Letter from Cde. M. Suslov to Cde. A.A. Zhdanov

Top Secret

to Cde. A. A. Zhdanov

Having familiarized myself with the proposal of Cde. Yusupov and the USSR Ministries of State Security and Internal Affairs about creating a Popular Revolutionary Party of East Turkestan [we] consider it necessary:

With respect to the draft program of the Popular Revolutionary Party agree with the comments of the Ministries of State Security and Internal Affairs about the draft of Cde. Yusupov. Take the draft program proposed by the Ministries of State Security and Internal Affairs as a basis, also clarifying and adding individual points to the draft, namely:

a) in the section "About winning political freedoms and the form of government" (page 4) say that the granting of internal autonomy to Xinjiang does not eliminate the sovereign rights of China to the province. If this is not said in the program then, considering the past and existing tense relations between Xinjiang and the national Chinese authorities, it is not excluded that this would serve as a basis for complicating the issue of the legal status of the party, its registration, and activity. Therefore point 1 of this section is to be worded: "Granting Xinjiang Province of China internal autonomy with a democratic system and elected government bodies proportional to the size of the population of each ethnic minority";

b) accept point 8 of the section "The development of the economy and the improvement of the material living conditions of the population" in the following wording: "Carrying out tax reform and the establishment of just leasing rates for land in order to maximally ease the tax burden for the population and ensure the normal development of agriculture, handicraft production, industry, and trade";

c) in the conclusion of the program it is necessary to talk of the party's attitude toward foreign policy issues. Accordingly, the last paragraph on the 10^th page is to be worded as follows:

"The party will support all progressive measures of the government of the Republic of China. The Party considers the strengthening of good-neighborly relations and the development of economic relations with the Soviet Union and the establishment of friendly relations with the remaining countries of the United Nations to be necessary".

Concerning the draft charter of the Popular Revolutionary Party.

The most satisfactory draft is the one submitted by Cde. Yusupov, which can be taken as the basis, changing its name to the charter of the Xinjiang People's Party.

The draft charter submitted by the Ministries of State Security and Internal Affairs was drawn up without proper consideration of the specific situation and the conditions for the work of a newly-created legal party in Xinjiang. In certain cases the draft of the Ministries lapses into the charter of a ruling party and in this sense it is like the charter of the VKP(b) (the point about the responsibilities of a party member, etc.).

The draft charter submitted by Cde. Yusupov is more in keeping with the requirements of a party first entering the political arena.

(M. Suslov)

26 June 1946