Molotov Was Stalin’s Closest Ally

Press, Volume C, Issue 29671, 15 November 1961, Page 15

Molotov Was Stalin’s Closest Ally

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) MOSCOW, November 14. Vyacheslav Mihilovich Molotov, Stalin’s closest ally, now reportedly expelled from the Communist Party, was always the symbol of a tough, uncompromising line whether in the party’s internal power struggles or in international affairs. Son of a middle class family, nephew of the famous composer, Scriabin—his own real name —Mr Molotov joined Lenin’s Bolsheviks in 1906. He was only 16 then, but soon was one of the toughest in-fighters in the party, said the Associated Press.

By 1912 he was editor of “Pravda,” and when the Tsar was overthrown in 1917 was the highest ranking Bolshevik in Petrograd.

The close relationship with Stalin dates to this time. Together they fought all their battles—against Trotsky, for collectivisation of agriculture, for the forced development of industry, and for the bloody purging of possible opponents.

But most of the world knew little of the small, balding alter-ego of the great dictator, although from 1930 on he bore the honorary title of Prime Minister. Burst on Scene It was in 1939 that Mr Molotov, with his cold stare behind gold-rimmed pincenez, burst on the international scene. Stalin made him Foreign Minister, and within months he had abandoned all idea of co-operating with the West and negotiated the Nazi-So-viet pact to split up Eastern Europe.

This freed Hitler’s hands and enabled him to touch off World War H. It also led to the winter war with Finland, where the glass bottles filled with petrol used as bombs were nicknamed “Molotov cocktails.”

During the lifetime of the pact, Mr Molotov made a flying journey to Berlin, where he arrived during a British air raid.

When Hitler remarked that Britain was finished, Mr Molotov made his famous remark: "Then, why are we in this air raid shelter?”

Hitler invaded the Soviet Union the next June, and Mr Molotov, tough as ever, began a series of other journeys. Both at the White House and at Chequers—country residence of Mr Churchill—he kept a gun under his pillow. Conference Skill He took part in all the wartime conferences, where he earned the nick-name, “Old Iron Bottom,” because of his ability to sit at the table until his point was won. The late Mr John Foster Dulles said of him: “Never have I seen such personal diplomatic skill at so high a degree of perfection.”

After the war, Mr Molotov dropped the title of Foreign Minister for some time, but master-minded the Kremlin’s strategy of complete isolation and refusal to co-operate for world peace.

He it was, too. who signed the letter excelling Marsha] Tito of Jugoslavia from the

Cominform. This indirectly led to his downfall.

Mr Molotov opposed Mr Khrushchev’s policy of reconciliation with Marshal Tito, and when the latter visited Moscow in 1956, Mr Molotov’s head was served to Mr Khrushchev on a platter. Mr Khrushchev fired him as Foreign Minister just hours before Tito’s train pulled in. All this time, the feud between Mr Khrushchev and the Stalinists led by Mr Molotov was going on secretly. They fought over everything —exposing the purges, organising the Government, how to deal with the West. Final Break But the final break came when Mr Molotov led the opposition to Mr Khrushchev’s plan to decentralise control of industry. The issue was fought out in the party Presidium—-where Mr Khrushchev was out-voted —but then was taken to the Central Committee, where Mr Khrushchev won.

For all practical purposes Mr Molotov’s career had ended.

The old Bolshevik, closest link left with Lenin, refused to give in. He expounded his position on every possible occasion, including a letter to Central Committee members last month. He had to go, and this time it looked final. Mr Molotov’s devotion to Stalin even included sacrificing his wife to the late dictator’s whims. She is Paulina Zhemchuzhina, a Jewish woman of chic and distinction, with one brother in Israel and another in Bridgeport, Connecticut. When Stalin’s anti-Semit-ism became violent she was exiled to central Asia. Molotov went on working in the Kremlin as though nothing had happened. With Stalin’s death, Paulina returned to Moscow and the couple have been devotedly together ever since.