Letter to Khrushchev [1] from the Seventh Congress of Delegates
(April 8, 1958)
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Dear Comrade Khrushchev:

We have received your letter of April 3 addressed to us[2] and have listened to Comrade Yujin’s[3] oral explanation. In our view, after all communist parties had done their utmost to improve relations with Yugoslavia, the fact that the Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia proposed and was preparing to adopt a systematic program draft which violates many fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism demonstrates that the Yugoslav leadership intends to disseminate its revisionist theories throughout the world in opposition to the Declaration of the Twelve Communist Parties adopted at the Moscow Meeting. We have decided to take concerted steps with you to reverse our previous decision and not to send any delegates to the Seventh Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.

[1]
Khrushchev, who at that time served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
[2]
Refers to Khrushchev’s letter of April 3, 1958, addressed to Mao Zedong. In this letter, Khrushchev expressed his views on the Seventh Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and on the draft program of the Yugoslav Communist Party, arguing that the draft was a deliberate attempt to present to the international communist movement a programmatic document essentially contrary to the Declaration of the Conference of Representatives of Communist and Workers’ Parties of Socialist Countries. The draft contained numerous erroneous, non-Marxist assertions and evaluations regarding the current international situation, the workers’ movement, the communist movement, and the development of the world socialist system. Therefore, the Central Committee of the CPSU was preparing to reverse its earlier decision to dispatch a delegation to the Seventh Congress of the Yugoslav Communist Party, instead entrusting the Soviet Ambassador to Yugoslavia to attend the congress in an observer capacity.
[3]
Yujin, who at that time served as the Soviet Ambassador to China.

Instead, we will instruct our ambassador to Yugoslavia, Comrade Wu Xiuxuan, to attend the congress in an observer capacity. We have also decided not to send a congratulatory telegram to the Congress of the Yugoslav Communist Party. Please inform us of the copy of your letter notifying the Yugoslav Communist Party of our decision not to send a delegation, together with the date on which you sent it, so that immediately after you have communicated our decision to the Yugoslav Communist Party, we may likewise notify them of our new stance.

Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
April 8, 1958