Stalin Is the Friend of the Chinese People
(December 20, 1939)
December 21 of this year is Comrade Stalin's sixtieth birthday. It can be anticipated that this birthday will call forth warm and affectionate congratulations in the
hearts of all those people in the world who are aware of this event and who know
suffering.¹
To congratulate Stalin is not merely doing something to observe the occasion.
To congratulate Stalin means to support him, to support his cause, to support the
cause of the Soviet Union, to support the victory of socialism, to support the orientation he points out for humanity, and to support our own close friend. Today in the
world the great majority of humanity is suffering and only by following the orientation pointed out by Stalin, and with Stalin's aid, can humanity be rescued from
disaster.
We Chinese people are now living in a time of profound calamity unprecedented
in history, a time when help from others is most urgently needed. The Book of
Poetry says, "Ying goes its cry, seeking with its voice its companion."2 We are
precisely at such a juncture.
But who are our friends?
There is one kind of so-called friends who style themselves our friends, and
some among us also unthinkingly call them friends. But such friends can only be
classed with Li Linfu of the Tang dynasty. Li Linfu was a prime minister of the
Tang dynasty, a notorious man who was described as having "honey dripping from
his tongue and a sword concealed in his heart." These friends today are precisely
friends with "honey dripping from their tongues and swords concealed in their
hearts." Who are these people? Part of those imperialists who say that they sympathize with China.
There is another kind of friends who are different; they have real sympathy for
us, and regard us as brothers. Who are these people? They are the Soviet Union,4
and Stalin.

This article was first published in Xin Zhonghua bao, December 20, 1939. Our source is
Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 7, pp. 133-35, which reproduces that text.
Not a single country has renounced its special rights and privileges in China;
only the Soviet Union has done this.
At the time of the Northern Expedition, all the imperialists opposed us, and the
Soviet Union alone assisted us.
Since the beginning of the anti-Japanese war, not a single government of any
imperialist country has really helped us. The Soviet Union alone has helped us
with its great resources in men, matériel, and money.6
Is this not clear enough?
To the cause of the liberation of the Chinese nation and the Chinese people,
only the socialist country, the socialist leaders, the socialist people, and socialist
thinkers, statesmen, and toilers are truly giving assistance. Without their help, it is
impossible to win final victory.
Stalin is the true friend of the Chinese nation and of the cause of the liberation
of the Chinese people. The Chinese people's love and respect for Stalin, and our
friendship for the Soviet Union, are wholly sincere. Any attempt, from whatever
quarter, to sow dissension by rumor-mongering and slander will be of no avail in
the end.

--- Notes

1. Who know suffering. → Who are revolutionary.

2. See the Shi jing (Book of Poetry), II, I, V, 2-3 (Legge, Vol. IV, p. 253).

3. Our friends → Friends of the Chinese people

4. The Soviet Union → The people of the Soviet Union


5. At the time of the Northern Expedition → In the period of the First Great Revolution

6. With its great resources in men, materiél, and money → With its air force and material
resources