Litvinov (1876-1951) ran guns into Czarist Russia, fought in the Bolshevik revolution, was a major Soviet diplomat in the 1930s, warned the west that Stalin was becoming another Hitler, fell into obscurity, yet managed to die of natural causes at a ripe old age. His consistent pro-western policy clashed with official policy after 1939, and was revived only recently by Gorbachev. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.