Ivan Maisky facts for kids
Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky (born Jan Lachowiecki) was an important Soviet diplomat, historian, and politician. He was the Soviet Union's ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1932 to 1943, which included a big part of World War II.
Contents
Early Life and Beginnings
Ivan Maisky was born in 1884 in a nobleman's castle in Kirillov, Russia. His father was a Polish Jew who became Orthodox Christian, and his mother was Russian. He grew up in Omsk. Young Maisky was greatly influenced by Russian thinkers who believed in human kindness and serving the people. He loved authors like William Shakespeare and Lord Byron.
When he was a student at St. Petersburg University, he was inspired by the ideas of Sidney and Beatrice Webb. He even wrote poetry. In 1902, he was arrested for his political activities and sent back to Omsk. In 1903, Maisky joined the Mensheviks, a group within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. After being arrested again during the 1905 Russian Revolution, he was sent away but later allowed to move to Munich, Germany, where he studied economics.
In 1912, Maisky moved to London and lived with other Russian revolutionaries. He became friends with famous British writers like George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. Beatrice Webb described him as a very open-minded Marxist. When World War I started in 1914, Maisky opposed the war. This caused disagreements with other revolutionaries who wanted Russia to lose the war to spark a revolution.
Maisky returned to Russia after the February Revolution in 1917. He worked in the temporary government. He didn't support the Bolsheviks when they took power. During the Russian Civil War, he moved to Samara and even worked in a government that resisted the Bolsheviks. Because of this, he was kicked out of the Menshevik party. He later fled to Mongolia. In Mongolia, he wrote a letter praising the Bolsheviks and was allowed to join their party. He then worked for the Soviet government in Omsk.
In 1922, Maisky moved to Moscow and worked for the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. He later became the chief editor of a literary magazine called Zvezda in Leningrad. He tried to balance different views in the magazine.
Becoming a Diplomat
In 1925, Maisky became a counsellor at the Soviet embassy in London. He was there during a time of tension, including the General Strike in 1926. He had to leave when Britain broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR in 1927. He then worked at the Soviet embassy in Tokyo from 1927 to 1929. In April 1929, he became the Soviet Envoy to Finland.
Ambassador in London
In October 1932, Maisky returned to London as the official Soviet ambassador to the United Kingdom. He stayed in this important role until 1943. At first, his main job was about trade and money, as the Soviet Union was trying to become industrially strong. He often negotiated with the British finance minister, Neville Chamberlain, who didn't like Maisky and saw him as dishonest.
Maisky was very good at making friends with influential British people, especially those on the left-wing. His friends included famous economist John Maynard Keynes and writers H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw. Maisky wanted to convince the British public to support closer ties with the Soviet Union. He believed an ambassador needed excellent personal connections.
Working for Peace
From 1934, the Soviet Union joined the League of Nations and promoted "collective security." This meant countries working together to stop aggressive nations like Germany and Japan. Maisky's job in London was to get Britain to support this idea. He argued that Britain and the Soviet Union should cooperate to maintain peace against these "revisionist" powers that wanted to change the international order.
Maisky spoke to many British groups to improve feelings towards the Soviet Union. He was so fond of Britain that he even cried at King George V's funeral in 1936.
He met Winston Churchill through a senior civil servant. Churchill, who later became prime minister, made a point of talking to Maisky at important events. Maisky also became close to Lord Beaverbrook, a powerful newspaper owner. Even though Beaverbrook supported keeping Britain out of European conflicts, he had a friendly attitude towards Stalin and promised Maisky that his newspapers wouldn't cause trouble for him. However, those who supported "appeasement" (giving in to aggressive demands to avoid war) often disliked Maisky. Neville Chamberlain, for example, called him a "revolting but clever little Jew."
Maisky was active in the Non-Intervention Committee during the Spanish Civil War. This committee met in London and was made up of ambassadors. Germany and Italy were secretly helping one side in the war, and Maisky used the committee meetings to expose their actions, often arguing with the German and Italian ambassadors.
As the British government adopted a policy of appeasement, Maisky's job became harder. He became close to British politicians who opposed appeasement, like Winston Churchill and Harold Nicolson. The Soviet embassy became a meeting place for these figures. Churchill, who had once strongly opposed the Bolsheviks, now worked with Maisky because he saw Nazi Germany as the biggest threat to Britain. He told Maisky that if the "fascist menace" ended, he would again oppose communism.
Maisky kept Moscow informed about British politics. He reported that Chamberlain was creating an "alternative Foreign Office" to bypass his own Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, because they disagreed on policy towards Italy. Eden later resigned in protest.
In 1938, during the Sudetenland crisis (when Germany demanded parts of Czechoslovakia), Maisky reported that Britain was pressuring Czechoslovakia to give in. He argued that Britain was "bridling the victims of aggression" instead of stopping the aggressor. He met with Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, and criticized Britain's "weak and shortsighted" policy.
Maisky worked closely with the Czechoslovak ambassador and the leader of the Labour Party, Clement Attlee, providing them with information. When the Munich Agreement was signed, giving the Sudetenland to Germany, Maisky was very angry. He felt that the League of Nations and collective security were now "dead." He worried that the Munich Agreement was the start of an alliance between Britain, Italy, France, and Germany to isolate the Soviet Union.
The Danzig Crisis and Alliance Talks
In early 1939, Maisky noticed a change in Chamberlain's attitude, suggesting Britain might be interested in better relations with the Soviet Union. He thought this was partly because of Japan's actions in Asia, which threatened both Soviet and British interests. However, Maisky believed Chamberlain still wanted a deal with Germany and was only using the Soviet Union as a bargaining chip.
On March 29, 1939, a British official told Maisky that Britain would "guarantee" Poland's independence. Maisky was surprised by this strong commitment, as Britain usually avoided such promises in Europe. He asked if Britain would declare war if Germany attacked Poland, and the official said yes. Maisky found this revolutionary for British foreign policy. He was not fully convinced by the "guarantee," noting it only covered Poland's independence, not other territories.
Maisky's approach of allying with Chamberlain's opponents rather than working directly with him was seen by some historians as ineffective. They argued he should have tried to convince the Conservative government of Soviet strength. However, Maisky preferred to work with those who shared his anti-appeasement views.
After the Soviet foreign minister, Maxim Litvinov, was dismissed in May 1939, Maisky was one of the last people still pushing for a pact with Britain and France against Germany. The British government was slow to respond to Soviet offers for a "peace front" to deter Germany. This made Maisky's position in Moscow difficult. Despite this, Maisky believed British public opinion would force Chamberlain to make an alliance.
Talks for an Anglo-French-Soviet "peace front" were difficult. A major issue was the Soviet definition of "indirect aggression," which sounded to the British like the Soviets wanted to interfere in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). Maisky argued that these states needed protection, whether they wanted it or not, similar to how the U.S. protected Latin American countries without asking them.
Another problem was the slow pace of the British military mission sent to Moscow to negotiate a military agreement. They traveled on a slow merchant ship instead of by plane, which Maisky saw as a sign that Chamberlain wasn't serious about the pact. Maisky believed Chamberlain was still hoping for a deal with Hitler.
Maisky was privately critical of his government's decision to sign a non-aggression pact with Germany on August 23, 1939 (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). He felt Stalin and Molotov were too impatient and should have given Churchill more time to build an alliance. He was confused by this sudden change in Soviet policy.
World War II and Later Life
After World War II began, Maisky faced new challenges, including strong British anger towards the Soviets during the Winter War with Finland. He worked to prevent Anglo-Soviet relations from breaking. He was surprised by how quickly Germany conquered Poland. Maisky reported that British morale was strong and that they were determined to fight to the end.
In 1941, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa), Maisky played a key role in improving relations with the Western Allies. He correctly reported to Moscow that Churchill was not interested in peace with Germany. However, he was frustrated by Churchill's strong belief that strategic bombing alone could win the war, without needing a second front in France.
Maisky also helped negotiate the Sikorski-Mayski Agreement in 1941. This agreement ended the 1939 non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. It also restored relations between the Soviet Union and the Polish government-in-exile and led to the release of hundreds of thousands of Poles from Soviet prisoner-of-war camps.
During the war, Maisky learned about a German scientist, Klaus Fuchs, who was working on Britain's atomic bomb project. Maisky arranged for Fuchs to be recruited as a spy for the Soviet Union, believing it was important for the Soviets to have an atomic bomb.
Maisky kept close contact with Churchill and Anthony Eden, visiting the Foreign Office daily for updates. He reassured Stalin that Britain would not make a separate peace with Germany and pushed for a second front in France.
In July 1943, Maisky was called back to Moscow. This marked the end of his diplomatic career. He was given the title of Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, but it didn't mean much. It's unclear why Stalin recalled him, but Maisky believed it was because he failed to secure a second front.
Maisky then worked on commissions planning Soviet strategies for ending the war and the post-war world. He suggested dividing Germany, demanding heavy payments from them, punishing war criminals, and a long Soviet occupation. He also thought Poland should remain a country but with changed borders. He imagined a post-war Europe with the Soviet Union as the strong land power and Britain as the strong sea power. He thought Britain would be a better long-term partner for the Soviet Union than the U.S.
Maisky attended the important Yalta and Potsdam conferences, where Allied leaders discussed the end of the war and the future of Europe.
Arrest and Release
After the Potsdam conference, Maisky was not given another major assignment. He joined the Soviet Academy of Sciences to study history. In February 1953, he was arrested during a period of anti-Jewish purges. While in custody, he "confessed" to being a spy for Britain.
He was saved from execution by Stalin's death in March 1953. The new head of the secret police, Lavrentiy Beria, declared that the "Doctors' plot" (a fabricated conspiracy) was false. Maisky was eventually released and reunited with his wife after being shown film of Stalin's funeral.
He was briefly given a new role but was rearrested after Beria's fall from power in June 1953. This time, he refused to confess. In 1955, he was sentenced to six years in exile but was quickly granted mercy and released in July 1955.
Later Years
After his release, Maisky returned to work at the Academy of Sciences and published four volumes of his memoirs. In 1960, he was fully cleared of all charges. In 1966, he signed a letter with other Soviet intellectuals opposing any attempt to bring back Stalin's harsh policies.
However, he remained loyal to the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. In 1968, when students protested the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Maisky was shocked and refused to have any further contact with the family of his old friend Maxim Litvinov, whose grandson was involved in the protest.
Images for kids
-
I. M. Maisky, ambassador of the Soviet Union to Great Britain. 1941.
See also
In Spanish: Iván Maiski para niños
