Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov, whose real name is Max Wallach, was born on July 4, 1876 in Bialystok, Grodno province, into a large family of a small employee. After graduating from a real school, he worked part-time as a civilian employee in the army and as an accountant. Litvinov's life repeatedly experienced sharp turns. One of them was his arrest in April 1901, together with other members of the Kyiv Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, and then a successful escape in August 1902 from Lukyanovskaya prison. He goes abroad, where he will publish the newspaper Iskra.
In the fall of 1905, Wallach arrived in St. Petersburg and, together with Krasin, created the first legal Bolshevik newspaper, Novaya Zhizn. He travels around the cities of the country, hiding from the police, changing his first and last names. His party nicknames - Dad, Felix, Count, Nitz and others - end up in police files. He will go down in the history of Russian diplomacy under the pseudonym Litvinov, which became his second name.
On behalf of the combat group of the Central Committee of the party, headed by Krasin, he was engaged in purchasing weapons abroad and delivering them to Russia. In 1908, Litvinov was arrested in France. The tsarist government demanded that the French government extradite him in connection with the then sensational case of the Bolshevik revolutionary Kamo, who, on the instructions of the party, was engaged in the expropriation of funds in the Caucasus, organizing raids on banks and postal carriages. With this money, Litvinov bought weapons. The French government limited itself to only deporting Litvinov to England. Here he lived for 10 years, working in the Bolshevik section of the International Socialist Bureau, speaking on Lenin’s instructions at various forums.
In 1916, Litvinov married Ivy Lowe, a young English writer. He was already forty years old. Friends pushed him to take this step. Finally he stated: “I’ll get married soon. But she’s a potbelly stove.” He lived with her for thirty-five years. His biographer Sheinis wrote: “Litvinov was amazed at how well she knew Tolstoy and Chekhov. A plump, reddish, average height man, with good manners, not very talkative, made a great impression on the young writer...” On February 17, 1917, their son Mikhail was born, and the following year their daughter Tatyana was born.
On January 4, 1918, Litvinov was appointed commissioner of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs in London. “So, I became a plenipotentiary envoy,” Litvinov later recalled, “but I had nothing: no directives from Moscow, no money, no people. Needless to say, I had neither experience nor preparation for diplomatic work.” The Foreign Office refused to recognize him as an official representative, but agreed to maintain de facto relations with the Soviet representative.
Litvinov created the "Russian People's Embassy" and the "Russian People's Consulate" in London, established contacts with Moscow, began to inform the NKID about current events, gave interviews to local newspapers, and spoke at meetings. In the summer, the so-called “ambassador conspiracy” was uncovered in Moscow, in which the English envoy Bruce Lockhart played a key role. On September 3, 1918, Lockhart was arrested. The British took retaliatory measures: Litvinov and some employees of the Soviet mission ended up in Brixton prison. As a result of the exchange, Litvinov and his employees returned from England to Russia at the end of October.
On November 25, 1919, Anglo-Soviet negotiations on the exchange of prisoners of war began in Copenhagen, the capital of neutral Denmark. The head of the Soviet delegation, Litvinov, successfully completed the task. In 1920, he also signed an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war with other countries - Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria. At the same time, the Copenhagen Treaty with Austria provided, along with the exchange of prisoners of war, Austria's neutrality in the ongoing war against Soviet Russia and the beginning of actual relations between the two countries. Upon returning from Denmark, Litvinov served as plenipotentiary representative in Estonia for five months, where he simultaneously served as a trade representative. On May 10, 1921, he was appointed Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
Litvinov was involved in organizational issues a lot, often replacing the People's Commissar. He was distinguished by calm confidence, purposefulness, precision, and accuracy. If the head of the department was late for his appointment at the appointed time, then he would no longer see him that day. Foreigners were impressed by his accuracy and specificity. Litvinov confidently took responsibility and showed compliance on a number of controversial issues. However, according to the German ambassador in Moscow von Dirksen, he “did not like any other gods around him.”
In November 1927, Litvinov, for the first time, at the head of the Soviet delegation, took part in the IV session of the Preparatory Commission of the League of Nations for the Disarmament Conference, proposing, on behalf of the Soviet government, a project for immediate general and complete disarmament. Unfortunately, the project was rejected. A year later, he actually headed the People's Commissariat. Chicherin spent a long time undergoing treatment abroad. This gave Maxim Maksimovich ample opportunity for a gradual reorientation of Soviet foreign policy. He sought to improve relations primarily with Western countries: Great Britain, France and the USA. Litvinov believed that in order to strengthen its authority, the USSR should participate in various kinds of international pacts and conferences. He placed particular emphasis on disarmament issues and paid much attention to the negotiation process, which was carried out with his active participation in Geneva. One of the first such actions was the signing by Litvinov with a number of states neighboring the USSR of the Moscow Protocol of February 9, 1929 on the early entry into force of the Kellogg-Briand Pact prohibiting war as an instrument of national policy.
On July 21, 1930, Litvinov was appointed People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. He outlined his credo to the Soviet plenipotentiary in London, Maisky: “Soviet foreign policy is a policy of peace. This follows from our principles, from the very foundations of the Soviet state. Until now, we have had the best relations with Germany, and in our actions we tried, as far as possible, to maintain a united front with Germany or to take into account its position and interests. Not today, tomorrow Hitler will come to power, and the situation will immediately change from our “friend” to our enemy. It is obvious that now, in the interests of peace policy, we need to try to improve relations with England and France, especially with England. , as the leading power of capitalist Europe."
Litvinov's hopes for a rapid rapprochement with Great Britain did not materialize. But it was important that she did not oppose the policy of rapprochement between the USSR and other countries. Already in November 1932, a non-aggression treaty was signed between the USSR and France, similar agreements were concluded with Poland and a number of other states of Eastern Europe.
In 1933, at the invitation of a large group of states, the USSR joined the League of Nations. Churchill wrote in his memoirs: "Litvinov, who represented the Soviet government, quickly adapted to the atmosphere of the League of Nations and used its moral language with such great success that he soon became an outstanding figure."
Success accompanied Litvinov in another important endeavor - the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the United States of America. Negotiations between Litvinov and Roosevelt in November 1933 were not easy. It took a week to reach an agreement to establish diplomatic relations. At the same time, notes were exchanged on non-interference in each other's internal affairs, on the legal protection of citizens, and on the enjoyment of religious freedom for American citizens living on the territory of the USSR. Returning to Russia, Maxim Maksimovich, reporting on the results of his trip, noted that recognition of the USSR by America was “the fall of the last position, the last fort in the attack on us by the capitalist world, which after October took the form of non-recognition and boycott.”
The dramatic events of 1939 became a new turning point in Litvinov’s fate. The seizure of Czechoslovakia and other acts of German aggression did not meet with adequate resistance from Great Britain, France and other countries. The Soviet Union sought to ensure the security of its western borders by concluding mutual assistance agreements with England and France. However, the governments of these countries, preparing, according to Churchill, half-measures and legal compromises, delayed the negotiations in every possible way. “This delay became fatal for Litvinov,” wrote the British prime minister. “Confidence in us fell. A completely different foreign policy was required to save Russia.”
Messages from telegraph agencies announcing the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated May 3, 1939 on the appointment of V.M. Molotov, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, shocked the capitals of many states with their surprise. Until February 1941, Litvinov remained a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. For several days, he even took part in the work of the commission involved in cleaning up the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.
Left out of work, Litvinov lived in a dacha near Moscow. He reminded himself... June 22, 1941, when he came to the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. The war raised the question of an early conclusion of an alliance with Great Britain and the United States. The personal representative of the US President Hopkins, who arrived in Moscow, met with Molotov and Stalin. At Stalin's conversation with Hopkins on July 31, Litvinov was present as an interpreter. This was a demonstration of Stalin's trust in him. On November 10, Litvinov was appointed Ambassador of the USSR to the USA and at the same time Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Two days later he flew with his wife and secretary to the United States.
His main task was to achieve the speedy opening of a second front in Europe, ensure the continuous dispatch of convoys of ships with cargo for the Soviet Union, obtain loans and place Soviet military orders in the United States. But, despite the promises, the second front was not opened either in 1942 or 1943. This caused irritation and dissatisfaction of the Soviet leadership. In June 1943, Litvinov, going on vacation, made it clear to his American friends that he would not return to the USA. The decision to recall Litvinov was also influenced by his advanced age.
At the beginning of September 1943, Litvinov, being Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, headed the Commission on Peace Treaties and the Post-War World Order. In July 1946, the diplomat turned 70 years old. He retired and devoted the remaining five years of his life to his family and grandchildren. Maxim Maksimovich read a lot, sometimes visited his closest friends. Litvinov died on December 31, 1951. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
November 13th, 2016
Let's put the lyrics aside. Modern vision of history. Genocide in Russia is an “experiment” of the Anglo-Saxons and Jews!
Meir Wallach, who took the party nickname Litvinov. “Red-haired, brown-haired, 2 arshins and 6 vershoks tall, healthy build, shaves the hair on his beard and sideburns, bluish-gray eyes, short-sighted, wears glasses, round face, dark skin color, wide forehead, straight nose, tenor voice” - policeman the description will accept it. Nickname "Dad" - was a reputable terrorist.
Meir Wallach was born on July 4, 1876 in the family of a small bank employee in Bialystok, in the Grodno province. He graduated from cheder - a Jewish school, and then from a real school. Jewish schools today also train extremist Jewish terrorists
Then Meir Wallach entered military service, was convicted for complicity in the activities of terrorists (revolutionaries) and spent a year and a half in prison in Kyiv. From there he escaped as part of a group of terrorists on August 21, 1902. Once free, Meir Wallach flees through Germany to Switzerland in the city of Rhine.
On February 9, 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began. In the fall of 1904, Meir Wallach, changing passports and addresses, traveled around the Volga region, even appeared in Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Baltic states, everywhere he agitated workers for disrupting military supplies for the Russian army - he campaigned against the war.
Historical background: 1907 Summary of terrorism in Russia for September 1907
Statistics on terrorist attacks for the past month of September.
St. Petersburg, October 16, 1907. - Police statistics published today regarding terrorism during the month of September show that 34 people were executed, that 207, including 73 officials, were killed, and 172 people were wounded in various clashes. The statistics do not include victims in anti-Semitic riots in Odessa, Rostov and Simferopol. Police report 163 armed attacks on buildings or government officials and 34 thefts from ammunition and explosives depots.
A report from St. Petersburg was reprinted by the New York Times on October 17, 1907.
London Congress of the RussianSocial-DemocratsWorkers' Party 1907
G.
April 30 -- May 19 Art. Art. (party name)
Obviously, this congress was a report to the customer for the work already done and the customer setting new tasks. Such congresses of terrorists, fascists and Nazis are always something of a show. The customer hears candidates and those who meet its criteria receive further funding. This is how the composition of the future fascists of World War II was determined at a congress in Montreux (Switzerland) in 1934 - Hitler was the standard model, and the rest were chosen - Mussolini and Co.
And in 1915 - in Switzerland there was a congress of ornithologists - revolutionaries for Russia and Germany (38 ornithologists)
Let's return to the 1907 convention in London. The customer chose from all the terrorists presented at the congress those who satisfied him. From a large list I chose a small part. This small part received the most votes from experts in London and they were called "Bolsheviks". Among these same Bolsheviks, the now famous Nikolai Lenin appears, whose real name is not known even today - it is not legally established (Jacob Richter). It was in London that the governing body of the terrorist Jewish underground was formed - after the closing of the congress, the so-called BC (Bolshevik center) was elected to lead the further work of the Bolsheviks, which subsequently played the role of the Bolshevik Central Committee.
The next time this composition of the Bolsheviks will gather in April-May 1917. According to the documents of the history of the CPSU party, it is held as a congress of the RSDLP, but the congress is not found in the newspapers. There is a congress of Zionists - 1500 delegates, where the Jews decided to create Soviets throughout Russia - in their own composition, of course. The management structure is the same team that was formed in London.
What did Litvinov do? Litvinov opened a private arms sales office in Paris back in 1906 and began placing orders at European factories. During negotiations with the Danes, he pretended to be an officer of the Ecuadorian army. One day, while ordering rifle cartridges in Karlsruhe Mauser 98, he encountered the Russian government's acceptance committee. And he had to participate in tests at the shooting range along with Russian officers, and then go drink beer. Litvinov diligently shouted: “Russ karosh!”, and the officers invited the “mysterious foreigner” to stay in St. Petersburg. However, this game did not hide from the eyes of the royal secret police. “He gives the impression of an artist,” it was written in the next police report on him. What an impression, he really was an artist!
For five years he traveled all over Europe, illegally made his way to Russia, returned again, sent weapons, and no secret police could take him. Finally, Nicholas's ambassador II in France he wrote an official letter to the Parisian prefect, and in November 1908 Litvinov was arrested in Paris. His detention caused a lot of noise, the press demanded the release of the fighter against tyranny, and in the end he was released, but was strongly recommended to leave France. Litvinov left for London.
In London he is introduced to his future leader Georgy Chicherin (p. about Mother Meyendorff). Chicherin then, too, on the run from Russia, and then later he would be appointed commissar and people's commissar of foreign affairs of the USSR. On Sundays at the house of the London businessman Feigelson, Litvinov was a frequent guest. Chicherin, Litvinov and Simon John Alsobrook, who became British Foreign Secretary in the 1930s, dined together at the table.
In London, Litvinov met his future wife, Ivy Lowe, a young “English” writer who was Jewish.
On January 3, 1918, the Soviet government appointed Litvinov as plenipotentiary representative of the Russian Soviet Republic in England.
“I had to literally start from scratch. A sign was hung on the doors of the embassy with the inscription: “Russian People's Embassy.” I myself appropriated the title “Russian People's Ambassador.” All these names were my own invention,” Litvinov quotes his biographer Zinovy Sheinis .
In October Meir Wallach returned to Russia and became an employee of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs under the name Litvinov. It was a time of robberies and robberies of Jewish commissars. People were taken hostage, and ransom was demanded from children. If the ransom was not given, then the “bourgeois” was shot. The standard practice was to grab all decently dressed people on the street and demand a ransom of 60,000 rubles (price in Kyiv). The children cried, dad was shot - the whole family was killed. Nobody cares - the new Jewish elite exterminated the entire ruling class - class struggle. It was not the Jews who invented this - the English practice of revolutions.
In November 1919, Litvinov went to Copenhagen to negotiate the release of Russian prisoners of war who had accumulated in Western Europe after the end of the First World War - 250,000 soldiers and officers. The prisoners were starving. The emigrants delivered parcels to the prisoners as best they could. Then, in 1920, all reports about prisoners in newspapers stopped and their fate is still unknown.
On the eve of departure, Litvinov ordered his assistants to wear wide dresses with frills for the trip. Diamonds from the royal treasury were sewn into the hem and flounces in order to sell them in Copenhagen for foreign currency. Everyone fed from the loot. For example, American journalist John Reed was caught with diamonds and gold while trying to travel to the USA - he was trying to hide from inspection in a coal bunker on a ship to America. John Reed had everything confiscated and was threatened with imprisonment for 5 years for smuggling. US and Soviet diplomats came for him and took him away from “captivity”, but he managed to serve three months (John Reed is buried on Red Square in Moscow - press service of the occupiers).
In July 1930, Litvinov took the post of People's Commissar instead of Chicherin, who went abroad. The new People's Commissar's "finest hour" happened during his Washington mission in 1933. American newspapers then wrote about “the historic meeting between Roosevelt and Litvinov, where a rapprochement allegedly took place between the two powers.”
The Anglo-Saxons prepared two captured colonies - Russia and Germany - for battle with each other with the goal of genocide of the Slavs, the white race of the continent. The Germans are actually Slavs too - an anti-Russian project - 300 years earlier than the Ukrainian anti-Russian project.
Litvinov encountered resistance from Molotov and Stalin, to whom an alliance with Germany seemed strategically more advantageous. This was an attempt to block the impending war!
On the morning of May 4, 1939, the building of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs was surrounded by NKVD troops. Molotov and Beria arrived and announced to Litvinov that he had been relieved of his post. They extracted testimony against Litvinov from the People's Commissariat employees, but he, contrary to his own and everyone's expectations, was not arrested. He was allowed to go to the dacha, however, on the same day the government telephone number was turned off and the security was changed, removing people personally loyal to him from the disgraced former People's Commissar - so staying at the dacha is more like house arrest. Many years later, in his memoirs, Nikita Khrushchev admits: “Litvinov should have been killed on the way to the dacha. There is such a bend there at the entrance to his dacha, and it was in this place that they wanted to carry out the assassination attempt.”
Why did Stalin still save Litvinov’s life? Perhaps because of a personal attitude. It is not for nothing that in response to Litvinov’s direct question whether you consider me an enemy of the people, “the leader of all progressive humanity” replied: “We do not consider me an enemy of the people. We consider Papa an honest revolutionary.” And perhaps because Litvinov was widely known in the world and enjoyed authority and influence. This is how, by the way, Winston Churchill himself characterized his resignation: “Litvinov’s removal marked the end of an entire era. It means the Kremlin’s refusal of the security pact with the Western powers, the refusal of the possibility of creating a front against Germany. The Jew Litvinov left, and Hitler’s main prejudice was eliminated.”
Without killing Litviny, Stalin simply decided to hold on to a valuable diplomatic cadre for the future as a consultant - who is who in the gang of the West - Litvinov obviously began to cooperate. That is why Stalin saved the life of the disgraced People's Commissar, because as soon as the war began, Litvinov was immediately returned to the People's Commissariat in the status of deputy head of the department, already headed by Molotov. And in November 1941, Litvinov was unexpectedly sent by Stalin personally to the United States with the mission of hastening the Americans to support the USSR in World War II.
Litvinov successfully negotiated c Americans and achieved the start of supplies of weapons, food and medicine under Lend-Lease. However, in April 1943 he was suddenly recalled to Moscow. The reason for this should probably be sought in information leaked to the USSR about his meetings with US Deputy Secretary of State Sumner Welles and his possible conspiracy.
Litvinov was constantly afraid and every night he put a revolver next to him - he decided that he would shoot himself, but would not allow himself to be arrested. Or kill the attackers if they come to kill. Once he did everything to arm the new government, but now he had to arm himself to protect himself from it. He didn't sleep well!
His other accomplices in Jewish terrorism were much less fortunate - torture, executions, camps. Litvinov happily escaped repression and even served as deputy people's commissar until 1946, but the country's leadership was no longer interested in his opinion. “The Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave.” Many wanted his death, but Litvinov died in 1951 in his bed, surrounded by his loving family. True, only relatives and the driver came to honor the memory of the great Soviet People's Commissar. This is the official version of the story of his death. What really happened? For example, the US Ambassador to the USSR simply fell off his horse while already in the USA and no one learned the secrets of the organization of World War II.
For example: The US Ambassador to Libya was killed right under the video recording, so that there was no one to tell about the organization of the attack on Libya by the allied gang of the US, England and France. Standard stripping.
After World War I, Europe was cleaned by 800 officers from England and the United States, and after World War II, up to 1,200 officers cleaned up traces of preparations for war. For the same purposes, organizations work with names such as “Society for the Memory of Veterans of the Second World War” or “Institute of War History” or “Civil Society in the Struggle for Peace”, “Society for the Memory of Children of War”, etc. Grants are given to historians to study archives on given topics, and everything they find is confiscated and destroyed.
Example: The Institute of the USA and Canada in Moscow is an intelligence service of the Anglo-Saxons in Russia, and not the “Center for the Study of the USA and Canada”.
Personal life of a Jewish terrorist:
Litvinov lived in a civil marriage with Frida Yampolskaya, a colleague in revolutionary activities. Then in 1916 he married Ivy Lowe (English Ivy Lowe, 1889-1977), the daughter of Jewish revolutionary emigrants from Hungary, a writer who wrote under her husband’s name (Ivy Litvinov). Ivy Low taught English at the Military Academy. M. Frunze. In 1972 she went to England, where she died. His daughter Tatyana is a famous translator, his grandson Pavel is an active participant in the dissident movement in the USSR - apparently England took in the support of the son of its terrorist agent. In the 80s, the US and British embassies actively visited all the children of their former Jewish agents and offered to continue working like their parents. Not all, but many continued this work. We see the grandson of Zemlyachka and other children of Jewish commissars again in the ranks of the Jewish bandit underground.
Articles on the topic - Lenin:
Stalin: Experience of extermination of the revolutionaries of the West
WW2, WW3. Khazaria. War in Ukraine (2014-2015)
Nikolai Lenin 1917 - English Jew, citizen of England
The corpse of V.I. Lenin in the mausoleum is an American Jew, a US citizen, see:
4th International Conference of Forensic Science. January 30-31, 2013. MSYUA. Moscow. CNEAT report: “Falsification of documents by the US occupation regime in Russia” (Lenin is not Ulyanov, World War I and World War II, Civil War, famines and deportations - 28 minutes of video). 2013 http://www.cneat.ru/lenin-konf.html
Interview with Litvinov about the experiment in Russia
Interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the occupation regime in Russia
EDWIN H. JAMES. Special correspondent for the New York Times. PARIS, March 23, 1920. Litvinov, the Bolshevik Plenipotentiary in Copenhagen, made the following statement about Bolshevik foreign policy:
"We have problems with Yudenich, Denikin and Kolchak because they lead people who are against us. We do not want to take revenge or attack anyone. We leave all the small republics that have arisen around us absolutely free to accept the regime they love We respect the right of every country to freely manage its own affairs.
"But on the other hand, we demand a similar attitude towards ourselves. We need to be left in the world in order to resolve among us directly our social experiment. If our experiment succeeds, other nations will follow us. If it fails, we will be required to try another method. In any case, neither should collide with us. That's all we ask.
"If we receive this formal guarantee that there will be no foreign interference that we give on our part, then on our part we give guarantees that we will not seek to interfere in the internal politics of other states. We make this offer in good faith. We do not want any foreign alliances, but we will attack anyone and disarm them as soon as possible in order to free ourselves from the threat.
"We are committed pacifists. We had to fight because the fight was not caused by us, but we strive to stop armed attack."
"* We wish to resume normal commercial relations with other countries. Europe has a need for Russian raw materials, and we have a need to manufacture goods in return."
"We are ready to acknowledge Russian debentures of former loans with interest. We also solemnly declare that we will repel any secret German advances while seeking an alliance against the Treaty of Nations. We do not wish to hear talk of any combination and attempts at all."
“The only military danger that forces us to keep our army is Polish imperialism, which is supported by German militarists. We offer a loyal peace to Poland, but we will not accept conditions that include the border Russian population in Poland on the grounds that they are protecting themselves from Bolshevism Neighboring peoples who do not wish to accept Bolshevism are independent republics, which we will respect. But a foreign nation has no right to impose a protectorate on former Russian territory."
Litvinov summed up the Bolshevik program in the following seven points:
1. Recognition of the Republic of Soviets.
2. Freedom of development in the world and usually within the boundaries of its social experiment.
3. Guarantees given by the Soviets that they will not interfere in the internal politics of other nations.
4. Mutual and serious guarantees to that effect.
5. Resumption of economic relations.
6. Disarmament of the Red Army as soon as peace is established.
7. Recognition of previous Russian debts and loans.
____________________
Experiment in Libya - skipping
____________________
Experiment in Ukraine
Experiment Washington has cost Ukraine too dearly. Ukraine has gone from political crisis to humanitarian disaster, failing to recover from the US-induced change of power in February 2014, writes Salon columnist Patrick Smith.
The most egregious example of the imposition of American policy led to devastating consequences - numerous casualties, the division of the nation and the destruction of the Ukrainian economy. Today's events show that the country's woes are far from over. In Kyiv, the political struggle has flared up in earnest, corruption is rampant and far-right groups are rampant, the journalist notes.
WW2. THE BATTLE FOR MOSCOW and Jewish falsifications - explains the army historian
Radio broadcast, Russian historian explains to all citizens of Russia.
Zhukov tried to surrender Moscow. Stalin to Zhukov: “Do you have shovels at the command post? Dig your own graves!” etc.
The essence of the falsifications is the opposite: “Either hide the heroes of the people or expose them as traitors, and expose nonentities and traitors as heroes. So that the people lose their guidelines and have nothing to be proud of, in order to cause despair and powerlessness among the people!”
Foreign Ministers
MM. Litvinov ~ Tomb of M.M. Litvinova ~ M.M. Litvinov
* Litvinov was buried on January 4, 1952. The day before, a short obituary appeared in Pravda. It was reported that the coffin with the body of the deceased was installed in the conference hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was bitterly cold. People came with flowers. But someone said that flowers are not needed. A wreath from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was placed on the coffin. The old Bolsheviks, Litvinov's comrades-in-arms, collected money for the wreath. But a man appeared in civilian clothes, with a military bearing. He said: “There is an opinion that there is no need for a wreath from the old Bolsheviks.” The money was returned.
Many people gathered at the Novodevichy cemetery, but the gates were closed. Someone asked: “Who is being buried?” They answered him: “Dad.”
Sixteen years have passed since Litvinov's death. The Soviet country, having gone through many trials and won historic victories, celebrated its 50th anniversary. That year, a granite stele with a bas-relief was installed on Litvinov’s grave. The sculptor accurately conveyed his appearance: soft facial features and a sharp gaze directed to the future.
(c) 3noviy Shanis. Moscow, 1968
Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich (1876 - 1951) - 75 years
2nd People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR (July 21, 1930 - December 5, 1936)
Predecessor: Gergiy Vasilievich Chicherin
1st People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR (December 5, 1936 - May 3, 1939)
Successor: Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov
Preface (can be read)
(c) A.I. Mikoyan. Moscow, 1968
Necessary introduction
In 1966, work on the book “Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov” was completed. The editors of central magazines showed great interest in the book and began publishing chapters.
In 1968, some more chapters and fragments of the book were published. Then came a break that lasted eighteen years. Only in 1986 did things move forward. One after another, chapters appeared in the journal of the Academy of Sciences “New and Contemporary History”, and fragments in other press organs.
After these publications, I began to receive letters from old Bolsheviks who knew Litvinov. Former diplomats and party leaders were interested in my work, people of different ages and professions called.
(c) Z. Sheinis
Non-Iron People's Commissar
© Nikolay Starikov
Why is life so unfair? Felix Dzerzhinsky was embodied in bronze, but our hero was not. But Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov was by no means an ordinary Bolshevik. People's Commissar. And the story about the ups and downs of world politics on the eve of World War II cannot be complete without his figure. And the history of our revolution, at the mention of this man, begins to shimmer with interesting colors.
The real name of our hero is Meer-Genoch Movshevich Wallach. Member of the RSDLP since 1898, was in prison, escaped. Among the Bolsheviks, he specialized in the purchase and supply of weapons to Russia. This area is very specific, requiring acquaintances in areas related to the intelligence services of various countries. Who did our hero work with? The strongest then, and perhaps even now, was British intelligence. And indeed, all the revolutionary activities of Litvinov, who imported weapons to Russia, were connected with Great Britain. From London in the summer of 1905, he sent the John Grafton steamship to Russia, filled to the brim with rifles, revolvers and explosives. Only by luck (it ran aground off the Finnish coast) did this ship not deliver its terrible cargo to its destination. At least all of it. But what was removed from the stuck ship was more than enough. The militants of Krasnaya Presnya, who fought against the “damned tsarism” in December 1905, were armed with Swiss-made rifles, which were never in service with the Russian army. But those who sailed on the steamer John Grafton...
Did the first attempt to blow up Russia from within end in failure? No, it was just a different task. Following the results of the war with Japan and the outbreak of unrest, the Russian Empire entered the Entente in the summer of 1907, signing an agreement with its worst enemy - the British Empire. This fatal event will enable the British to provoke the First World War, separating Russia and Germany on opposite sides of the barricades.
Therefore, having organized the failed supply of weapons to Russia, Comrade Litvinov felt quite confident. After the end of the first Russian revolution, he, as befits a true revolutionary, was again abroad. In 1908, he was arrested in France in connection with the armed robbery of a Tiflis treasury carriage. The Leninists tried to exchange the stolen 500 rubles. banknotes that Kamo obtained for them. But trouble happened: the tsarist authorities reported the banknote numbers to all European banks. Comrade Litvinov was captured with such a banknote. I don’t know thoroughly what the punishment for selling stolen goods is according to French laws of that time. I think that this crime is punishable by imprisonment. But our hero was not imprisoned. Did the fiery Bolshevik have a good lawyer? Perhaps, but even better were the accused’s connections in the intelligence services. Our hero was expelled from France to... England. Why not to Russia? And who will fight with Russia if comrades expelled from cozy Europe are imprisoned in their homeland? So they send Maxim Maksimovich to the capital of Great Britain, where he will be completely safe.
Does this remind you of anything? A hundred years have passed, but everything is the same!
Litvinov will remain in Albion until October. But the Bolsheviks took power, and Lenin immediately appointed Litvinov as plenipotentiary representative of Soviet Russia in Great Britain. At the very beginning of Bolshevik rule, it was not about trade, but about survival. And England’s position is key in determining who will win the Russian Civil War. Lenin’s logic is very simple - for someone who purchased weapons thanks to connections with British intelligence, it will be much easier for him to come to an agreement with the British.
From then on, all the energy of Comrade Litvinov will be used exclusively in the diplomatic field. First, he is the Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Then - People's Commissar. And what’s interesting: for almost ten years, during the most terrible years of repression, the USSR Foreign Ministry was headed by a man... married to an Englishwoman. It turns out that Litvinov married Ivy Lowe in 1916, and lived without problems in the Stalinist USSR, having a foreign wife. Is it really interesting?
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR has an English wife. Before that he was a representative of the Bolsheviks in London. Even earlier, he purchased weapons and transported them to Russia from England. It would be correct to say that he is a man of Anglo-Saxon orientation. In modern language - a Westerner. To be completely honest, he is an agent of influence. And such a comrade, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, holds NINE YEARS (1930-1939) in a key foreign policy post? At the height of repression?
Who else will say that the USSR did not try to come to an agreement with the West? To come to an amicable agreement...
But Great Britain didn’t need any kindness. And Adolf Hitler is literally being dragged to power in Germany by the hair. The West restores German power, gives the Fuhrer “fearing” Austria and Czechoslovakia, gently leading the possessed Adolf to the Russian border. To work off capital investments is to destroy the USSR. All attempts to reach an agreement with the West are unsuccessful. The USSR delegation was not invited to the Munich Agreement in the fall of 1938 at all. What remains for Stalin? Just come to an agreement with Hitler. On May 3, 1939, Stalin removes Litvinov from his post.
When assessing this event, historians place the wrong emphasis. The main thing is not the People's Commissar's Jewish origin, but his 100% pro-English orientation. By removing the “great friend” of the British, Stalin really gave Hitler an unambiguous signal. In the same way, the resignation of the “pro-British” Litvinov should have prompted London to more active contacts with the USSR if the British really wanted to keep Moscow from an agreement with Berlin.
The memories are interesting of HOW Litvinov behaved after his resignation. He was summoned by Molotov, who had just become People's Commissar instead of our hero. Sit and talk. Casually I asked: what chair would Maxim Maksimovich like to occupy? “Yours,” Litvinov answered without blinking an eye...
But the career of the former People's Commissar did not end there. Further appointments confirm the thesis about his closeness to Anglo-Saxon politicians and intelligence agencies. Left out of work, Litvinov lived in a dacha near Moscow. But as soon as Hitler attacked the USSR, Stalin sent Litvinov as ambassador to the United States to arrange supplies of military materials vital to the Soviet Union. Litvinov would spend the entire critical period of the war until 1943 overseas, and only when the star of Hitler’s Reich began to set would he return to his homeland with a clear conscience. To leave our sinful land on the frosty day of January 31, 1951, without waiting for his bronze statue.
(Details in the books “From the Decembrists to the Mujahideen” and “Who Made Hitler Attack Stalin”)
Here is a historical moment: the signing of a concession agreement for the Lena mines
We are talking about the company "Lena Goldfields" (c) nstarikov
From right to left: Commissioner of the Supreme Council of National Economy (VSNKh) F.E. Dzerzhinsky, Deputy People's Commissar M.M. Litvinov, member of the Main Concession Committee A.E. Minkin, head of the foreign department of the Supreme Economic Council M.G. Gurevich, head of the legal department of the Main Concession Committee Stepukhovich, director of the Lena Goldfields company Gwynne, attorney professor A.M. Worme, secretary of the society V. Lopukhina. Moscow 1925.
Immediately after our revolution, which was made with the active financial and organizational support of the bankers behind the scenes, the process of leasing Russia to foreign “investors” began.
Back then it was called a “concession”. Even before the revolution, gold mines on the Lena River belonged to the English company Lena Goldfields. The new government did not find anything better than allowing the British to wash gold again.
This is why the revolution was made, to extract the resources of Russia without any regard for the laws of the sovereign Russian Empire. The owners of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England sought to recoup the money allocated for the collapse of Russia with interest.
The area of the concession received by the British covered a vast territory from Yakutia to the eastern slopes of the Ural ridge. A whole complex of mining and metallurgical enterprises was placed at the disposal of Lena Goldfields: Revdinsky, Bisertsky, Seversky metallurgical plants, Degtyarskoye and Zyuzelskoye copper deposits, Revdinsky iron mines, Egorshinsky coal mines.
According to the production sharing agreement, the people's share of the mined precious metal was 7%. As much as seven percent! And the share of the British company Lena Goldfields was a pitiful 93%.
Pay attention to WHO signs the documents. I hope there is no need to remind you which structure was headed by “Iron Felix”: OGPU-VChK.
From the Soviet government - contracts are signed by the head of the secret service.
From the banking behind the scenes - Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov.
I have already written about this fiery Bolshevik.
But the figure of Litvinov is so important that in my new book “Nationalization of the Ruble”, I devoted a whole chapter to this character.
Why? Because this is the “Chubais” of that time. And it was he who was involved in the “privatization” of the natural resources of our country.
Stalin closed this entire shop immediately after Trotsky was expelled in 1929. “Lena Goldfields” did not wash the little gold for long – only 4 years.
Joseph Vissarionovich closed the shop. But Litvinov remained.
Group of participants at the Third Congress of the RSDLP in London in 1905. 04/27/1905
From the collections of the Central Museum of the USSR Revolution in Moscow
Delegate to the 3rd Congress of the RSDLP (1905); participated in the organization of the first legal Bolshevik newspaper “Novaya Zhizn” in St. Petersburg: he was responsible for the publishing activities of the newspaper, which was formally published M. F. Andreeva, and supervised the work Maxim Gorky. The publishing house was located in Lopatin's house, November - December 1905 V. I. Lenin I visited the publishing house almost every day.
During the revolution of 1905-1907, Litvinov was engaged in the purchase and supply of weapons to Russia for revolutionary organizations. For this purpose, he organized a special bureau in Paris with the help of Camo and several other Caucasian comrades. In the summer of 1905, on Nargen Island near Revel, Litvinov prepared to receive the English steamer John Grafton, filled to the brim with weapons and dynamite. The ship did not reach its destination because it ran aground. In 1906, having purchased a large batch of weapons for the Caucasian revolutionaries, Litvinov, with the help of the Macedonian revolutionary Naum Tyufekchiev, delivered them to Varna, Bulgaria. For further transportation of weapons across the Black Sea to the Caucasus, Litvinov bought a yacht in Fiume. However, due to a storm, the yacht sent by Litvinov ran aground off the Romanian coast, the crew fled, and the weapons were stolen by Romanian fishermen. Due to the shipwreck, these two cases became known, but how many ships with weapons reached their destination remains a mystery.
From 1907 he lived in exile. In 1907 he was secretary of the RSDLP delegation at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart. In 1908 he was arrested in France in connection with a robbery case in Tiflis committed by Kamo in 1907 (he tried to exchange banknotes stolen during the robbery). France deports Litvinov to Great Britain. He will spend ten years in London.
With the assistance of the director of the London library, Charles Wright, Litvinov got a job at the publishing company Williams and Norgate. Received British citizenship. In 1912, Litvinov lived in London at number 30 Harrington Street. He was secretary of the London Bolshevik group and secretary of the Herzen circle.
In June 1914 he became a representative of the Central Committee of the RSDLP in the International Socialist Bureau. In February 1915 he spoke on behalf of the Bolsheviks at the international socialist conference in London.
House in London, where the plenipotentiary representative of Soviet Russia Maxim Litvinov lived in 1918
After the October Revolution
The revolution found M. M. Litvinov in London. From January to September 1918 he was the diplomatic representative of Soviet Russia in Great Britain (from January he was the authorized representative of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, from June he was the plenipotentiary representative of the RSFSR).
Caricature of Litvinov from a Russian emigrant newspaper from the 1930s
Initially, the British government did not officially recognize his powers, but maintained informal contacts with Litvinov, assigning one of the Foreign Ministry officials, Reginald Leeper, through whom Litvinov could convey to Balfour whatever he deemed necessary.
When in January 1918 the British government sent Robert Bruce Lockhart to Soviet Russia as its representative, he hastened to get in touch with Litvinov and met him in a restaurant. At the request of their mutual friend F.A. Rothstein, Litvinov wrote a letter of recommendation to Trotsky for Lockhart, which read:
« Comrade Trotsky, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.Litvinov himself recalled this period of work: “What were my relations with the English government and the English public? In this regard, two periods differ sharply: before and after the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace. Before the conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk Peace, the attitude towards me of official and unofficial England was, given the time and the circumstances are comparatively favorable."
Dear comrade,
the bearer of this, Mr. Lockhart, is sent to Russia on an official mission, the exact nature of which I am little acquainted with. I know him personally as a completely honest man who understands our situation and sympathizes with us. I consider his trip to Russia useful from the point of view of our interests... Yours, M. Litvinov. »
Litvinov made an attempt to liquidate the old Russian embassy, headed by K.D., which continued to exist in London. Nabokov, whose employees did not recognize Soviet power and refused to work with Trotsky. He sent an employee to Nabokov with a letter, demanding that Chesham House (the embassy building) be handed over to him, but was refused.
It is interesting that in the summer of 1918 M. M. Litvinov was supposed to be sent by the official representative of the USSR to the USA; Lenin even signed him the corresponding credentials of the Council of People's Commissars on June 21, 1918, but the USA refused him a visa.
On September 6, 1918, Litvinov was arrested in response to the arrest of the English diplomat Lockhart in Russia. After spending 10 days in Brixton prison, Litvinov was released, and a month later the countries organized an exchange of these diplomats.
Upon returning to Russia in November 1918, Litvinov was introduced to the board of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR.
Leadership of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs
1. G.V. Chicherin - People's Commissar (1918-1930). 2. M.M. Litvinov - deputy. People's Commissar 3. Kh.G. Rakovsky - deputy. People's Commissar and Charge d'Affaires of England. 4. L.M. Karakhan - member of the NKID board and plenipotentiary representative in China. 5. Coop - member of the board. 6. Rothstein - member of the board. 7. B.I.Rabinovich - ex. business 8. A.A. Stange - head. dept. central Europe. 9. S.B. Kogan - head. English novel. department. 10. Pastukhov - head of department. Middle East. 11. Zuckerman - head of department. Middle East. 12 Dukhovskoy - head of department. Far East. 13. E.V.Rubinin - head of department. Baltic states. 14. A.V.Sabanin. 15. V.I. Shenshev - head. dept. 16. Florinsky - head. protocol part.
In December 1918, at the direction of Lenin, he was sent to Stockholm, from where he tried to establish contacts with representatives of the Entente, and at the beginning of 1919 he returned to Moscow. In March 1919, Litvinov participated in negotiations with the American representative William Bullitt, who came to Soviet Russia. In November 1919, Litvinov went to Copenhagen, where he negotiated with the British representative O'Grady, which ended with the signing of a British-Soviet agreement on the exchange of prisoners on February 12, 1920. People's Commissar Chicherin highly appreciated Litvinov's activities in Copenhagen in 1920: “... he is the only serious political control over the delegation, and without it there will be no control over it; in general, his stay abroad is of invaluable importance for us, he alone gives us constant, remarkably insightful information about every beat of the pulse of world politics. At the beginning of 1920, Litvinov was included in the Soviet trade mission heading to Great Britain, he was recognized as a “persona non grata” (undesirable person) and could not go to London. In 1920, he was appointed plenipotentiary representative of the RSFSR in Estonia, the only country at that time. established diplomatic relations with the USSR.
From May 10, 1921 to 1930, Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR (from 1923 - USSR) G.V. Chicherina.
Concurrently, Litvinov was a member of the board of the People's Commissariat of State Control and deputy chairman of the Main Concession Committee. In 1922 he was part of the Soviet delegation at the Genoa Conference.
Litvinov and Vorovsky. 04/09/1922
Soviet diplomats Maxim Litvinov (left) and Vaclav Vorovsky (right)
while working at the Genoa Conference
Soviet diplomats at the international conference in Genoa. 04/17/1922
From left to right: M. M. Litvinov, V. V. Vorovsky, S. S. Pilyavsky, L. B. Krasin
In December 1922, he chaired the disarmament conference in Moscow, where Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland were invited.
Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR M.M. Litvinov. Moscow. 1925
Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov, Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR G.V. Chicherina,
during the signing of the Russian-German treaty
Chicherin and Litvinov meet the French Ambassador. 03/13/1925
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin (right) and Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov (left)
meeting the first French Ambassador to the USSR Jean Herbat (center)
Litvinov talks with Erbet. 02.10.1925
Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M. M. Litvinov
talks with the French Ambassador to the USSR J. Herbet
Litvinov receives the Italian Ambassador. 12/01/1927
receives the first Italian Ambassador to the USSR Vittorio Ceruti (center)
In 1927-1930 was the head of the Soviet delegation to the preparatory commission of the League of Nations for disarmament.
In 1930-1939, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR. He headed the Soviet delegations to the conference. League of Nations for Disarmament (1932), on Peace. econ. conf. in London (1933), in 1934-1938 he represented the USSR in the League of Nations.
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Maxim Litvinov. 03/01/1931 and 04/01/1931
In October 1931, M.M. Litvinov visited Turkey
On October 26, in an interview with representatives of the Turkish press, he stated: “Soviet-Turkish friendship dates back to the first days of the existence of the USSR and new Turkey. This friendship has existed for over 10 years. As for the Union, I can assure the Turkish press, and through it the Turkish people, that his policy of friendly relations with Turkey is deeply embedded in his foundations and follows from the essence of his foreign policy. Hence the immutability and sincerity of his relations towards Turkey.”
On April 26, 1932, a Turkish government delegation led by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Turkey, Ismet İnönü, arrived in the Soviet Union on an official visit.
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR M. M. Litvinov with his wife
Moscow. 10/19/1934.
Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov and Romain Rolland. 09/01/1935
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov (left)
and French writer Romain Rolland (right) on Red Square
Members of the Soviet government watch the parade of athletes
on Red Square. 05/01/1936
From left to right: People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR Maxim Litvinov, Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR Mikhil Kalinin, General Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Comintern Georgy Dimitrov, People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR Kliment Voroshilov and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks Joseph Stalin
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov. 1937
A. Kollontai and M. Litvinov. 04/16/1937
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR Maxim Litvinov meets at Tushino airfield in Moscow
Swedish Foreign Minister Rickard Sandler
MM. Litvinov, M.I. Kalinin, Ambassador of the Chinese Republic to the USSR Yan Dze. 1938
Exhibition of photographs by Emlen Knight-Davis, daughter of the US Ambassador to the USSR Joseph Davis, US Ambassador to the USSR in 1937-1938
Joseph Davis, Joseph Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov
Reception in honor of US Independence Day. Joseph Davis and Maxim Litvinov
A trip to lunch with the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M.M. Litvinov
At the end of April 1939, Litvinov was summoned to Stalin. Here is how the then plenipotentiary representative in England Ivan Maisky testifies to this: “For the first time I saw how the relationship developed between Litvinov, Stalin and Molotov. The situation at the meeting was tense to the limit. Although Stalin looked outwardly calm, puffed on his pipe, it was felt that he was determined to Litvinov was extremely unfriendly. And Molotov went on a rampage, constantly attacking Litvinov, accusing him of all mortal sins.”
On the night of May 3-4, 1939, the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs building was cordoned off by NKVD troops. In the morning, Molotov, Malenkov and Beria informed Litvinov of his removal from the post of People's Commissar. Half a century later, talking with the poet Felix Chuev, Molotov admitted: “In 1939, when Litvinov was removed and I came to foreign affairs, Stalin told me: “Get the Jews out of the People’s Commissariat.” The fact is that Jews constituted the absolute majority in the leadership there and among the ambassadors."
The remaining diplomats, at the direction of Stalin, began to be “developed”, collecting in various ways false compromising materials, ready to become an “accusation” in the high-profile “ambassador trial” planned at Lubyanka. Arrested on May 10, 1939, Gnedin (Gelfand), a member of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, during interrogations, after painful torture, signed what the investigators were asking for, namely: that “he is a member of a counter-revolutionary espionage group in the NKID system,” headed by Maxim Litvinov.
However, the “case of diplomats” fell apart for completely objective reasons. Started against Litvinov on May 4, 1939, it was secretly terminated in October of the same year. Stalin decided to limit himself to removing Litvinov from any activity. Litvinov was not only removed from his post, but also removed from the Central Committee.
Diplomat Maxim Litvinov. 09/01/1942
US Secretary of State Harry Hopkins at a meeting with Stalin. Summer 1941
The visit of the personal assistant to the US President Harry Hopkins in July 1941 played a certain role in Litvinov’s fate, when he conveyed to Stalin Roosevelt’s opinion that Litvinov’s return to duty and his arrival in the United States was extremely desirable. However, Stalin was in no hurry to satisfy Roosevelt's request. In those days, he needed a translator to talk with the English delegation. Litvinov knew English well, as well as German and French. But Stalin was dissatisfied - Litvinov came in a sweatshirt and when asked why he was not in a black suit, he answered: moths ate him. The next day he was enrolled in the staff of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. In the late autumn of 1941, during the most difficult days for Moscow, Stalin decided that Litvinov was urgently needed for the most important diplomatic mission in Washington. A special military plane took him from Kuibyshev to Moscow.
Maxim Litvinov & Cordell Hull. 06/11/1942
Before leaving the United States, Litvinov paid a visit to Sumner Welles, during which he criticized Stalin for his lack of understanding of the West, the Soviet system for its inflexibility, and especially his successor as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov. Retired since 1946.
Soviet diplomat Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov
At an evening at the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. 1946
At the end of 1951, he suffered another heart attack and died on December 31. His son Mikhail Litvinov told journalist Leonid Mlechin: “My father lay motionless for the last months; after a heart attack, a nurse was constantly next to him.”
He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Plans to kill Litvinov
As V. M. Berezhkov describes in his memoirs “How I became Stalin’s translator,” in a personal conversation, Stalin’s ally Mikoyan told him that Stalin himself allegedly ordered Litvinov’s death in a car accident as punishment for the latter giving advice to American diplomats on tougher negotiations with the USSR in the last years of the Second World War.
According to some reports, Sudoplatov’s group under the leadership of Beria was planning the murder of Litvinov, along with a number of other people (although it was not carried out). In his memoirs, Khrushchev wrote:
“They wanted to organize the murder of Litvinov in the same way. When they raised a number of documents after Stalin’s death and interrogated MGB workers, it turned out that Litvinov was supposed to be killed on the way from Moscow to the dacha. There is such a bend there at the entrance to his dacha, and it was in this place that they wanted to carry out the assassination attempt. I know this place well, because later I lived at that same dacha for some time. Stalin had a twofold motive for killing Litvinov. Stalin considered him an enemy, an American agent, as he always called all his victims agents, traitors to the Motherland, traitors and enemies of the people. Litvinov’s belonging to the Jewish nation also played a role.”Family
He lived in a civil marriage with Frida Yampolskaya, a comrade-in-arms in revolutionary activities.
Then in 1916 he married Ivy Lowe (1889-1978), the daughter of Jewish revolutionary emigrants from Hungary, a writer who wrote under her husband's last name (Ivy Litvinov). Ivy Low taught English at the Military Academy. M. Frunze. In 1972 she went to England, where she died. She maintained British citizenship throughout her life.
Ivy Valterovna Litvinova
Photos from the 20s - the time of her arrival in Russia
M.M. Litvinov's wife A. Low - Madame Maxim Litvinoff
English-born wife of the Soviet Ambassador to the US. 01/01/1942
M.M. Litvinov and A. Low had two children: son Mikhail, a mathematician and engineer, and daughter Tatyana, a famous translator.
The grandson of Maxim Maksimovich (son of Mikhail) Pavel Litvinov is an active participant in the dissident movement in the USSR.
Granddaughters of Maxim Maksimovich (daughter of Tatyana) Masha Slonim (Maria Ilyinichna Phillimore) - a British and Russian journalist, and Vera Chalidze (wife of human rights activist Valery Chalidze), both worked in the Russian service of the BBC.
Motor ship "Maxim Litvinov" A comfortable four-deck motor ship, built in Germany in 1991. Equipped with modern navigation instruments. Reconstructed in 2001.
One interesting excerpt from N. Starikov's book "Nationalization of the ruble. Path to freedom of Russia." She gives a vivid description of Stalin and the time in which the country lived and will live after Stalin.
Was it necessary to remove Litvinov? Necessarily. We must understand that this was a signal. The signal is not for H i t l e r ,
as historians write about this, bearing in mind the Jewish origin of the removed People's Commissar. This was a signal to Great Britain, a signal to the powers that be. Your representative has been removed. We need to negotiate with us on equal terms. Russia will not become a sheep for the slaughter in the West. Stalin's appeal to London was quite specific and clear. Just like his response to Churchill’s Fulton speech, when the head of the USSR spoke about an ultimatum, about which Sir Winston did not say a word in his speech. In the text of the decree on the release of M. M. Litvinov from the duties of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, it was written in black and white that he had taken “an erroneous position, especially in assessing the policies of England and France.”
The date of Litvinov's resignation is important from another point of view. This is a milestone. Stalin finally took control of his own country onlyMay 3, 1939. Not in 1929-1930, when he first exiled and then threw out Trotsky. Not in 1937, when he began to destroy agents of influence and conspirators. But only in May 1939, when he removed a protégé of the banking backroom from the post of People's Commissar. Whenever you have questions about why someone isn't doing something, just remember this date. Remember that Joseph Stalin took control of Russia only fifteen years after the struggle for that control began. Moreover, it seems like a struggle with like-minded people, with ardent revolutionaries, with the Leninist guard...
The removal of Litvinov is a real detective story. On the night of May 3-4, 1939, the Foreign Ministry building was cordoned off by NKVD troops. For what? After all, they are removing the People's Commissar, whose employees do not have weapons. What can they do? Beat the new People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Molotov, with folders? But Stalin perfectly understands the importance of what he is doing. And he sends not only Molotov to the “nest”, but also Beria and Malenkov. In the morning, all three informed Litvinov of his resignation. After which Maxim Maksimovich was sent to the dacha. And there was already a security platoon from the NKVD.
The government telephone was switched off. Quiet revolution. Then Molotov and Beria “get acquainted with the staff of the People’s Commissariat.” Most of Litvinov's deputies and heads of departments of the People's Commissariat, a group of his closest employees were arrested immediately. Please note - Stalin arrested the deputy, but did not touch Litvinov. He is extraterritorial. You can't touch him. These are the rules of behind-the-scenes games. Now do you understand why Anatoly Borisovich Chubais is beyond criticism, “outside space and time”? But the removed People's Commissar has assistants, deputies, third secretaries, drivers and other personnel. It is under such guises that intelligence officers and illegal immigrants always hide. Well, I hope you have no doubts about the fact that there should have been a whole dance of dark and inconspicuous personalities swirling around Maxim Maksimovich.
On May 3, 1939, the USSR regained its diplomatic sovereignty. But not a single hair should fall from Litvinov’s head. He's at the dacha. Resting. The “telephone,” that is, Litvinov himself, is not broken. It's just turned off. And wherever Maxim Maksimovich goes, people in civilian clothes follow him everywhere. Security? No, not security, but a convoy. An honorable convoy that looks like security. Only he doesn't listen to you...
Could removal from office somehow change Litvinov's attitude towards Stalin? Could it have changed his views? No. Stalin outplayed him, but Stalin is just Stalin. And Litvinov’s insolent behavior not only did not stop, but even intensified.
Shanice 3. WITH. Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov: revolutionary, diplomat, Human. M.: Publishing House of Political Literature, 1989. P. 363.
Personal matter
Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov(Meer-Genoch Moishevich Wallach, 1876 - 1951) was born in Bialystok, in the Kingdom of Poland, into the family of a bank employee. He graduated from a real school, after which in 1893 he entered the Russian army as a volunteer. Served in Baku. During his military service, he began to become interested in the books of Pisarev and Dobrolyubov, then moved on to reading Marx.
In 1896 he refused to shoot at striking workers. An officer who treated him well saved him from a military court, but he was forced to leave the army. He worked as an accountant in the city of Klintsy, then as a manager at a sugar factory in Kyiv. In 1898 he became a member of the RSDLP and chose the party nickname Litvinov, which later became his surname.
Participated in revolutionary activities in Kyiv, St. Petersburg, Riga and other cities. Arrested in 1901, a year later he and ten prisoners managed to escape from the Lukyanovskaya prison in Kyiv. He went to Switzerland illegally, where he was engaged in delivering the Iskra newspaper to Russia. After the Second Congress of the RSDLP he joined the Bolsheviks.
In 1903, Litvinov returned to Russia illegally. He became a member of the Riga Committee of the RSDLP and participated in the work of the Third Party Congress. In October 1905, Litvinov, together with Leonid Krasin, published the first legal Bolshevik newspaper “New Life” in St. Petersburg. In 1906, he fled abroad again, where he was responsible for purchasing weapons with “expropriated” money and transporting them to Russia. He returned to his homeland illegally again, but was tracked down by the police and fled. Since 1907, Litvinov became secretary of the London group of the RSDLP. He worked as an employee at the publishing company Williams and Norgate. He was a delegate from the RSDLP at the International Socialist Congress in Stuttgart. He was arrested in many European countries.
At the beginning of January 1918, Maxim Litvinov was appointed plenipotentiary representative of Soviet Russia in Great Britain, but the British authorities did not officially recognize his diplomatic status, just as the Bolshevik government did not recognize him. At the end of 1918, Litvinov was arrested and later exchanged for British diplomat Bruce Lockhart, who was arrested in Moscow.
In Russia, Litvinov became a member of the board of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR. In 1918-1919, he headed the Soviet mission in Copenhagen and negotiated to break the political blockade of the RSFSR. In early 1920, Litvinov was included in the Soviet trade mission to Great Britain, but was declared persona non grata. From the beginning of 1921 - Plenipotentiary Representative in Estonia, from May 1921 - Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the RSFSR. In 1922, deputy head of the Soviet delegation to the Genoa Conference, and then head of the delegation to the Hague Conference. In 1923, Litvinov successfully negotiated with England to lift the blockade of Soviet Russia, and signed trade agreements with Norway and Germany. From the mid-20s, he actually headed the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, since People's Commissar Chicherin, who was seriously ill, took less and less part in the work of the department. In 1930, Litvinov became the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR and was the USSR representative in the League of Nations. In 1933, he held successful negotiations to establish diplomatic relations with the United States. Since 1934 he became a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, and in 1936 he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
On May 3, 1939, he was removed from his post as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Litvinov's new diplomatic career began after the start of the Great Patriotic War. In September 1941, he participated in negotiations with representatives of the United States and Great Britain in Moscow on military supplies, and in November of the same year he was appointed Soviet ambassador to the United States. In 1942 - 1943 he was also the USSR envoy to Cuba. Returned to the Soviet Union in 1943. Retired since 1946.
What is he famous for?
Maxim Litvinov
In the 1920s - 1930s, Maxim Litvinov represented the Soviet Union abroad in various capacities. His activities were mainly aimed at overcoming the blockade of Soviet Russia. To achieve this, Litvinov actively used calls for the fight for peace, the need for disarmament and the prevention of a major war, and warned about the danger of fascism. Litvinov’s task was also to hide or present in a positive light the unsightly aspects of the USSR, primarily the “Great Terror” of the mid-1930s. Litvinov tried to present it to the world community as the successful elimination of a huge espionage and sabotage network created by Germany and Japan. At the same time, Litvinov had to coordinate any of his own initiatives with Stalin.
What you need to know
Litvinov's removal from the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs in 1939 is associated with a turn in the foreign policy of the USSR and a new course towards rapprochement with Nazi Germany. He could not participate in negotiations with Ribbentrop because he was a Jew. In addition, it was beneficial for Stalin to present his previous anti-German policy during the negotiations as the activity of Litvinov, who had already been dismissed. In August 1939, Hitler said that in the rapprochement with Soviet Russia, “Litvinov’s removal played a decisive role.”
Direct speech
“The first, main myth, which began to spread in the 30s by Western well-wishers, and later migrated into the vocabulary of the Soviet intelligentsia, who secretly or, much later, openly sympathized with the West, was that there supposedly was a “Litvinovsky foreign policy.” It was Litvinov who allegedly initiated the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the USA in 1933; it was at his suggestion that the USSR soon joined the international organization the League of Nations; It was he who proclaimed the Soviet course towards creating a system of collective security and coined the slogan “peace is indivisible” (it meant that aggressive military actions, starting in one area of the globe, would inevitably spread to other countries and continents). The list of initiatives attributed to Litvinov can be continued. Adherents of “Litvinov’s”, that is, peace-loving and pro-Western foreign policy, further refer to the fact that Litvinov lost real influence in the foreign policy sphere from the beginning of 1939, when Stalin decided to move closer to Hitler. At the same time, it is only mentioned in passing that Litvinov was a Jew. His pro-Western orientation, which in 1939 became unacceptable to the highest Soviet circles, is emphasized again and again. At the same time, the “Litvinovites” do not seem to notice the trap that they set for themselves: it turns out that it was not Litvinov, but someone else who really created the foreign policy of the USSR. To a lesser extent, but his stay in the United States as a Soviet ambassador in 1941-1943 also adds to Litvinov’s treasury of values. The initiatives and demarches that he undertook are scrupulously noted and counted. His activities actively contributed to the development of allied relations between the USSR and the overseas power in a joint war, and it is difficult to disagree with this. The myth of “Litvinov’s foreign policy” is superimposed on other, smaller rumors, legends, versions, the purpose of which is the same - at any cost to oppose Litvinov to the Soviet leadership as a whole and, above all, to the bloody dictator Stalin, to present Litvinov as almost a liberal. Litvinov's private conversations, malicious and hostile statements about him by Stalin's associates, in particular Molotov and Mikoyan, are being exaggerated and inflated in every possible way. Naturally, in the interpretation of those who sympathize with Litvinov, angry accusations on the merits of the case change their negative sign - they are transformed into objectively very positive characteristics.”
Georgy Chernyavsky
“Litvinov was kept as ambassador to the United States only because the whole world knew him. The man turned out to be very rotten. Throughout the war they negotiated bypassing him. Litvinov was completely hostile to us. Although he was smart and wonderful, they didn’t trust him. He deserved capital punishment from the proletariat. Any measure... Litvinov only remained alive by chance.”
Vyacheslav Molotov (based on the book by Felix Chuev “140 conversations with Molotov”)
“The first questions at each meeting of the Politburo are usually questions of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. People's Commissar Chicherin and his deputy Litvinov are usually present. ... Chicherin and Litvinov hate each other with ardent hatred. Not a month goes by without me receiving a “strictly secret, only to members of the Politburo” memo from both one and the other. Chicherin in these notes complains that Litvinov is a complete boor and ignoramus, a rude and dirty animal, who is undoubtedly a mistake to allow into diplomatic work. Litvinov writes that Chicherin is a pederast, an idiot and a maniac, an abnormal subject who works only at night, thereby disorganizing the work of the People's Commissariat; To this Litvinov adds picturesque details about the fact that all night a Red Army soldier from the internal security forces of the GPU stands guard at the door of Chicherin’s office, whom his superiors select so that there is no need to worry about his virtue. Members of the Politburo read these notes, smile, and things don’t go further than that.”
7 facts about Maxim Litvinov
- In addition to the pseudonym “Litvinov,” the revolutionary used a number of others: Felix, Papasha, Nits, Louvigne, Kuznetsov, Latyshev, Kazimir.
- He was married to the daughter of an English journalist; his wife, Ivy Walterna Lowe, retained English citizenship until the end of her life. In the USSR, she taught English at the Frunze Military Academy.
- During the Fifth Congress of the RSDLP in London, Stalin, having drunk in one of the pubs, got into a fight. Litvinov managed to persuade the arriving police not to detain him.
- In 1939 - 1940, the NKVD authorities were preparing charges against Litvinov, but the outbreak of war saved the former People's Commissar.
- There is some evidence that towards the end of the war the NKVD was developing a plan to kill Litvinov.
- Grandson of Maxim Litvinov, Pavel Mikhailovich Litvinov Discuss on social networks
Loading...