Source: Tom 17

June 3, 1926

Moscow.

CC of the VKP, Comrade Molotov.

Decipher immediately.

Bukharin's theses must absolutely take into account the most important errors of Zinoviev on the question of the English strike, on Pilsudski, and on the Chinese Revolution, and criticize them in one form or another, since these errors are in the air and find support in right-wing currents of the Comintern.

1) At the very first Politburo meeting at the beginning of the English strike, Zinoviev submitted to the Politburo a draft of instructions for the English Communists, drawn up by Zinoviev with the participation of certain Comintern officials sympathizing with the opposition. In the draft, as is well known to the members of the Politburo, there was not a single word about the necessity of shifting the general strike onto the track of political struggle, nor even a hint of the slogan — "Down with the Conservative government, long live a workers' government." These new instructions and new slogans were introduced by the Politburo majority as amendments to Zinoviev's draft, which he was forced to accept! This omission of the most important slogan of the strike movement in England is not accidental; it pours water on the mill of Thomas. There are no guarantees that such errors will not be repeated in the work of Zinoviev and his supporters. To insure the Party against such gross errors, Zinoviev's errors must be taken into account in the theses.

2) At a well-known Politburo session about a month ago, Zinoviev submitted to the Politburo an utterly liquidationist proposal about the desirability of the Communist Party's withdrawal from the Guomindang into the hands of the right Guomindang members. To the remark of the Politburo majority that Zinoviev's proposal represented a line toward liquidating the revolutionary movement in China, Zinoviev and Radek, after unsuccessful attempts to defend their proposal, were forced to withdraw it and accept the Politburo's proposal to intensify the work of the Communist Party within the Guomindang and to concentrate fire against the right Guomindang members. Since there is no guarantee that such an error by Zinoviev will not be repeated, it is necessary to take it into account in the theses.

3) At the session of the Politburo's Polish Commission, on the day of the first reports of Pilsudski's seizure of Warsaw, Zinoviev submitted, in the presence of Unshlikht, Dzerzhinsky, Domsky, Venetsky, and many others, a draft of instructions for the Polish Communists, which spoke of the inadmissibility of the Communists' neutrality in Pilsudski's struggle against the fascists, which regarded Pilsudski as an anti-fascist, which regarded the Pilsudski movement as a revolutionary movement, but which said not a single word about the equally inadmissible support of Pilsudski by the Communists. The majority of the commission introduced the fundamental amendment about the inadmissibility of supporting Pilsudski, an amendment that Zinoviev was forced to accept, restructuring his entire draft of instructions. I am convinced that the errors of the Polish Communists, about which Zinoviev now writes with such relish, were entirely inspired by Zinoviev's deeply opportunist position regarding the allegedly revolutionary character of Pilsudski's adventure. Since there are no guarantees that these errors will not be repeated, it is necessary to take them into account in Bukharin's theses. In communicating all this, I ask that this document be made available only to our closest friends.

June 3, 9 p.m.

Stalin.

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Source: Letters of J.V. Stalin to V.M. Molotov. 1925–1936. P. 65–67.

RGASPI. F. 558. Op. 1. D. 5297.