On the Question of Comrade Dimitrov's Interview at a Press Conference in Sofia on January 21 of This Year, January 28, 1948

Source: Tom 18

The editors of Pravda have received a number of inquiries from readers across the USSR, the essence of which boils down to the following: does the publication in Pravda of Comrade Dimitrov's statement at a press conference in Sofia mean that the editors of Pravda endorse Comrade Dimitrov's position on the advisability of a federation or confederation of Balkan and Danubian countries, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Greece, and on the need to create a customs union between them?

In this connection, the editors of Pravda consider it necessary to provide the following clarification:

1. Pravda could not fail to publish on its pages Comrade Dimitrov's statement, which had been published in the press organs of other countries, and naturally Pravda could not introduce any changes to this statement.

2. However, this does not mean that the editors of Pravda endorse Comrade Dimitrov on the question of federation and customs union of the said countries. On the contrary, the editors of Pravda consider that these countries need not a far-fetched federation or confederation, nor a customs union, but the strengthening and defense of their independence and sovereignty through the mobilization and organization of their internal people's-democratic forces, as correctly stated in the well-known declaration of the nine communist parties.

Editors of Pravda.

Note

On January 17, 1948, without prior notification of the Soviet government, G. Dimitrov expressed the idea of possibly creating a federation or confederation of Balkan and Danubian countries including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Greece. On January 24, Stalin sent a telegram to Dimitrov stating that the Bulgarian leader's proposal "damages the countries of the new democracy and facilitates the struggle of the Anglo-Americans against these countries."