The Soviet Diplomatic Corps and Stalin's Purges

Kocho-Williams, Alastair

Abstract

This article offers a case study of a commissariat and its members during Stalin’s purges. It considers the effects of the purges on diplomats and on Soviet diplomacy, adding new dimensions to previous works, in particular dealing with how the Foreign Commissar Maxim Maximovich Litvinov and the Soviet diplomats serving under him responded to the purges, what their opinions of them were, and how they dealt with the challenge of explaining the purges to observers abroad, as well as examining the numbers that perished, what they were accused of, why the Narkomindel was so vulnerable to the purges, how the Narkomindel struggled to function effectively during a difficult time in Soviet foreign relations, and how the regime achieved a withdrawal from international affairs.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2008
• Deposit Date: Jul 5, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 4, 2016
• Journal: Slavonic and East European Review
• Print ISSN: 0037-6795
• Publisher: University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 86
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 90-110
• Keywords: Soviet, diplomacy, Stalin, Litvinov
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1015413
• Publisher URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mhra/see/2008/00000086/00000001/art00004
• Contract Date: Apr 4, 2016