Litvinov was the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR in 1930-1939. During this period, the Soviet Union achieved the final recognition of the world community.
early years
The future People's Commissar Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich was born on July 17, 1876 in a Jewish family. Education, the boy received in a real school in Bialystok. Then followed five years of military service. The 17th Caucasian Infantry Regiment stationed in Baku became native to Litvinov.
In 1898, demobilization followed. Then Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich joined the RSDLP. After moving to Kiev, he became a member of the local party committee. An important part of Litvinov’s work was the arrangement of an illegal printing house, in which propaganda materials were printed. Leaflets and brochures were intended for local workers and peasants.
Arrest and flight from Russia
In 1901, the tsarist secret police tracked down Kiev socialists engaged in printing illegal materials. Arrests followed. Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich was in prison. But already in the following year, 1902, he, together with 10 more associates, fled from prison. Once free, the revolutionary emigrated to faraway Switzerland, which by that time had become the home of many party leaders. There Litvinov took up the usual thing. He became one of the key distributors of the Iskra newspaper to Russia.
In 1903, the famous Second Congress of the RSDLP took place, at which the party split into two factions - the Bolshevik and Menshevik. Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich joined Lenin and his supporters. At the same time, he maintained friendly and comradely relations with some Mensheviks, including Vera Zasulich, Leo Trotsky, Julius Martov, etc.
First revolution
Soon the long-awaited Russian revolution began. In 1905, the Bolsheviks, at the expense of their foreign money, organized the supply of weapons to proletarian organizations that opposed the authorities in Russia. This work was led, among others, by Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich. A brief biography of the party functionary at that time was an example of a person who was much involved in various administrative matters.
Rich experience allowed Litvinov to be in the most privileged elite in the future, who ruled the Soviet state on the basis of “collective power”. Sending weapons to Russia was a risky operation. Two ships, for the equipment of which Litvinov was responsible, eventually ran aground, and did not reach the ports.
In Great Britain
As a party organizer, Litvinov worked a lot with Kamo. This Bolshevik during the first Russian revolution was also responsible for the supply of weapons. When the popular uprising came to naught, Kamo began to engage in the usual illegal business. He replenished the cash desk of the party by robbing state institutions. So in 1907, the Tiflis expropriation was organized. It was attended by Koba - the future of Stalin.
Litvinov, like the other party comrades, used the money stolen from Russian banks. In 1908, he was arrested in France. The reason for the detention was stolen banknotes, which the Bolshevik tried to exchange. France sent Litvinov to the UK. The next ten years, until the next revolution, Litvinov lived in London.
The beginning of diplomatic activity
After the Bolsheviks came to power, the world community ambiguously reacted to the new Russian government. Britain refused to recognize the Soviet regime. However, this did not prevent countries from contacting through informal representatives. In London, Maksim Maksimovich Litvinov became so authorized. The Commissioner, the former head of the Soviet foreign ministry in the 30s, began his diplomatic career just then.
Litvinov’s choice was logical. He lived in London for many years, knew English well and local realities. The British government did not contact him directly through state institutions, but put a special official to the newcomer from Russia. Since the war between the Entente countries and Germany was still ongoing in Europe, the authorities needed to know what was happening in Petrograd and Moscow.
Lockhart Case
Contacting Prime Minister Arthur Balfour through an assigned person, Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov informed him of the decisions of Lenin and the party. The diplomat was in limbo due to the fact that the new Soviet government promised the population a quick peace, which meant signing a separate agreement with the Germans. But at first the attitude in London towards the Bolshevik was quite friendly.
In January 1918, Great Britain sent her new representative to Russia. They became Robert Lockhart. Litvinov, meeting him in London, gave him a cover note addressed to Trotsky, in which he spoke positively of this envoy. A few months later, the Briton was arrested and expelled from the country for espionage. His case, together with the attempt on Lenin, became the reason for the beginning of the Red Terror. The British government in response to the arrest of its ambassador arrested Litvinov. He spent 10 days in prison, after which he was safely exchanged for Lockhart.
In the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs
Returning to Russia, Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov began to work directly in the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. For a long time, his boss was the head of this department, Georgy Chicherin. The ambassador participated in numerous negotiations with the countries of the Entente. He tried to establish relations with these countries after the Soviet government signed a separate Brest peace with Kaiser Germany. The early exit from the war, contrary to allied commitments, for a long time spoiled the reputation of the Bolsheviks in the eyes of Western capitalist countries.
In 1920, Lenin appointed a new Soviet plenipotentiary representative in Estonia. It was Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich. The biography of this man was full of all kinds of business trips. The Baltic countries after the Civil War in Russia achieved independence. Now Litvinov needed to build a completely new relationship with one of them, without regard to the imperial past.
Deputy Chicherin
At the beginning of the existence of Soviet diplomacy, there were few such personnel in its ranks as Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov. A revolutionary, diplomat, a man of wide knowledge - he was the "old" Bolshevik and enjoyed considerable confidence in the country's leadership. Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1921 he was appointed deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
Litvinov had a difficult relationship with his boss Chicherin. Both of them were members of the Politburo and at meetings of senior Soviet leadership often criticized each other's decisions. Each functionary wrote accusatory slanderous notes on his opponent.
Recognition of the legitimacy of the USSR
In 1922, the Western countries, together with the RSFSR, held the Genoese Conference, at which the process of recognition and integration of the Soviet government into international politics began. One of the members of the delegation from Moscow was Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich. A brief biography of this man is an example of an exemplary Soviet diplomat from the period of the 20-30s.
After the Genoa conference, the deputy commissar was made chairman of the Moscow conference on disarmament after the onset of peace, which was attended by representatives of neighboring countries - Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Experienced in this matter Litvinov, in addition, began to work in the League of Nations. When the USSR was finally recognized by the world community, Litvinov from the Soviet side began to head the international disarmament commission in this important body - the predecessor of the UN.
Stalin Commissar
In 1930, Chicherin was dismissed from his post as head of the USSR Foreign Ministry. This position was taken by his deputy Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich. The People's Commissar of the Stalin era tried to pursue a policy of detente in relations with Western countries. He did this exactly until Stalin decided that it was time to go closer to Hitler.
In the early 1930s, Stalin really needed such a noble diplomat as Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov. Photos of the People's Commissar constantly appeared in Western newspapers during his frequent trips abroad. He regularly traveled to the United States, seeking Washington's recognition of the legitimacy of the USSR. Finally, in 1933, thanks to the efforts of the People's Commissar, official Soviet-American relations were established.
Writer and publicist
What else did Litvinov Maxim Maximovich do as head of diplomacy? The books that the People's Commissar wrote in large numbers in the 30s indicate that he was an experienced theorist. He has authored numerous brochures and articles.
Litvinov not only wrote himself, but also sanctioned some resonant publications. In 1931, when the Japanese attacked China, the People's Commissar "conducted" an "anti-militaristic poem" by Demian Poor in Izvestia. This initiative was not liked by Stalin, who did not yet know how to take advantage of the current situation in the Far East. After this episode, the Politburo condemned the decision, which Maksim Maksimovich Litvinov arbitrarily took. The works signed by his name after that incident were already published only after looking at the opinion of the leader.
Dismissal
The war was approaching, and in the meantime, Stalin organized mass purges in the highest state leadership. Almost all people's commissars were somehow arrested and shot. Litvinov was lucky - he survived, only having lost his post. In 1939, he had a conflict with Vyacheslav Molotov - the chairman of the government and the right hand of Stalin. When the latter dismissed Litvinov, Molotov was in his place, who soon signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany.
During World War II, Litvinov Maxim Maximovich was the ambassador to the United States and Cuba. The People’s Commissariat and its diplomats interacted with the American side when it joined the war against Germany. Some researchers note that it was the outbreak of armed conflict with Hitler that saved Litvinov from arrest and execution. The NKVD also dealt with his case, but it was never completed.
Litvinov and terror
Did Litvinov Maxim Maximovich have anything to do with Stalinist terror? The "family" of the Bolsheviks split in the 1920s, and the future People's Commissar backed Stalin, thanks to which he was able to climb the career ladder.
And, for example, when in 1934 Stalin forbade the release of the scientist Pyotr Kapitsa who came from the UK from the country, it was Litvinov who wrote letters to Cambridge, justifying the decision of his leadership. The People's Commissar was a diligent executor of the will of the leader in accordance with his position and authority.
The diplomat stopped active in 1946 when he was dismissed. He lived in Moscow. Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich, whose awards included the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, was a pensioner of all-Union significance. He died on December 31, 1951 of a heart attack.