Amtorg Trading Corporation, also known simply as Amtorg, was the first Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 trade representation

Trade office

A trade office, sometimes known as a trade representation, commercial office, or trade mission, is an official establishment that promotes the commercial interests of a government in a foreign capital. The head of such an establishment is typically called a trade representative or commercial...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 when Armand Hammer

Armand Hammer

Armand Hammer was an American business tycoon most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran for decades, though he was known as well as for his art collection, his philanthropy, and for his close ties to the Soviet Union.Thanks to business interests around the world and his...

 established it in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in 1924 through the amalgamation

Consolidation (business)

Consolidation or amalgamation is the act of merging many things into one. In business, it often refers to the mergers and acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group...

 of the American firms Products Exchange Corporation (1919) and Arcos-America Inc (1923). The latter was the US office of All Russian Co-operative Society

All Russian Co-operative Society

The All-Russian Co-operative Society was the principal body responsible for the orchestration of Anglo-Russian trade in the early days of Soviet Russia, following the development of Lenin's New Economic Policy...

 (ARCOS). Amtorg served Soviet import

Import

The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...

 and export

Export

The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...

 firms seeking to conduct foreign trade

Foreign trade of the Soviet Union

Soviet foreign trade played only a minor role in the Soviet economy. In 1985, for example, exports and imports each accounted for only 4 percent of the Soviet gross national product. The Soviet Union maintained this low level because it could draw upon a large energy and raw material base, and...

 in the US throughout the Communist

Bolshevik

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

 era. It also served as a front for GRU

GRU

GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...

 and OGPU (Soviet intelligence

State Political Directorate

The State Political Directorate was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1934...

) operations in the US. This was especially important in the early years, before Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 recognized

Diplomatic recognition

Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...

 the Soviets in 1933, allowing them a permanent embassy in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

  It continued to handle most Soviet-America trade until 1935. it still exists.

As an arm of the Soviet state, Amtorg was targeted by civil rights activists.

External links

• "Amtorg's Spree," TIME (February 19, 1940)
• "AMTORG President Returns to Russia to 'Resign' His Post," New York Times (November 16, 1946)
• "The Never-Ending Wrong," Atlantic Monthly (June 1977) by Katherine Anne Porter
  Katherine Anne Porter
  Katherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim...
  
  
• "Interview with Cecil Philips," PBS Red Files (1999)
• "Amtorg," PBS Red Files (1999)
• "Lend-Lease: The Oil Factor," Oil of Russian(2005)
• "Soviet Amtorg Trading Corp," Electric History (undated)
• NYT search 'Amtorg'