This book provides a notable addition to the new historiography of mid-twentieth-century Soviet history. Sabine Dullin has researched the history of Soviet diplomacy from 1930 to 1939 through a variety of now-accessible diplomatic, political, administrative and social archives. She has added to the mix the memories and testimonies of diplomatic personnel.Through her research, Dullin sheds light on the workings of the Soviet bureaucracy and in particular the role of Maxim Litvinov, Soviet Foreign Minister, and his relations with Stalin. She examines in detail Soviet foreign policy and the process of Stalinisation, and argues persuasively that these 'men of influence' were not simply agents of the Kremlin, but were able, through the 1930s and with the emergence of Soviet power on the eve of the Second World War, to initiate and pursue their own agendas.

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Translated by: Richard Veasey