Page "Vyacheslav Molotov" Paragraph 10

Despite the great human cost, the Soviet Union under Molotov's nominal premiership made great strides in the adoption and widespread implementation of agrarian and industrial technology.

In a document written by Molotov he noted how cannibalism and starvation were still serious problems even in 1937 in the Soviet Union.

Andrey Vyshinsky, the Procurator General, even told Molotov personally of incidents involving mothers eating their newly born children.

The rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany precipitated the development of a modern armaments industry on the orders of the Soviet government.

Ultimately, it was this arms industry, along with American Lend-Lease aid, which helped the Soviet Union to prevail in the World War II ( Great Patriotic War ).

Set against this, the purges of the Red Army leadership, in which Molotov participated, weakened the Soviet Union's defence capacity and contributed to the military disasters of 1941 and 1942, which were mostly caused by unreadiness for war.

The purges also led to the dismantling of privatised agriculture and its replacement by collectivised agriculture.

This left a legacy of chronic agricultural inefficiencies and under-production which the Soviet regime never fully rectified.