158. Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i VChK, 291–5 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 185, l. 1–9). Soviet military intelligence also obtained a copy of a secret Japanese brochure for their officer corps, The Red Army and the Methods of Struggle With It, whose sixteen points included: “at the outset of a war it is necessary to inflict a decisive strike,” because the Red Army was weak in the face of strength; “the goal should be not to seize territory but to destroy the functioning field army”; “the most advantageous area of the front is where there are units of different nationalities”; “it is necessary to use anti-Soviet Russians.” Zolotarev, Russkii arkhiv: Velikaia otechestvennaia, VII/i: 47–9 (RGVA, f. 33987, op. 3, d. 1233, l. 339–45).
159. Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i VChK, 291–5 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 185, l. 1–9: Dec. 19, 1931). In a second intercepted memo sent to Stalin on Feb. 28, 1932, Kasahara again emphasized that “the military might of the Soviet Union” would reach great heights “in ten years.” Stalin underlined this passage, too. Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i VChK, 298–308 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 185, l. 15–36).
160. Stalin added: “Those comrades who remained in Russia, who did not go abroad, of course, are far more numerous in our party and its leadership than former émigrés, and they, of course, had greater opportunities to contribute to the revolution than those who were located in the foreign emigration.” Leushin, “‘Schitaiv nizhe svoego dostoinstua’: fragment zapisi besedy U. V. Stalina c E. Liudvigom,” 216–17 (RGASPI. f. 558, op. 1, d. 2989, 1.17–8).
161. Stalin added: “‘Fate’ is something that is not part of the laws of history, something mystical. I do not believe in mysticism.” On Feb. 8, 1932, he had a transcript circulated to members and candidate members of the politburo and Central Committee (“for your information”). In April 1932 the party journal Bolshevik published a version he edited. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 2989, l. 1. Stalin would authorize its publication as a standalone pamphlet in 1938, and allowed it to be included in Collected Works in 1951. “Beseda s nemetskim pisatelem Emilen Liudvigom,” Bol’shevik, 1932, no. 8: 33–42 (at 41); Sochineniia, XIII: 104–23 (at 114–5, 120–1); Degras, Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, II: 517–8.
162. Kenkichi Yoshizawa, Japan’s newly named foreign minister, returning home from his ambassadorial post in Paris via the Trans-Siberian, received a “princely welcome” in Moscow on Dec. 30–31, 1931, according to British observers. Two days after Yoshizawa reached Tokyo, Moscow forced the issue by having Izvestiya (Jan. 16, 1932) publish news that a nonaggression pact had again been proffered. Both Yoshizawa and Ambassador Hirota claimed to be surprised. DVP SSSR, XIV: 746–8 (Litivinov-Yoshizawa conversation); Lensen, Damned Inheritance, 337–41; Sokolov, Na boevykh postakh, 157; Grechko et al., Istoriia vtoroi mirovoi voiny, I: 277.
163. Voroshilov was especially skeptical of rumors about the ranks of White Guard émigrés ready to enlist for Japan. Kvashonkin, Sovetskoe rukovodstvo, 167–8 (RGASPI, f. 74, op. 2, d. 44, l. 53–5). Japanese officials continued to engage in open talk about annexing Northern Sakhalin, the Soviet Far Eastern coastline and Kamchatka. Haslam, Soviet Foreign Policy, 79–80.
164. Artuzov judged the French general staff to be against a Franco-Soviet nonaggression pact, but noted that French military intelligence “is of the opinion that the USSR at the present time will avoid a conflict with Europe and Japan and not react to provocations.” Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i VChK, 296–8 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 185, l. 11–4). The French general staff was focused on Germany, not the USSR. Vidal, Une alliance improbable.
165. Haslam, Soviet Foreign Policy, 98. The OGPU were also reporting delight among peasants, angry at collectivization, at rumors Japan would seize Siberia, and Poland or Germany would take advantage in the West. Golubev, “Esli mir obrushitsia na nashu Respubliku,” 141–5; Vernadskii, Dnevnik, 1926–1934, 240, 256, 271, 275; Davies and Wheatcroft, Years of Hunger, 15–16 (citing RGAE, f. 7486, op. 37, d. 235, l. 12–10: Jan. 19, 1932).
166. Johnston, New Mecca, 122, citing Vozrozhdenie, March 5, 1932. See also Besedovskii, Na putiakh k termidoru, 286.
167. XVII konferentsiia VKP (b), 156.
