Editing Vyacheslav Molotov (section)

==Minister of Foreign Affairs==
[[File:Vycheslav Molotov and Joseph Stalin May 1932.jpg|left|thumb|Vyacheslav Molotov (Skryabin), Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Prime Minister) and [[Joseph Stalin]], General Secretary of the Communist Party, in 1932. ]]In 1939, [[Adolf Hitler]]'s invasion of the rest of [[Czechoslovakia]], in violation of the 1938 [[Munich Agreement]], made Stalin believe that Britain and France, which had signed the agreement, would not be reliable allies against German expansion. That made him decide instead to seek to conciliate [[Nazi Germany]].{{sfn|Brown|2009|pp=90–91}} In May 1939, [[Maxim Litvinov]], the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, was dismissed;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holroyd-Doveton|first=John|title=Maxim Litvinov: A Biography|publisher=Woodland Publication|year=2013|isbn=9780957296107|chapter=Ch. 14|pages=351–359}}</ref> Molotov was appointed to succeed him.{{sfn|Service|2003|p=256}} 
Relations between Molotov and Litvinov had been bad. Maurice Hindus in 1954 stated in his book ''Crisis in the Kremlin'':

<blockquote>It is well known in Moscow that Molotov always detested Litvinov. Molotov's detestation for Litvinov was purely of a personal nature. No Moscovite I have ever known, whether a friend of Molotov or of Litvinov, has ever taken exception to this view. Molotov was always resentful of Litvinov's fluency in French, German and English, as he was distrustful of Litvinov's easy manner with foreigners. Never having lived abroad, Molotov always suspected that there was something impure and sinful in Litvinov's broad-mindedness and appreciation of Western civilisation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hindus|first=Maurice Gerschon|title=Crisis in the Kremlin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHVBAAAAIAAJ|year=1953|publisher=Doubleday|page=48}}</ref></blockquote>

Litvinov had no respect for Molotov, regarding him as a small-minded intriguer and accomplice in terror.<ref>{{Cite book | author = Medvedev, Roy | title = All Stalin's Men | publisher = Anchor Press/[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] | year = 1984 | isbn = 0-385-18388-7 | page = 488 | author-link = Roy Medvedev }}</ref>

[[File:Great Purge Stalin Voroshilov Kaganovich Zhdanov Molotov.jpg|thumb|A list from the [[Great Purge]] signed by Molotov, Stalin, [[Kliment Voroshilov|Voroshilov]], [[Lazar Kaganovich|Kaganovich]], and [[Andrei Zhdanov|Zhdanov]]|293x293px]] Molotov was succeeded in his post as premier by Stalin.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=141}}

At first, Hitler rebuffed Soviet diplomatic hints that Stalin desired a treaty; but in early August 1939, Hitler allowed Foreign Minister [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] to begin serious negotiations. A trade agreement was concluded on 18 August, and on 22 August Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to conclude a formal non-aggression treaty. Although the treaty is known as the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], it was Stalin and Hitler, not Molotov and Ribbentrop, who decided the content of the treaty.

The most important part of the agreement was 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]]).{{sfn|Service|2003|p=256}} The protocol gave Hitler the green light for his [[German invasion of Poland|invasion of Poland]], which began on 1 September.{{sfn|Brown|2009|pp=90–92}}

The pact's terms gave Hitler authorisation to occupy two thirds of [[Western Poland]] and the whole of [[Lithuania]]. Molotov was given a free hand in relation to Finland. In the [[Winter War]], a combination of fierce Finnish resistance and Soviet mismanagement resulted in Finland losing much of its territory but not its independence.{{sfn|Service|2003|pp=256–257}} The pact was later amended to allocate Lithuania to the Soviets in exchange for a more favourable border in Poland for Germany. The annexations led to horrific suffering and loss of life in the countries occupied and partitioned by both dictatorships.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|pp=320, 322 and 342}} On 5 March 1940, [[Lavrentiy Beria]] gave Molotov, along with [[Anastas Mikoyan]], [[Kliment Voroshilov]] and Stalin, a note proposing the execution of 25,700 Polish [[anti-Soviet]] officers in what has become known as the [[Katyn massacre]].{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=141}}

In November 1940, Stalin [[German–Soviet Axis talks#Molotov travels to Berlin|sent Molotov to Berlin]] to meet Ribbentrop and Hitler. In January 1941, British Foreign Secretary [[Anthony Eden]] visited Turkey in an attempt to get the Turks to enter the war on the Allies' side.  The purpose of Eden's visit was anti-German, rather than anti-Soviet, but Molotov assumed otherwise. In a series of conversations with Italian Ambassador Augusto Rosso, Molotov claimed that the Soviets would soon be faced with an Anglo–Turkish invasion of the [[Crimea]]. The British historian D.C. Watt argued that on the basis of Molotov's statements to Rosso, it would appear that, in early 1941, Stalin and Molotov viewed Britain, rather than Germany, as the principal threat.<ref>{{Cite book | author = Cameron Watt, Donald | title = Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy | publisher = [[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-415-14435-3 | pages = 276–286}}</ref>
[[File:Молотов и Риббентроп crop.png|left|thumb|Molotov meets with [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] before they sign the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|German–Soviet Pact]].]]
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact governed Soviet–German relations until June 1941, when Hitler turned east and [[German invasion of the Soviet Union|invaded the Soviet Union]].{{sfn|Service|2003|pp=158–160}} Molotov was responsible for telling the Soviet people of the attack when he, instead of Stalin, announced the war. His speech, broadcast by radio on 22 June, characterised the Soviet Union in a role similar to that articulated by Winston Churchill in his early wartime speeches.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-08-13 |title=Molotov Announces the German Attack (1941) |url=https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1943-2/the-cult-of-leadership/the-cult-of-leadership-video/molotov-announces-the-german-attack-1941/ |access-date=2023-08-20 |website=Seventeen Moments in Soviet History |language=en-US}}</ref>  The [[State Defence Committee]] was established soon after Molotov's speech. Stalin was elected chairman and Molotov was elected deputy chairman.{{sfn|Service|2003|pp=261,262}}

After the German invasion, Molotov conducted urgent negotiations with the British and then the Americans for wartime alliances. He took a secret flight to Scotland, where he was greeted by Eden. The risky flight in a high-altitude [[Tupolev TB-7]] bomber flew over German-occupied Denmark and the [[North Sea]]. From there, he took a train to London to discuss the possibility of opening a second front against Germany.

After signing the [[Anglo–Soviet Treaty of 1942]] on 26 May, Molotov left for [[Washington D.C.|Washington]]. He met US President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and agreed on a [[lend-lease]] plan. Both the British and the Americans only vaguely promised to open a second front against Germany. On his flight back to the Soviet Union, his plane was attacked by German fighters and later mistakenly by Soviet fighters.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|pp=417–418}}

There is no evidence that Molotov ever persuaded Stalin to pursue a different policy from that on which he had already decided.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holroyd-Doveton|first=John|title=Maxim Litvinov: A Biography|publisher=Woodland Publications|year=2013|pages=507}}</ref> Volkogonov could not find one case where any of the elite in government openly disagreed with Stalin.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Volkogonov|first=Dmitri|title=Stalin: Triumph & Tragedy|publisher=Prima Publishing|year=1996|pages=220}}</ref>

There is some evidence that, although Stalin realised he needed Molotov, Stalin did not like him.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holroyd-Doveton|first=John|title=Maxim Litvinov: A Biography|publisher=Woodland Publications|year=2013|pages=486}}</ref> Stalin's one-time bodyguard, Amba, stated: "More general dislike for this statesman robot and for his position in the Kremlin could scarcely be wished and it was apparent that Stalin himself joined in this feeling".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Achmed|first=Amba|title=I Was Stalin's Bodyguard|publisher=Muller|year=1952|pages=133}}</ref> Amba asked the question:   <blockquote>"What then has made Stalin collaborate so closely with him? There are many more talented people in the Soviet Union and Stalin no doubt had the means to find them. Is he afraid of close collaboration with a more human and sympathetic assistant?"</blockquote>At a jolly party, Amba recalled an incident whereby Poskryobyshev approached Stalin and whispered in his ear. Stalin replied, "Does it have to be right away?"  Everybody realised at once that the conversation was regarding Molotov. In half an hour, Stalin was informed of Molotov's arrival. Although the whispered conversation between Molotov and Stalin only lasted five minutes, the merriment of the gathering evaporated as everybody talked in hushed tones. Amba stated, "Then the blanket left. Instantly the gaiety returned". Vareykis said that "a gentle angel has flown past": a Russian expression for when a sudden silence descends. Breaking the tension, Laurentyev quipped in a harsh Georgian accent, "Go, friendly soul". Out of those in attendance, Stalin laughed the loudest at Laurentyev's joke.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Achmed|first=Amba|title=I Was Stalin's Bodyguard|publisher=Muller|year=1952|pages=138}}</ref>

Stalin could be rude to Molotov.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holroyd-Doveton|first=John|title=Maxim Litvinov: A Biography|publisher=Woodland Publications|year=2013|pages=487}}</ref> In 1942, Stalin took Molotov to task for his handling of the negotiations with the Allies. He cabled Molotov on 3 June:<blockquote>"[I am] dissatisfied with the terseness and reticence of all your communications. You convey to us from your talks with Roosevelt and Churchill only what you yourself consider is important, and omit all the rest. Meanwhile, the instance [Stalin] would like to know everything. What you consider important and what you think unimportant. This refers to the draft of the communiqué as well. You have not informed us whose draft it is, whether it has been agreed with the British in full and why, after all, there could not be two communiqués, one concerning the talks in Britain and one concerning the talks in the USA. We are having to guess because of your reticence. We further consider it expedient that both communiqués should mention among other things the creation of a second front in Europe and that full understanding has been reached in this matter. We also consider that it is absolutely necessary both communiqués should mention the supply of war materials to the Soviet Union from Britain and the USA. In all the rest we agree with the contents of the draft communiqué you sent us".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rzheshevsky|first=Oleg|title=War and Diplomacy|publisher=Routledge|year=1996|pages=210}}</ref></blockquote>[[File:Stalin Roosevelt Churchill at Tehran cph.3c35324.jpg|thumb|Stalin, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and [[Winston Churchill]] at the [[Tehran Conference]] in 1943; Molotov and [[Anthony Eden]] stand in the background.]]
When Beria told Stalin about the [[Manhattan Project]] and its importance, Stalin handpicked Molotov to be the man in charge of the [[Soviet atomic bomb project]]. However, under Molotov's leadership, the bomb and the project itself developed very slowly, and he was replaced by Beria in 1944 on the advice of [[Igor Kurchatov]].{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=508}} When Roosevelt's successor as U.S. President [[Harry S. Truman]] told Stalin that the Americans had created a bomb never seen before, Stalin relayed the conversation to Molotov and told him to speed up development. On Stalin's orders, the Soviet government substantially increased investment in the project.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=510}}<ref>Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich (1971). ''The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov''. New York: Delacorte Press.</ref> In a collaboration with [[Kliment Voroshilov]], Molotov contributed both musically and lyrically to the 1944 version of the [[State Anthem of the Soviet Union|Soviet national anthem]]. Molotov asked the writers to include a line or two about peace. The role of Molotov and Voroshilov in the making of the new Soviet anthem was, in the words of the historian [[Simon Sebag-Montefiore]], acting as music judges for Stalin.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=468}}

Molotov accompanied Stalin to the [[Teheran Conference]] in 1943,{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=472}} the [[Yalta Conference]] in 1945,{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=489}} and, after the defeat of Germany, the [[Potsdam Conference]].{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=507}} He represented the Soviet Union at the [[San Francisco Conference]], which created the [[United Nations Organisation|United Nations]].{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=477}} In April 1945, shortly after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Molotov engaged in talks with the new American President [[Harry S. Truman]]; these talks, despite not being hostile, came to be mythologised decades later as an early crack in US-Soviet relations harbingering the beginning of the Cold War.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Geoffrey |date=24 May 2006 |title=Sexing up the Cold War: New Evidence on the Molotov–Truman Talks of April 1945 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1468274042000231178 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=105–124 |doi=10.1080/1468274042000231178 |s2cid=153469872 |access-date=14 February 2023}}</ref> Even during the wartime alliance, Molotov was known as a tough negotiator and a determined defender of Soviet interests. Molotov lost his position of First Deputy chairman on 19 March 1946, after the Council of People's Commissars had been reformed as the Council of Ministers.

[[File:President Truman and Josef Stalin on the lawn outside of Soviet Union Prime Minister Stalin's residence during the... - NARA - 198678.jpg|thumb|left|Stalin, [[Harry S. Truman]], [[Andrei Gromyko]], [[James F. Byrnes]] and Molotov meeting at the [[Potsdam Conference]] on 18 July 1945]]
From 1945 to 1947, Molotov took part in all four conferences of [[foreign ministers]] of the victorious states in the Second World War. In general, he was distinguished by an unco-operative attitude towards the Western powers. Molotov, at the direction of the Soviet government, condemned the [[Marshall Plan]] as imperialistic and claimed it was dividing Europe into two camps: one capitalist and the other communist. In response, the Soviet Union, along with the other [[Eastern Bloc]] nations, initiated what is known as the [[Molotov Plan]]. The plan created several [[bilateral relations]] between the states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and later evolved into the [[Comecon|Council for Mutual Economic Assistance]] (CMEA).<ref>{{Cite book | author = Roberts, Geoffrey | title = The Soviet Union in world politics: coexistence, revolution, and cold war, 1945–1991 | publisher = [[Routledge]] | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-415-14435-3 | pages = 284–285 | author-link = Geoffrey Roberts }}</ref>

In the postwar period, Molotov's power began to decline. A clear sign of his precarious position was his inability to prevent the arrest for "[[treason]]" in December 1948 of his Jewish wife, [[Polina Zhemchuzhina]], whom Stalin had long distrusted.{{sfn|Brown|2009|pp=199–201}} Molotov initially protested the persecution against her by abstaining from the vote to condemn her, but later recanted, stating: "I acknowledge my heavy sense of remorse for not having prevented Zhemchuzhina, a person very dear to me, from making her mistakes and from forming ties with anti-Soviet Jewish nationalists", and divorced Zhemchuzhina.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/449858698 |title=Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin |date=2010 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00239-9 |location=New York |pages=345 |oclc=449858698}}</ref>

Polina Zhemchuzhina befriended [[Golda Meir]], who arrived in Moscow in November 1948 as the first Israeli envoy to the Soviet Union.<ref>[[Paul Johnson (writer)|Johnson, Paul]] (1987), ''A History of the Jews''. Associated University Presses. p. 527.</ref> There are unsubstantiated claims that, being fluent in [[Yiddish]], Zhemchuzhina acted as a translator for a diplomatic meeting between Meir and her husband, the Soviet foreign minister. However, this claim (of being an interpreter) is not supported by Meir's memoir ''[[My Life (Meir autobiography)|My Life]]''. Presentation of her ambassadorial credentials was done in Hebrew, not in Yiddish. According to Meir's own account of the reception given by Molotov on 7 November, "Mrs. Zhemchuzhina has spent significant time during this reception not only talking to Golda Meir herself but also in conversation with Mrs. Meir's daughter Sarah and her friend Yael Namir about their life as kibbutzniks. They have discussed the complete collectivization of property and related issues. At the end Mrs. Zhemchuzhina gave Golda Meir's daughter Sarah a hug and said: 'Be well. If everything goes well with you, it will go well for all Jews everywhere.'&nbsp;"<ref>Meir, Golda (1973). ''My Life'', ISBN 0-440-15656-4, pp. 242–243.</ref>

Zhemchuzhina was imprisoned for a year in the [[Lubyanka Building|Lubyanka]] and was then exiled for three years in an obscure Russian city.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=666}} She was sentenced to hard labour, spending five years in exile in Kazakhstan.<ref name=":1" /> Molotov had no communication with her except for the scant news that he received from Beria, whom he loathed. Zhemchuzhina was freed immediately after the death of Stalin.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=666}}[[File:Molotov with wife in 1960b.jpg|thumb|Molotov with his wife [[Polina Zhemchuzhina|Polina]] in 1960]]In 1949, Molotov was replaced as Foreign Minister by [[Andrey Vyshinsky]] but retained his position as [[First Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union|First Deputy Premier]] and membership in the Politburo.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=604}} Being appointed Foreign Minister by Stalin to replace the Jewish predecessor [[Maxim Litvinov]] to facilitate negotiations with Nazi Germany, Molotov was thus also dismissed from the same position at least in part because his wife was also of Jewish origin.<ref name=":1" />

Molotov never stopped loving his wife, and it is said he ordered his maids to make dinner for two every evening to remind him that, in his own words, "she suffered because of me."{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=604}} According to Erofeev, Molotov said of her: "She's not only beautiful and intelligent, the only woman minister in the Soviet Union; she's also a real [[Bolshevik]], a real Soviet person."{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} According to Stalin's daughter, Molotov became very subservient to his wife.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holroyd-Doveton|first=John|title=Maxim Livinov: A Biography|publisher=Woodland Publications|year=2013|pages=493}}</ref> Molotov was a yes-man to his wife just as he was to Stalin.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Alliluyeva|first=Svetlana|title=Only One Year|year=1969|pages=384}}</ref>