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Table of Contents
The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
  • 27 October 1937
  • 12 July
  • 18 July
  • 9 August
  • 30 October
  • 31 October
  • 1 November
  • 4 November
  • 5 November
  • 6 November
  • 7 November
  • 9 November
  • 10 November
  • 12 November
  • 15 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 18 November
  • 23 November
  • 24 November
  • 25 November
  • 27 November
  • 28 November
  • 29 November
  • 1 December
  • 5 December
  • 6 December
  • 11 December
  • 13 December
  • 16 December
  • 17 December
  • 18 December
  • 19 December
  • 20 December
  • 24 December
  • 27 December
  • 31 December
  • 8 January
  • 9 January
  • 15 January
  • 18 January
  • 25 January
  • 26 January
  • 28 January
  • 1 February
  • 4 February
  • 6 February
  • 10 February
  • 12 February
  • 14 February
  • 15 February
  • 20 February
  • 21 February
  • 22 February
  • 28 February
  • 1 March (1)
  • 1 March (2)
  • 2 March
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  • 8 March
  • 9 March
  • 11 March
  • 12 March
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  • 12 June
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  • 19 June
  • 27 June
  • 2 July
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  • 4 November
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  • 13 November
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  • 28 June
  • 1 July
  • 27 July
  • 29 July
  • 29 July
  • 1 August
  • 10 August
  • 23 August
  • 25 August
  • 12 September
  • 14 September
  • 19 September
  • 27 October
  • 6 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 18 November
  • 24 November
  • 1 December
  • 4 December
  • 12 December
  • 14 December
  • 4 January
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  • 25 January
  • 27 January
  • 28 January
  • 7 February
  • 11 February
  • 25 February
  • 1 March
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  • 22 September
  • 23 September
  • 24 September
  • 25 September
  • 26 September
  • 27 September
  • 28 September
  • 29 September
  • 30 September
  • 1 October
  • 6 October
  • 11 October
  • 13 October
  • 15 October
  • 17 October
  • 19 October
  • 20 October
  • 22 October
  • 25 October
  • 26 October
  • 27 October
  • 28 October
  • 30 October
  • 31 October
  • 1 November
  • 3 November
  • 9 November
  • 15 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 25 November
  • 27 November
  • 7 December
  • 11 December
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© 2025
15 November
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By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1

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15 November


Page 28

Today I attended the dinner given by the ancient guild, The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (already 600 years old).
I had expected the dinner to be accompanied by some very old customs, but I was disappointed. It was a dinner like all the others, right down to the inescapable turtle soup, and only the painted arched windows of the dining hall suggested the past. I tell a lie: there was also ‘The loving cup’, but I had seen that already at the lord mayor’s banquets. The guests, though – they really did bring the odd whiff of medieval times. To my right sat Lord Marshall
Horace Brooks Marshall (1st Baron Marshall of Chipstead), lord mayor of London, 1918–19.
(a big publisher and a former lord mayor of London), who proudly declared that he had been in the guild for 55 years!
‘Is membership hereditary?’ I asked in some perplexity.
‘No,’ answered Lord Marshall, ‘it is not. I joined the guild as soon as I became an apprentice in my profession.’
It turned out that my neighbour was already 70. To my left sat Lord Wakefield, a major oil industrialist, prominent philanthropist and London alderman. He’s also about 70 years old (a schoolmate of Marshall’s!). This venerable notable of the British Empire told me that about 30 years ago (a truly English time span!) he had planned a visit to St Petersburg and had even booked the tickets when suddenly, at the last moment, he received a telegram, claiming ‘plague in Russia’. Naturally, he decided not to travel. Perhaps now was the time to go?… I seconded his intention.
‘Tell me,’ he continued, wiping his brow and appearing to remember something. ‘You seem to have a man… Lenin… Is he really terribly clever?’
‘I can assure you he was,’ I answered, smiling, ‘but unfortunately he died back in 1924.’
‘Died?’ Wakefield sounded disappointed. ‘Really?… I wasn’t aware of that.’
See how well the cream of the English bourgeoisie is informed about Soviet affairs!
Truly it smacks of the Middle Ages!…
***
Since last year, the chairman (or Master) of the guild has been the prince of Wales.
Prince of Wales, 1911–36; King Edward VIII of Great Britain, January 1936, becoming Prince Edward, duke of Windsor, after abdicating from the throne in December 1936.
Our ‘friend’ the archbishop of Canterbury made a witty toast in honour of the prince (the archbishop, it must be said, is an outstanding dinner speaker), and the prince responded in the customary manner. Then everybody moved to the smoking room. Here the prince, who considered it his duty as host to exchange a couple of niceties with every diplomat present, quite unexpectedly engaged me in a long and inappropriately serious conversation. First, he asked


Page 29

me whether I have to deliver many speeches. When I complimented him on his speech he, somewhat embarrassed, started talking about the best English orators, past and present. He named the late Lord Birkenhead,
Frederick Edwin Smith (1st earl of Birkenhead), a scholar in Oxford, later Conservative MP; secretary of state for India, 1924–28.
General Smuts and Lloyd George,
David Lloyd George, Liberal MP for Caernarvon, 1890–1945; prime minister of Great Britain, 1916–22; leader of the Liberal Party, 1926–31. When Hitler came to power, he advocated frontier concessions over the Saar, Danzig, Polish corridor and the Rhineland. He even visited Hitler at Berchtesgaden, describing him as the ‘George Washington of Germany’. In the wake of the Munich Agreement, he recognized the case of the Sudeten Germans but pressed for the end of appeasement and the launching of a vigorous policy of rearmament. He championed an alliance with the Soviet Union. Hindsight tends to overlook his powerful position well into the war; his speech in the Commons on 8 May 1940 was a major contributory factor in Chamberlain’s downfall and Churchill’s rise to power. He declined offers to join Churchill’s War Cabinet and the ambassadorship in Washington. On the 50th anniversary of his entry into parliament, Maisky, who had cultivated particularly close relations with him, sent him an exhilarated letter thanking him for their conversations ‘which will undoubtedly for ever remain in my memory as events of outstanding interest and pleasure’; RAN f.1702 op.4 d.994 ll.11–13, 12 April 1940.
but not MacDonald. He said of the premier, with a slight grimace: ‘You know, he is not exactly…’ Then he told me that only today he had attended an exhibition of machine-tools and had been delighted to learn that the USSR was a very loyal consumer of British machinery. I confirmed this and cited a few figures. He asked me about our process of reconstruction and the successes of the five-year plan, and remarked that he hoped for a further increase in Soviet orders placed in Britain. I responded with a smile: ‘Agreed, but give us appropriate conditions of credit.’ The prince made a gesture as if to say, ‘That is not really my business.’ He then moved on to international politics, speaking at length about the threat of war and the complicated international situation, before finally concluding: no one wants war – not England, not France (‘she only stands to lose by war!’) and not even Germany. I expressed my doubts as to the peaceful intentions of the latter, as well as of Japan. The prince did not object, but he began to argue emphatically that England strives only for peace, and that militarist ideas are alien to the spirit of the British nation. ‘When I have to say some parting words to a regiment or battalion headed to China or any other place in Asia,’ the prince continued, ‘I always tell them: I hope you will never need to use your weapons.’ He then praised the British soldiers and sailors, describing them as nice lads, amiable gentlemen, etc. For my part, I stated that Soviet foreign policy was a policy of peace, and that I was glad to hear from the prince of Wales that Great Britain seeks the same aim. This pleased the prince, who repeated that nobody really wanted war and that the forces of peace were far more numerous and mightier than the forces of war. I remarked, however, that the forces of war were much better organized, especially arms manufacturers, so the threat of war was very serious indeed. The prince agreed and added musingly: ‘You mention arms manufacturers… True, they do well out of war, but they could do no worse in peace time. Take


Page 30

the plan to build floating aerodromes in the Atlantic to facilitate the movement by air of passengers and mail between Europe and America. Wouldn’t that be good business for metallurgical companies? You could find many other similar opportunities.’ I entirely agreed with him and added that the forces of peace must be also well organized in order to combat effectively the forces of war. The states that oppose war must cooperate in safeguarding peace. The prince agreed with me. Towards the end of our conversation he inquired about my past, so I described my career in diplomacy. He then asked: ‘Where did you learn English?’ I answered that for five years, between 1912 and 1917, I had lived in England as a political émigré. The prince laughed and exclaimed: ‘And now you are the ambassador! It’s a sign of the times. We are living in an astonishing epoch!’
Maisky told Beatrice Webb (but did not report home) that the prince of Wales had actually intimated his wish to visit the Soviet Union. See N. MacKenzie and J. MacKenzie (eds), The Diary of Beatrice Webb (London, 1985), IV, p. 345.
Our chat lasted for 10–15 minutes. The prince and I stood in the centre of the smoking-room, while a crowd of shocked diplomats and some two hundred British notables, headed by the archbishop of Canterbury, stood around us, exchanging glances and whispers. The Turkish ambassador, Fethi Bey,
Ali Fethi Bey (subsequently Fethi Okyar), Turkish ambassador in London 1934–39.
tried several times to enter the conversation, but without success. The prince spoke to me the entire time. It was clearly done for show, and quite intentionally so. Not for nothing was the prince’s secretary, Sir Godfrey Thomas,
Sir Godfrey John Vignoles Thomas, private secretary to the prince of Wales, 1919–36.
also present at the dinner, where Lord Marshall had said to me with particular emphasis: ‘There is the power behind the throne.’
Quite clearly, the ruling elite wished to make a public demonstration of the improvement in Anglo-Soviet relations. Fine. But I have heard not a squeak from Simon in response to our talk of 9 November. Let’s be cautious in our evaluations and vigilant in registering the symptoms.
Simon told Maisky that he could not respond to Litvinov’s overtures without consulting the Cabinet, but he was increasingly sceptical about a positive response. MacKenzie and MacKenzie, Diary of Beatrice Webb, IV, p. 345.
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Document Details
Document Title15 November
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
RecipientN/A
RepositoryN/A
ID #N/A
DescriptionN/A
Date1934 Nov 15
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
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