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Table of Contents
The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 3
  • 10 January
  • 19 January
  • 20 January
  • 22 January
  • 26 January
  • 27 January
  • 30 January
  • 3 February
  • 4 February
  • 6 February
  • 11 February
  • 13 February
  • 14 February
  • 15 February
  • 17 February
  • 18 February
  • 20 February
  • 23 February
  • 25 February
  • 27 February
  • 28 February
  • 2 March
  • 7 March
  • 8 March
  • 9 March
  • 12 March
  • 14 March
  • 15 March
  • 16 March
  • 17 March
  • 19 March
  • 20 March
  • 22 March
  • 23 March
  • 25 March
  • 29 March
  • 31 March
  • 1 April
  • 6 April
  • 11 April
  • 12 April
  • 14 April
  • 15 April
  • 16 April
  • 17 April
  • 18 April
  • 28 April
  • 29 April
  • 30 April
  • 1 May
  • 2 May
  • 3 May
  • 4 May
  • 6 May
  • 9 May
  • 11 May
  • 15 May
  • 16 May
  • 17 May
  • 18 May
  • 19 May
  • 21 May
  • 22 May
  • 23 May
  • 25 May
  • 26 May
  • 27 May
  • 28 May
  • 30 May
  • 3 June
  • 8 June
  • 11 June
  • 12 June
  • 16 June
  • 17 June
  • 22 June
  • 23 June
  • 25 June
  • 28 June
  • 29 June
  • 30 June
  • 1 July
  • 2 July
  • 4 July
  • 5 July
  • 6 July
  • 7 July
  • 12 July
  • 13 July
  • 14 July
  • 15 July
  • 18 July
  • 22 July
  • 25 July
  • 28 July
  • 30 July
  • 4 August
  • 5 August
  • 6 August
  • 11 August
  • 20 August
  • 21 August
  • 22 August
  • 23 August
  • 24 August
  • 26 August
  • 28 August
  • 29 August
  • 30 August
  • 31 August
  • 1 September
  • 2 September
  • 3 September
  • 4 September
  • 2 September
  • 7 September
  • 8 September
  • 9 September
  • 12 September
  • 13 September
  • 14 September
  • 15 September
  • 17 September
  • 19 September
  • 20 September
  • 21 September
  • 22 September
  • 23 September
  • 27 September
  • 28 September
  • 29 September
  • 3 October
  • 4 October
  • 6 October
  • 7 October
  • 11 October
  • 12 October
  • 13 October
  • 14 October
  • 16 October
  • 17 October
  • 19 October
  • 21 October
  • 24 October
  • 26 October
  • 27 October
  • 28 October
  • 30 October
  • 31 October
  • 2 November
  • 3 November
  • 7 November
  • 9 November
  • 10 November
  • 13 November
  • 14 November
  • 15 November
  • 16 November
  • 18 November
  • 20 November
  • 21 November
  • 22 November
  • 27 November
  • 28 November
  • 29 November
  • 1 December
  • 3 December
  • 5 December
  • 8 December
  • 12 December
  • 14 December
  • 15 December
  • 21 December
  • 23 December
  • 24 December
  • 25 December
  • 31 December
  • 2 January
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  • 8 January
  • 11 January
  • 14 January
  • 15 January
  • 18 January
  • 19 January
  • 20 January
  • 21 January
  • 23 January
  • 25 January
  • 26 January
  • 27 January
  • 29 January
  • 30 January
  • 31 January
  • 2 February
  • 7 February
  • 8 February
  • 9 February
  • 10 February
  • 11 February
  • 15 February
  • 19 February
  • 21 February
  • 25 February
  • 8 March
  • 11 March
  • 12 March
  • 13 March
  • 16 March
  • 17 March
  • 18 March
  • Conversation with Butler on 18 March 1940
  • 19 March
  • 23 March
  • 27 March
  • Conversation with Halifax on 27 March 1940
  • 28 March
  • 29 March
  • 1 April
  • 2 April
  • 4 April
  • 5 April
  • 6 April
  • 8 April
  • 9 April
  • 10 April
  • 11 April
  • 12 April
  • 13 April
  • 15 April
  • 16 April
  • 17 April
  • 18 April
  • 22 April
  • 27 April
  • 28 April
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  • 20 May
  • 21 May
  • 22 May
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  • 24 May
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  • 26 May
  • 28 May
  • 1 June
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  • 6 June
  • 10 June
  • 11 June
  • 12 June
  • 14 June
  • 15 June
  • 16 June
  • 17 June
  • 18 June
  • 23 June
  • 25 June
  • 27 June
  • 28 June
  • 29 June
  • 30 June
  • 1 July
  • 2 July
  • 3 July
  • 4 July
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  • 6 July
  • 7 July
  • 8 July
  • 9 July
  • 10 July
  • 11 July
  • 12 July
  • 22 July
  • 23 July
  • 25 July
  • 26 July
  • 27 July
  • 28 July
  • 31 July
  • 5 August
  • 6 August
  • 7 August
  • 10 August
  • 14 August
  • 15 August
  • 17 August
  • 18 August
  • 20 August
  • 22 August
  • 30 August
  • 31 August
  • 1 September
  • 6 September
  • 7 September
  • 8 September
  • 9 September
  • 10 September
  • 13 September
  • 14 September
  • 16 September
  • 17 September
  • 4 October
  • 6 October
  • 9 October
  • 10 October
  • 12 October
  • 13 October
  • 20 October
  • 22 October
  • 2 November
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  • 12 November
  • 19 November
  • 30 November
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  • 12 December
  • 16 December
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© 2025
20 August
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By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 2

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20 August
From a purely oratorical point of view, Churchill was not at his best today, speaking in parliament on matters related to the war and foreign policy. His speech, which lasted for some 50 minutes, was somewhat uneven. There were brilliant and forceful passages that arrested the attention of the House, but there were also moments when the temperature fell and some MPs even started chatting. However, the content of the prime minister’s speech was quite coherent. Churchill summed up his government’s first three months in office and found them quite satisfactory. Even though the danger of invasion has not yet passed, it recedes with each passing day, while British defence resources are growing at massive speed (especially air defence). Churchill places great


Page 896

hope on ‘cooperation’ with the United States. The blockade of Europe will be continued relentlessly: provisions for the countries occupied by Germany will not be allowed through from America (Hoover and Co.’s project). The war will be lengthy: preparations must already be made now for an offensive in 1941 and 1942. On the whole, Churchill’s entire speech expressed growing confidence in England’s fighting efficiency and a belief that the worst had already passed.
The same note of confidence characterized the debates that followed. These were not, on the whole, notable for their brilliance. At our meetings we would say of such a situation: ‘all is clear’. That’s why the big beasts didn’t speak, while the backbenchers dwelt on details. Just one curious fact: Churchill elicited the loudest cheers when he spoke of the British air force and of the refusal to let American provisions through to Europe.
After Churchill’s speech I went into the lobbies. I saw many people (Gwilym and Megan Lloyd George, Burgin, Elliot, Leonard,
William Leonard, Labour MP for Glasgow, 1931–50.
Neil Maclean and others). They all share the same mood of high, new-found confidence, and ecstatic admiration of the British air force. People are literally crazy about their pilots. And they all say as one that the German air raids have not done any great damage anywhere. This is partly explained by the fact that the dummy system (airfields, factories, etc.) has been widely implemented.
Megan expressed interest in the state of Anglo-Soviet relations. There was nothing I could say to reassure her. She was sorry, scolded Halifax, and gave the following explanation for the deadlock in relations between our countries: ‘I’ve known Churchill for many years, ever since I was a small girl. He came over for lunch or dinner to our house on countless occasions, discussing various matters with my father… What always appealed to him most was war. He studied the wars of the past and contemplated the wars of the future. He always imagined himself a military leader, destroying armies, sweeping through Europe, overthrowing his enemies or putting them to flight. Military terms were always on his lips, and his head was forever full of military plans and projects. I’m sure that today he is wholly absorbed and intoxicated by the war. He thinks only of that, is interested only in that. Everything else is secondary to Churchill, Foreign Office included. There he’s given Halifax the reins… Ah, that man! I think Halifax is now far more dangerous than Chamberlain.’
There is, I sense, much truth in Megan’s words.
Maisky’s suspicions of Halifax were hardly warranted. He turned down the Dutch exploratory feelers for a negotiated peace, writing in his diary that ‘The more I ponder it, the more convinced I feel that the Germans have got to be more knocked about before they will be in any mood to learn any lesson … to stop on the sort of terms that Hitler would be likely


Page 984

to contemplate now would definitely look to them as if war did pay not too badly’; Halifax papers, diary, A7.8.5, 19 Aug. 1940.
The other day I saw Little
John Carruthers Little, president of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, 1933–39; industrial commissioner, Ministry of Labour and National Service, 1940–45.
(ex-president of the Engineering Union, he now holds a prominent post in the Ministry of Labour), who told me among other things: ‘Churchill says that peace will be agreed in Berlin. He will not settle for


Page 897

less than that. Churchill believes that this time Germany should learn a lesson that will put it off fighting once and for all. This can be done in one way only: by bringing the war onto German territory. So far Germany has waged war mainly on foreign territory (1870 and 1914–18). Let it try fighting at home now. That is why, in Churchill’s view, England should move onto the offensive in due course and crush Germany with the weight of metal. British war production must be raised to an unprecedented height.’
This also smacks of truth.
There may come a moment in the course of the war when we find ourselves in sharp conflict with Churchill, as happened in 1920. Time will tell.
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Document Details
Document Title20 August
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
RecipientN/A
RepositoryN/A
ID #N/A
DescriptionN/A
Date1940 Aug 20
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 2
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