Molotov, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich << MAWL uh tuhf, vyah cheh SLAHF mihk HY luh vihch >> (1890-1986), became widely known during two terms as foreign minister of the Soviet Union. He was demoted in 1957 for his opposition to Nikita S. Khrushchev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. He was expelled from the Communist Party’s Presidium and sent into virtual exile as ambassador to Outer Mongolia. In 1960, he became the Soviet delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. In 1961, the 22nd Soviet Party Congress voiced severe criticism against him. In 1962, Molotov was expelled from the party, and the Supreme Soviet (legislature) ordered his name removed from towns, buildings, and objects that had been named after him. He was reinstated as a party member in 1984. He died on Nov. 8, 1986.
From 1939 to 1949 and from 1953 to 1956, Molotov served as commissar (later called minister) of foreign affairs. He may be best known for negotiating a secret nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany in 1939. He helped create the Soviet Union’s policy of hostility to the West, particularly to the United States. He attacked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as an agency that would lead to another war. He proposed a collective security treaty for European countries that would exclude the United States.
Molotov joined the Bolshevik Party at the age of 16 (see Bolsheviks ). Beginning in 1906, he engaged in various revolutionary activities. He was arrested and exiled twice, but returned to help plan the Bolshevik revolution. After the Bolshevik (later renamed Communist) Party seized power in Russia in 1917, he received several important political promotions. He served as premier of the Soviet Union (chairman of the Council of Ministers) from 1930 to 1941.
Molotov was born on March 9, 1890, in the Kirov region of European Russia. His family name was Skriabin, but, like many Russian revolutionaries, he changed it. Molotov derives from molot, the Russian word for hammer.
