AH Chain mk. 1 1953 Molotov v. Beria

Who shall succeed Stalin?


  • Total voters
    32
  • Poll closed .

HueyLong

Banned
See the results of the first poll here.

Your choice today is between Vyacheslav Molotov and Lavrenti Beria. Who shall succeed Stalin?

Molotov is an old-guard Stalinist, mostly satisfied with the policies of Stalin. A smooth diplomat, he nonetheless has worrying ideas about the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. His aggressive foreign policy is certain to sound good following the first American victory in the Cold War- Korea.

Beria, meanwhile, is a reformist, a Party dissident..... and a secret policeman. His policies, a radical departure from Stalin, find little support in the Party- but he doesn't need them now does he? He has the secret police behind him, and that might be all one needs. And then, there is the matter of his private life, which holds sick details.

So, debate, discuss and vote on this matter. Who shall succeed Stalin?
 
Molotov.

I mean, Beria can't purge EVERYONE, so if we do vote him in we'll just be switching him out for Khrushchev or someone similar in a few years.

Molotov will last forever (to '86?) and be a constant "bad guy" to keep our Cold War hot.
 
Molotov '08! I do enjoy the prospect of him having a long rule, but perhaps we should have him retire eventualy though.
 
"Molotov '08! I do enjoy the prospect of him having a long rule, but perhaps we should have him retire eventualy though."

Given the fact that he will constantly have to watch his back and be on the look-out for wreckers and sloths, he might not live as long as he did historically.

But as long as faithful Mikhail Suslov is there to take over, all is fine in the Greater Soviet Union!
 
Went for Molotov. I want a more hard-liner, maybe we can have another WW III thread series based on his policies. He's surely pissed that the Korean conflict came out the way it did. Maybe there can soon be a Korean War 2.x based on Molotov's policies? Or a surge into Western Europe? Or, maybe south into Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan? Or . . .

Bobindelaware
 
As a side note, Beria really pushed for the development of missiles. With Molotov in charge, we might see the Soviets instead build up a large strategic bomber force. This has all sorts of implications (delaying the Space Race, what if the Soviets have a "failsafe" mess-up :eek:, reduced interest in missiles in the US, and a longer "Big Bomber" era).
 
But what makes you think that all divisions of the Red army would follow Zhukov, who by the time Stalin died had been exiled to an irrelevant provincial command, without any of his "comrades" doing anything.

A putsch in the USSR is most unlikely - besides, even if such a putsch succeeds (which is not that likely), it does not mean that Zhukov (or any other Marshal of the Soviet Union for that matter) will be able to hold the country together and rule it.

Expertise in military strategy does not automatically equal political accumen and cunning.
 
"Now you guys decide what happen, just don't make it anything like Blochead's timeline, thanks please."

What would have to be avoided in order to prevent such a state of events?
 
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