--- title: Vyacheslav Molotov url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/vyacheslav-molotov/ description: 8 verified quotes from Vyacheslav Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars; Foreign Affairs, with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Soviet Union # Vyacheslav Molotov ![Vyacheslav Molotov, about 1947](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/soviet-union/vyacheslav-molotov.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:V.M._Molotov_TASS_Portrait_Trim_Edit_Crop.jpg): G. Weil (Grigory Vayl) for TASS, Public domain (PD-Russia; PD-1996) Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars; Foreign Affairs · Soviet Union On the regime page: [Soviet Union under Stalin](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/soviet-union/#vyacheslav-molotov) 8 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=vyacheslav-molotov). 1. > “Criticism should be undertaken at the Ukrainian conference of the work of the CC CP(B)U, whose shortcomings have brought about a difficult situation in some regions. The question arises of how this should be explained in the press. In order not to give fodder to the foreign press, we deem it necessary to expound on this criticism in our press in moderate tones, without printing facts about the situation in the bad regions.” — English: Maksym Motorenko and Bohdan Klid, in 'Holodomor Documents' (Holodomor Research and Education Consortium), from The Holodomor Reader: A Sourcebook on the Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, ed. Bohdan Klid and Alexander J. Motyl (Edmonton and Toronto: CIUS Press, 2012). Original-language text not found. — July 6, 1932 · Letter — A joint telegram of Molotov and Kaganovich, who were taking part in the All-Ukrainian Party Conference, asking Stalin how the press should report criticism of the work of the Ukrainian Party leadership. — Telegram from Molotov and Kaganovich to Stalin, 6 July 1932, in Holod 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukraini (2007), p. 232 [Source](https://holodomor.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/7_HR_Documents.pdf) 2. **Content note:** Celebrates the destruction of the Polish state. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “However, one swift blow to Poland, first by the German Army and then by the Red Army, and nothing was left of this ugly offspring of the Versailles Treaty which had existed by oppressing non-Polish nationalities.” — Original (Russian) — Однако оказалось достаточным короткого удара по Польше со стороны сперва германской армии, а затем — Красной армии, чтобы ничего не осталось от этого уродливого детища Версальского договора, жившего за счет угнетения непольских национальностей. — English: Lawrence & Wishart for the Anglo-Russian News Bulletin, London, 1941 (Soviet Peace Policy by V. M. Molotov), translator not credited — October 31, 1939 · Speech · Moscow, Extraordinary Fifth Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. — Molotov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, reported on the changes in international relations since the August 1939 German-Soviet pact. Soviet troops had entered eastern Poland on 17 September 1939. — Report on foreign policy, 31 October 1939, in V. M. Molotov, Soviet Peace Policy (London: Lawrence & Wishart for the Anglo-Russian News Bulletin, 1941); Russian: Kommunisticheskii International, 1939, nos. 8-9, as printed in V. M. Molotov, 'O vneshnei politike Sovetskogo Soyuza' (fragments), reproduced at wwii.rhga.ru [Source](https://www.marxists.org/archive/molotov/1940/peace.htm) 3. **Content note:** Argues against a war to destroy Nazi ideology, during the German-Soviet pact. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “One may accept or reject the ideology of Hitlerism as well as any other ideological system, that is a matter of political views. But everybody should understand that an ideology cannot be destroyed by force, that it cannot be eliminated by war. It is, therefore, not only senseless but criminal to wage such a war as a war for the ‘destruction of Hitlerism’ camouflaged as a fight for ‘democracy’.” — Original (Russian) — Идеологию Гитлеризма, как и всякую другую идеологическую систему, можно признавать или отрицать, это — дело политических взглядов. Но любой человек поймет, что идеологию нельзя уничтожить силой, нельзя покончить с нею войной. Поэтому не только бессмысленно, но и преступно вести такую войну, как война за «уничтожение Гитлеризма», прикрываемая фальшивым флагом борьбы за «демократию» — English: Lawrence & Wishart for the Anglo-Russian News Bulletin, London, 1941 (Soviet Peace Policy by V. M. Molotov), translator not credited — October 31, 1939 · Speech · Moscow, Extraordinary Fifth Session of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. — The report discussed the British and French declaration of war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, and the stated British aim of destroying Hitlerism. — Report on foreign policy, 31 October 1939, in V. M. Molotov, Soviet Peace Policy (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1941); Russian: Pravda, no. 303, 1 November 1939 [Source](https://www.marxists.org/archive/molotov/1940/peace.htm) 4. > “The government calls upon you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally still more closely around our glorious Bolshevist party, around our Soviet Government, around our great leader and comrade, Stalin. Ours is a righteous cause. The enemy shall be defeated. Victory will be ours.” — Original (Russian) — Правительство призывает вас, граждане и гражданки Советского Союза, еще теснее сплотить свои ряды вокруг нашей славной большевистской партии, вокруг нашего Советского правительства, вокруг нашего великого вождя товарища Сталина. Наше дело правое. Враг будет разбит. Победа будет за нами. — English: English text of the broadcast in the Modern History Sourcebook (Fordham University); translator not credited — June 22, 1941 · Broadcast · Moscow, radio address — Molotov announced the German attack on the Soviet Union on the radio at midday, speaking on behalf of the Soviet Government. Stalin's own first address followed on 3 July 1941. — Radio address by V. M. Molotov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, 22 June 1941; Russian as cited at ru.wikisource.org from E. Kul'kov, M. Myagkov and O. Rzheshevskii, Voina 1941-1945 (Moscow: OLMA-Press) [Source](https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/1941molotov.asp) 5. > “Everybody is familiar with the stir raised in Europe over the Marshall plan. This plan is advertised as the factor of salvation for the post-war recovery of Europe’s economy. To listen to certain British or French statesmen, without American credits under the Marshall plan, economic recovery in the European countries is impossible. However, the American dollars which floated this year into the pockets of the European capitalists under the United States credit plan did not produce any real revival of industry in the countries of capitalist Europe. And they cannot produce that revival, since the American credits are not being given in order to restore and expand the industries of the European countries which compete with the United States but in order to provide a broader market for American goods in Europe and to place these countries in economic and political dependence on the capitalist monopolies which dominate the United States and on their aggressive plans, in disregard of the interests of the European peoples themselves.” — English: English text published in For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy!, vol. 2, no. 22, 15 November 1948; translator not credited. Original-language text not found. — November 6, 1948 · Speech · Moscow, celebration meeting of the Moscow Soviet — Molotov's anniversary report compared Soviet reconstruction with the position of Western European states receiving credits under the US European Recovery Program. — Report on the 31st anniversary of the October Revolution, 6 November 1948, in For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy!, vol. 2, no. 22 (15 November 1948) [Source](https://www.marxists.org/archive/molotov/1948/anniversary-october.htm) 6. **Content note:** Estimates that most of those sentenced in the Terror deserved it. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Dzerzhinksy was a radiant, spotless personality. Yagoda was a filthy nobody who wormed his way into the party and was only caught in 1937. We had to work with reptiles like that, but there were no others. No one! Now you understand why so many mistakes were made. They deceived us, and innocent people were sometimes incriminated. Obviously one or two out of ten were wrongly sentenced, but the rest got their just desserts.” — English: English version in Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics, Conversations with Felix Chuev, ed. Albert Resis (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993); the Marxists Internet Archive abstract does not name a translator. Original-language text not found. — January 9, 1981 · Interview Verified (secondary source) — Molotov, retired from office, spoke to the writer Feliks Chuev in conversations recorded in the 1970s and 1980s, here about the 1930s. The date is as given in the abstract (month-day-year). — Conversations with Feliks Chuev, in Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics, ed. Albert Resis (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993); original: F. Chuev, Sto sorok besed s Molotovym (Moscow: Terra, 1991), page 257 [Source](https://www.marxists.org/archive/molotov/1991/remembers-abs.htm) 7. **Content note:** Defends mass repression as necessary. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “The heart of the matter is this. I believe we had to pass through a period of terror, because we had already waged a struggle for more than ten years. The terror cost us dearly, but without it things would have been worse. Many people who should not have been touched suffered. But I believe that Beria on his own could not have done it. He carried out the orders, very harsh orders, issued by Stalin.... Stalin insisted on making doubly sure: spare no one, but guarantee absolute stability in the country for a long period of time — through the war and postwar years, which was certainly achieved.” — English: English version in Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics, Conversations with Felix Chuev, ed. Albert Resis (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993); the Marxists Internet Archive abstract does not name a translator. Original-language text not found. — April 29, 1982 · Interview Verified (secondary source) — Molotov was discussing the repressions of the 1930s with Chuev, and the roles of Stalin and of Lavrentii Beria. — Conversations with Feliks Chuev, in Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics, ed. Albert Resis (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993); original: F. Chuev, Sto sorok besed s Molotovym (Moscow: Terra, 1991), pages 278-279 [Source](https://www.marxists.org/archive/molotov/1991/remembers-abs.htm) 8. **Content note:** Declares no regret for supporting mass repression. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “The fact that we survived, that socialism endured and after the War moved forward, all of this, in my opinion, is our greatest accomplishment of this period. Yes, in this achievement the epidemic of repressions itself played a crucial role.... Someone had to remain untainted by all repression. So Stalin took the lead.... I was one of his chief supporters. I have no regrets over it.” — English: English version in Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics, Conversations with Felix Chuev, ed. Albert Resis (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993); the Marxists Internet Archive abstract does not name a translator. Original-language text not found. — December 9, 1982 · Interview Verified (secondary source) — Molotov spoke to Chuev about his own part in the repressions and the survival of the Soviet state. — Conversations with Feliks Chuev, in Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics, ed. Albert Resis (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993); original: F. Chuev, Sto sorok besed s Molotovym (Moscow: Terra, 1991), page 259 [Source](https://www.marxists.org/archive/molotov/1991/remembers-abs.htm)