In May, Stalin replaced his Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov, who was regarded as pro-western and who was also Jewish, with Vyacheslav Molotov, allowing the Soviet Union more latitude in discussions with more parties, not only with Britain and France.

Regarding the timing of German rapprochement, many historians agree that the dismissal of Litvinov, whose Jewish ethnicity was viewed unfavorably by Nazi Germany, removed an obstacle to negotiations with Germany.

" Carr argued that the Soviet Union's replacement of Foreign Minister Litvinov with Molotov on May 3, 1939 indicated not an irrevocable shift towards alignment with Germany, but rather was Stalin ’ s way of engaging in hard bargaining with the British and the French by appointing a proverbial hard man, namely Molotov, to the Foreign Commissariat.

In May 1939 Maxim Litvinov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, was dismissed and Molotov was appointed to succeed him.

Maxim Litvinov was one of the few influential diplomats who survived and he was dismissed.

Most of the delegates present at the 17th congress in 1934 were gone, and Stalin was heavily praised by Litvinov and the western democracies criticized for failing to adopt the principles of " collective security " against Nazi Germany.

Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (; ) ( 17 July 1876 – 31 December 1951 ) was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet diplomat.

He changed his name to Maxim Litvinov, but was also known as Papasha and Maximovich.

In 1900 Litvinov became a member of Kiev party committee, but the entire committee was arrested in 1901.

Litvinov was deported from France to England and lived in London, where he was active in the International Socialist Bureau.

After the October Revolution of 1917, Litvinov was appointed by Vladimir Lenin as the Soviet government's representative in Britain.

In 1918, Litvinov was arrested by the British government and held until exchanged for Lockhart, who had been imprisoned in Russia.

Litvinov was then employed as the Soviet government's roaming ambassador.

The phone at Litvinov's dacha was disconnected and, the following morning, Molotov, Georgii Malenkov, and Lavrenty Beria arrived at the commissariat to inform Litvinov of his dismissal.

The dismissal of Litvinov, whose Jewish ethnicity was viewed disfavorably by Nazi Germany, removed an obstacle to negotiations with Germany.

" When Litvinov was later asked about the reasons for his dismissal, he asked, " Do you really think that I was the right person to sign a treaty with Hitler?

Another important witness was the daughter-in-law of Maxim Litvinov, the man who served as Soviet foreign minister before the war, then was dismissed by Stalin.

It was initiated by Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov in response to threats of use of force by the German government following Hitler's rise to power.

" Following sensitive negotiations in November 1933 that resulted in the establishment of relations between the U. S. and the U. S. S. R., a dinner was given for Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov in New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Bogoraz became well known when, on August 25, 1968, she organized seven people to protest in Red Square against the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia at the 1968 Red Square demonstration, together with Pavel Litvinov, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, Vadim Delaunay and other protesters.

Although known for his workaholic habits from 1918 and until the late 1920s, he became increasingly sidelined by an illness from 1928 on and was formally replaced by his deputy, Maxim Litvinov, in 1930.

On May 3, 1939, Litvinov was dismissed and Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars ( Premier ) Vyacheslav Molotov, who had strained relations with Litvinov, was not of Jewish origin, unlike Litvinov, and had always been in favour of neutrality towards Germany, was put in charge of foreign affairs.

Following the invasion of the U. S. S. R. on 22 June 1941, Litvinov said on a radio broadcast to Britain and the U. S., " We always realized the danger which a Hitler victory in the West could constitute for us ," which one commentator described as, " in the tactful language which underlings must apply to dictators ... tantamount to ' I told you so .'".

In April 1939, Litvinov launched the tripartite alliance negotiations with the new British and French ambassadors, ( William Seeds, assisted by William Strang, and Paul-Emile Naggiar ), in an attempt to contain Germany.

In the face of continually dragging and seemingly hopeless negotiations with Great Britain and France, a new cynicism and hardness entered Soviet foreign relations when Litvinov was replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov in May 1939.

One active and articulate exponent of collective security during the immediate pre-war years was the Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov.

After the Munich Agreement in September 1938 and the passivity of outside powers in the face of German occupation of the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 it was shown that the Western Powers were not prepared to engage in collective security against aggression by the Axis Powers together with the Soviet Union, Soviet foreign policy was revised and Litvinov was replaced as foreign minister in early May 1939, in order to facilitate the negotiations that led to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, signed by Litvinov's successor, Vyacheslav Molotov, on August 23 of that year.

** Vyacheslav Molotov succeeds Maxim Litvinov as Soviet Foreign Commissar.

After dismissing Maxim Litvinov as Foreign Minister in 1939, Stalin immediately directed Vyacheslav Molotov to " purge the ministry of Jews ".

Those who participated included ( among others ) Andrei Vyshinsky, Andrei Zhdanov, Maksim Litvinov, Kliment Voroshilov, Vyacheslav Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Nikolai Bukharin and Karl Radek, though the latter two had less active input.

On 3 May 1939, Stalin replaced Litvinov with Vyacheslav Molotov.

The replacement of Litvinov with Molotov significantly increased Stalin's freedom to maneuver in foreign policy.

However, it might well be the case that Moscow sought to avoid a great war in Europe because it was not strong enough to fight an offensive, but there was much disagreement over the policy between Litvinov and Molotov as to how to attain the goal, and Stalin balanced between their positions, starting pursuing both contradictory lines simultaneously quite early and abandoned collective security only at some point in 1939.

This was followed by a series of perceived German signals of goodwill and replacement of Litvinov with Molotov.

: Vyacheslav Molotov succeeds Maxim Litvinov as Soviet Foreign Commissar.

The Russian high command had enough of Rennenkampf and relieved him of his command, replacing him with General Litvinov.

Litvinov, like Churchill, had misgivings about Munich.

Maxim Litvinov, who had been People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs ( Foreign Minister of the USSR ) since 1930, considered Nazi Germany to be the greatest threat to the Soviet Union.

Historian Albert Resis stated that the Litvinov dismissal gave the Soviets freedom to pursue faster-paced German negotiations, but that they did not abandon British – French talks.

Geoffrey Roberts argued that Litvinov's dismissal helped the Soviets with British – French talks, because Litvinov doubted or maybe even opposed such discussions.

* December 31 – Maxim Litvinov, Russian revolutionary and Soviet diplomat ( b. 1876 )

* February 9 – The Litvinov Protocol is signed in Moscow among the USSR, Poland, Estonia, Romania and Latvia.

* April 3 – Persia signs the Litvinov Protocol.

Think this over with Litvinov and Ioffe and drop me a line.

Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov reversed Soviet policy regarding the Paris Peace Settlement, leading to a Franco-Soviet rapprochement.

Litvinov also wrote articles under the names M. G.

When the Russian government began arresting Bolsheviks in 1906, Litvinov left the country and spent the next ten years as émigré and arms dealer for the party.

For a while Litvinov also lived in North Belfast in Northern Ireland.