised Russia's proposal for an alliance was not welcomed, but he may have been surprised by the attitude of the British Foreign Office. They are simple. They are logical and conform to the main groupings of common interest.

As soon as the proposals reached the French Government, the first reaction of Georges Bonnetthe Foreign Minister, was different from that of the British Government and Foreign Office. Bonnet saw the Soviet Ambassador Jakob Suritzwho cabled that "the first impression of the French is very favourable". In talks between the French and the British governments, both failed to either accept or reject the proposals until after Litvinov's dismissal on 4 May.

On 3 MayStalin replaced Litvinov, who was closely identified with the anti-German position, [ 1 ] with Vyacheslav Molotov. As a Jew and an avowed opponent of such a policy, Litvinov stood in the way. Stalin then demanded Litvinov to sign a letter of resignation. Hitler took Litvinov's removal more seriously than Chamberlain. Hilger, the First Secretary, was summoned to see Hitler, who asked why Stalin might have dismissed Litvinov.

Hilger said: "According to my firm belief he [Stalin] had done so because Litvinov had pressed for an understanding with France and Britain while Stalin thought the Western powers were aiming to have the Soviet Union pull the chestnuts out of the fire in the event of war". Litvinov was not in disgrace; [ 86 ] he continued to attend official functions and carry out his duties as a member of the Supreme Soviet and the Central Committee.

Litvinov also attended the Supreme Soviet when the budget was presented and on the occasion of Molotov's speech in support of the Nazi—Soviet Pact. Sheinis states when foreign correspondents first asked Litvinov about the Pact, he evaded the question, but then said: "I think this calls for a closer look, because among other things enemies of the Soviet Union ascribe to me what I never said".

Litvinov is reported to have told Ehrenburg : "The Pact was absolutely necessary". The imperialists in these two countries had done everything they could to goad Hitler's Germany against the Soviet Union by secret deals and provocative moves. In the circumstances the Soviet Union could either accept German proposals for a non-aggression treaty and thus secure a period of peace in which to redouble preparations to repulse the aggressor; or turn down Germany's proposals and let the warmongers in the Western camp push the Soviet Union into an armed conflict with Germany in unfavourable circumstances and in a setting of complete isolation.

Two months before his final dismissal in AugustLitvinov told the American maxim maximovich litvinov biography of michael Richard C. Hottelet that it was pointless for the West to hope for good relations with Stalin. Perhaps the most remarkable and mysterious fact of Litvinov's long career is that he died a natural death. See also: bolshevism; francerelations with.

Phillips, Hugh. Boulder, CO: Westview. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. January 8, Retrieved January 08, from Encyclopedia. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.

The Soviet diplomat Maxim Maximovich Litvinov was perhaps the best-known Bolshevik diplomat of his time and certainly the most successful in establishing cooperative efforts with the Western powers against the Nazi menace. Maxim Litvinov, whose real name was Meyer Wallach, was born on July 17,to an impoverished Jewish family in Bialystok. Leaving Bialystok, he went to the Ukraine and in joined the newly founded Russian Social Democratic Labor party, spending most of his time recruiting supporters in the Kiev area.

Inwhen the party divided into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions, he opted for the Bolsheviks and established close ties with several Bolsheviks from the Caucasus area, notably Joseph Stalin.

Maxim maximovich litvinov biography of michael: Mikhail Maximovich Litvinov. Mikhail

For the next 15 years Litvinov roamed all over western Europe on various errands of daring for the Bolshevik cause, adopting all sorts of aliases to avoid police. At various times he was known as Kuznetsov, "Papasha" literally, "Poppa"Feliks, and various other code designations. In he was involved in a spectacular, if unsuccessful, attempt to smuggle guns to revolutionaries in Russia through the Black Sea.

In he was arrested in Paris as he tried to change bank notes acquired in a bank holdup masterminded by Stalin. While he appears to have been singularly unsuccessful in his various exploits, his repeated efforts gave him a heroic reputation among revolutionaries. After the Bolshevik Revolution of NovemberLitvinov tried to muster support for the Bolshevik cause in London; however, his intense antiwar activity, as well as British unhappiness over the treatment of their Moscow agent Bruce Lockhart, led to Litvinov's expulsion from England.

Back in Moscow, he was assigned to the Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, where he carried out a number of important assignments, including an abortive approach to Woodrow Wilson and, more successfully, the resolution of Soviet-Estonian conflicts. In Litvinov became deputy commissar of foreign affairs, serving under Georgi Chicherin for almost a decade.

It was a strange collaboration, for Chicherin and Litvinov not only were completely different personally and in orientation but actively and openly disliked each other. However, it was also a strangely successful collaboration with Litvinov making his own mark, as inwhen he startled Western disarmament commissions by proposing total disarmament rather than formulas or ratios.

Inwhen Chicherin's ill health forced his retirement, Litvinov became commissar of foreign affairs. Litvinov was perhaps the best-known and, by some criteria, the most successful diplomat in Soviet history. Instead he told his German pilot to keep his plane primed for take-off, and let it be known around the bars that lie was thinking of making an illicit flight into Russia.

Sure enough, informants picked up the story, and next day Gibbons was summoned to see Litvinov, the Soviet ambassador. The meeting pitted the two wiliest brains in Riga against each other. Litvinov said he knew about Gibbons's plane, and warned him that if he tried to fly across the border he would be shot down. Gibbons countered by pointing out that the Russian border ran from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and anti-aircraft guns covered a mere traction of it.

Litvinov then threatened to have Gibbons arrested, to which the reporter replied that the Soviets had just released all their US prisoners in order to secure food aid and were not likely to start incarcerating Americans again. That night, while the rest of the press fumed in Riga, Gibbons boarded a train for Moscow with Litvinov, and, maxim maximovich litvinov biography of michael a few days in the capital, was on another train bound for the Volga.

Walter Duranty said that Floyd Gibbons "fully deserved his success because he had accomplished the feat of bluffing the redoubtable Litvinov stone-cold Litvinov was then employed as the Soviet Government's roaming ambassador. It was largely through his efforts that Britain agreed to end its economic blockade of the Soviet Union. Litvinov also negotiated several trade agreements with European countries.

A firm believer in collective security, Litvinov worked very hard to form a closer relationships with France and Britain. With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the presidency, the diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union became a strong possibility. In November the Soviets were invited to send a representative to Washington to begin negotiations.

Walter Durantyan American journalist based in Moscow, obtained permission to accompany Litvinov on his historic journey across the Atlantic. When they reached New York Duranty quoted Litvinov as describing the skyline as "looming like castle giants in the hazy morning". As Jean Edward Smith pointed out in FDR : "The ostensible outstanding issues involved freedom of religion for Americans in Russia and the continued agitation for world revolution mounted by the Comintern.

He was quick to perceive the importance of Hitler's accession to power in Germany in and to guide a reorientation of Soviet foreign policy to cope with the threat.

Maxim maximovich litvinov biography of michael: In , Litvinov was instrumental in

Under his guidance the Soviet Union finally established diplomatic ties with the United States in and in the following year joined the League of Nations. Proclaiming the mutual interest of all antifascist powers, capitalist or Communist, in containing fascism, Litvinov became world-famous for his policy of "collective security," a policy that reached its heights with the conclusion of a mutual defense pact with France infollowed by a qualified pact with Czechoslovakia.

His long-established ties with Stalin protected him during the purges of the s, and indeed he was one of the very few Jews to survive in a high post under Stalin. His jovial and rotund appearance belied his fundamental toughness, and he acquired a respect both inside and outside the Soviet Union that few Soviet diplomats ever enjoyed. However, inwhen Stalin developed his own doubts about "collective security," he made overtures to Hitler by replacing Litvinov with Vyacheslav Molotov.

When the change culminated in the Nazi-Soviet Pact of AugustLitvinov lapsed into semidisgrace and, early inwas even relieved of the post he had held on the party's Central Committee since However, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union later inLitvinov was brought out of retirement and made ambassador to the United States as a renewed symbol of antifascism.