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
Future People's Commissar Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich was born on July 17, 1876 into a Jewish family. The boy received his education in a real school in Bialystok. This was followed by five years of military service. The 17th Caucasian Infantry Regiment, stationed in Baku, became native to Litvinov.
Demobilization followed in 1898. At the same time Litvinov Maxim Maximovich joined the RSDLP. After moving to Kyiv, 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 campaign materials were printed. Leaflets and pamphlets were intended for local workers and peasants.
Arrest and flight from Russia
In 1901, the tsarist secret police tracked down Kyiv socialists who were busy printing illegal materials. Arrests followed. Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich ended up in prison. But the very next year, 1902, he, along with 10 more associates, escaped from prison. Caught onfreedom, the revolutionary emigrated to distant Switzerland, which by that time had become the home of many party leaders. There Litvinov went about his usual business. He became one of the key distributors of the Iskra newspaper in Russia.
In 1903, the famous II Congress of the RSDLP took place, at which the party split into two factions - the Bolshevik and the Menshevik. Litvinov Maxim Maximovich joined Lenin and his supporters. At the same time, he maintained friendly and comradely relations with some Mensheviks, including Vera Zasulich, Leon Trotsky, Yuli Martov, etc.
First Revolution
The long-awaited Russian revolution soon 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 also supervised by Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich. A brief biography of a party functionary at that time was an example of a person who was involved in various administrative affairs.
Rich experience allowed Litvinov in the future to be in the most privileged elite that ruled the Soviet state on the rights of "collective power". Sending weapons to Russia was a risky operation. Two ships, for which Litvinov was responsible, eventually ran aground, never reaching the ports.
In the UK
As a party organizer, Litvinov worked a lot with Kamo. This Bolshevik during the first Russian revolution was also responsible for the supplyweapons. When the popular uprising came to naught, Kamo began to engage in his usual illegal business. He replenished the party's cash desk by robbing state institutions. So in 1907 the Tiflis expropriation was organized. Koba, the future Stalin, took part in it.
Litvinov, like the rest of his party comrades, used the money stolen from Russian banks. In 1908 he was arrested in France. The reason for the detention was the stolen banknotes, which the Bolshevik tried to exchange. France exiled Litvinov to Great Britain. For the next ten years, until the next revolution, Litvinov lived in London.
Beginning of diplomatic activity
After the Bolsheviks came to power, the world community reacted ambiguously to the new Russian government. Great Britain refused to recognize the Soviet regime. However, this did not prevent countries from contacting through unofficial representatives. In London, Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich became such a commissioner. The commissar, who was the head of the Soviet Foreign Ministry in the 1930s, began his diplomatic career at that time.
Litvinov's choice was logical. He lived in London for many years, knew English and local realities perfectly. The British government did not contact him directly through state institutions, but assigned a special official to the newcomer from Russia. Since the war between the Entente countries and Germany was still going on in Europe, the authorities needed to know what was happening in Petrograd and Moscow.
Lockhart case
Contacting Prime Minister Arthur Balfour through a person assigned to him, Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov informed him about the decisions of Lenin and the party. The diplomat was in limbo due to the fact that the new Soviet government promised the population an early peace, which meant the signing of a separate treaty with the Germans. But at first the attitude in London towards the Bolshevik was quite friendly.
In January 1918, Great Britain sent its new representative to Russia. It was Robert Lockhart. Litvinov, meeting with him in London, gave him an accompanying note addressed to Trotsky, in which he spoke positively about this envoy. A few months later, the Briton was arrested and expelled from the country for espionage. His case, together with the assassination 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 Commissariat for Foreign Affairs
Returning to Russia, Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov began working directly in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. For a long time, his boss was the head of this department, Georgy Chicherin. The ambassador participated in numerous negotiations with the Entente countries. He tried to improve relations with these countries after the Soviet government signed a separate Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Imperial Germany. The early withdrawal from the war, contrary to allied obligations, for a long time spoiled the reputation of the Bolsheviks in the eyes of the Westerncapitalist countries.
In 1920, Lenin appointed a new Soviet plenipotentiary in Estonia. They became Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich. The biography of this man was full of all kinds of business trips. The B altic countries after the Civil War in Russia achieved independence. Now Litvinov had 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 in its ranks there were few such personnel as Maxim Maksimovich Litvinov. A revolutionary, a diplomat, a man of wide knowledge - he was an "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 often criticized each other's decisions at meetings of the top Soviet leadership. Each functionary wrote incriminating slanderous notes against his opponent.
Recognition of the legitimacy of the USSR
In 1922, Western countries, together with the RSFSR, held the Genoa Conference, which began the process of recognition and integration of the Soviet government into international politics. One of the members of the delegation from Moscow was Maxim Litvinov. The short biography of this person is an example of an exemplary Soviet diplomat of the period of the 20-30s.
After the conference in Genoa, the Deputy Commissar was madechairman 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. Expert 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 commission on disarmament in this important body - the predecessor of the UN.
Stalin Commissar
In 1930, Chicherin was dismissed from the post of 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 move closer to Hitler.
Stalin in the early 30s really needed such a handsome diplomat as Litvinov Maxim Maksimovich. The photo of the people's commissar constantly found its way into Western newspapers during his frequent trips abroad. He regularly traveled to the United States, seeking recognition by Washington of the legitimacy of the USSR. Finally, in 1933, thanks to the efforts of the Commissar, official Soviet-American relations were established.
Writer and publicist
What else did Maxim Litvinov do as head of diplomacy? The books that the People's Commissar wrote in large numbers in the 1930s show that he was an experienced theoretician. He has authored numerous pamphlets and articles.
Litvinov not only wrotehimself, but also sanctioned some resonant publications. In 1931, when the Japanese attacked China, the People's Commissar "sent" an anti-militarist poem by Demyan Bedny to Izvestia. This initiative did not please 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 that Maxim Litvinov made without permission. The writings signed in his name after that incident were already published only after looking back at the opinion of the leader.
Firing
War was approaching, and in the meantime, Stalin staged a massive purge in the top state leadership. Almost all people's commissars were arrested in one way or another 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 Stalin's right hand. When the latter fired Litvinov, Molotov was in his place, who soon signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany.
During the Great Patriotic War, Maxim Litvinov was 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 an armed conflict with Hitler that saved Litvinov from arrest and execution. The NKVD was also involved in his case, but it was never brought to an end.
Litvinov and terror
Did Maxim Litvinov himself have anything to do with the Stalinist terror? The "family" of the Bolsheviks split in the 20s, and the future People's Commissar then supported 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 had arrived from Great Britain, it was Litvinov who wrote letters to Cambridge, justifying the decision of his leadership. The People's Commissar was a diligent executor of the leader's will in accordance with his position and authority.
The diplomat ceased active work in 1946, when he was dismissed. 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 from a heart attack.
