Telegram to L.M. Kaganovich, V.V. Kuibyshev, K.E. Voroshilov, 23 August 1932

Source: Tom 17

CC VKP(b). To Kaganovich. Kuibyshev. Voroshilov.

The deal on used automobiles from General Motors is very suspicious. They may cheat us and try to unload all sorts of junk. Especially since our inspectors have never distinguished themselves by conscientiousness or vigilance. Nevertheless, we should try to purchase no more than 50 thousand automobiles, provided the price is lower, say 100 dollars, and credit of not less than 10 years. If the deal for 50 thousand yields good results and the automobiles prove genuinely serviceable, it will be possible to buy the same quantity again. The question of spare parts must definitely be clarified, and the deal must be understood as meaning the automobiles are sold with spare parts. We mainly need trucks. Therefore, of the 50 thousand automobiles, 45 thousand should be trucks and 5 thousand passenger cars.

Stalin, Molotov, Kalinin

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Source: Stalin and Kaganovich. Correspondence. 1931-1936, p. 296.

RGASPI. F. 558. Op. 11. D. 79. L. 61-62.

NOTE: Reply to a cipher telegram of 22 August 1932 informing Stalin that General Motors, through Cooper, had offered to sell the USSR 100-200 thousand used automobiles, trucks and passenger cars, with a guarantee they would run at least another 150 thousand kilometers, fully equipped with new tires, at approximately 200 dollars per automobile, with long-term credit of up to ten years. The American crisis of sales was forcing these terms.