Molotov

[soso17]

Okay, so I know that some of this is speculation, but does anyone have any ideas about whether Molotov could have taken power after the death of Iosef Stalin, and if not, why? Also, what "line" do you think he would have taken? Would he have continued to advance Marxism-Leninism, or degraded into Kruschevesque reformism? I just find Molotov a fascinating man, and, although this may be a faulty characterization, I think of him as a Zhou En-Lai figure towards Stalin (in the place of Chairman Mao). I may get crucified for that last statement, but if you find it faulty, please explain why.

-soso:hammersickle::hammersickle::hammersickle:

[jookyle]

I do not think Molotov would have done anything that resembled Kruschev revisionism. had Molotov taken over after Stalin's death, I think we would have seen some very Moltovesque policies, but I do not think he would have made huge deviations from marxism-leninism. Unless, his nationalist sentiments were as strong as some people claim.

[ComradeOm]

Okay, so I know that some of this is speculation, but does anyone have any ideas about whether Molotov could have taken power after the death of Iosef Stalin, and if not, why?He wasn't a player. In the months leading up to Stalin's death Molotov had been marginalised within ruling elite and was clearly not considered a successor. Unlike Khrushchev, Malenkov and Beria, he lacked a real political powerbase and, shorn of Stalin's patronage, was not in a position to stake a claim to the leadership. This is partly because Molotov offered nothing new; by 1953 the Soviet elite had been increasingly desperate for reform and, unlike the real candidates for the succession, Molotov offered nothing in this regard

(Ironically, according to Molotov, Beria claimed that Stalin had been preparing to launch a final purge of the remaining 'Old Bolsheviks': the likes of Molotov, Kaganovich, Mikoyan, etc. Stalin's death probably saved Molotov's life)

[GoddessCleoLover]

Didn't Lenin once refer to Molotov as being a file clerk? Doesn't seem like a file clerk would offer any leadership vision.

[Grenzer]

Molotov was never in a serious position to achieve political power. He was inarticulate, meek, and submissive. He was only good as a crony; there was no potential for leadership in him. It also doesn't hurt that, as Om points out, the Nomenklatura were not interested in Stalin 1.1.

[piet11111]

Didn't stalin fear zhukov's popularity at one point ?

What kind of politics did he have ?

[sixdollarchampagne]

About Molotov, someone wrote a book titled something like "100 chats with Molotov" which apparently contains some new information about Stalin and what it was like to be in Stalin's inner circle. (By the way, there is a good film called "The inner circle", which IIRC depicts Stalin up close, to some extent.)

About Stalin's death, I have read in a couple of sources that Beria, the dreaded secret police chief, planned to introduce reforms, when, as Beria thought, he became Stalin's successor. So post-Stalin reform must have been a necessity and a consensus decision for the ruling bureaucracy, if even Beria was for it. Aksyonov's splendid trilogy, Generations of Winter, that covers Soviet history from the Kronstadt sailors' rebellion (March, 1921) to Stalin's death (March 1953), suggests that there was immediate change, even in the way the repressive organs treated ordinary Soviet citizens, just after Stalin's death, which would imply that in 1953 the USSR was an entire society marked by an intense fear of Stalin, whose demise opened the floodgates for change.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Didn't Lenin once refer to Molotov as being a file clerk? Doesn't seem like a file clerk would offer any leadership vision.

Funny that, wasn't another Bolshevik referred to as 'comrade card-index' in the early twenties? :cool:

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

About Molotov, someone wrote a book titled something like "100 chats with Molotov" which apparently contains some new information about Stalin and what it was like to be in Stalin's inner circle. (By the way, there is a good film called "The inner circle", which IIRC depicts Stalin up close, to some extent.)


The English title of the book is “Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics”

[soso17]

About Stalin's death, I have read in a couple of sources that Beria, the dreaded secret police chief, planned to introduce reforms, when, as Beria thought, he became Stalin's successor. So post-Stalin reform must have been a necessity and a consensus decision for the ruling bureaucracy, if even Beria was for it. Aksyonov's splendid trilogy, Generations of Winter, that covers Soviet history from the Kronstadt sailors' rebellion (March, 1921) to Stalin's death (March 1953), suggests that there was immediate change, even in the way the repressive organs treated ordinary Soviet citizens, just after Stalin's death, which would imply that in 1953 the USSR was an entire society marked by an intense fear of Stalin, whose demise opened the floodgates for change.

Okay, so is everyone saying that the systematic destruction of socialism and the Krushchevite revisionism were universally wanted among the leadership? Is there ANYBODY who wanted to work toward socialism and not away from it? Was the USSR destined at that point to fall into the hands of reactionaries?

(This is where somebody tells me that Stalin killed every-single-solitary-good-communist left in the SU :lol:)

[Khalid]

Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich formed the "Anti-Party Group (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Party_Group)" to get rid of Khrushchev in 1957.