Life has improved, and now as never before the doors to a happy and cultured life for all the peoples of our Union stand wide open. (c) Vyacheslav Molotov (1930 speech)
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (real family name Skryabin) was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik, and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin. Molotov served as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars from 1930 to 1941, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1939 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1956. Skryabin took the pseudonym "Molotov", derived from the Russian word molot (sledgehammer) since he believed that the name had an "industrial" and "proletarian" ring to it.
The trouble with free elections is that you never know how they are going to turn out.
(c) Vyacheslav Molotov (1954)
Molotov was the principal Soviet signatory of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact of 1939 (also known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact). He was also known for following a very aggressive and uncompromising politics, although it is hard to tell to which degree it was his own incentive and to which he followed Stalin’s vision. In 1939 he replaced Litvinov, who had a somewhat softer approach to foreign politics. "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 civilization.”
Ours is a righteous cause. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours. (c) Vyacheslav Molotov (Radio address to the Soviet People on June 22, 1941)
After the German attack on the Soviet Union on 22 June Molotov addressed the People of the Soviet Unit in a famous radio broadcast. This attack and the following disaster for the Red Army had left USSR no choice but to join forces with the Allies. Nonetheless, the Soviets remained very cautious and reserved in their relations with the Western powers, as they were considered ideological enemies, despite the temporary alliance. Up to WW2, the Soviet Union’s ultimate goal declared on numerous occasions was establishing World Communism. It is only after the war that they had to renounce such views and publicly declare, that they are content with building a happy and prosperous Communist country within its current borders.
There is no alternative to class struggle. (c) Vyacheslav Molotov