SOVIET ENVOY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 26 August 1941, Page 6

SOVIET ENVOY

M. MAISKY A “GOOD MIXER” DIFFICULT TASK IN LONDON Important as M. Ivan Maisky's j duties as Russian Ambasador 1«> Britain have been, he now becomes the I chief link between those two great j Powers as they combine their military , efforts against the common foe of I Nazism, writes J. Emlyn Williams, in the “Christian Science Monitor." : M. Maisky as representative of an | empire of 180.000.000 persons has held J a responsible position, but in the ab- j normal circumstances of the present war. with the long uncertain back i ground of Anglo-Soviet relations, M. I Maisky’s post is one of the few clearing houses for official exchanges bcJ tween both countries. Before the outbreak of war few Am- ! bassadors to the Court of St. James’ have been faced by a more difficult I task during the last decade than M. Maisky. Yet because of his patience j and ability, this small, quiet man with i deep twinkling eyes has been popular j in many circles. j He is a Communist who realises j ; that a diplomat must be “all things ,to all men." Without sacrificing his 1 political beliefs he has proved himself j ' a "good mixer" with ~ freshness of \ approach which has often won over J ! those most strongly opposed to him ' politically. He has not been led away . by fanciful illusions. I CORRECT DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS j Cool and calculating, yet with a ; bland firmness which has stood him in • | good stead on many occasions, M. , i Maisky has proved himself a first-class j ' ; diplomat. j Since 1932 there have been many j ! fierce disagreements, and almost al- < : ways sharp suspicion between Moscow j j and London. But M. Maisky’s personal j ' I relations with the Foreign Office genj erailv have been friendly as well as ] i correct. The arrest of the Metro-Vickers j ; ; British engineers in Moscow in March, j : , 1933, probably produced the only open . [ breach. But six years later the Soviet Am- | , ! bassador was to achieve notable sue- j I cc~s when Mr Neville Chamberlain at- j ' j tended a reception at the Soviet j , | Embassy. The sight of the British Premier be- I , ing accompanied to the refreshments I . b\ his host was almost too much for j I ■ some of the British Left and Liberal j : I guests. ; j M. Maisky, despite his hardships j > ; as a revolutionary in early days, looks i J ! sturdy and strong. Born at Omsk in ■ ( 1 Siberia, the son of an army doctor, he ; | studied at the University of St. Peters- | , burg (Leningrad), was expelled for re- j , volutionary tendencies, and escaped to J ’ i Germany in 1908. He studied at Munich , i | University, specialising in economics. ! ' | Four years later at 28 he came to Eng- 1 ! land as a political refugee. ! It is interesting to recall that only | t 1 with difficulty did he enter this coun- ; ( try. * ! ] The immigration authorities at that j time demanded that any third-class ’ j passenger from abroad must have at j ’ least £5 in his pocket on entry. M. ; t Maisky could produce only £3 19s 6d, j but a letter from M. George Chicherin. ! 1 who became Russia's Foreign Minister * later, established him bona fide as a ( political refugee and he was permitted ; to enter. j ] WORKED AS JOURNALIST He worked five years as a free lance journalist in Fleet street. Then came| the Bolshevik revolution and he returned horn to work in the Admin is- , tration. In 1922 he became press offi- , 5 cer to the Soviet Commissar for i ’ Foreign Affairs. Since then his rise in the Russian j ‘ diplomatic service has included posts ’ j of Councillor at the London Embassy, j Ambassador to Japan, and to Finland. \ and in 1932 to London. . \ His headquarters here are in Ken- j ( sington Square Gardens, where only • e two signs, apart from the official in- j c signia. indicate that it is the Soviet ! Embassy. As one enters a life-size portrait of l Stalin looks down from the head of a double staircase, while as a visitor leaves he may notice (now in sum- } mer) a five pointed star blazing with c red geraniums from the centre of a j J small strip of lawn. SPEAKS TO THE POINT * M. Maisky is a man of few words, j but those are to the point. Almost his only public speech since Russia entered the war was that delivered at a recent National Defence Committee lunch. He replied to the toast of Soviet Russia proposed by Baron Nathan, the chairman, in only 10 words. The Soviet Ambassador had no . F illusions regarding Hitler’s intentions. * He was a whole-hearted supporter of jy the Litvinoff idea that peace was one i\ and indivisible, and convinced that R only an anti-Nazi-Fascist common front * could save Europe from total war. In J 1936 M. Maisky denounced the “mod-ex-n philosophy of the mailed fist,” and h warned Germany and Japan that Soviet h frontiers were “well-nigh impregnable.” £ Only a few months earlier, speaking j with “full responsibility,” he declared Russia strong enough to take on singlehanded “any Power or combination of Powers.” His knowledge of East Europe is based upon long experience and intimate knowledge, and he firmly believes that a combination of British sea and air power together with Russian land and air power and United States support will destroy the menace of Nazism. To-day M. Maisky is the outstanding link between Moscow and London. In his very responsible work he is supported by his wife. Mme. Maisky, small, slim, fair-haired, is also a native of Omsk, though she and her future husband were ur acquainted until student days at St. Petersburg. The “Doyenne” of the Diplomatic Corps, she is particularly devoted to music, literature and gardening.