Molotov Remembers¶
Metadata¶
- Author: [[V. M. Molotov, Feliz Chuev, and Albert Resis]]
- ASIN: B00G03LKKA
- Reference: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G03LKKA
- Kindle link
Highlights¶
The Soviet Union, in contrast to the appeasers, seemed to be the only country willing to stand up to Hitler and his allies. — location: 216 ^ref-28428
we didn’t think of the material interests of the peasants. Well, if we had, we would have wound up in a dead end. We didn’t have enough money for cannons! — location: 687 ^ref-63531
if Stalin is to blame for everything, then he built socialism alone and won the war alone. — location: 736 ^ref-49328
They say we had insufficient troop strength at the border, but had we started moving troops to the border, we would have given Hitler an excuse! Meanwhile, we were preparing at full speed. — location: 766 ^ref-48859
Nevertheless, I am hardly likely to be blamed, for England and France agreed with all my claims in Munich!” — location: 782 ^ref-24101
We had five-year plans. We didn’t have allies. They would have combined with Germany against us then. America was against us then. England against, France not far behind. — location: 799 ^ref-26397
What did Stalin think of Hitler as a personality? How did he evaluate him? It would be incorrect to say that he underestimated him. He saw that Hitler had organized Germany in a short period of time. There had been a huge Communist party and it had disappeared, wiped out! And Hitler led the people and the Germans fought hard during the war. Stalin, as a cool-headed man, took these facts seriously when discussing grand strategy. — location: 808 ^ref-25994
Why do you stick to such a minor point? Everything is interesting, of course. — location: 864 ^ref-11380
I’ll always defend Soviet power if need be. I love my country....” “Georgia?” Molotov asked. “No. The Soviet Motherland. It doesn’t matter where I was born. The Motherland is the heart; this is the land we fought for. For Stalin and for the Motherland. For the multinational Soviet Union we stood shoulder to shoulder and won. And we will win again if need be.” — location: 923 ^ref-42390
I consider this wrong—the Eternal Flame. Why wrong? We followed the bourgeois way, we copied them. We should not have made a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier but a Tomb of the Antifascist. — location: 979 ^ref-54352
Churchill gave Montgomery instructions to save the German arms because they might turn out to be useful against the Soviet Union. — location: 993 ^ref-61370
This unmasked them in the eyes of their people. Why are you cheating? This undermined faith in the imperialists. All this was very important to us. — location: 1016 ^ref-18969
Stalin also instructed me to demand they draw off thirty to forty enemy divisions from the Russian front. When I met with Roosevelt I had to hide my astonishment when I told him that and he replied, “A legitimate, reasonable demand.” — location: 1019 ^ref-22496
That disgraced him in the eyes of his own people. Most people are honest, and when the government promised on the people’s behalf to open the second front, and then didn’t, the people realized they couldn’t trust such leaders. — location: 1023 ^ref-56226
We had always done everything with enormous sacrifices. But people trusted the Bolsheviks! And the Bolsheviks turned out to be right, expressing the real feelings of the people, which wasn’t always to be expected. — location: 1036 ^ref-12973
1920—We’ve done so much that even if we are smashed, everything will have been worth it. If not today, then tomorrow. — location: 1038 ^ref-26357
Churchill said as early as 1918 that Soviet power should be strangled in its infancy. But at our intimate dinners with Roosevelt in Teheran and Yalta, he said, “I get up in the morning and pray that Stalin is alive and well. Only Stalin can save the peace!” He was confident that Stalin would play that exceptional role which he had assumed in the war. His cheeks were wet with tears. Either he was a great actor or he spoke sincerely. — location: 1071 ^ref-60197
the mere fact that Stalin forced the capitalists Roosevelt and Churchill to war against Hitler says much. — location: 1079 ^ref-13387
to be paralyzed and yet to become president of the United States, and for three terms, what a rascal you had to be! — location: 1102 ^ref-1064
Dulles was such a pettifogger that one had to keep this in mind all the time. His brother was in intelligence, too. These were brothers who would pick your pocket and cut your head off at the same time. — location: 1118 ^ref-17184
He was far from having Roosevelt’s intellect. A big difference. They had only one thing in common—Roosevelt had been an inveterate imperialist, too. — location: 1174 ^ref-34020
I had to say that the bombs dropped on Japan were not aimed at Japan but rather at the Soviet Union. They said, bear in mind you don’t have an atomic bomb and we do, and this is what the consequences will be like if you make a wrong move! — location: 1225 ^ref-29752
Goebbels was the first one to use the “iron curtain.” It was often used by Churchill, that’s for sure. — location: 1245 ^ref-58617
It was entirely their doing or because we were on the offensive. They certainly hardened their line against us, but we had to consolidate our conquests. — location: 1246 ^ref-63782
I decided, let him remember his being an unreliable friend, and let people regard him as two-faced. — location: 1258 ^ref-2647
But if Western writers believe we were wrong to refuse the Marshall Plan, we must have done the right thing. — location: 1283 ^ref-53696
It was right that we moved troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968. Many supported this from a great-power position while I supported it from a communist position. — location: 1289 ^ref-17026
Any form of nationalism is dangerous, isn’t it? No, not any. If it is against imperialism and colonialism, then we support it. — location: 1327 ^ref-37227
Even though the Mongolians wanted admission to the USSR during the war, we rejected their proposal. And the Bulgarians, too, wanted admission. — location: 1330 ^ref-35742
Israel has turned out badly. But Lord Almighty! That’s American imperialism for you. — location: 1350 ^ref-36809
Every step that weakens imperialism is absolutely great. Otherwise it will become more difficult for us after a number of years or maybe even tomorrow or the day after. — location: 1357 ^ref-31858
They were taken aback, for they were all Russians. But I thought, why should I stand on ceremony with them? You come across such rubbish at times.... — location: 1521 ^ref-32952
It turned out badly in Chile. Bear in mind this is temporary. We also had a defeat in 1905 but we triumphed in 1917. We wouldn’t have won in 1917 if it hadn’t been for 1905. This should be taken into consideration. This should be understood. Some say, give us victory now! If not, it’s no good. Tea drinkers. They want everything handed to them in a tea saucer. — location: 1558 ^ref-61143
despite Lenin’s opposition to “factionalism” within the party, Molotov shows that Lenin had no compunctions about organizing a faction to overcome oppositionists. — location: 1650 ^ref-8714
According to Molotov, this petty bourgeoisie animated every opposition group since Lenin and finally triumphed with Khrushchev. — location: 2861 ^ref-4020
Stalin did not entirely like this adulation, but finally he came to enjoy it a bit. — location: 2931 ^ref-61457
two of Lenin’s cardinal tenets, unmodified. First, socialism could be initiated in Russia but achieved only on an international scale. And second, war is inevitable as long as imperialism exists. — location: 5796 ^ref-60304
Any relaxation would embolden the imperialists to blackmail the USSR into abandoning socialism at home and abroad. — location: 5798 ^ref-24025