30 years ago, on November 8, 1986, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov passed away. Vyacheslav Molotov has been one of the main figures in Soviet politics since the 1920s, when he rose to prominence with the support of Stalin. In fact, Molotov became the second person in the Soviet state and enjoyed great popularity among the people.
From 1930 to 1941, Molotov served as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (head of government), from 1939 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1956 - minister of foreign affairs. In 1957 he was one of the main leaders of the "anti-party group" and tried to remove N. Khrushchev from power. The opposition to Khrushchev was defeated, and Molotov was expelled from the Presidium of the Central Committee. In 1961 he retired and fell into "artificial oblivion."
In the place of the chief diplomat of the USSR, Molotov showed himself to be a real defender of the interests of great Russia. Molotov signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 1939), which thwarted the plans of England and France to start a war between Germany and the USSR already in 1939, which allowed Russia to push back the strategic borders in the west, regaining Western Russian lands and winning time to prepare for a big war. A huge role was played by the Neutrality Pact between the USSR and Japan (1941), which allowed Moscow to partially remove the threat of war in the East. After the end of the war, Molotov participated in negotiations with the Western allies, showing a rare intransigence, putting Western politicians in their place.
After the departure of I. Stalin, Molotov opposed Khrushchev's de-Stalinist policy. Molotov defended Stalin's policy and cause until his death, speaking harshly about the new Soviet leaders, especially Khrushchev. He remained to the end Stalin's "iron people's commissar", one of those "titans" who turned Russia from a backward agrarian power into an industrial giant, a superpower that controlled a significant part of the planet.
The beginning of life
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (real name Scriabin) was born in the village of Kukarka, Vyatka province. Father - Mikhail Prokhorovich Scriabin, from the bourgeoisie of the city of Nolinsk, was a clerk in Kukarka. Mother - Anna Yakovlevna Nebogatikova from a merchant family. His father was a wealthy man and gave his sons a good education. Contrary to popular belief, his family was not related to the composer Alexander Scriabin. Vyacheslav was a quiet and shy teenager. He played the violin and wrote poetry. From 1902, together with his older brothers until 1908, he studied at the Kazan first real school.
The first Russian revolution fell on Vyacheslav's years of study. During these years, most of the educated youth were very radically disposed. Vyacheslav joined one of the self-education circles for the study of Marxist literature. There he became friends with the son of a wealthy merchant, Viktor Tikhomirnov, who joined the Bolshevik group in Kazan in 1905. Under the influence of Tikhomirnov, Vyacheslav joined the Bolshevik Party in 1906.
In 1909, Vyacheslav was arrested and spent two years in exile in Vologda. After leaving it, he arrived in St. Petersburg in 1911 and entered the Polytechnic Institute there (at the Faculty of Economics he completed his studies until the fourth year). An old friend of Molotov, Tikhomirnov, was one of the organizers of the Pravda newspaper and donated a large sum for the needs of the publication. Tikhomirnov also attracted Molotov to work at Pravda, who began to publish his articles here. The first meetings between Molotov and Stalin took place precisely on the affairs of Pravda, but this first acquaintance between them was short-lived.
Since that time, Molotov led the life of a "professional revolutionary", wrote for the party press and participated in the creation of an underground organization. Before the outbreak of the First World War, he moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow. In 1915, Molotov was arrested in Moscow for revolutionary activities and sent to distant Irkutsk for three years. In 1916 he escaped from this exile and returned to the capital. In the same year he became a member of the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP and entered its leading troika. Throughout the war, Molotov lived with other people's documents.
He adopted the pseudonym "Molotov", which symbolized his close connection with "industrial" occupations and regions. The historian VA Nikonov, the grandson of Molotov, noted that the adoption of such a pseudonym was due to the fact that: “… Molotov - it sounded quite proletarian, industrial, which should have appealed to the workers who disliked party members from the intelligentsia. The second reason is quite mundane. It was easier for my grandfather to pronounce it. In the word Scriabin, the first three consonant sounds made him stutter, especially when he was worried. " Molotov tried to speak less, as he stuttered.
The revolution. Companion of Stalin
When the February Revolution took place in 1917, the newspaper Pravda, where Vyacheslav Mikhailovich began to work again, first took the extreme left position and began to advocate the overthrow of the Provisional Government. By the beginning of March, influential Bolsheviks, including Kamenev and Stalin, had returned to the capital from Siberian exile. Kamenev began to transfer Pravda to more moderate positions. However, a few weeks later Lenin arrived in Russia. He announced his April Theses and returned Pravda to a radical position. During these months, Molotov entered the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet and became close to Stalin. This friendship predetermined his future destiny. Molotov supported the idea of an armed uprising and in October 1917 was a member of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee.
After October, Molotov temporarily left the party in secondary roles. He possessed neither oratorical talent, nor revolutionary energy, nor great ambitions, but was distinguished by diligence, perseverance and enormous capacity for work. In addition, he had such important qualities for a Russian communist as honesty, intelligence, and the absence of visible vices. In 1918, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich was appointed head of the Council of National Economy of the Northern Region. In 1919, he worked in senior positions in the Volga region, and then in Ukraine.
In March 1919, Y. Sverdlov, one of the most sinister figures among the revolutionaries, died. Perhaps from the beatings inflicted on him by a crowd of people during one provincial trip. Sverdlov virtually single-handedly supervised the placement of party cadres. Now these duties were entrusted to the collegial Secretariat of the Central Committee. Trotsky's supporters - N. Krestinsky, E. Preobrazhensky and L. Serebryakov - became three secretaries. However, after a clash with Trotsky during the "discussion about trade unions", Lenin at the X Congress of the RCP (b) (1921) achieved the renewal of the Secretariat. The "responsible" (first) secretary was appointed not associated with Trotsky, an inconspicuous Molotov. Thanks to his new position, he became a candidate for membership in the Politburo.
In the same 1921 he married the revolutionary Polina Zhemchuzhina. According to their grandson V. Nikonov: “They loved each other very much, even adored each other, although they were different people …”. The Molotovs had their only daughter, Svetlana (in the future, a researcher at the Institute of General History).
Molotov thus occupied almost the same post from which Stalin's rapid rise began a year later. Molotov's work as head of the Secretariat was soon criticized by Lenin and Trotsky. Lenin scolded him for "shameful bureaucracy."Among the Bolsheviks, Molotov was distinguished by the fact that he always wore a "bourgeois" suit and tie, and not a gymnast or a jacket. Trotsky called him "mediocrity incarnate." In April 1922, I. Stalin was appointed to this post, which was named "General Secretary", at the suggestion of G. Zinoviev and L. Kamenev. Molotov took the place of the second secretary.
After Lenin's death, Vyacheslav Molotov began to actively support Stalin in the fight against the "fifth column", figures who wanted to burn Russia in the furnace of the "world revolution" or even were agents of Western influence - Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, "right deviators." Molotov became a leading figure in the "Stalinist" center of the party, which also included Kliment Voroshilov and Sergo Ordzhonikidze. Thus, Trotsky and his supporters underestimated not only Stalin, but also Molotov, who turned out to be a talented "bureaucrat" and outplayed the enemy in the "battle" for party cadres.
In 1924-1927. years Molotov candidate member, in 1929-1931. - Member of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. Since 1927 he was a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. From 1928 to 1929 he worked as the First Secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee. Molotov carried out a decisive purge of the Moscow Party organization of the "rightist deviators", replacing them with Stalin's supporters.
As noted by the historian R. Medvedev: “During one hundred and thirty days of his tenure as first secretary of the Moscow City Conservatory, Molotov really rallied the capital's communists around the“leader”, shaking up almost the entire leadership of the Moscow party organization. Of the six heads of departments of the Moscow City Hall, four were released, of the six secretaries of the capital's district committees, only two continued to perform party duties. Compared to the previous elections, the composition of the Bureau of the Moscow City Committee was renewed by almost 60 percent. Of the 157 elected members of the Moscow Committee, the former included 58. Bukharin and Ryutin dropped out of the MGK members, and Kaganovich and other obvious Stalinists were elected. Molotov brilliantly fulfilled Stalin's instructions, cutting the "tight knot" in the capital's party organization (R. Medvedev. "Stalin's entourage").
Head of the government
On December 19, 1930, Molotov was appointed to the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (Soviet government) and the Council of Labor and Defense, instead of opposition leader Alexei Rykov. In the early 1930s, a permanent Defense Commission was created under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (since 1937 - the Defense Committee), which was headed by Molotov until 1940. In 1937-1939. served as chairman of the Economic Council (EcoSo) of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Thus, Vyacheslav Molotov at this time became the second person on the Soviet Olympus and was one of the main creators of the Soviet national economy and defense potential, which allowed Russia to make a qualitative leap forward in development and eventually win the world war and become a superpower.
Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov
Foreign Secretary
After the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the subsequent invasion of Hitler into Czechoslovakia, it became obvious that M. Litvinov's course towards "collective security" in Europe (the unification of the USSR and Western democracies to contain the aggressive plans of Nazi Germany) and active cooperation with Western "partners" failed …
At the end of April 1939, a government meeting was held in the Kremlin. Molotov openly accused Litvinov of "political bungling." On May 3, after a report to Stalin on the latest events related to the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations, Litvinov was removed from office. Molotov accused the former People's Commissar: "Litvinov did not ensure the implementation of the party line in the People's Commissariat on the selection and education of cadres, the NKID was not completely Bolshevik, since Comrade Litvinov held on to a number of people alien and hostile to the party and the Soviet state." Litvinov was replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov, who remains the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. He was the head of government in May 1941.lost to Stalin, and Molotov himself was appointed his deputy.
Having assumed his new position, Molotov carried out personnel changes in the People's Commissariat. On July 23, 1939, the meeting of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs adopted a resolution, which, in particular, said: "During this short period of time, a tremendous amount of work has been done to cleanse the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of unworthy, dubious and hostile elements." Molotov nominated Andrei Gromyko and a number of other young specialists for responsible diplomatic work, who later became widely known in the field of foreign policy, defending the interests of the USSR on the world stage.
Moscow is moving from fruitless attempts aimed at ensuring collective security in Europe to attempts to independently resolve the issue of the country's security. Having finally made sure that Britain and France would not agree to a real anti-Hitler alliance, backed by a military pact, but, on the contrary, would push Hitler to march to the East with all their might, Stalin and Molotov agreed to an agreement with Berlin. To gain time and improve the strategic starting conditions on the western borders, in the context of the beginning of a major war in Europe. On August 18, 1939, a trade agreement was signed between the USSR and Germany. On August 22, Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to conclude a non-aggression pact. It is known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Thus, Moscow solved a number of important tasks: it returned the West Russian lands, which were seized by Poland after the collapse of the Russian Empire; pushed the western borders to the west, improving the position of the Red Army on the eve of a major war; bought time to prepare for war. There was also the hope that prudence in Berlin would take over and this time the Germans and Russians would not be pitted against each other.
During this period, Great Russia (USSR) solved the security problem at the strategic northwestern boundary, in the Leningrad region. After attempts to peacefully negotiate with Finland (Moscow offered serious concessions), the Soviet-Finnish war began, which ended with the victory of the USSR. Russia returned the Karelian Isthmus and Western Karelia, islands in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. Moscow received Gangut (Hanko) on lease. This strengthened the defenses of Leningrad. Also, the USSR returned the Baltic states and Bessarabia (Moldavia) to the empire. As a result, Moscow significantly improved its position in the western strategic direction on the eve of the Great War.
On April 14, 1941, Stalin and Molotov signed a non-aggression pact with Japan. For this purpose, the Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka arrived in Moscow. The treaty was extremely important for the USSR in the face of growing mistrust with Germany. Thus, the Soviet government partially solved the problem of the threat from the East. Tokyo abandoned the idea of an immediate strike against the USSR (along with Germany) and turned south, deciding to go to war with the United States and Britain. As a result, the global position of the USSR in the conditions of the world war has significantly strengthened.
Molotov signs the Treaty of Friendship and the Border Between the USSR and Germany, followed by Ribbentrop
The signing of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact
The Great Patriotic War
On the first day of the Great Patriotic War, Molotov spoke on the radio with a message about the beginning of the war, ending this speech with the famous words: “Our cause is just. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.
On July 12, Molotov and Ambassador Cripps signed an Agreement between the governments of the USSR and Great Britain on joint actions in the war against Germany. The result of this agreement was that cooperation was established with the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, diplomatic relations were restored with the governments of European states occupied by Nazi Germany, who were in exile in London. On June 30, 1941, with the formation of the State Defense Committee (GKO), Molotov was approved as its deputy chairman, Stalin.
From September 29 to October 1, 1941, a conference was held in Moscow, in which the USSR, the USA and Great Britain took part; at the conference, the issues of military supplies to the Soviet Union were agreed upon. When in October 1941 the USSR People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, together with the diplomatic corps, was evacuated to Kuibyshev, Molotov, like Stalin, remained in Moscow.
In late May - early June 1942, Molotov visited the allies on a diplomatic mission: England and the United States. On May 26, Molotov, together with Anthony Eden, signed in London the Anglo-Soviet Union Treaty - an agreement on a military and political alliance between the USSR and Great Britain. According to it, the USSR and Great Britain agreed to provide each other with military and other assistance, not to conclude a separate peace with Germany, and also not to conclude any alliances and not to participate in any coalitions directed against the other side. Then Molotov visited the United States. He met with President Franklin Roosevelt, and ratified the lend-lease agreement between the USSR and the United States. Both the British and the US government promised (albeit without specifying details) to open a second front against Germany. “This is how I made friends with the bourgeoisie,” Molotov joked after these visits.
Vyacheslav Molotov took part in the Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam conferences, which created the foundations of the post-war world order. He represented the Soviet Union at the San Francisco conference (April - June 1945), where the United Nations was created. Even during the period of Moscow's military alliance with Western democracies, Molotov was known as a tough negotiator and unyielding defender of Soviet interests.
In addition, during the war, Molotov also resolved military production issues. He signed a decree of the Council of People's Commissars on the production of Molotov cocktails; worked in the field of tank building; initially, it was Molotov, in 1942, who was entrusted with the leadership of the Soviet "atomic project" - work on the creation of atomic weapons in the USSR. Molotov also supervised scientific issues, including the work of Moscow State University. On his initiative, in order to train personnel for diplomatic institutions of the USSR, on October 14, 1944, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations was created on the basis of the Faculty of International Relations of Moscow State University.
The work of Vyacheslav Mikhailovich was of great importance for the country, therefore, on March 8, 1940, in connection with the 50th anniversary of V. M. Three Molotovsk, two Molotovabads, Cape Molotov and Molotov Peak appeared on the map of the USSR. To this must be added the collective farms, enterprises and institutes named after Molotov. Decree No. 79 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of September 30, 1943 for special services to the Soviet state in the development of the tank industry during the Great Patriotic War, VM Molotov was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle medal.
Potsdam conference
Post-war period
1945-1947 Molotov took part in all four conferences of the ministers of foreign affairs of the victor states of the Second World War. He was distinguished by an extremely tough attitude towards the Western powers. Vyacheslav Molotov often traveled to the United States to participate in the work of the UN, and because of his implacable position, as well as the frequent use of the "veto" right, he received the nickname "Mr. No" in diplomatic circles.
On behalf of the Soviet government, Molotov condemned the Marshall Plan as "imperialist" and declared that it divides Europe into two camps - capitalist and communist. The USSR and other countries of the Eastern Bloc came up with the so-called "Molotov Plan". This plan created a number of bilateral relations between the states of Eastern Europe and Moscow. Subsequently, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) developed from them. Interestingly, Molotov and Stalin actively supported the idea of creating the state of Israel, while all other countries were against it, including the United States and Great Britain. Thus, they wanted to create a Jewish state, on the protection of which the interests of the Jews would be focused.
On March 19, 1946, when the Council of People's Commissars was reorganized into the Council of Ministers, Molotov was removed from the post of first deputy, becoming a simple deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, but at the same time remained Stalin's first deputy. In this position, he oversaw education, science and law enforcement. In 1947, Stalin's powers on the atomic project were delegated to Molotov. In addition, Molotov headed Soviet foreign intelligence as chairman of the Information Committee under the USSR Council of Ministers. In 1949, he was a member of the Permanent Commission for Open Trials on the Most Important Cases of former Wehrmacht servicemen and German punitive bodies, exposed of atrocities against Soviet citizens in the temporarily occupied territory of the Soviet Union. Participated in organizing trials of German and Japanese war criminals.
Apparently, because of political intrigues, Molotov was ousted from the Soviet Olympus. On March 4, 1949, he was removed from the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs (Andrei Vyshinsky became Minister of Foreign Affairs). His wife was arrested. However, Molotov retained the posts of deputy head of government and member of the Politburo. At the XIX Party Congress (1952), Molotov was elected to the Presidium of the Central Committee (replaced the Politburo).
The restructuring of the Moscow leadership after Stalin's death strengthened Molotov's position. Georgy Malenkov, Stalin's successor as head of government, on March 5, 1953, reappointed Molotov as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Some Soviet leaders believed that it was Molotov who was to become Stalin's successor, but he himself never aspired to become the leader of the Union.
Then Molotov made the mistake of supporting Khrushchev in the struggle in the decision to arrest Beria and remove Malenkov from the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. After that, the positions of Molotov and Khrushchev diverged. In particular, Molotov objected to the policy of de-Stalinization; against the complete withdrawal of Soviet troops from Austria; was skeptical about the normalization of relations with Yugoslavia, considering it necessary to criticize the anti-Soviet statements of the Yugoslav leadership; disagreements also concerned the advisability of excessive and forced development of virgin lands; incorporation of Crimea into the Ukrainian SSR.
As a result, on May 1, 1956, Molotov, under the pretext of an incorrect Yugoslav policy, was relieved of his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was appointed Minister of State Control of the USSR. In 1957, Molotov led the so-called "anti-party group" against Khrushchev. Teaming up with Kaganovich and Malenkov, Molotov attempted to oust Khrushchev. At a meeting of the Presidium of the Central Committee, the Molotov group criticized Khrushchev's work as First Secretary of the Central Committee. The main claims were in the facts of Khrushchev's violation of the rules of "collective leadership", as well as in disputes around the emerging economic, economic and foreign policy problems. Their position received the support of the overwhelming majority of the members of the highest party body. Khrushchev was supposed to be appointed Minister of Agriculture, and the post of First Secretary to be transferred to Molotov or abolished altogether. But Khrushchev's supporters managed to quickly convene a Central Committee Plenum, at which the "anti-party group" was defeated. In addition, Khrushchev was supported by the military, headed by G. K. Zhukov.
With this, Molotov's career came to an end. On June 29, 1957, Molotov was removed from all posts "for belonging to an anti-party group", removed from the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU and from the Central Committee of the CPSU. The cities named after him were renamed in 1957. Molotov was "exiled" by the ambassador to Mongolia. From 1960 to 1961, he headed the Soviet mission at the headquarters of the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.
Retired
At the 22nd Congress of the CPSU held in October 1961, Khrushchev and his allies for the first time declared the direct personal responsibility of Molotov, Kaganovich and Malenkov for the lawlessness committed under Stalin, and demanded that they be expelled from the party. In November 1961, Molotov was recalled from Vienna, removed from his post and expelled from the party. On September 12, 1963, Molotov was retired. He lived in a small wooden dacha in Zhukovka.
Despite disgrace, Molotov continued to lead an active lifestyle, constantly working at home or in the library. He did not write memoirs, but he expressed his views on various events in public life in notes sent to the Central Committee of the CPSU. For a number of years, he sought to restore his membership in the party. Under Brezhnev, the gradual rehabilitation of Molotov began. On the basis of communication with Molotov in the 1970s-1980s, journalist Felix Chuev published the books One Hundred and Forty Conversations with Molotov and The Semi-Powerful Sovereign. In 1984 he was reinstated in the party. General Secretary KU Chernenko personally handed him his party card. As a result, he became the oldest member of the party (since 1906).
In June 1986, Molotov was admitted to the Kuntsevo hospital in Moscow, where he died on November 8. During his long life, VM Molotov suffered 7 myocardial infarctions, but lived up to 96 years. Vyacheslav Molotov was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.
Molotov remained faithful to his friendship with Stalin until the end of his days. Khrushchev was condemned by Molotov as a "right deviator." After the Sino-Soviet split, Molotov approved of Mao Zedong's criticism of Khrushchev's "revisionist" policies. According to the historian R. Medvedev, Stalin's daughter Svetlana recalled how Molotov's wife told her: “Your father was a genius. Nowhere is there a revolutionary spirit anywhere, opportunism is everywhere … Our only hope is China. Only they have retained the revolutionary spirit."
Like Stalin, Molotov was convinced that the confrontation between the USSR and the West (the Cold War) could not have been prevented in any case, since it was an inevitable consequence of the general conflict between communism and capitalism.
Application. Winston Churchill in his memoirs gives the following characterization of the personality of Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov:
“… Vyacheslav Molotov was a man of outstanding abilities and cold-blooded ruthlessness … He lived and prospered in a society where constantly changing intrigues were accompanied by the threat of personal liquidation. His cannonball-like head, black mustache and intelligent eyes, his stone face, dexterity of speech and imperturbable demeanor were a fitting expression of his qualities and dexterity. More than any other, he was fit to be the representative and the instrument of politics, which does not lend itself to accounting by the machine. I only met him on an equal footing only in negotiations, where sometimes there were glimmers of humor, or at banquets, where he complacently offered a long series of traditional and meaningless toasts. I have never met a person more perfectly representing the modern concept of a robot. And for all that, he was, apparently, an intelligent and sharply honed diplomat … one after another delicate, challenging, difficult conversations were conducted with perfect restraint, impenetrability and polite official correctness. No gap was ever found. Needless half-frankness was never allowed. His Siberian winter smile, his carefully weighed and often reasonable words … made him the perfect instrument of Soviet politics in a world breathing with death.
… In Molotov, the Soviet machine, no doubt, found a capable and in many respects typical of it representative - always a loyal party member and follower of the communist doctrine … Mazarin, Talleyrand, Metternich would have accepted him into their company if there was another world in which the Bolsheviks allowed themselves to enter ….
From the memoirs of Mikhail Smirtyukov, assistant to the deputy chairman of the USSR Council of People's Commissars:
“The derogatory characteristics:“iron ass”,“chief party clerk”,“uncomplaining executor of Stalin’s orders”were invented by people who never worked with Molotov, and more often than not even saw him in his eyes. I worked with him for many years and I know that Molotov was not always an obedient executor of instructions. It changed depending on the circumstances. Nor was he a primitive clerk, as he is often portrayed now …
The greatest strength of the Molotov politician was the ability to accurately assess his capabilities. Molotov always knew that in any business there is a border that even he cannot cross. In addition, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich was a very strong organizer. The real … Decisions were made quickly … Molotov did not tolerate verbosity at all … Molotov generally tried to speak less and less often. He stuttered and, as it seemed to me, was ashamed of it …
If we talk about the features of Molotov, I must say that he constantly had a desire to improve everything. Maybe because this is typical of most pedantic people. But, perhaps, also because Molotov's engineering talent remained unrealized: because of his participation in underground party work, he did not graduate from the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute … Everyone knew that Molotov did not tolerate any sloppiness. Not in work, not in clothes. He himself was always dressed modestly, but neatly. And he demanded the same from others."
