M. M. LITVINOFF.

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 71, 25 March 1933, Page 23

M. M. LITVINOFF.

The -prominent Russian statesman, M. J Maxim Litvinoff, who is figuring in the news in connection with the arrest of v ßritish subjects in Russia, belongs to that generation of Russian, revolutionaries favoured by destiny who sowed'the seeds of their creed and lived' to see the harvest, during their, lifetime. Litvinoff was born in. 1876 at Bielostok, a little town in Poland. Ho attended a gymnasium and then served in the army. Though already'inters ested in Marxism while at school, he appears to have joined a Socialist organisation in his 'twenty-second year. Soon he was arrested and condemned to, five years' exile in Siberia, but he

escaped,-and proceeded to Switzerland. Twie© Litvinoff returned-to Bussia, and the years of his revolutionary career before 1917 he U3ed several false ;nanies to protect himself against discovery, both in Eussia and abroad. For twenty years he was concerned with underground activities, much of tho time as an agent between the revolutionaries inside and outside- Eussia. As 'a result'fie lived several lives simultaneously, going back and forth between different centres of revolution ary activity. When-in Europe he assumed the role of an inoffensive bourgeois. In the years, before'l9l7 he conspired with the labouring masses within Eussia, preaching to them, ! organising them, and meanwhile participating in the endless warfare for the correct interpretation of the revolutionary ideal that was going on among.the different Marxist groups "who were working to undermine Tsarism and Russian capitalism. LUvinoff educated himself in "Western ways,' and he is said to have been a teacher at'the Berlitz School in Eotterdanx during the Great War. When the revolution broke out, he was a subordinate clerk in-London with the Bus-

sian Imperial Committee of War Sup- , plies, and when he heard of the collapse of Tsarism he beamed with joy. Thirty ,years of intense life have served only :to strengthen and" mature .the convictions of his youth—that the capitalist system, the institutions it has formed for its interests, and the ethics it has generated are immoral.' He is one of :those .strong and rare characters who in a world they denounce as immoral ha_s kept; a clear unadulterated con-

science of what the future should be.

"While constantly in touch with all aspects of bourgeois daily life Litvinofi .las not. lost his zeal.in fighting this present world or his contempt for it and the motives as he sees them, of those ■who profit by exploitation of the proletariat. He laughs at the curious sensitiveness which hampers otherwise hardy men.of "the party in inhaling the \same air as capitalists and, their manifold "slaves." In rare moments of frankness Litvinofi: has hinted that

he likes to come to grips with the bour,ge6is in his own way, to def eit it with * his own arms. Litvinofi: married an. Englishwoman of , high standing. He makes an excellent husband, and dearly loves his-children.

Sir Austen Chamberlain. Sir Austen Chamberlain who, in a epeech at Birmingham, hinted at an early retirement from Parliament, has long been one 'of the most prominent figures in British, politics. He was born in. 1863, and was educated at Bugby and Cambridge.. He had from early boyhood enjoyed the confidence of his famous father, and. on coming down from Cambridge was sent for a prolonged tour of the capitals of Europe to study international affairs through the Chancellery windows. In 1892 he entered the House of Commons as-mem-b.er for East Worcestershire, a seat he retained until his fathers-death, when he became member for the paternal constituency in Birmingham. The young politician's maiden speech drew a glowing and friendly compliment from Mr. Gladstone, and it was felt that whatever he might owe to his father he had high, qualities of his own. In 1895 he became Civil Lord of the Admiralty, and in 1900 Financial Secretary to the Treasury. In 1902 he was

promoted to tho Postmaster-Generalship. The; following year he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, a post which; he held until tho Unionist debacle in lsos. -In 1913 Sir Austen presided over the Commission on Indian Currency and Finance, and on the formation of the first Coalition he became Secretary of State for India, but retired on account.of the Mesopotamia report. He was Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons in 1922, and became Foreign Secretary on the death of the Marquis CurzOn. In later years he became even more fam-

ous,- earning the title of "Peacemaker" as a result of his work at .Locarno, ■which the King recognised by confer-

ring upon him a Knighthood of the Garter. Personally, Sir Austen is a man of simple tastes and charming disposition. His tall figure, his pale, rather angular face, his light-coloured eyes, which have a. trick of appearing to be always unusually wide open, the somewhat, -cold tones of his voice, his almost meticulous care about detail that most men-would brush, aside or slum over, and the swiftness with which he so»c*im<>R falls into a mood of icy severity have helped to build up around him :i 1 •-■frond of aloofness which-is enlirely false. He is—strangely enough; considering his long experience of public life—a remarkably shy man, but once that shyness, is broken down one finds a warm-hearted, genial being with a sunny1 disposition, an attractive smile, a gift of enjoyable conversation, a penetrating but tolerant insight into human nature, a great capacity for friendship, and a quiet turn of humour. A "homely" man, he likes to "put on his pipe" and chat, only less than he likes to become young again with, his family. His great quality, both in his {olities and in his private life, is that c ."rides straight." His word, once it is given, 5s his bond. Twice .he missed the Premiership owing to party difficulties, and the missing must have hurt him feaifnUy, but he merely screwed iis monocle more firmly in and awaited tEe next opportunity of helping his gctmtrjr and his party.,