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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
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  • 2 February
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  • 10 February
  • 11 February
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  • 19 February
  • 21 February
  • 25 February
  • 8 March
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  • 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
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29 December
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By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 2

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29 December
To Churt to see Lloyd George. I found the old man lucid, vigorous and in good spirits. An astonishing individual: after all, he will be 78 in three weeks!
Lloyd George related to me the particulars of Churchill’s proposal to appoint him ambassador in Washington. On 16 December, the PM invited him to lunch and made his proposal (I recall how, while I was talking to Lloyd George in his office, Sylvester hurried into the room and whispered to the old man that there had been a call from 10, Downing Street asking him to be there by 1 p.m.).
But Lloyd George refused the offer. Why?


Page 958

‘To start with,’ the old man explained, ‘an ambassador has no control over the policy he must represent. I don’t want to find myself in such a position. That’s the main thing. Secondly, the post in Washington would be beyond me, physically speaking. Poor Lothian, during his last visit to London, complained bitterly that he had turned into a talking machine…’
‘Even though he liked to speak,’ I interjected.
‘Yes, despite the fact that he liked to talk,’ Lloyd George agreed with a laugh. ‘He would begin talking at eight in the morning and stopped only after midnight. Americans are quite unique. They are exceptionally talkative. Before taking any step, they will drown you in a sea of words. And every one of them wants to talk to the ambassador himself. Senator such and such… Banker such and such… Mayor such and such… I know what they’re like! Just try not seeing one and you’ll have yourself an enemy: “Hm… The ambassador is too busy? Well! Well!…” Then you can expect all sorts of unpleasantness. But it’s beyond anyone’s strength to see them all.’
Lloyd George burst into laughter and added: ‘Well, the political result is positive: Eden is in the Foreign Office and Halifax goes to America. Strangely, he did not want to go and Lady Halifax was simply furious. The Court did not like it either: Lady Halifax, as I’m sure you know, is one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. But Churchill dug in and got his way.’
Lloyd George lunched with the prime minister again on 20 December. They discussed matters of war and politics.
I asked Lloyd George about Churchill’s present attitude to the Soviet Union. Lloyd George replied that in general the PM is in favour of improving Anglo-Soviet relations and will support Eden in that respect, but he is hardly prepared to go as far as Eden. For Churchill would like to ‘win the war’ without Soviet aid, so as not to have any obligations towards the Soviet Union. Besides, he counts on receiving active support from the United States.
Then we spoke about the government’s situation. Lloyd George says that Churchill’s position is very secure, but quite a few of his ministers are ‘a disappointment’. Bevin is one of them.
‘On the whole,’ Lloyd George resumed, ‘we have a good old Tory government, even though there are several Labourites in it, who are sometimes more conservative than the Conservatives themselves.’
The old man burst into infectious laughter and added: ‘They genuinely believe that they can win the war by military means alone. True capitalist idiocy!’
I asked what Lloyd George himself thought of the war. His reply boiled down to the following: Lloyd George does not believe it possible for England to ‘win the war’ solely by force of arms. It will take at least two years to arm and


Page 959

train an army of 4 million (the most England can expect). It is a colossal task. To illustrate its grandiosity, Lloyd George gave just one example: in the last war, the English army expended 75 million shells in the Battle of Passchendaele alone!… The United States will hardly enter the war, certainly not in the near future, and if it does, the USA will also have to arm and train its army for a few years. In contrast, Germany has a well-armed and well-trained army of 8 million and, in addition, a general staff which far surpasses that of the British and the Americans. How can one hope of victory through military action alone?
England can achieve a true ‘victory’ only if the military offensive is backed up by a political offensive and even overshadowed by it at a certain point; that is, if England can, like a snake, cast off its capitalist skin in the course of the war and become an essentially socialist state.
I tried to clarify what Lloyd George meant by the little word essentially, but it was impossible to get a lucid explanation from him. I don’t think I would be the only person to be perplexed by his notion of ‘socialism’. Immediately after he made that statement, Lloyd George poured ridicule on the government for its dreams of Mussolini’s regime being replaced by that of Grandi. When I asked him what he himself was expecting in the event of Mussolini falling, Lloyd George replied somewhat vaguely: ‘A left-wing government of course… Socialists, radicals, communists, left “popolari”…’
Be that as it may, the old man is very sceptical, and not without reason, about the British government’s readiness ‘to cast off the capitalist skin’. So what can be expected?
Lloyd George thinks Hitler must try, at all costs, to ‘resolve’ the war in 1941. He will hardly succeed, however, as England has become much stronger in the air and at sea over the last six months and invasion has become a far less realistic proposition. One may expect, therefore, that next year’s ‘trial of strength’ will not prove decisive. In consequence, a situation conducive to the opening of peace negotiations may take shape next autumn or winter. That is when the Soviet Union and the United States could play a major role as mediators and builders of the future world.
‘So you really think,’ I asked, ‘that the war will most probably end in a draw?’
‘Looks like it,’ was Lloyd George’s reply. ‘But I think it is premature to start talking about peace today. I refuse categorically to associate my name with the efforts of some “appeasers” who want immediate peace talks. No, it’s too early. Germany would charge a price which England would never pay. Germany first needs to be tired out, exhausted, and taken down a peg, then we can talk about peace… But a repeat of Versailles must be avoided at all costs!’
The old man thought for a moment and added: ‘If peace is not achieved next winter, then I foresee an endless war of attrition… Yes, an endless war of attrition that will leave nothing of our civilization’.


Page 960

[Though Maisky did ‘not expect miracles’, Eden’s return to the Foreign Office on Christmas Eve raised new expectations. There was, as he wrote to Eden, ‘a lot of debris to be cleared away, and the sooner it is started so much the better’.
RAN f.1702 op.4 d.940 l.18, Maisky to Eden, 23 Dec. 1940.
Shortly after the holidays, Maisky paid a visit to the Foreign Office, to find Eden beaming with excitement. The gloom which had pervaded Halifax’s office had been replaced by a bright and orderly atmosphere. Eden projected the image of a triumphant return. He wished to convince Maisky that no major conflict of interest in foreign policy existed between the two countries. The ambassador did not beat about the bush, explaining to Eden that only British recognition of the Soviet absorption of the Baltic States could lead to an improvement in relations. Soon enough it became obvious that the change in scenery did not entail a change in policy. Like those of his predecessor, Eden’s interests remained tactical, aimed at detaching Russia from Germany. However, Maisky, who was eager to exploit the change, deviated from the canon, admitting to Eden that Russia certainly did not wish to see Germany emerge as the victorious power in Europe. Soviet foreign policy, he explained succinctly, rested on three principles: ‘First, they were concerned with promoting their own national interests. Secondly, his Government wished to remain out of the war. Thirdly, they wished to avoid the extension of the war to any countries neighbouring Russia. In general Soviet policy was not expansionist: the Soviets had already enough territories.’
Maisky certainly did his utmost to convince his superiors at home that the change was significant.


Page 986

TNA FO 371 N7548/40/38 and AVP RF f.069 op.24 p.70 d.43 ll.132–7.
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Document Details
Document Title29 December
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
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DescriptionN/A
Date1940 Dec 29
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 2
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