WI: Vyacheslav Molotov dies in 1942

According to Wikipedia (which cites Montefiore's Stalin: Court of the Red Tsar): "After signing the Anglo–Soviet Treaty of 1942 on 26 May Molotov left for Washington, D.C., United States. Molotov met with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of the United States, and ratified a Lend-Lease Treaty between the USSR and the US. Both the British and the United States government, albeit vaguely, promised to open up a second front against Germany. On his flight back to the USSR his plane was attacked by German fighters, and then later by Soviet fighters."

My question, let's say for whatever reason, Molotov's plane isn't so lucky and gets shot down by German fighters (or Soviet fighters) and Molotov is killed. How does this affect the Soviet Union? Post-War negotiations, etc.
 

redeclipse

Banned
He did a lot for Stalin but Stalin was planning on purging him right before he died, and then he was sidelined after. Someone else does the negotiating but the situation is the same probably. In the USSR then anyone who wasn't Stalin was expendable.
 

iVC

Donor
He did a lot for Stalin but Stalin was planning on purging him right before he died, and then he was sidelined after. Someone else does the negotiating but the situation is the same probably. In the USSR then anyone who wasn't Stalin was expendable.

You should remember that it was Molotov who was the core of the so-called "Anti-Party Group" in 1957. Without Molotov, there are chances that in the absence of such an old and respected figure, Kaganovich and Malenkov will not dare to speak out against Khrushchev at the party congress.

Without this coup attempt, Khrushchev doesn't became increasingly distrusting and illogical, which were his problems in OTL.
 
You should remember that it was Molotov who was the core of the so-called "Anti-Party Group" in 1957. Without Molotov, there are chances that in the absence of such an old and respected figure, Kaganovich and Malenkov will not dare to speak out against Khrushchev at the party congress.

Without this coup attempt, Khrushchev doesn't became increasingly distrusting and illogical, which were his problems in OTL.

So no Molotov means hypothetically a more restrained Khrushchev? That'd be interesting. But then could Khrushchev had stayed in power as long? From what I recall he wasn't very popular among the Soviet government after a couple of years in power thanks to his reforms and De-Stalinization, so his more trusting behavior could end with him getting ousted sooner for a more hardline communist like Brezhnev?
 

iVC

Donor
From what I recall he wasn't very popular among the Soviet government after a couple of years in power thanks to his reforms and De-Stalinization, so his more trusting behavior could end with him getting ousted sooner for a more hardline communist like Brezhnev?

Main problems with the Khruschev in power were not connected to his de-stalinization policies (which were de-facto approved by the most of the party members, Brezhnev himself did not had a high regard for the comrade Stalin). Khrushchev's popularity was eroded by flaws in his policies. His domestic policies, aimed at bettering the lives of ordinary citizens, were often ineffective, especially in agriculture. His constant mood changes and often adventuristic foreign policy ideas undermined his authority. Let's just say that he was not very serious, but he considered himself competent in all matters. He rushed from extreme to extreme, assumed serious miscalculations in relations with China, allowed the Cuban crisis, spoiled relations with industrialists inside the USSR and so on. Enfant terrible he was.
 
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