Source: Tom 17

August 29, 1929

Greetings, Comrade Molotov!

Received your letter of August 27.

1) On England. Our position is completely correct. The Politburo decision in connection with Litvinov's proposal is correct! The essence of the matter is not only to achieve recognition without entangling ourselves. The essence is also that our position, based on the exposure of the "workers' government," is an appeal to the best elements of the working class of the entire world; it unleashes the revolutionary criticism of the "workers' government" from the side of the proletariat; it facilitates the revolutionary education of workers of all countries (and above all of England); it helps Communists of all countries to educate the workers in the spirit of anti-reformism. Not to use this "God-given" opportunity in this direction would be a crime. Litvinov does not see this and is not interested in it. But the Politburo must take all this into account.

2) On China. The same must be said about China. The point is not only and not even so much to liquidate the "conflict" one way or another. The point is also that by our firm position we must thoroughly expose and undermine the authority of the Chiang Kai-shek government as a government of lackeys of imperialism that wants to serve as a model for "national governments" of colonial and dependent countries...

3) In general, it must be said that by our firm position in relation to the "workers' government" and the Chiang Kai-shek government, we are revealing (and have revealed) a number of most interesting behind-the-scenes knots demonstrating (even to the blind) the direct dependence of these supposedly "people's" governments on the most reactionary forces of their "own" ("domestic") and international imperialism. This is a very great and necessary revolutionary task, which at the same time raises the prestige of the Soviet government in the eyes of the working class of all countries (and above all in the eyes of the working class of the USSR). Not to take this factor into account means to commit a crime against the USSR.

4) The campaign against petty-bourgeois radicalism (Shatskin & Co.) went well.

5) The campaign against the ideologist of the rightists, i.e., Bukharin, also went well. The article in Pravda about Bukharin is superb.

6) As for Mirzoyan, I agree with you.

7) It would be good to appoint Rumyantsev from Baku to head Uralneft. He knows the business and would push it forward.

8) I have already sent Mikoyan (in reply to his letter) a congratulatory letter addressed to the Politburo on the occasion of your having smashed the nest of the Gromans, Vinogradskys, and other bourgeois politicians who had settled in Gosplan, in the Central Statistical Administration, and so on. Chase them out of Moscow and replace them with young people — our people, Communists.

9) Grain procurement has gotten off to a good start. Maintain a firm policy toward Siberia, Kazakhstan, Bashkiria. No concessions to Eikhe and other comrades who want to wriggle out of a difficult obligation. We must and can accumulate 100 million puds of inviolable reserves, if we are really Bolsheviks and not empty windbags. At most, five to seven million can be shaved off, but no more, and only on condition that they are made up in other regions. If we win on grain, we win on everything, both in the sphere of domestic and of foreign policy.

10) After my illness in Nalchik, I am beginning to recover in Sochi.

Well, enough. I shake your hand.

August 29, 1929.

J. Stalin.

P.S. I have just received the text of our response to the Chinese note. It is evident that you got a bit nervous and let the Chinese outflank you. And this at a time when victory was assured. What the Chinese need, i.e., the removal of Emshanoff and Eismont, has ended up in the declaration, as if to acknowledge that we are to blame, not the Chinese. But what we need, i.e., the removal of Duban, as evidence of our (not the Chinese) being in the right, did not end up in the declaration (they limited themselves to an "oral communication" about this to Dirksen)! Thus, we must sign a document (the declaration) saying that we are in the wrong and the Chinese are in the right, contrary to all evidence! This is called: handing the fruits of victory to the vanquished enemy. I see here the "wisdom" of Litvinov-Bukharin... What a pity, a great pity.

J. St.

---

Source: Letters of J.V. Stalin to V.M. Molotov. 1925–1936. P. 154–157.

RGASPI. F. 558. Op. 1. D. 5388.