On the question of the interview comrade Dimitrov

On the question of the interview comrade Dimitrov at a press conference in Sofia on January 21 this year

Source: Stalin I.V. Works. - T. 18. - Tver: Informational publishing center "Soyuz", 2006. P. 640–641 (appendix).

The editorial board of Pravda received a number of requests from readers from different parts of the USSR, the meaning of which boils down to the following: does the placement in Pravda mean statements by Comrade Dimitrova at a press conference in Sofia that the editors of Pravda are in solidarity with the position of Comrade. Dimitrov on the expediency of a federation or confederation of the Balkan and Danubian countries, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and the need to create a customs union between them.

In this regard, the editorial board of Pravda considers it necessary to make the following clarification:

1. "Pravda" could not but place on its pages the statement of Comrade. Dimitrov, published in the press of other countries, while it is clear that Pravda could not make any changes to this statement.

2. However, this does not mean that the editorial board of Pravda is in solidarity with Comrade. Dimitrov on the issue of federation and customs union of these countries. On the contrary, the editorial board of Pravda believes that these countries do not need a far-fetched federation or confederation or a customs union, but the strengthening and protection of their independence and sovereignty by mobilizing and organizing internal people's democratic forces, as it is correctly stated in the well-known declarations of the nine communist parties.

The editorial board of Pravda.

Truth. 1948.28 January.

Note

On January 17, 1948, without prior notification of the Soviet government, G. Dimitrov expressed the idea of ​​a possible creation in the future of a federation or confederation of the Balkan and Danubian countries with the inclusion of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Greece. Already on January 21, La Monde qualified this initiative as a “harmful Soviet intervention”. On January 24, a telegram was sent to Dimitrov from Moscow, in which Stalin said that the proposal of the Bulgarian leader "damages the countries of the new democracy and facilitates the struggle of the Anglo-Americans against these countries."

Put by such ill-considered actions in a difficult position, the USSR was forced to postpone the conclusion of pacts of mutual assistance with Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. “Unsuccessful interview with comrade Dimitrov in Sofia, - said in the telegram of V.M. Molotov to the Soviet ambassadors in Belgrade and Sofia, - gave rise to all kinds of talk about the preparation of the Eastern European bloc with the participation of the USSR,.. sides of the USSR, which could facilitate the struggle of aggressive Anglo-American elements against the democratic forces in the United States and England ... "(See: Girenko YS Stalin and Tito. pp. 333–334).

The declaration mentioned in the text was adopted by the Meeting of Representatives of the Nine Communist Parties in Poland at the end of September 1947. [c. 641]