Telegram to Members of the Politburo, June 5, 1932

Source: Tom 17

Moscow. CC VKP. Poskrebyshev.

For members of the Politburo.

I protest against the publication in Pravda of Yaroslavsky's article about the workers' unrest in Ivanovo-Voznesensk and the replacement of the Party leadership there. The article is clearly incorrect on the factual side and politically harmful. By his article, Yaroslavsky has given foreign correspondents the opportunity to write about a "new Kronstadt" that allegedly "dictated the latest decisions of the CC and the Council of People's Commissars on kolkhoz trade." Who gave Yaroslavsky the right to come out with such an article, damaging to the Party and clearly advantageous to our enemies? Why did the editorial board of Pravda permit such an irresponsible statement? Why is Yaroslavsky given the unchecked right to wield a weapon he does not command and which he repeatedly misuses to the detriment of the Party? Cannot this be put to an end?

Stalin.

Source: Stalin i Kaganovich. Perepiska. 1931-1936 gg. [Stalin and Kaganovich. Correspondence. 1931-1936], p. 139.

RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 77, ll. 12, 12 ob.

NOTE

In the article "Restructuring Is Needed Immediately," published in Pravda on May 31, 1932, E.M. Yaroslavsky criticized the former Party leadership of Ivanovo Oblast, where mass unrest among textile workers had taken place in April.