Death has snatched from our ranks a staunch and steadfast Leninist, a member of the Central Committee of our Party, Comrade Skvortsov-Stepanov.

For decades Comrade Skvortsov-Stepanov fought in our ranks, enduring all the hardships of the life of a professional revolutionary. Many thousands of comrades know him as one of the oldest and most popular of our Marxist writers. They know him also as a most active participant in the October Revolution. They know him, lastly, as a most devoted champion of the Leninist unity and iron solidarity of our Party. Comrade Skvortsov-Stepanov devoted his whole life of brilliant labour to the cause of the victory of the dictatorship of the proletariat. May the memory of Comrade Skvortsov-Stepanov live in the hearts of the working class!

J. Stalin

Pravda, No. 235,

October 9, 1928