Maksim Litvinov

Maksim Litvinov is the Soviet commissar for foreign affairs who receives Nicola Bombacci in Copenhagen in April 1920. A senior representative of revolutionary Russia and a lieutenant of Vladimir Lenin, he turns Bombacci’s hoped-for conversation about revolution into a blunt lesson in Soviet priorities: recognition and relations with capitalist states come first, while an Italian revolution is neither imminent nor Moscow’s urgent concern.

Position and Mission

Litvinov waits in Copenhagen with Leonid Krasin for an Italian delegation officially arranged by the National League of Cooperatives and Mutual Aid, promoted by Milan’s socialist administration and politically endorsed by the government of Francesco Saverio Nitti. The delegation’s mixed sponsorship reflects the tensions of the moment: Nitti’s government wants diplomatic relations with Russia, while Italian socialists publicly seek to overthrow it.

For Bombacci, the journey is principally political. He hopes that contact with Soviet representatives will help Italy recognize Lenin’s government and perhaps open a path toward revolution at home. Litvinov’s mandate is narrower. Krasin has already made clear that his own assignment is to obtain official Italian recognition of Moscow and nothing more; Litvinov’s response confirms that this focus is not an incidental limitation but the Soviet government’s immediate policy.

The Copenhagen Meeting

Litvinov receives Bombacci with a glass of iced vodka. Bombacci then speaks fervently about the prospect of an imminent Italian revolution, but Litvinov answers with a dismissive assessment: although the Italian Socialist Party is strong, its revolutionary faction is weak, and any socialist government in Italy would last only a short time. His appraisal punctures Bombacci’s expectation that Moscow’s representatives will validate his revolutionary hopes.

Litvinov’s response is direct but also politically pointed. The Russian Revolution has already succeeded, he says in substance; revolutionary Russia’s urgent task is now to resume political and commercial relations with capitalist states. He treats diplomatic recognition and trade as practical necessities, not distractions from revolution. The exchange exposes the distance between Bombacci’s desire to discuss a future Italian upheaval and the Soviet delegation’s immediate work of securing state-to-state ties.

Significance in Bombacci’s Journey

The meeting leaves Bombacci disappointed. He had imagined that the men who had made a revolution in Russia would understand and encourage the revolution he hoped to bring about in Italy. Instead, Litvinov assesses Italian revolutionary capacity skeptically and places the consolidation of Russia’s international relations first. The encounter therefore marks a collision between Bombacci’s revolutionary internationalism and the Soviet government’s immediate diplomatic priorities, rather than the beginning of the alliance or endorsement he had sought.