Letters from Stalin to Molotov - 3
[23 June 1927]
Dear Viacheslav,
1) I had a look (very quickly) at the "transcript of the Central Control Commission session" on the Zinoviev and Trotsky affair.
The impression given is one of utter confusion on the part of the Central Control Commission. Zinoviev and Trotsky, not the Commission members, did the interrogating and the accusing. It's odd that some of the Commission members didn't show. Where's Sergo? Where has he gone and why is he hiding? Shame on him! I resolutely protest against the fact that the commission to charge Trotsky and Zinoviev has turned into a forum for charges against the Central Committee and the Comintern, with an emphasis on the "case" against Stalin, who is not in Moscow and on whom therefore any accusation can be pinned. Will Trotsky and Zinoviev really be handed this "transcript" to distribute! That's all we need.
2) Note the documents on Trud [Labor]. A purge should be conducted in Trud.2
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[24 June 1927]
6/24/26
Dear Viacheslav,
I just received your last letter by courier. Regarding China, I think that 3 or 4 million can now be sent out of the 10 million, and the question of the 15 million should be postponed. Another 15 million is being asked of us, apparently in order to avoid an immediate attack against Chiang Kaishek if we don't give those 15 million.
As for the holy trinity (R.+Or.+V.),3 I am remaining silent about them for the time being since there will still be plenty of opportunities to discuss them later. Or. is a "good fellow," but a phony politician. He was always a "simpleminded" politician. V. is probably just "not the type." As for R., he is "scheming," supposing that this is what ''real politics" is all about.
Greetings,
J. Stalin
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[27 June 1927]
Dear Viacheslav and Nikolai,
1. I received your last letters (24 June) and the Politburo resolution about the Anglo-Russian Committee.2 Hack "them" to pieces pretty well (I mean the General Council), not by making a lot of noise, but thoroughly. They may break off [with us] in order to "demonstrate" their "independence" from Moscow and earn Chamberlain's praise. But they will lose more in breaking off now than [if they had broken off] during the coal strike period, since the real threat of war affects all workers, and very profoundly. They will try to make much of the executions, but that won't work for very long, especially if you try to provide some well-argued declaration on that score. You should throw it right back in "their" faces that they are helping their masters launch and wage a war.
2. I already wrote about Feng [Yü-hsiang] in the coded telegram. Apparently the report about Feng corresponds to reality. I'm afraid that Wuhan will lose its nerve and come under Nanking. 5 It's not worth arguing with Wuhan over Borodin (if Wuhan wants to remove him). But we must insist adamantly on Wuhan not submitting to Nanking while there is still an opportunity to insist. Losing Wuhan as a separate center means losing at least some center for the revolutionary movement, losing the possibility of free assembly and rallies for the workers, losing the possibility of the open existence of the Communist Party, losing the possibility of an open revolutionary pressin a word, losing the possibility of openly organizing the proletariat and the revolution. In order to obtain all this, I assure you, it is worth giving Wuhan an extra 35 millionbut only with some assurance that Wuhan will not surrender to the tender mercies of Nanking, with our money wasted for nothing.
3. I received a telegram the other day from Wang Ching-wei and gave him a fairly lengthy reply of my own. Read it and tell me your opinion in brief.
4. I have no objections regarding Lozovskii.
5. Regarding the expediency of making our relations with Chiang "official," I have my doubts. The analogy with Chang Tso-lin doesn't hold up. We recognized Chang three years ago. If the matter were to come up today, we would not officially recognize him. To recognize Chiang now (this minute) would mean striking a blow against Wuhan (Wuhan still exists) and throwing down the gauntlet to Chang Tso-lin (remember the Chinese Eastern Railway). It would be better to wait on Chiang and keep the status quo.
6. It's not surprising that R. has gone into leftism in a big way. That means that he has lost for a minute the opportunity to "scheme," "maneuver," and so on. But Mikoian is a greenhorn in politics, a talented greenhorn, but a greenhorn all the same. When he grows up, he'll improve.
J. Stalin
27 June 1926
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