ABSTRACT
The tactics that Maxim Litvinov pursued in Geneva were contradictory and therefore failed. He called initially for complete and universal disarmament and ignored France’s well-known demand that some type of security arrangement must precede any disarmament. Litvinov immediately asserted the need to correct recent “rumors and unfounded assertions” regarding the Soviet government’s attitude toward both disarmament and the League. Litvinov thus emphasized that the Soviet Union had precious little hope for positive results but could, by its simple attendance, avoid the charge of blocking disarmament itself. High visibility in Switzerland would have been asking for more trouble, and Litvinov probably feared for the safety of the Soviet delegation. Litvinov was proposing that diplomacy should be repudiated and that peace and security be obtained through total disarmament. The French objected that to examine Litvinov’s proposal would necessitate the Preparatory Commission’s starting work anew, a strange objection since the commission had achieved nothing upon which all parties could agree.
