Ivan Maisky

Who was Ivan Maisky?

Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky was a Soviet diplomat, historian, and politician, notable as that country's ambassador to London during much of World War II.

Ivan Maisky was born Jan Lachowiecki to a Russified Polish family living in Imperial Russia. His early revolutionary activities led to his expulsion from St. Petersburg University in 1902. After internal exile in Siberia, he traveled in Western Europe, where he learned English and French. In 1912, he settled in London until 1917. There, he met and befriended Georgii Chicherin and Maxim Litvinov. As his English improved his circle of friends expanded to include George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and Beatrice Webb.

At the outbreak of the Russian Civil War and the revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion in Siberia, Maisky returned to Russia and settled in Samara, where he joined the local Komuch government, for which he was banished by the Mensheviks.

In 1921, he officially joined the All-Russian Communist Party which started his career within the communist system of power in Russia. In 1922 he started working as a diplomat at various posts including London, Tokyo, and Helsinki, but in 1924, he also served as the first editor of the Petrograd literary magazine Zvezda.