Vyacheslav Molotov: Difference between revisions

[[File:Vyacheslav Molotov Anefo2.jpg|thumb|304x304px]]

 

Molotov was the principal Soviet signatory of the Nazi–Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939 (also known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact), whose most important provisions were added in the form of a secret protocol that stipulated an invasion of Poland and partition of its territory between Germany and the Soviet Union. This effectively marked the beginning of World War II and made the Soviet Union an unofficial ally of Nazi Germany in the period from 1939 until the German invasion in 1941. During this period, Molotov knew of the Katyn massacre committed by the Soviet authorities. Following the end of World War II (Great Patriotic War),

secondary school in Kazan, and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1906, soon gravitating toward that organisation's radical Bolshevik faction, headed by V. I. Lenin.^[3] I Skryabin took the pseudonym "Molotov", derived from the Russian word молот ''molot'' (hammer) for his political work owing to the name's vaguely "industrial" ring.^[3] He was arrested in 1909 and spent two years in exile in Vologda. In 1911 he enrolled at St Petersburg Polytechnic. Molotov joined the editorial staff of a new underground Bolshevik newspaper called ''Pravda'', meeting Joseph Stalin for the first time in association with the project.^[4]

the deportation of millions of ''kulaks'' (peasants with property) to labour camps. An enormous number of the deportees died from exposure and overwork.^[15] He signed the ''Law of Spikelets''^[16] and personally led the Extraordinary Commission for Grain Delivery in Ukraine,^[17] which seized a reported 4.2 million tonnes of grain from the peasants during a widespread manmade famine (known in Ukraine as Holodomor).^[16] Contemporary historians estimate that between seven and eleven million people died, either of starvation or in labour camps,^[16] in the process of farm collectivization. Molotov also oversaw the implementation of the First Five-Year Plan for rapid industrialisation.^[18]

Sergei Kirov, head of the Party organisation in Leningrad, was killed in 1934;^[19] some believed his death was ordered by Stalin. Kirov's death triggered a second crisis, the Great Purge.^[20] In 1938, out of the 28 People's Commissars in Molotov's Government, 20 were executed on the orders of Molotov and Stalin.^[21] The purges were carried out by Stalin's successive police chiefs,^[22] Nikolai Yezhov was the chief organiser and Kliment Voroshilov, Lazar Kaganovich and Molotov were intimately involved in the processes.^[23]

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.^[29] The rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany precipitated the development of a modern armaments industry on the orders of the Soviet government.^[30] 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).^[31] Set against this, the purges of the Red Army

the secret protocol, which provided for the partition of Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and for the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia (then part of Romania, now Moldova).^[37] This protocol gave Hitler the green light for his invasion of Poland, which began on 1 September.^[39] On 5 March 1940 Lavrentiy Beria gave Molotov, along with Anastas Mikoyan, Kliment Voroshilov and Stalin, a note ordering the execution of 25,700 Polish officers and anti-Soviets, in what has become known as the Katyn massacre.^[38]

June 1941 when Hitler, having occupied France and neutralised Britain,  

<nowiki> </nowiki>broadcast by radio on 22 June, characterised the Soviet Union in a role

<nowiki> </nowiki>capitalist and the other communist. In response, the Soviet Union,  

In retirement, Molotov remained totally unrepentant about his role during Stalin's rule.^[76] He suffered a heart attack in January 1962. After the Sino-Soviet split, it was reported that he agreed with the criticisms made by Mao Zedong of the supposed "revisionism" of Khrushchev's policies. According to Roy Medvedev, Stalin's daughter Svetlana

The first signs of a rehabilitation were seen during Leonid Brezhnev's

In January 2010 a Ukrainian Court of Appeal accused Molotov and other Soviet officials of organizing a man-made famine in Ukraine in 1932–33 (known as Holodomor). But the same Court then quashed criminal proceedings against them, because of their deaths.^[91]