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Molotov: Soviet Union
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From May 1939 until 1949 Molotov was foreign minister. In August 1939 he was responsible for negotiating the notorious Nazi-Soviet pact. In May 1941, shortly before the outbreak of war, Stalin replaced him as Sovnarkom chairman. Molotov remained as vice-chairman, and during the war he was ... deputy chairman of the State Defence Committee (GKO) with special responsibility for tank production, as well as foreign minister. He was responsible for negotiating the wartime alliance with the United States and Great Britain in 1942; with Stalin he represented the USSR at the major wartime international conferences. He then headed the Soviet delegation to the San Francisco conference of 1945 that established the United Nations organization.
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Molotov, the Soviet Union's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, was in Berlin in mid-November 1940 to discuss a broad range of political and economic issues between the Third Reich and the USSR. While there, he met with both Ribbontrop and Hitler. During Molotov's interview with Hitler, the Soviet Union was invited to join the Tripartite Pact and share in the spoils of the British Empire. The Fuehrer told the Commissar that Britain was all but defeated and it was time to consider what to do with her imperial territories. He hinted that Germany and Italy intended to advance southward and divide Africa between them and he suggested that the Soviets should do likewise -- advance south -- and take India. Molotov in turn emphasized the need to settle outstanding disputes over the future of Finland and the Balkans as well as a host of other issues before discussing the partition of the -- as yet -- undefeated British Empire.
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From 1918 to 1920 Molotov held various economic posts in the new Soviet Russian government. In 1921 he was elected a secretary of the Central Committee as well as a candidate (nonvoting) member of the Politburo, the party's ruling body. During the 1920s Molotov worked closely with Stalin, who was general secretary of the Communist Party, giving him unwavering support in his struggles against political opponents. Molotov was elected to full Politburo membership in 1926, and in 1928 he became first secretary of the Moscow Party Committee. In 1930 Molotov became chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (later called the Council of Ministers), an office unofficially dubbed the premier.
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German military planning for an attack on the Soviet Union began in July 1940 and planning was already in an advanced stage by the time Molotov came to Berlin in November. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe had begun reconnaissance flights over the USSR, as part of the preparations for an attack, more than a month before Molotov met with Hitler. Likewise, the German preparations for an invasion of England were in progress. On October 12th Hitler formally deferred implementing Operation Sealion until the spring of 1941. The option... was left open.
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Molotov was critical of Stalin's theses on the possibility of constructing socialism and communism in one country. He recalled the events of the Party Congress of 1926 where he said, "The policy of our party is and remains the policy of the final triumph of Socialism on a world scale..." and Stalin commented ... on this: "So do you want to take a position between me and Trotsky?" Molotov adds, "He understood me correctly." (MR p.63-4). Molotov held that "It is possible to seize power, it is even possible to organize socialist production, but only initially in one country. In order to triumph joint efforts are needed." (MR p.375) While this is essentially a repetition of the Leninist position, Molotov goes into the difficult terrain of defining the character of the Soviet state and society. He considers it an error on the part of Stalin to hold that Socialism had been built in the USSR as early as 1935. He would rather consider that the basis of socialism had been established-the completion of the task lay in the future.
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A clear sign of Molotov's precarious position was his inability to prevent the arrest of his Jewish wife, Polina Zhemchuzhina, in December 1948 for "treason". She had long been distrusted by Stalin. The couple were reunited by Beria upon the death of Stalin. At the 19th Party Congress in 1952, Molotov was elected to the new, expanded Presidium of the Communist Party but was excluded from the smaller standing committee of the Presidium (although this was not made public). It seems likely that Stalin's death in March 1953 saved Molotov from being purged as part of a "clean out" of the Soviet leadership.
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