Men of Influence

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE. Stalin's actions and the part played by Litvinov. Litvinov and Stalin: a marriage of convenience The expert on the West Litvinov and the right-wing opposition A servant of the state with no political influence The working relationship between Stalin and Litvinov Stalin's obsessions The West, adversary and model "We must push grain exports furiously" Between reality and propaganda: the anti-Soviet war scare. Litvinov's own sphere of action The intervention of diplomats on the economic front Fashionable diplomacy Success CHAPTER TWO. Diplomats who were not quite like the rest Portrait of a crocodile The radical and daring militant The years in England An old Bolshevik serving the new Russia An elitist profile Cultured and cosmopolitan diplomats The rejection of plebeians The circle of the faithful Litvinov, chief administrator The conflict between Chicherin and Litvinov Towards a single command structure The pre-eminence of ambassadors The specific characteristics of state service in the USSR A restricted way of life Under the eye of the militant Diplomats confronted by professional communists CHAPTER THREE. Tactical oscillations Away from Germany and towards France The German threat The potential of the French The categorical imperative of security and compromises with the real world The three sides of the geopolitical triangle Several readings Germanophiles versus the anti-fascists The quest for a policy of equidistance The impossible Franco-Soviet military agreement One policy against another "Competent comrades" carry the day CHAPTER FOUR. Gathering information, exerting influence Pro-Soviet milieux Paris-London: different degrees of intimacy Geneva - the new focus of attention Soviet diplomats and the press The means of action Tremendous possibilities for France Spreading positive information about the USSR through the League of Nations Attempts to control the press in Geneva Creating an image in Geneva A difficult battlefield Soviet respectability guaranteed by the League of Nations CHAPTER FIVE. The shadow of the Kremilin The cataclysm of the purges Litvinov and the purges The purges and diplomacy Paralysis Stalin and his group take control of diplomacy Centralisation and control Those opposed to Litvinov Litvinov's "anti-Party attitude" CHAPTYER SIX. Sidelined by the Soviet motherland A story of demoralisation "Isolation does not frighten us" 1938 - the "final appeals" Inertia and defiance A signal to Hitler "Time is on our side" Litvinov: the supporter of the Triple Alliance Signs of things changing Epilogue: transition from the old to the new New methods are introduced Men at the disposal of the government Map of the places referred to Diplomats before and after the purges Sources Bibliography Acknowledgements Index