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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
  • 4 March
  • 5 March
  • 6 March
  • 7 March
  • 8 March
  • 9 March
  • 11 March
  • 12 March
  • 13 March
  • 14 March
  • 15 March
  • 16 March
  • 17 March
  • 18 March
  • 19 March
  • 20 March
  • 21 March
  • 22 March
  • 23 March
  • 3 June
  • 5 June
  • 6 June
  • 12 June
  • 15 June
  • 16 June
  • 17 June
  • 19 June
  • 27 June
  • 2 July
  • 8 July
  • 9 July
  • 7 September
  • 4 November
  • 6 November
  • 8 November
  • 13 November
  • 14 November
  • 15 November
  • 14 December
  • 16 December
  • 20 January
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  • 26 January
  • 28 January
  • 29 January
  • 30 January
  • 31 January
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  • 8 March
  • 9 March
  • 10 March
  • 28 March
  • 2 April
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  • 1 December
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  • 16 January
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  • 9 June
  • 15 June
  • 16 June
  • 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
  • 15 January
  • 20 January
  • 25 January
  • 27 January
  • 28 January
  • 7 February
  • 11 February
  • 25 February
  • 1 March
  • 8 March
  • 11 March
  • 22 March
  • 23 March
  • 29 March
  • 31 March
  • 12 April
  • 14 April
  • 10 May
  • 4 August
  • 6 August
  • 7 August
  • 10 August
  • 11 August
  • 15 August
  • 16 August
  • 17 August
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  • 27 August
  • 28 August
  • 29 August
  • 30 August
  • 31 August
  • 1 September
  • 2 September
  • 3 September
  • 4 September
  • 5 September
  • 7 September
  • 8 September
  • 11 September
  • PS 1 October
  • 12 September
  • 13 September
  • 14 September
  • 15 September
  • 16 September
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  • 19 September
  • 20 September
  • 21 September
  • 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
  • 13 December
  • 18 December
  • 19 December
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© 2025
6 June
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By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1

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6 June
I called on Vansittart. He met me cordially, but looked somewhat worn out and upset. Paler than usual. He took me aside and informed me on an entirely confidential basis (but with the request that I tell the Soviet government!) that Samuel Hoare had been appointed foreign secretary.


Page 417

In the reorganization of the Cabinet, Baldwin became prime minister, while Hoare replaced Simon as foreign secretary. Sixteen out of the 22 Cabinet members were Conservatives.
He had hoped for better, but this wasn’t too bad. Yesterday he had an extensive conversation with his new boss and learned to his delight that their views were fundamentally similar. Vansittart fears, however, that the name Hoare might make an unfavourable impression in Moscow, and that the Soviet press might give him a hostile reception. One should not jump to conclusions. Just wait and see… Hoare will invite me for a talk immediately after Trinity Sunday. Vansittart hopes fervently that I shall try to reassure Moscow.
I replied that we view the restructuring of the British government with equanimity, and that we will judge the new Foreign Office, and indeed the new government as a whole, not by their words, but by their deeds.
I then asked what would happen to Eden. Vansittart replied that Eden would be promoted. He will enter the Cabinet, but it is not known yet in what capacity. In any event, he will represent the British government at the League of Nations and will be more independent than before.
Then I read out our appraisal of Hitler’s speech of 21 May and handed it over. V. listened to the end and said, ‘You will receive an official reply to this from the new foreign secretary.’ In the meantime, he referred to Simon’s recent speech in the House. (Its essence is as follows. The communiqué of 3 February


Page 121

is a single programme, but its separate parts may be discussed individually. In particular, negotiations on the air pact may be opened now. If agreement is achieved, the air pact will become part of the single London package.) It also transpired that the British government has not yet replied to the German note concerning Locarno. It wants to agree the reply with the French government – but there is no government in Paris at the moment. In any event, said V., the Germans will not rejoice at the British reply. We shall see.
So, the British government is concerned about Moscow’s attitude to Hoare’s appointment… Not a bad symptom! What will he be like, that Hoare?!…
***
We had a grand dinner in honour of Eden tonight. Twenty-seven guests were present… The atmosphere was not bad, even though Hoare had been appointed foreign secretary. Eden and Lord Cecil assured me that Hoare was a convinced advocate of collective security and that he would make a good foreign secretary. We’ll see!
Having placed his bet on Eden, Maisky, in reporting home, went out of his way to explain that, although Eden had failed to receive any significant portfolio, Maisky had been assured by Vansittart that Eden would become a full member of the Cabinet and as such would have ‘more influence in the conduct of foreign policy than before’; DVP, 1935, XVIII, doc. 261.
[One of the first issues to claim Hoare’s attention when he assumed office was Litvinov’s harsh analysis of Hitler’s speech and demand from the British government to reassert its commitment to the principle of indivisible peace in Europe. While Vansittart and the northern department at the Foreign Office wanted to allay Russian fears, Sargent warned that any response to Litvinov’s ‘very cunning note’ was likely to be distorted and exploited in the Soviet negotiations with the French. Vansittart disagreed. He reminded the new foreign secretary that it was in Britain’s interests to maintain a friendly attitude towards Russia, and that this could only be realized if the Russians were treated as ‘participants in the scheme of things’. Hoare, however, was more attentive to Vansittart’s


Page 122

warning that the ‘able and pertinacious’ Maisky would return to the charge. He dreaded the idea of another meeting with Maisky, having himself gained the impression that Maisky was eager ‘to indulge in a legalistic cross-examination’. Maisky was therefore put on hold while events unfolded.
TNA FO 371 18845 C4564/55/18, 15 June 1935.
To overcome the impasse, Vansittart assisted Maisky in setting up a powerful lobby within Conservative circles. The introduction of Maisky to the Fleet Street magnate Beaverbrook resulted in the first favourable mention of Moscow in the Daily Express, which, according to Maisky, hitherto had printed only ‘obvious libels’. Maisky was further invited to a dinner en famille at Vansittart’s home, where he met Churchill. ‘I send you a very strong recommendation of that gentleman,’ wrote Beaverbrook to Maisky. ‘In character he is without a rival in British politics. I know all about his prejudices. But a man of character who tells the truth is worth much to the nation.’ Churchill indeed told Maisky that, in view of the rise of Nazism, which threatened to reduce England to ‘a toy in the hands of German imperialism’, he was abandoning his protracted struggle against the Soviet Union, which he no longer believed posed any threat to England for at least the next ten years. He fully subscribed to the idea of collective security as the sole strategy able to thwart Nazi Germany.
Maisky further sustained his campaign with ambitious plans in the cultural sphere, which he had recognized earlier on – during his service in Japan – to be a vital means of influencing public opinion. Together with Keynes (whose young Russian wife was the famous ballerina Lidiya Lopukhova of the Ballets Russes), he propagated Russian culture in England, organizing performances at Covent Garden for the Soviet Ballet, Opera and the advanced Vakhtangov Theatre.
See the voluminous correspondence between Beaverbrook and Maisky; Beaverbrook papers, BBK\C\238. Maisky was even invited to spend a weekend at Beaverbrook’s country house. See also correspondence with Lady Astor in Astor papers, 1416/1/2/144 and the memoirs of the duchess of Atholl – K.S. Atholl, Working Partnership (London, 1958), p. 200; DVP, 1935, XVIII, doc. 272, Maisky to Narkomindel, 15 June 1935; Keynes papers PP\45\207\4, exchange of letters with Maisky, end of July 1935; Webb, diary, 12 July 1935, pp. 6003–5.
Likewise Ivan Petrovich Pavlov,
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, a Russian physiologist known primarily for his work on conditioning. He was the first Russian Nobel Prize winner.
perhaps the greatest of the Russian scientists, was rushed to London at the age of 86 to attend a major international congress of neurologists and was paraded before the media.
Maisky, who came in person to greet him at the station, was particularly excited. He proudly shared with Pavlov his childhood memories of their earlier meetings, when he had accompanied his father to the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Moscow, where Pavlov had pursued his research; Before the Storm, pp. 52–3. The visit was covered inter alia by the New York Times, 29 July 1935.
The climax of such efforts was the Soviet participation in a well-attended and publicized international folk-dance festival in London at the end of July.
DVP, 1935, XVIII, doc. 302 & fn. 168.
But strong opposition within the Conservative Party, as well as within the Foreign Office, was turning the tide against the rapprochement embarked upon by Maisky and Vansittart in 1934. The Franco-Soviet pact offered the Germans a convenient excuse for finally burying the idea of an Eastern Pact. Under the circumstances, in late autumn the Foreign Office examined the various options open to Britain. It rejected both the ‘policy of drift’ (waiting for events to occur) and the policy of ‘encirclement’ (the creation of an anti-German military alliance with France, Russia and the Little Entente), preferring the third option of ‘coming to terms with Germany’ – a policy that would signal the transition to ‘appeasement’.
By far the best account is still Manne, ‘Failure of Anglo-Soviet rapprochement’, pp. 740–2.
]
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Document Details
Document Title6 June
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
RecipientN/A
RepositoryN/A
ID #N/A
DescriptionN/A
Date1935 Jun 6
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
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