DEREK WATSON is an Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham, UK. He studied history at Sheffield University where he was awarded a PhD degree. After thirty years of teaching and holding senior administrative positions in higher education, he retired in 1991 to concentrate on research and writing. He is the author of Molotov and Soviet Government: Sovnarkom 1930-41 and a number of articles on Soviet history, including foreign policy.

• List of Tables Preface and Acknowledgements Lossary of Russian Terms and Abbreviations Used in the Text Introduction The Making of a Revolutionary Forging the Bolshevik Regime Party Secretary The Struggle with the Oppositions, 1925-1927 Stalin's Lieutenant, 1927-1929 Change and Consolidation, 1929-1930 Head of Government Molotov and the Terror 1939 - Molotov becomes Foreign Minister The Nazi-Soviet Pact and After, 1939-1941 The Great Patriotic War The Diplomat at War Stalin's Last Years, 1945-1953 Unrepentant Stalinist, 1953-1957 Last Years Conclusion Bibliography