CHICHERIN
As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trotzky was succeeded by Chicherin. He is a tall, slightly stooped figure, about fifty years old, with eyes that burn like coals. He is emaciated from hunger and from hard work. Never a day goes by but Chicherin can be found in his office from twelve to sixteen hours of the time, working with quiet determination and zeal. I saw him in his office at the Metropole two or three times, and was captivated by his kind and gentle manner.
“Yes,” he said to me, "we want peace and are ready to conclude at once. Concessions are still here for American capital. Leases can be had for forty-nine years. All we ask is that the Russian labor laws shall prevail here and the Government shall not be interfered with. There is flax here, and timber and many other things that the people of your country want.
“Go back to America and tell them to leave us alone. Just let us get our breath and turn our energies into productive work.”
They all said that, Chicherin and many other Commissars. All dwelt upon the need for technical assistance. They look forward to the day when they will be able to apply the best technical and scientific experience of the world to the solution of their problems. They need experts in all lines and of all grades, from simple mechanicians to the most highly trained laboratory specialists.
LITVINOFF
Litvinoff is a solidly built, jovial, and very astute Lithuanian. He was one of the Collegium in the foreign office under Chicherin, and was the Soviet ambassador in England after the revolution. Later he was sent back to Russia by the British Government. He is an equally shrewd business man and diplomat, and looks more like a British member of parliament than a Russian Bolshevik. He has a keen sense of humor and fun, but takes his duties very seriously. He is the type of man often seen among directors of great enterprises in America, putting through “big deals.” One imagines that if he chose to sell his services to a capitalist organization or state he could easily become a “big man.”
He was my first host in Moscow, and was very kind and helpful in giving me all the information and assistance possible.
MADAME KOLLONTAY
I met Madame Kollontay in the National Hotel, three or four days after I arrived in Moscow. She is a beautiful, cultured woman, and an excellent speaker. She had just returned from a tour of the southern part of Russia, where she had been establishing schools and organizing homes for the aged, and informed me that the children are so enthusiastic that they do not want to go home when the day’s session is over. “There is a feeling of solidarity among them,” she said. “They are being educated without the feeling of property of any kind. The psychology of the people has so changed since the revolution that the old order could not last even if it were to be restored,” she said “and if the Allies would only withdraw their armies and stop supporting the counter-revolutionary forces Russia could recoup herself without outside aid of any kind.”