740.0011 Mutual Guarantee (Eastern
Locarno)/83
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
No. 310
Moscow, December 27,
1934.
[Received January 19, 1935.]
Sir: With reference to my telegram No. 407,
December 9, 8 p.m., reporting the signing of the Laval-Litvinov protocol
at Geneva on December 5, 1934, and subsequent despatches on the same
subject, I have the honor to transmit herewith an English version of the
official text of the protocol which appeared in the Soviet press on
December 20, 1934. The enclosed text is taken from the Moscow Daily News of December 20, 1934, and has been carefully
checked with the official communiqué in Russian. The Department will
note that the wording of the protocol permits of a wide or narrowed
interpretation in respect of the period and scope of the present
agreement which, as reported, in my despatch No. 287, of December 14,
1934,59 was
presumably drafted with a view to appeasing British sensibilities. The
vague wording on this point would seem to explain the inconsistency
between the Havas communiqué announcing the signing of the protocol and
M. Litvinov’s statements in respect to the scope of the pact, as
reported in the telegram referred to above and commented on in
subsequent despatches.
I venture to enclose also translations of editorial comments which
appeared in the Izvestiya and Pravda on December 20, 1934,59 in connection with the publication of the official
text of the protocol.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure]
Protocol Signed on December 5, 1934, in Geneva by
the Russian People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs (Litvinov) and the French
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Laval)60
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic and the
People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U. S. S. R., having
[Page 524]
exchanged opinions on
the progress of negotiations for the conclusion of the Eastern Pact,
the initiative for which was undertaken by their respective
governments, put on record the mutual decision of both governments
to secure the conclusion of the international acts indicated. At the
moment when the negotiations have entered into a more active phase,
they have agreed on behalf of their governments, to undertake
mutually to adhere to the following positions:
- 1.
- In their connections with the governments invited to
participate in the Pact, and particularly with those which
have not yet expressed their consent in principle to join
the Pact, both governments agree not to enter into
negotiations which might be aimed at concluding multilateral
or bilateral agreements, capable of jeopardizing the
preparation for and the conclusion of the Eastern Regional
Pact or agreements connected therewith, and agree not to
conclude agreements counteracting the spirit by which both
governments are guided.
- 2.
- To this end, each of the two governments will notify the
other of any proposal of the above mentioned character, made
to it by one of the governments in question, regardless of
the manner in which such a proposal may be made.
These undertakings will be binding for the entire period of the
current diplomatic action or all other subsequent actions which, on
the basis of the same general conception and with the same purpose
in view, could replace it. Both governments undertake not to reject
these actions except in the event of an acknowledgment by mutual
agreement of the uselessness of continuing them further. In such an
event they will confer mutually on the question of new assurances
which they will deem necessary to give one another on the basis of
the same spirit and with the same end in view.
Both governments are convinced that such a guarantee of the
continuity and effectiveness of Franco-Soviet diplomatic
collaboration will further the success of the present international
negotiations and at the same time will help in general to strengthen
the spirit of mutual confidence in the relations between the
governments of both countries.
In confirmation of which we, the undersigned, duly authorized by our
respective governments, have signed the present protocol.
-
Pierre Laval
-
Maxim Litvinov
Geneva, December 5,
1934.
