from Dimitrov to Stalin, Molotov, Beria, and Malenko
STRICTLY SECRET
SUBJECT TO RETURN WITHIN 48 HOURS
Reproduction prohibited TO THE 4 TH
PART OF THE SPECIAL SECTOR OF THE VKP(b)
CC, MOSCOW, THE KREMLIN
[Handwritten across the top of the text:
"I agree with
Cde. Dimitrov [V]/ Molotov 10 December
Cde. Stalin
agrees. I sent to Cde. Dimitrov. Molotov"]
CABLE
from KUYBYSHEV sent
at 2325 9 December 1941
arrived at the VKP(b)
CC for decipherment at 0730 10 December 1941 Incoming Nº 4202/sh
MOSCOW, VKP(b) CC, to Cdes. STALIN,
MOLOTOV, BERIA, and MALENKOV.
A group of Iranian Communists, former political prisoners, has begun to revive the Communist Party of Iran.
They have created
a temporary bureau,
identified one comrade
(Arashes-
Oganesyan) for liaison
with the IKKI
[Executive Committee of the Communist International], and turned to us for directions. They are also requesting prompt
agreement to send their delegate
to us. Per the materials of the Personnel Department of the IKKI and on the basis of information of NKVD officials who have
been in touch
with them locally,
these Iranian Communists can be considered completely honest revolutionaries and pro-Soviet people.
At the
same time a People's Party
with a democratic program has been
created in Iran
by a democratic figure
Suleiman Mirza. Mirza
has been fighting
for democratic reform
in Iran for 30 years now. Some Iranian Communists also participate in this People's
Party.
Considering the special
conditions of Iran
(joint occupation with
the British, the
democratic and subversive work of the Nazis
and their agents,
the wariness and hostility of part of the Iranian
ruling circles, we think
that the revival
of the Iranian Communist Party,
which was always
a small sectarian group, would
hardly make a difference at the present
time, but would
definitely cause certain difficulties and complications.
This will strengthen suspiciousness and dissatisfaction in the ranks of the ruling
circles and provide
more opportunities for German agents
to frighten the
Iranian bourgeoisie with the danger of the Sovietization of Iran, and indeed they make the British themselves suspicious with respect to the Soviet
Union, which is supposedly striving
to Sovietize Iran.
Therefore I would
suppose that in the present
situation the Communist Party ought not be revived but that the Communists ought to operate
in the People's Party and pursue a policy of:
1.
Fighting for the democratization of Iran;
2. Defending the interests of the workers;
3. Strengthening friendly relations between Iran and the Soviet
Union;
4. Completely eradicating the agent network
of fascism in Iran and
suppressing anti-Soviet propaganda.
Along with
this, the Communist should work to create trade
unions and peasant
organizations.
I also consider
it inadvisable for a delegate
from the Iranian
Communists to be sent to us since this fact will be also used by our enemies in Iran. One of our suitable comrades
under suitable legal cover, who could help
the Iranian comrades
in pursuing this
policy, could be sent instead.
If there are to be no other
instructions from you I am thinking of sending the Iranian comrades advice to this effect.
DIMITROV
Deciphered at 1220 10 December 1941. Six copies printed. Kozlov,
Nezlobin, Luk'yanova. [Stamp:
draft and cipher
text destroyed] Illegible signature ap