Source: Tom 17

December 5, 1929

Greetings to Molotshtein!

What the devil are you doing holed up in your den like a bear, keeping silent? How are things with you — good or bad?

Write.

Things are going fairly well for us so far.

1) Grain procurement is moving. Today we decided to increase the inviolable food fund to 120 million puds. We are raising supply norms in industrial cities like Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Kharkov, and the like.

2) The collective farm movement is growing in a torrential stream. There are not enough machines and tractors, of course (far from it!); but even the mere pooling of peasant implements is yielding a colossal increase in sown area (in some districts up to 50%!). In the Lower Volga region, 60% of farms have already (already!) been shifted onto the collective farm track. Our rightists' eyes are popping out in amazement...

3) You must already know about our foreign affairs. The matter with China should move forward. Evidently, our boys from the Far Eastern Army gave them a real scare. We have just received a telegram from Zhang Xueliang expressing his "full agreement with the results of the conference" between Tsai and Simanovsky. America and England with France and their attempts at intervention were brushed off rather roughly. We could not have acted otherwise. Let them learn what Bolsheviks are! I think the Chinese landlords will not forget the object lessons taught them by the Far Easterners. We have decided not to withdraw troops from China until our conditions are guaranteed. Read Litvinov's speech at the TsIK session — it is quite decent.

4) You must already know about the new appointments from the newspapers. What is new in these appointments: a) the appointment of Tomsky as Kuibyshev's deputy (Kuibyshev thinks — apparently not without reason — that some benefit should come from this); b) the appointment of Schwartz as chairman of the coal "association" (we have no better candidate).

5) The rightists (the troika) are working and not acting up for the time being. Rykov tried to transfer Yakovleva to his office as manager of affairs ("the tea-drinking society"!), but we flatly rejected this "trick."

Well, that is all for now. I shake your hand!

December 5, 1929.

Stalin.

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Source: Letters of J.V. Stalin to V.M. Molotov. 1925–1936. P. 169–170.

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