July 11, 1927

Dear Vyacheslav!

1) Received Zinoviev's article "The Contours of the Coming War." Surely you are not going to print this ignorant abomination? I am categorically against printing it.

2) I read the Politburo directives on withdrawal from the national government in China. I think that soon the question of withdrawal from the Guomindang will have to be raised. Why — I will explain when I arrive. Some people, they say, have a repentant mood regarding our China policy. If this is true, it is regrettable. When I arrive, I will try to prove that our policy was and remains the only correct policy. Never have I been so deeply and firmly convinced of the correctness of our policy, both in China and in relation to the ARC, as now.

3) When should I be in Moscow?

July 11, 1927.

J. Stal.

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Source: Letters of J.V. Stalin to V.M. Molotov. 1925–1936. P. 116.

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

NOTE

In Zinoviev's article "The Contours of the Coming War and Our Tasks," the views of the united opposition were set forth on both foreign-policy and internal questions. The article was sharply criticized at the Joint Plenum of the CC and CCC of the VKP(b) in August 1927.

The expulsion of the Communists from the Guomindang took place on the initiative of the CEC of the Guomindang on July 26, 1927. The Communist Party of China was declared illegal, and many Communists and their supporters were subjected to repression.