Uspomene sovjetskog diplomate
Memoirs of a long-time USSR ambassador to London (1932–1943): Majski gives first-hand testimony about pre-war diplomacy, the policy of appeasement, the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, and war negotiations with the West.
The book Memoirs of a Soviet Diplomat by Ivan Mihajlovich Majskij (Russian: Ivan Mihajlovič Majskij, 1884–1975) is a Croatian/Serbian edition of his memoirs, focused on the key period of his life as the Soviet ambassador to Great Britain from 1932 to 1943. Majski, a former Menshevik who joined the Bolsheviks, was one of the few Soviet diplomats to hold a position in the Western world for a long time and to leave behind a detailed, personal account of the key events leading up to and during World War II.
In the center are his testimonies about the British policy of appeasement towards Hitler (Munich 1938), the negotiations on the USSR-West alliance in 1939 (which failed), the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Churchill's coming to power, the German attack on the USSR in 1941 and intense discussions about the opening of a second front in Europe. Maisky describes meetings with key figures – Churchill, Eden, Halifax, Lloyd George – as well as internal Soviet dilemmas and Stalin’s instructions from Moscow.
Memoirs are written in the style of classic diplomatic memoirs: they combine official reports, personal impressions, anecdotes and political analysis, with the mild Soviet ideological tone typical of the era. They are not critical memoirs against Stalin (Maisky was later arrested in 1953, but rehabilitated), but an inside account of the Soviet perspective on the West during the crisis years. The book is a valuable historical source for understanding the dynamics of the alliance in World War II, pre-war Europe and Soviet foreign policy from the perspective of a man who was on the spot.
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