Ivan Maiskii

Born Jan. 7 (19), 1884, in the city of Kirillov, in present-day Vologda Oblast; died Sept. 3, 1975, in Moscow. Soviet diplomat, historian, and publicist. Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946). Became a member of the CPSU in 1921.

In 1902, Maiskii was arrested for participation in the revolutionary movement, expelled from St. Petersburg University, and exiled to Omsk. Becoming a member of the RSDLP in 1903, he joined the Mensheviks. During the Revolution of 1905-07 he took part in the activities of the Saratov soviet of workers’ deputies. In January 1906, Maiskii was arrested and exiled to Tobol’sk Province. In 1908 he emigrated to Switzerland and then to Germany (where in 1912 he graduated from the University of Munich). In 1912 he moved to Great Britain.

After the February Revolution of 1917, Maiskii returned to Russia. In 1919 he broke with the Mensheviks. Three years later he began his work as a Soviet diplomat. From 1929 to 1932 he served as plenipotentiary to Finland, and from 1932 to 1943 he was ambassador of the USSR to Great Britain. During the Civil War in Spain, he was the representative of the USSR to the Non-intervention Committee (1936-39). Between 1943 and 1946 he served as deputy people’s commissar for foreign affairs of the USSR and chairman of the Inter-Allied Reparation Agency in Moscow. Maiskii participated in the work of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences (both 1945) of the government leaders of the USSR, USA, and Great Britain. From 1935 to 1937 he was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR and from 1941 to 1947 he was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

After 1946, Maiskii was engaged in scholarly work and teaching.