217. Roediger (deputy head of the German foreign ministry’s Eastern Department) told Bessonov that “except for the ideological hostility between Germany and the USSR there are no differences and we certainly welcome expansion of economic relations.” On Dec. 12, Hermann Göring told Bessonov that War Minister Blomberg and Schacht had “agreed a readiness to supply the USSR with any military equipment, including the most advanced,” under a new credit, which Bessonov continued to view as the key to unlocking political rapprochement, rather than as entirely separate, the way the Germans treated it. Abramov, “Osobaia missiia Davida Kandelaki,” 147 (citing AVP RF, f. 082, op. 18, pap. 81, d. 7, l. 360–5); DGFP, series C, IV: 870–2 (Dec. 4, 1935), 897–9 (Dec. 10), 931–3 (Dec. 21). See also Nekrich, 1941, 23; and Fischer, Russia’s Road, 240. Litvinov wrote to Surits (Dec. 19, 1935) that he was skeptical of any movement on the German side, while Krestinsky wrote to Surits (Jan. 11, 1936), “it seems to me we shall reach agreement with the Germans on this 500-million credit. As for the question of the Germans changing their political position in relation to us, there has been no indication of any changes in this direction neither in Berlin nor in Moscow nor any other points on the planet.” DVP SSSR, XVIII: 595–7, XIX: 25–6.
218. DGFP, series C, III: 306–9 (Aug. 10, 1934), 556–8 (Nov. 1); DBFP, 2nd series, VI: 883 (July 31). The British were still waiting for a German response to the Feb. 1935 Anglo-French proposals; Hitler claimed he had already responded. Orme Sargent and Wigram had written a long memorandum (Nov. 21, 1935) rejecting both inaction toward and encirclement of Germany, and concluding that “a policy of coming to terms with Germany in Western Europe might enable Britain and France to moderate the development of German aims in the Centre and East.” Medlicott, Britain and Germany, 19 (citing C7752/55/18 FO 371/18851).
219. The German notetaker has Hitler characterizing Phipps’s suggestion for engagement as analogous to “having plague germs shut up in a cupboard and then believing that one could make them less dangerous by opening the door and letting the germs loose on mankind.” DBFP, 2nd series, XV: 488–93 (Phipps to Hoare, Dec. 16, 1935). DGFP, series C, IV: 917–9 (Neurath account, Dec. 14). Hitler told a ministerial conference after meeting Phipps that he could not agree to arms limitations with Britain and France so long as the Soviet Union freely armed, or take part in any Western European treaty system in which the Soviet Union took part. DGFP, series C, IV: 913–4.
220. The renaming was official on Dec. 17, 1935. A writers’ union plenum dedicated to poetry had been planned for Dec. 1935 in Minsk but was postponed to February 1936, likely in connection with Stalin’s sudden elevation of Mayakovsky. Fleishman, Boris Pasternak, 293.
221. Stalin added: “I am ready if my help is needed.” Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 270–2 (APRF, f. 45, op. 1, d. 729). Back at the writers’ congress the previous year, Stetsky had said, “I also don’t know of any decisions of the party and government about the canonization of Mayakovsky.” Pervyi vsesoiuznyi s”ezd sovetskikh pisatelei, 614.
222. V. A. Katanian would recall that Mekhlis, editor of Pravda, “did not evince any particular enthusiasm. On the literary page of Pravda, dedicated to Mayakovsky, which appeared a few days later (Dec. 5), two sentences from that resolution, which soon gained worldwide fame, were printed with a mistake. Instead of ‘the best and most talented’ it read ‘the best and talented.’” Pravda issued a correction, however (Dec. 17). Katanian, “Ne tol’ko vospominaniia,” 224–5.
223. Artizov and Naumov, Vlast’, 275 (APRF, f. [4]5, op. 1, d. 788, l. 107–110ob.). An affirmation of Stalin’s praise was hastily arranged in the form of a letter, in the name of several Soviet poets then on a trip to Paris, and published in Moscow (it was written by Aragon, whose name was left off). “Sovetskie poety v Parizhe,” Literaturnaia gazeta, Dec. 9, 1935; Maksimenkov, Sumbur, 17–8 (RGASPI, f. 88, op. 1, d. 512, l. 1).
