Editing Vyacheslav Molotov (section)

=== Premiership (1930–1941) ===
A list from the Great Purge signed by Molotov, Stalin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich and Zhdanov

During the Central Committee plenum of 19 December 1930, Alexey Rykov, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (the equivalent of a Western head of government) was succeeded by Molotov. In this post, Molotov oversaw the Stalin regime's collectivisation of agriculture.<nowiki> </nowiki>He followed Stalin's line by using a combination of force and propaganda to crush peasant resistance to collectivisation, including the deportation of millions of ''kulaks'' (peasants with property) to [[concentration camp]]s. An enormous number of the deportees died from exposure and overwork. He signed the ''Law of Spikelets ''and personally led the Extraordinary Commission for Grain Delivery in Ukraine, which seized a reported 4.2 million tonnes of grain from the peasants during a widespread manmade famine (known in Ukraine as [[the Holodomor]]). Contemporary historians estimate that between seven and eleven million people died, either of starvation or in labour camps, in the process of farm collectivization. Molotov also oversaw the implementation of the First Five-Year Plan for rapid industrialization.

Sergei Kirov, head of the Party organisation in Leningrad, was killed in 1934 some believed his death was ordered by Stalin. Kirov's death triggered a second crisis, the [[Great Purge]]. In 1938, out of the 28 People's Commissars in Molotov's Government, 20 were executed on the orders of Molotov and Stalin. The purges were carried out by Stalin's successive police chiefs, [[Nikolai Yezhov]] was the chief organiser and Kliment Voroshilov, [[Lazar Kaganovich]] and Molotov were intimately involved in the processes. Stalin frequently required Molotov and other Politburo members to sign the death warrants of prominent purge victims, and Molotov always did so
<nowiki> </nowiki>without question. There is no record of Molotov attempting to moderate the course of the purges or even to save individuals, as some other Soviet officials did. During the Great Purge, he personally approved 372 documented execution lists, more than any other Soviet official, including Stalin. It is known that Molotov was one of few with whom Stalin openly discussed the purges. Although Molotov and Stalin signed a public decree in 1938 that disassociated them from the ongoing Great Purge, in private, and even after Stalin's death, Molotov supported the Great Purge and the executions carried out by his government.

Molotov at the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1939 with Stalin and Georgy Malenkov

Despite the great human cost, the Soviet Union under Molotov's nominal premiership made great strides<nowiki> </nowiki>in the adoption and widespread implementation of agrarian and industrial technology. In a document written by Molotov he noted how [[cannibalism]] and starvation were still serious problems even in 1937 in the Soviet Union. Andrey Vyshinsky, the Procurator General, even told Molotov personally of incidents involving mothers eating their newly born children. The rise of [[Adolf Hitler]] in Nazi Germany precipitated the development of a modern armaments industry on the orders of the Soviet government. Ultimately, it was this arms industry, along with American Lend-Lease aid, which helped the Soviet Union to prevail in World War II (Great Patriotic War). Set against this, the purges of the Red Army<nowiki> </nowiki>leadership, in which Molotov participated, weakened the Soviet Union's defence capacity and contributed to the military disasters of 1941 and 1942, which were mostly caused by unreadiness for war.The purges also led to the dismantling of privatised agriculture and its replacement by collectivised agriculture. This left a legacy of chronic agricultural inefficiencies and under-production which the Soviet regime never fully rectified.

Molotov was reported to be a vegetarian and teetotaler by American journalist John Gunther in 1938. However, Milovan Djilas claimed that Molotov "drank more than Stalin" and did not note his vegetarianism despite attending several banquets with him.