Regarding Consent to Publication
“Questions of Peace and Socialism”
Telegram to the Central Committee of the CPSU
(February 27, 1958)

To the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union:

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has received and discussed the letter from the Central Committee of the CPSU dated January 31, 1958.[1]

The CPC Central Committee agrees to the publication in Prague of an international theoretical monthly journal as a joint publication of the central committees of the communist and workers’ parties participating in it, and also endorses the basic principles for the journal and the proposed arrangements for sharing publication expenses put forward by the CPSU Central Committee.

[1]. Refers to the letter dated January 31, 1958, from Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, to the CPC Central Committee. The letter stated that at the Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in Moscow, many delegations had suggested the publication of an international theoretical journal. It was then agreed that those parties willing to participate in the publication would, after conducting the necessary consultations and preparatory work, proceed to implement this proposal. The CPSU Central Committee believed that, in order to avoid undue delay, it was now necessary to ascertain which parties intended to take part in the publication of this theoretical journal and to begin exchanging views on specific issues related to its launch. In their view, the journal could serve as a joint publication of the central committees of communist and workers’ parties. It should not be a directive organ; rather, it would engage in propaganda and research on Marxist–Leninist questions and function as an international forum for fraternal parties to exchange experiences. The ideas and principles set forth in the Declaration adopted at the Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in Moscow in November 1957 would form the foundation of the journal. In August 1958, the journal “Questions of Peace and Socialism” was officially launched.

Telegram Regarding Consent to Publication of “Questions of Peace and Socialism” to the Central Committee of the CPSU

The CPC Central Committee is preparing to dispatch Comrades Wang Jiaxiang, Liu Ningyi, and Zhao Yimin[1] to attend the meeting of representatives of the parties founding the journal, to be held in Prague on March 7–8.

Respectfully submitted,

With comradely greetings,

Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

February 27, 1958

[1]. Wang Jiaxiang was at that time a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee. Liu Ningyi and Zhao Yimin were then vice ministers of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee.