Russia, China to publish Stalin-Mao correspondence for the first time

Russia and China are preparing to release a collection of correspondence between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong.

In an interview with RIA Novosti, Andrei Artizov, head of Rosarkhiv, said that later this year, they plan to publish a collection of documents, noting that many of these materials will be made public for the first time, Caliber.Az reports.

He added that today, international cooperation by Russian archives is structured around friendly and unfriendly countries. “With the friendly ones, our relations are actively developing,” Artizov explained.

Among Rosarkhiv’s partners, Artizov named Belarus, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, India, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria. In Europe, professional contacts continue with Hungary.

Stalin and Mao’s exchange of telegrams and letters in the late 1940s occurred during the final phase of the Chinese Civil War, with Stalin advising and negotiating tactical positions with Mao as the Chinese Communist Party moved toward nationwide victory. 

After the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in 1949, the Soviet Union under Stalin became China’s key ally, formalising the relationship with the Sino‑Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance in 1950, which included mutual defence commitments and significant Soviet economic and military support to the fledgling communist state.

The early USSR–China alliance shaped much of early Cold War geopolitics, with Communist China aligning with the Soviet bloc politically and militarily before ideological and strategic differences emerged later in the 1950s and 1960s.

By Jeyhun Aghazada