Tatka!

I received your parcel. I am sending you peaches from our tree.

I am healthy and feel as good as can be. It is possible that Ukhanov saw me on the very day when Shapiro ground down eight (8!) of my teeth at once, and my mood at that time may well have been poor. But that episode has nothing to do with my health, which I consider to have fundamentally improved.

Only people who do not know the facts could reproach you in any way regarding your care for me. Such people turned out to be the Molotovs in this case. Tell the Molotovs from me that they were mistaken about you and acted unjustly toward you. As for your supposition about it being undesirable for you to stay in Sochi, your reproaches are just as unfair as the Molotovs' reproaches toward you. That is how it is, Tatka.

I will arrive, of course, not at the end of October, but much earlier, in mid-October, as I told you in Sochi. For reasons of secrecy, I spread the word through Poskrebyshev that I could not come until the end of October. Avel apparently fell victim to this rumor. I would just prefer that you did not broadcast this. Only Tatka, Molotov, and, I think, Sergo know the date of my arrival.

Well, all the best.

Kisses, hard and many.

Yours,

Iosif.

24/IX-30

P.S. How is the children's health?

Source: Iosif Stalin in the Embrace of His Family. From the Personal Archive. Pp. 32-33.

AP RF. F. 45. Op. 1. D. 1550. L. 43-45.