"An atmosphere of extreme tension reigned during this period; it was necessary to act without mercy. I think that it was justified. If Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Rykov and Zinoviev had started up their opposition in wartime, there would have been an extremely difficult struggle; the number of victims would have been colossal. Colossal. The two sides would have been condemned to disaster. They had links that went right up to Hitler. That far. Trotsky had similar links, without doubt. Hitler was an adventurist, as was Trotsky, they had traits in common. And the rightists, Bukharin and Rykov, had links with them. And, of course, many of the military leaders."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Russian communistsSoviet premiersMinisters of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the Soviet UnionCommunist Party of the Soviet Union membersAmbassadors of Russia and the Soviet Union
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Quote from Ludo Martens's Another View of Stalin, pp. 177. Original quote from the Russian version of F. Chueva Sto sorok besed s MOLOTOVYM (Moscow: Terra, 1991), p. 413 (The quote does not appear in the French translation: Félix Tchouev, Conversations avec Molotov (Paris: Albin Michel, 1995).) The quote can also be found here
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vyacheslav_Molotov
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Vyacheslav Molotov
26 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Vyacheslav Molotov →
Related Quotes
"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 …"
"Life has improved, and now as never before the doors to a happy and cultured life for all the peoples of our Union st…"
"[W]e've done so much that even if we are smashed, everything will have been worth it. If not today, then tomorrow."
"Infallible people do not exist, Lenin used to say. It depends, first, on the kind of error and, second, how long it p…"
"I do not believe that everything we did under Stalin was right. But the main thing we achieved gives us justifiable p…"
"Stalin will be rehabilitated, needless to say."
"Events arising out of the Polish-German War have revealed the internal insolvency and obvious impotence of the Polish…"
"Germany, which has lately united 80 million Germans, has submitted certain neighboring countries to her supremacy and…"
"Recently the ones in charge of England and France are trying to portray themselves as fighters for democratic rights …"
"In capitalist countries the bourgeoisie leads. So long as imperialism and socialism are locked in struggle with each …"