40 years since the death of Vyacheslav Molotov: A Bolshevik who defended the Soviet Union and socialism

On November 8, 1986, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, veteran Bolshevik revolutionary, Soviet statesman and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin, died in Moscow at the age of 96. Four decades later, his name remains closely associated with the construction of socialism in the USSR, the historic defeat of fascism and the political struggles over the future direction of the Soviet Union.

Born in 1890, Molotov joined the Bolshevik movement in 1906, participating in the revolutionary struggle against tsarism and the events that culminated in the October Socialist Revolution of 1917. 

 

A story about Molotov's last days

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, the legendary Soviet politician and diplomat, an old Bolshevik revolutionary, died on November 8th, 1986 at the age of 96.  

At the time of his death, he was the last surviving major participant in the events of the 1917 October Revolution.

During the last weeks of his life the decline in his health had become noticeable. However he never lost his sense of duty. There is a story about elderly Molotov's reaction concerning a statement or decision of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze in 1986.