The Maisky Diaries

Political diaries come with certain caveats, one of which is that when diarists record something of interest, they are likely to do so in such a way as to paint themselves in the best light. But some diarists also have to consider implications other than the kindness of history. This was certainly true of Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to Britain during a deeply unsettling and dangerous time for both countries. Even though he was an important figure in Soviet, European and (because of events from 1939 onwards) global history, he knew that he had to tread carefully when recording his meetings, friendships and personal thoughts. Gabriel Gorodetsky notes that keeping a diary ‘was a risky undertaking when people scared to death were burning papers and archives’ (p. xi). Maisky’s journals and his personal archive were indeed seized by the Ministry for State Security after he was arrested in February 1953. He was accused of spying for Britain, something which would have been ‘devastating for the 70-year old revered diplomat who had so resourcefully steered clear of the worst phases of the repressions in the 1930s’ (p. 549). However, unlike some of his comrades back in the USSR in the 1930s, Maisky was spared the death penalty in the 1950s, fully rehabilitated in 1960 and lived until 1975

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