Telegram to Stalin
(June 20, 1952)
Comrade Filippov[1]:
Since economic construction is about to become the central task of our country, we intend to strengthen our Party’s central organs by drawing on the experience of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)[2]. To this end, we would like Comrade Zhang Wentian and a comrade designated by you to hold discussions so that he may gain an understanding of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)’s experience in this regard. We request your permission for Comrade Zhang Wentian and the Soviet comrade you designate to conduct these talks.
Chuan
Filippov was Stalin’s code name.
[2]
The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party sent the following telegram to Zhang Wentian, China’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union, on June 20, 1952: “As economic construction is about to become the central task of our country, it is imperative that the central organs of the Party and the government be reinforced. The Central Committee plans to transfer secretaries of the various central bureaus and several other cadres to work at the central level, and intends to establish the Party’s central organs by drawing upon the experience of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). To this end, we have studied the report submitted last year by the Chinese Party delegation on organizational work, which had visited the Soviet Union and examined the organizational experience of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). However, we still lack clarity regarding the composition, powers, and interrelationships of the three bodies—the Politburo, the Organizational Bureau, and the Secretariat—of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). We wish to learn from the Central Committee’s experience with these three organs as a reference for establishing our own central organs. We therefore ask you to arrange talks with Comrade Malenkov or other responsible comrades of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). During these discussions, please inquire in detail about the nature, functions, personnel composition, powers, working procedures, meeting practices, and mutual relations among these three organs; also about the party organs of the individual republics and directly administered regions, as well as any other matters you deem necessary to clarify. Following these talks, please submit a report to the Central Committee.”

We would be most grateful if you could facilitate such talks!
Mao Zedong
June 20, 1952