Word: molotovs
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...hard fact was that Molotov and Mikoyan, among the few surviving Old Bolsheviks, remained as members of the Politburo. The probability, as Correspondent Joseph Newman cabled the New York Herald Tribune through the Moscow censorship, was that they were in line for "more important work"-not demoted but promoted. Stalin is 69; he has said publicly that his health is not good. He must plan on some sort of succession...
...Into the Pattern." For 48 hours the West weltered in the confusion of factlessness: the air waves and the news columns were splashed with words like "purge" and "shake-up." Molotov had been ousted. Vishinsky was Stalin's newest fair-haired boy. What it all meant was a tougher Soviet policy toward the West. On the other hand, what it really meant was a genuine peace move. The North Atlantic pact was a factor. The airlift was a factor. Even the Anna Louise Strong incident was cited as "fitting into the pattern." The Communist London Daily Worker didn...
...Matter of Views. As Churchill had seen him at close range, Vyacheslav Molotov was "a man of outstanding ability and cold-blooded ruthlessness . . . His cannonball head, black mustache and comprehending eyes, his slab face, his verbal adroitness and imperturbable demeanor, were appropriate manifestations of his qualities and skill. He was above all men fitted to be the agent and instrument of the policy of an incalculable machine...
...Molotov was chosen as a Politburo "nominee" (alternate) in 1923. Then he was only 33. (This week he turned 59.) In 1930 he became Premier. Through the '20s and '30s, Molotov had a big hand in the forming of inner Soviet policy in all fields: foreign, domestic, Comintern. In May 1939, Molotov succeeded Maxim Litvinoff as Foreign Minister. Four months later he shocked the world with the Nazi-Soviet pact. Said Molotov: "One may accept or reject the ideology of Hitlerism . . . that is a matter of political views...
...Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was, of course, the most spectacular calamity in Soviet diplomatic history. Since Molotov was not demoted for that it seemed scarcely believable that he would be held accountable for the recent failures of Soviet policy in Europe. It was more likely that the U.S.S.R. was merely reverting to its normal practice of having mouthpieces rather than policymakers handle Soviet dealings with the outside world. Litvinoff was a mouthpiece, and so was his predecessor Chicherin. Vishinsky, for all his forensic talents, belongs in that category...