Telegram to L.M. Kaganovich, June 5, 1932 [On Oil Negotiations]

Source: Tom 17

For Kaganovich and other members of the Politburo.

I have just acquainted myself with the telegram from Ryabovol and Rabinovich of May 28 concerning the terms of the agreement with the oilmen in New York, and Rozengolts's ten-point reply of June 2. The question is very important. Rozengolts's reply strikes me as too rigid and, perhaps, somewhat captious. It would be good to request the text of the latest draft agreement. I consider the agreement desirable, and Rozengolts's nitpicking may wreck it. What is the CC's opinion?

Stalin.

Source: Stalin i Kaganovich. Perepiska. 1931-1936 gg. [Stalin and Kaganovich. Correspondence. 1931-1936], p. 140.

RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 77, l. 17.

NOTE

In May 1932, at the First International Petroleum Conference in New York, British and American oil companies proposed that the USSR renounce independent action on world oil markets. In return, they committed themselves to purchasing 5 million tons of oil annually from the USSR (the volume of Soviet oil exports in 1931) at a fixed price for 10 years. No agreement was reached at that time. Negotiations continued in New York. On June 1, 1932, the Politburo issued a directive to the Soviet delegation to put forward counterproposals, which led to the termination of the talks. On June 8, after reviewing Stalin's telegram, the Politburo resolved: "Amending the previous Politburo decision of June 1 on directives for the negotiations... consider it possible to enter into negotiations with the oilmen on the basis of the proposals put forward by the oilmen... Instruct the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade to identify ways to explore the possibility of resuming negotiations with the oilmen and to report on the planned measures to the CC within two days." Despite these efforts, no agreement with the Western oil companies was reached.