Editing Vyacheslav Molotov (section)

==Postwar career==
At the [[19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|19th Party Congress]] in 1952, Molotov was elected to the replacement for the Politburo, the [[Presidium]], but was not listed among the members of the newly established secret body known as the Bureau of the Presidium, which indicated that he had fallen out of Stalin's favour.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=231}} At the 19th Congress, Stalin said "there has been criticism of comrade Molotov and [[Anastas Mikoyan|Mikoyan]] by the Central Committee," mistakes that included letting the British ambassador publish "bourgeois newspapers in our country".<ref>{{cite web |title=Unpublished speech by Stalin on 16 October 1952 |url=https://www.northstarcompass.org/nsc0004/stal1952.htm |access-date=3 February 2021 |language=en |archivedate=9 January 2021 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109055350/https://www.northstarcompass.org/nsc0004/stal1952.htm |url-status=deviated }}</ref>{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=640}} Both Molotov and Mikoyan were falling out of favour rapidly, with Stalin telling Beria, Khrushchev, Malenkov and [[Nikolai Bulganin]] that he no longer wanted to see Molotov and Mikoyan around.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} At his 73rd birthday, Stalin treated both with disgust.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|pp=645–647}} In [[On the Personality Cult and its Consequences|his speech]] to the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|20th Party Congress]] in 1956, Khrushchev told delegates that Stalin had plans for "finishing off" Molotov and Mikoyan in the aftermath of the 19th Congress.<ref name="Timemag">{{cite magazine | title = Russia: The Survivor | magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,809881-2,00.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071122041645/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,809881-2,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 22 November 2007 | access-date = 19 January 2010 | date = 16 September 1957 }}</ref>

[[File:Foreign-Minister-Molotov-in-conversation-with-Foreign-Minister-Pinay-352131950501.jpg|thumb|Molotov with French Foreign Minister [[Antoine Pinay]] at the [[Geneva Summit (1955)|Geneva Summit of 1955]]]]
Following Stalin's death, a realignment of the leadership strengthened Molotov's position. [[Georgy Malenkov]], Stalin's successor in the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, reappointed Molotov as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 5 March 1953.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=662}} Although Molotov was seen as a likely successor to Stalin in the immediate aftermath of his death, he never sought to become leader of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=227}} A [[Troika (Soviet leadership)|Troika]] was established immediately after Stalin's death, consisting of Malenkov, Beria, and Molotov,<ref name="againtroika">{{cite book | author = Marlowe, Lynn Elizabeth | title = GED Social Studies: The Best Study Series for GED | publisher = Research and Education Association | year = 2005| page = 140 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NUHU3om46M4C | isbn = 0-7386-0127-6}}</ref> but ended when Malenkov and Molotov deceived Beria.<ref>{{cite book | author = Taubman, William | author-link = William Taubman| year = 2003 | title = Khrushchev: The Man and His Era | url = https://archive.org/details/khrushchevmanhis00taub | url-access = registration | publisher = [[W.W. Norton & Company]] | isbn = 0-393-32484-2 | page = [https://archive.org/details/khrushchevmanhis00taub/page/258 258]}}</ref> Molotov supported the removal and later the execution of Beria on the orders of Khrushchev.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=666}} The new Party Secretary, Khrushchev, soon emerged as the new [[leader of the Soviet Union]]. He presided over a gradual domestic liberalisation and a thaw in foreign policy, as was manifest in a reconciliation with [[Josip Broz Tito]]'s government in [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], which Stalin had expelled from the communist movement. Molotov, an old-guard Stalinist, seemed increasingly out of place in the new environment,{{sfn|Brown|2009|pp=236–237}} but represented the Soviet Union at the [[Geneva Conference (1955)|Geneva Conference of 1955]].<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Bischof, Günter |author2=Dockrill, Saki | title = Cold War respite: the Geneva Summit of 1955 | publisher = [[Louisiana State University Press]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-8071-2370-6 | pages = 284–285 }}</ref>

Molotov's position became increasingly tenuous after February 1956, when Khrushchev launched an unexpected denunciation of Stalin at the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|20th Congress]] of the Communist Party. Khrushchev attacked Stalin over the purges of the 1930s and the defeats of the early years of the Second World War, which he blamed on Stalin's overly-trusting attitude towards Hitler and the purges of the Red Army command structure. Molotov was the most senior of Stalin's collaborators still in government and had played a leading role in the purges, so it became evident that Khrushchev's examination of the past would probably result in the fall from power of Molotov, who became the leader of an old-guard faction that sought to overthrow Khrushchev.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|pp=666–667}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-33241-0001, Moskau, Gala-Vorstellung für BRD-Regierungsdelegation.jpg|thumb|right|Molotov (far left) with Khrushchev (second from right) and Premier [[Nikolai Bulganin]] (to the left of Khrushchev) in 1955 at a gala reception in Moscow for the visit of West German Chancellor [[Konrad Adenauer]] (centre left)]]In June 1956, Molotov was removed as Foreign Minister;{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=245}} on 29 June 1957, he was expelled from the Presidium (Politburo) after a failed attempt to remove Khrushchev as First Secretary. Although Molotov's faction initially won a vote in the Presidium 7–4 to remove Khrushchev, the latter refused to resign unless a Central Committee plenum decided so.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=252}} In the plenum, which met from 22 to 29 June, Molotov and his faction were defeated.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|pp=666–667}} Eventually he was banished, being made ambassador to the [[Mongolian People's Republic]].{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=252}} Molotov and his associates were denounced as "the [[Anti-Party Group]]" but notably were not subject to such unpleasant repercussions that had been customary for denounced officials in the Stalin years. In 1960, he was appointed Soviet representative to the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]], which was seen as a partial rehabilitation.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=668}} However, after the [[22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|22nd Party Congress]] in 1961, during which Khrushchev carried out his [[de-Stalinisation]] campaign, including the removal of Stalin's body from [[Lenin's Mausoleum]], Molotov, along with [[Lazar Kaganovich]], was removed from all positions and expelled from the Communist Party.{{sfn|Brown|2009|p=231}} In 1962, all of Molotov's party documents and files were destroyed by the authorities.{{sfn|Goudoever|1986|p=100}}

In retirement, Molotov remained unrepentant about his role under Stalin's rule.{{sfn|Montefiore|2005|p=669}} 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 [[Marxist revisionism|revisionism]] of Khrushchev's policies.