Stalin Digital Archive
Yale University Press
Yale University Press
  • Search
  • Browse
  • My SDA
    • Private Groups
    • Personal Folders
    • Private Group Folders
  • Resources
    • Stalin Digital Archive
    • User Guide
    • FAQ
    • Editor Projects
    • Private Group Tutorials
    • Institutions & Associations
    • Further Reading
  • About SDA
    • Overview & Donors
    • Collections
    • Editorial Board
    • Transliteration Policy
    • Publishers
    • News & Updates
RegisterLog In
Select documents to open Close
CancelOk

Login Required

A personal account is required to access tags, annotations, bookmarks, and all of the other features associated with the MySDA.

Username: (email address)
Password:
Forgot password?
Log In
  • Purchase a subscription
  • Renew your subscription
  • Need help? Contact us
Not registered?
Register for your MySDA account
Login
Cancel

Your subscription has expired.

Click here to renew your subscription

Once your subscription is renewed, you will receive a new activation code that must be entered before you can log in again

Close
Next Document > < Previous DocumentReturn10 August
You must login to do that
Cancel
You must login to do that
Cancel
You must login to do that
Cancel
You must login to do that
Cancel
Save to my libraryClose
10 August
-or-
Cancel Save
Print Close
(Max. 10 Pages at a time)


By checking this box, I agree to all terms and conditions governing print and/or download of material from this archive.
CancelPrint
Export Annotation Close
CancelExport
Annotation Close
Cancel
Export Citation Close
CancelExport
Citation Close
Cancel
Close
CancelOk
Report Close
Please provide the text of your complaint for the selected annotation


CancelReport
/ -1
Stalin Digital Archive
Back to Search
Stalin digital archive
Back to Search
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
  • 21 January
  • 26 January
  • 28 January
  • 29 January
  • 30 January
  • 31 January
  • 10 February
  • 8 March
  • 9 March
  • 10 March
  • 28 March
  • 2 April
  • 3 April
  • 8 April
  • 3 May
  • 7 May
  • 10 May
  • 22 May
  • 26 May
  • 28 May
  • 12 July
  • 1 December
  • 10 January
  • 16 January
  • 17 February
  • 12 March
  • 10 April
  • 16 April
  • 17 April
  • 18 April
  • 21 April
  • 24 May
  • 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
  • 20 August
  • 24 August
  • 26 August
  • 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
  • 18 September
  • 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
< Previous document Next document >
© 2025
10 August
    • Export Citation
    • Export Annotation
View:

By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1

Image view
  • Print
  • Save
  • Share
  • Cite
Translation Transcription
Translation
/ 1
  • Translation
  • Transcription
  • Print
  • Save
  • Share
  • Cite
10 August
Resuming contact after my vacation, I visited Oliphant.
Lancelot Oliphant, deputy undersecretary of state for foreign affairs, 1936–39.
He’s just the same. Hasn’t changed a bit.
I asked him about the meaning of Runciman’s mission. Oliphant gave me a caustic glance, pulled at his long red moustache and said with a tone of barely perceptible irony: ‘What is Runciman doing in Prague? He is taking in the atmosphere.’
I couldn’t help laughing. According to Oliphant, Runciman will spend four to six weeks in Czechoslovakia. He has no fixed plan, just a few ideas. Of course, regardless of all the denials, Runciman is in essence a representative of the British government. But, in the end, what’s wrong with that? If Runciman succeeds in reconciling the Czechs with the Germans, then wonderful. If he fails, that’s also no reason to cry: at least we’ll have gained some time.
‘Are you displeased? I can see by your face that you resent our policy in Czechoslovakia. Why?’
‘Yes, we are dissatisfied with your policy,’ I agreed, ‘for you are constantly striving to restrain not the aggressor, but the victim of aggression. Runciman’s mission serves the same end.’
Oliphant tried to argue but eventually realized that such an impression could indeed have been formed on the continent.
Maisky told Oliphant that ‘His Majesty’s Government were bludgeoning M. Benes and Co. and were not being sufficiently firm with Germany’; TNA FO 371 21731 C8218/1941/18. The Soviet government’s disillusionment with the West is also discernible in Surits’s failed efforts to draw a more active French response to the events in Czechoslovakia; see Carley, 1939, pp. 48–9.
In his turn, Oliphant asked me about the events in Manchuria. He was eager to know whether we provoked the conflict deliberately to render support to China. I had to disappoint him and later he himself admitted that, according


Page 302

to British sources as well, the aggressors in this case were the Japanese. To my question about the British response to the events in Manchuria, Oliphant replied: ‘The Japanese have sown the wind, now they are reaping the whirlwind. They deserve it. This is the average British attitude to the conflict over Zhanggufeng.’
Maisky is referring to the Battle of Lake Khasan, which took place between 29 July and 11 August 1938, when Soviet troops encountered an attempted military incursion by Manzhouguo (the puppet Japanese government) into a territory claimed by the Soviet Union.
Then Oliphant asked me if the conflict in Manchuria could grow into a big war.
‘It entirely depends on the Japanese,’ I answered. ‘The USSR doesn’t want a war, but we are determined to protect our rights and our territory.’
‘So there is no question of mediation?’ Oliphant went on.
‘That’s correct.’
True world brokers! Mad about mediation!
In the end, Oliphant complained about Craigie’s difficult position in Tokyo. Over the last year he has effectively turned into a solicitor defending British interests in China (customs, trade, navigation, etc.). He’s had few successes.
‘The time will come,’ Oliphant concluded, ‘when we shall be able to get even with Japan, but the moment has not yet arrived.’
Transcription
/ 0
  • Translation
  • Transcription
  • Print
  • Save
  • Share
  • Cite
           
Document Details
Document Title10 August
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
RecipientN/A
RepositoryN/A
ID #N/A
DescriptionN/A
Date1938 Aug 10
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
Tags
Annotations
Bookmarks

  • Yale
  • Terms & Conditions
    |
  • Privacy Policy & Data Protection
    |
  • Contact
    |
  • Accesssibility
    |
  • Copyright 2018 Yale University
  • Connect with us:
  • Yale
  • Yale