THE SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE ON WORLD COMMUNIST STRATEGY (ITS DEVELOPMENT FROM AUTUMN 1959 TO SUMMER 1960)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79S00427A000600020001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 76
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 14, 2005
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 23, 1961
• Content Type: STUDY

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OCI No. 0617/61
CopyNo.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE STAFF STUDY
THE SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE ON WORLD COMMUNIST STRATEGY
(Its Development from Autumn 1959 to Summer 1960)
Off ice of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THIS MATERIAL CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECT-
ING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE OF THE UNITED STATES
WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE ESPIONAGE LAWS,
TITLE 18, USC, SECTIONS 793 AND 794, THE TRANSMIS-
SION OR REVELATION OF WHICH IN ANY MANNER TO
AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PROHIBITED BY LAW.
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THE SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE ON WORLD COMMUNIST STRATEGY
(Its Development from Autumn 1959 to Summer 1960)
This is a working paper, the third in a series of
studies Of the dispute between the Soviet and Chinese Com-
munist parties about the strategy and tactics of the world
Communist movement. This paper, beginning with the con-
frontation of Mao and Khrushchev in Peiping in autumn 1959
and ending with the impasse that followed the Paris "summit"
meeting, includes the period of one of the most important
developments in world Communism in recent years--the syste-
matic and scornful Chinese attacks on Soviet positions in
the spring of 1960.
The period encompassed by this paper was one primarily
of Chinese initiatives and Soviet responses.' Two more.
papexx;in this series will treat the period of the Bucharest
conference of Communist parties in June 1960 through the
Moscow conference of Communist parties in November 1960,
a period primarily of a Soviet counter-offensive.
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Khrushchev apparently came to Peiping in October 1959
in the mistaken belief that China's dependence on the USSR
would force the Chinese party to accommodate to his global
strategy--a strategy criticized by the Chinese for almost
two years. In Peiping, he publicly rejected the Chinese
contention that the Bloc should pursue a more militant and
revolutionary strategy all over the world under the pro-
tection of Soviet military power; and Suslov endorsed Khrush-
chev's positions, perhaps thus disabusing Mao of a belief
that the Chinese had support among Soviet leaders. The
Chinese intensified their attacks on Khrushchev's positions
after his departure.
In several speeches in the USSR subsequently, Khrush-
chev reaffirmed his belief in the overriding importance of
avoiding a general war, and his feeling that Western leaders
were coming to the same view. He stated his favor fora
long-term accommodation with the West--not in terms of abandon-
ing political, economic, and ideological pressure on the
West but in terms of avoiding war and/or serious risks of
war. Inter alia, he criticized Mao's thinking as Trotskyist
and as playing into the hands of the enemy; to Peiping's
dismay, he took a conciliatory line on DeGaulle's proposals
for ending the Algerian war; he failed to endorse Chinese
positions on several Far Eastern issues; he derided Chinese
domestic policies; he accused the CCP of conceit; and he
warned that opposition to fundamental Soviet policies would
not be tolerated.
By the end of 1959, Soviet public lecturers were openly
referring to difficulties in the Sino-Soviet relationship,
probably,in order to prepare the Soviet populace for the
possibility of a radical deterioration in relations. Khru-
shchev himself suggested at the time that the relationship
had deteriorated to a dangerous point.
President Eisenhower's State of the Union message on
7 January 1960 was given differing emphases by Moscow and
Peiping--the former picking out of the message some of the
more hopeful signs (in the Soviet view) that the United
States was prepared to ease international tensions, and the
latter citing it as an example of the deceitful American
practice of talking peace while preparing for war. In the
Chinese view, the apparent American interest in detente was
nothing more than a maneuver to buy the necessary time to
overcome Soviet military superiority.
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That Mao was proselytizing In the Communist world
against Khrushchev and Khrushchev's strategy was. evidenced
1.AU.L J_A15 A.1 ~W V i.~JL 1.
Mao told
he c isagree wit i soviet po icy on disarmamen
China would not sign any disarmament agreement un-
z as given its legitimate seat in the United Nations
and unless the United States withdrew from Taiwan.
Throughout the early part of 1960, there were growing
indications of Chinese annoyance with Soviet disarmament
policy. The Chinese probably believed that any Soviet-Ameri-
can disarmament agreement would tend to freeze Communist
China out of the nuclear club, would undermine the Soviet
capability to fight local wars, would throw away the Soviet
military advantage, and might even be the beginning of an
East-West aaccat modat .o.n achieved at China's expense.
At the Warsaw Pact conference in February 1960, it is
likely that joint Chinese-East German pressure was brought
to bear on the Russians for the sharing of nuclear weapons
but that this pressure was resisted. On the question of
strategy, there was a complete impasse. Moreover, Khrush-
chev reportedly criticized Chinese actions against India
and Indonesia in strong terms and complained that Peiping
had refused to support the USSR's attempts to reduce world
tension, had not followed the USSR's lead by demobilizing
any part of its armed forces, was too insistent on following
its own independent policies, and was harming the cause of
Communism.
In February, the Chinese in their journals said in ef-
fect that the cold war could not be meaningfully abated; that
the danger of war would continue to exist and the bloc must
prepare for all contingencies; that disarmament negotiations
were more or less useless; that the bloc should concentrate
not on negotiations with the West but on building its own
resources and securing its own strength.
In April 1960 the Chinese offered a comprehensive in-
dictment of Soviet theory, strategy and tactics In the form
of five lengthy and acrimonious doctrinal statements which
in effect accused Khrushchev---ain his 20th Congress for-
mulaticns--of having revised, emasculated and betrayed
Marxism-Leninism. The Chinese rejected Khrushchev's views
on the possibility and advisability of seeking a long-range
detente with the West and contended that coexistence could
mean only an armed truce; they argued that wars, particularly
local and colonial wars, were inevitable so long as imperial-
ism remained; and they minimized the possibility, of peaceful
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accession to power in the non-Communist world. In attack-
ing Khrushchev's ideological innovations and the strategy
which these innovations reflected, the Chinese were not
calling for general war, a'lthoU.gh. thQ.y'may . haw. believed this
inevitable. Rather, they were attacking Khrushchev's grad-
ualist revolutionary conception and putting forth an al-
ternative conception--based on the conviction that the west
could be defeated sooner than Khrushchev thought if the USSR
and the world Communist movement were more aggressive.
In broader terms, the massive Chinese attack on Khru-
shchev's positions involved a decision to bring before the
entire Communist world the Chinese challenge to Soviet
leadership of the bloc, a challenge sustained by one of the
most serious charges one Communist party can make against
another--the charge of abandonment of revolutionary positions.
The question of strategy toward the underdeveloped
countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America--the "colonial
and semi-colonial" areas--had all along been highly impor-
tant in the Sino-Soviet dispute. During the spring of 1960
there were several developments relating to the question
of Soviet aid to these areas, the question of support of
"liberation" movements, the specific case of the Algerian
rebellion, and the growing Chinese interest in African af-
fairs.
For a variety of reasons, -the Chinese seemed to oppose
the Soviet aid program to non-Communist countries--to op-
pose, at least, the scale of such aid and the priority It
enjoyed in Soviet thinking. The Chinese had already in-
dicated their belief that such aid would strengthen non-
Communist governments to the detriment of the revolution.
They may have believed further that such aid could otherwise
be used to support their own economic development and that
Soviet aid programs might facilitate the expansion of So:,
Viet influence at the expense of Chinese influence.
The Chinese took a much stronger line than did the
Russians on the need for supporting "liberation" movements
which in turn would pursue aggressive policies. The Chi-
nese contended that the Communist party in each country
that had not attained independence should seek at the
earliest opportunity to take over the independence movement
rather than to leave leadership of such movements in the
hands of genuine nationalist parties; that the Communist
party in each country which had attained formal independ-
ence must put enough pressure on the nationalist government
to get Communists taken into the government or at least 'to
achieve a pro-Communist government; and that a policy of
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prolonged cooperation with the national bourgeoisie in co-
lonial countries--the policy advocated by Moscow--would
almost certainly lead to disaster. Perhaps most impor-.:
ta,ittly for the Sino-Soviet dispute, the Chinese argued that
the Bloc should abandon its cautious policy toward "lib-
eration" movements and give them all-out support, even if
this entailed a risk of local wars with the West.
Differences between Moscow and Peiping over the "co
1oiiial liberation" struggle and the specific issue of sup-
port of "liberation" movements, have been illustrated in
their respective attitudes toward the Algerian rebellion.
In the period discussed in this paper, the Chinese evidently
calculated that a continuation of the Algerian war would
advance both the interests of the bloc and their own in-
terests far more than would a negotiated settlement, and
they seemed to view Khrushchev's support--however cautious--
for DeGaulle's proposals to end the war as a betrayal of
the "colonial liberation" struggle.
In the spring of 1960 the Chinese considerably in-
creased their attention to African affairs. The principal
Chinese effort was made at the second Afro-Asian People's
Solidarity Conference, held in Guinea in April. The Chi-
nese made a strong bid to dominate the proceedings and the
organization itself. The Soviet and Chinese representa-
tives reportedly clashed on the question of strategy.
It is unlikely that China was instrumental in the
Soviet decision to wreck the summit conference in May 1960.
Although the Chinese had long argued that negotiations must
not take priority over revolutionary struggle, their public
pronouncements on the eve of the summit indicated resigna-
tion rather than opposition. Of greater importance, how-
ever, the failure of the summit evidently emboldened Mao to
press to a new and critical stage his initiative within the
world Communist movement against Khrushchev's strategy and
tactics.
No sooner had the summit collapsed than-Soviet state-
ments, including some from Khrushchev himself, indicated
that, although the long term struggle with the West would
not be abandoned on a political, economic and ideological
level, the USSR would still not take serious risks of gen-
eral war and would continue to be interested in negotiations
with the West--even if it had to wait for years. This re-
affirmation of "peaceful coexistence" clashed head-on with
intensified Chinese urging for a radical change in Soviet
policy.
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I KHRUSHCHEV IN..PEIPIN+G AND AFTER
Khrushchev in Peiping, October 1959
At the Washington Press Club on 16 September 1959, an
American newsman asked Khrushchev what would be the purpose
of his visit to Peiping after his tour of the United States.
"That," replied Khrushchev before giving an innocuous reply,
"is apparently the most 'difficult' question."
As we have seen hrushchev was greeted
on arrival in Peiping of articles by CCP leaders
which vigorously defended Chinese foreign and domestic poli-
cies against Soviet criticism, accused "some people" of
"ignorance of Marxism-Leninism," implicitly attacked Soviet
policy toward the uncommitted countries, and implicitly
warned Khrushchev that the same Russian errors which led to
severe losses for the Chinese Communist movement in the
1920's were now being repeated in the colonial areas. In
addition to all this, Chinese objections to Khrushchev's
negotiation tactics had been spelled out in the CCP's lead-
ing party'journal on the very day that Khrushchev had ar-
rived in the United States.
To add to Mao's discomfiture, there was the fact that
Khrushchev was coming to Peiping after his talks with Presi-
dent Eisenhower. Mao may have reflected that the President
had seen fit to journey to Western Europe to consult with
his allies prior to his talks with the Soviet premier. More-
over, in response to a specific question on 5 August as to
whether Khrushchev intended to consult with his allies prior
to his US visit, Khrushchev had cavalierly dismissed the
question:
We will probably exchange views: with our
friends in one way or another, but I do not think
that we need all gather for any discussions. The
question of ensuring world peace is so clear that
it is not a controversial one for the socialist
countries. That is why we are sure that all the
socialist countries will approve our activity in
that direction....
(emphasis supplied)
Khrushchev obviously was aware that the question of "en-
suring world peace" was not "so clear" to his Chinese allies.
That he was ready to wave them off in this manner may have
reflected a belief that his Chinese comrades were still vi-
tally dependent on the USSR and would have no alternative but
to go along with Soviet policies. If this was his belief, he
was mistaken.
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In his two public speeches in Peiping, Khrushchev made
little effort to meet the objections to Soviet strategy
that the Chinese had been voicing for almost two years. In
his arrival speech on 30 September he said that "everything
must be done to clear the atmosphere and create conditions
for friendship among peoples." In his banquet speech the
same evening he reasserted his belief that the bloc would
defeat the West in peaceful economic competition. He said
that President Eisenhower and other Western leaders had
begun to show a more realistic understanding of the world
situation and that Eisenhower in particular "understands
the need to relax international tension." Therefore, he
continued, "we on our part must do all we can to exclude
war as a means of settling disputed questions." There was
"no other way" than that of peaceful coexistence.
Then, aiming straight at the heart of the Chinese con-
cept that the bloc could pursue more militant policies all
over the world under the shield of the Soviet nuclear deter-
rent, Khrushchev said:
...we must think realistically and under-
stand the contemporary situation correctly. This,
of course, does not by any means signify that if
we are so strong, then we must test by force the
stability of the capitalist system. This would
be wrong; the peoples would not understand and
would never support those who would think of
acting in this way.
A few sentences later, he may have been aiming at the Chi-
nese exhortations for a more revolutionary line in the un-
committed countries:
The socialist countries-fire the hearts
of men by the force of their example in building
socialism and thus lead them to o ow in their
footsteps. The question of when this or that
country will take the path of socialism is de-
cided by its own people. This, for us, in the
holy of holies. (emphasis supplied)
If Mao had had any hopes of relying on a so-called
"China lobby" in the Kremlin allegedly led by Suslov, Sus-
lov's speech in Peiping two days earlier cannot have given
him much encouragement. Suslov was somewhat less enthusias-
tic than Khrushchev about the possibilities for relaxing
tension but he nonetheless supported the broad outline of
Khrushchev's global strategy. While he spoke of forces in
the West interested in keeping up the cold war and of the
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"projected relaxation" of tension, he insisted that "wars
mustbe prevented because in our age--the age of the atom
and of rocket technology--they threaten mankind with count-
less sufferings and disasters" (emphasis supplied) . This
line of reasoning--that the development of military tech-
nology threatened civilization and by implication required
an adjustment of Soviet strategy--was vigorously rejected
by Mao.
Suslov also made it clear that he supported Khrushchev's
long-range policy of seducing the uncommitted countries by
trade, aid and example rather than by the more revolutionary
method the Chinese believed necessary for many or most of
these countries. He said:
The socialist states resolutely support
the strivings of the countries of Asia and
Africa to develop their national economies.
We are extending help, and, as our possibili-
ties grow, will extend still more help, to
all countries of Asia and Africa. emphasis
supplied)
Finally, Suslov defended Khrushchev's trip to the US as
having been accomplished "with honor, dignity and brilliance...
and with Leninist adherence to principle." In effect, he
was reminding Mao that he would not support the insinuations
in the Chinese press that Khrushchev had watered down
Leninist principles in making his trip to the United States.
The very fact that Khrushchev allowed Suslov to head
the Soviet delegation to Peiping prior to his own arrival
and at a time when Sino-Soviet relations were so strained
sugg,sts his confidence that Mao would not be able to ex-
ploi'whatever differences in the Soviet leadership there
may have been over foreign policy. The sending of Suslov
may even have been intended as a deliberate demonstration
to Mao that the Soviet leadership was united on Khrushchev's
foreign policy.
Whatever arguments Khrushchev and Suslov used to defend
Soviet strategy, the Chinese were cool to them. There was a
failure to issue the customary pious joint communique and
Khrushchev, in his departure speech, made the remarkable
statement that "we Communists of the'Soviet Union consider
it our sacred duty, our primary task... to utilize all possi-
bilities in order to liquidate the cold war." This suggested
that Khrushchev could no longer speak for China on this
question.
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Pao personally
told I hat the CPSU had
handled the+.denigration of Stalin in a very abrupt manner,
that Molotov was a valiant party member with a world of
experience, and that "peaceful disentanglement"--possibly
a reference to prolonged coexistence--was a theory with no
In short Mao
as evidently lobbying against Khrushchev's
tactics. That Mao would have gone to the extreme of praising
Molotov must have been regarded by Khrush-
chev as unwarran e n rence in the internal affairs of
the CPSU, along with Mao's violation of "proletarian inter-
nationalism" in challenging Khrushchev's tactics.
25X1 hinese resent-
ment at being left out of the summit talks had increased and
had been made quite clear to Khrushchev.
25X1C II the Chinese also were annoyed with Khrushchev for not
giving pufficient support to Peiping's campaign to take over
25X1 Taiwan. also re-
ported that Chinese Communist resentment at being left out
of high-level negotiations was one of the motivations behind
Peiping's decision to stir up trouble with India over the
boundary question. The incident was said to be intended as
a reminder to India, the Soviet Union, and the West that
there were important areas of the world where settlements
could be reached only by direct negotiation with Peiping.
Two subsidiary motives for the attack on India were alleged
to be Nehru's ouster of the Communist government in Kerala
and the belief that the Indians had given too much aid and
comfort to Tibetan refugees.
Khrushchev's Formal Report to the Supreme Soviet, 31 October
Khrushchev's speeches in the USSR after returning from
Peiping reaffirmed his belief in the struggle for peace as
"the main task of today" and directed oblique remarks to
the Chinese Communists for advocating tougher policies to-
ward the West. In these speeches, Khrushchev also reaffirmed
his apparently genuine fear of a nuclear holocaust. Thus, in
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Vladivostok on 6 October, he cautioned that the US and the
USSR could not confront each other like "two cocks ready
to lay hold and peck each other." He recalled that in his
meeting with President Eisenhower, the President had ex-
pressed his fear of war and Khrushchev had replied that
"only an unreasonable person can be fearless of war in our
days." While it was necessary to fight if war was "im-
posed upon a people" it was "unreasonable to be eager for
war..." Khrushchev also reaffirmed his confidence in the
President as a man of peace and "farsightedness."
In a speech in Novosibirsk on 10 October, Khrushchev
defined his understanding of peaceful coexistence in a way
which indicated that Mao had expressed concern to him that
the "coexistence" line would retard the revolutionary strug-
gle.
Peaceful coexistence must be understood
correctly. Coexistence means the continuation
of the struggle between the two social systems,
but of a struggle by peaceful means, without
war, without the interference of a state into
the domestic affairs of another state. One
should not be afraid. We must struggle reso-
lutely and consistently for our ideas, for our
way of life, for our socialist system. The
partisans of capitalism too will not, of course,
they
abandon their way of life, their ideology; must
will fight. We hold that this struggle
be economic, political and ideological, but
not military. (emphasis supplied)
Khrushchev's formal report to the Supreme Soviet on
31 October was his first effort to describe the main di-
rection of Soviet policy
Eisenhower. This speech was
climb toward a "detente."
Khrushchev began by contending that "a more sensible
understanding of the relation of forces on the international
arena is now beginning to prevail in the West." The West
was making a "more sober evaluation of the situation." This
new Western evaluation was "bound to lead to the conclusion"
that the West could not use its military forces against the
socialist world. The factors favoring peace were the increas-
ing strength of the Bloc, the rise of the newly independent
countries, the peace-loving forces in the capitalist coun-
tries themselves, and the "many statesmen" in the West who
"begin to understand" that war threatens destruction.
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Peaceful coexistence, continued Khrushchev, was not
something to be desired or not desired. It was an "objec-
tive necessity" proceeding from the "present situation in
the world," namely that both sides "possess weapons which
would cause perilous consequences if they were put into
action." Moreover, said Khrushchev, coexistence was the
existing state of affairs: the question was how to coexist
"on a reasonable basis."
Reasonable coexistence, he continued, presupposed ""mu-
?tual concessions in the interests of peace," a position
based on principle but which at the same time was "flexible."
Lenin had taught, he went on, that the working class,
before as well as after it has gained
power, must be able to pursue a flexible pol-
icy, compromise and come to agreement whenever
life and the interests of the cause demand it.
"Mutual concessions," a term which he repeated several
times, did not mean that there would be any ideological
concessions or compromise on "principles." However, he
continued, looking over his shoulder toward Peiping, "we
have no reason to fear that the peoples of the socialist
countries will be seduced by the capitalist devil and give
up socialism. To think' differently means not to believe
wholly in the strength of socialism..."
A paragraph later, Khrushchev was again pointing di-
rectly at Peiping when lie recalled Lenin's "flexible f or-
eign policy" during the, period of the Brest peace in 1920:
It was during the period of the Brest
peace that Vladimir Ilyich Lenin set the task
of concluding peace with Germany in order to
insure for the young Soviet state the possi-
bility for peaceful construction of socialism.
Lenin and the party then had to conduct a per-
sistent struggle against Trotsky, who came out
then with his Pilate's objections and put for-
ward his notorious slogan of 'neither peace nor
war' by which he played into the hands of the
Oman imperialists. It is known that Trots y's
adventurist policy was used by German imperialism
against the Soviet country... Such were the fruits
of adventurism in policy. (emphasis supplied)
The very invocation of Trotsky, the arch heretic, is
indicative of the seriousness of the charge Khrushchev was
here making against Mao Tse-tung, Trotsky is virtually an
"unperson" in Soviet media. Despite the fact that some of
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the policies advocated by some of the "anti-group" in 1957
could have been identified by Khrushchev with Trotskyism,
he did not go this far even with his own internal party
opponents.
Second, Khrushchev was in effect contending that just
as Trotsky "played into the hands" of the German imperial-
ists, Mao was now playing into the hands of the Western im-
perialists. For the West could employ the Mao's "adventur-
ist" line against the USSR. In Stalin's Russia, people were
not infrequently shot for "objectively" playing into the
hands of the enemy.*
After thus severely condemning Mao's policy, Khrushchev
went on to deny that the USSR was insincere when it spoke of
peaceful coexistence or that it was advancing the slogan
simply for tactical reasons. This was a distortion, he con-
tended; Marxism "has never considered that war among states
is necessary for the victory of the working class."
Khrushchev then listed the various indications that a
thaw was occurrirg in international relations. These included
the nuclear test talks, the foreign ministers' conference,
the various exchanges of visits--all of which were of "posi-
tive significance." He described his visit with President
Eisenhower. as a "particularly important and far-reaching
step in the direction of radically improving relations be-
tween the USSR and the US and generally relaxing inter-
national tension." Many outstanding American personalities,
he said, "with the President at their head," understood the
longing of the American people for peace and wanted to find
ways to consolidate peace. Moreover, his visit had con-
tributed to a better understanding in the United States of
the Soviet desire for peace.
Khrushchev then reversed the Soviet attitude on DeGaulle's
16 September proposals for ending the Algerian war. Although
these proposals had previously been denounced in the Soviet
press as a fraud, Khrushchev now said that DeGaulle's pro-
posals "may play an important role in settlement of the
Algerian question." It would play this role particularly if
it was supported by "realistic steps." He called for "mu-
tual coordination of the mutual interests of the parties"
* The CCP retorted in December by reiterating their
praise of Stalin as having been--unlike some--"an uncompromis-
ing enemy of imperialism."
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and recalled that "historically developed close bonds exist
between Algeria and France." Khrushchev thus left the clear
impression that he might support a French-FLN settlement
which would leave Algeria associated with the French com-
munity. He also left the clear impression that he favored
serious negotiations to bring the long bloody war to an end.
Within a few days of this statement, the French Communist
party reversed its previous hostility to DeGaulle's pro-
posal with a long mea culpa.
The impact of this statement on Peiping--read in the
context of Khrushchev's calls for "mutual concessions"--can
hardly be exaggerated. For a year, Peiping had been in-
sisting that the Algerian rebels were providing a splendid
example to national revolutionary movements throughout Asia,
Africa and Latin America. Only a month before, Chinese
spokesmen had publicly called for a more revolutionary line
in the uncommitted countries. For Khrushchev to swing closer
to the French line on Algeria at such a time--for whatever
reasons--must have been vipmed in Peiping as tantamount to
betrayal of the revolutio
In speaking of Taiwan, Khrushchev gave only a mild en-
dorsement of China's rights to the island: "the legal and
moral right is on its side." Turning to Korea and Laos--
both areas in which Peiping had for some time been threaten-
ing the use of force--Khrushchev cautioned against the use
of force. His "impression" was, he said, that the "United
States is not seeking a military conflict there (in South
Korea)," contrary to Peiping's line then and now that the
U.S. was building up for aggression. With regard to Laos,
Khrushchev said the USSR was "against the existence of even
the smallest source of war in Laos which could give food to
the aggressive forces." Given a "sensible approach".there,
he said, the "skirmishes taking place could be soon elimi-
nated" and the situation could be "normalized."
With regard to the Sino-Indian border dispute, Khrush-
chev maintained his neutral attitude: he was grieved that
casualties occurred on "both sides," he thought the issues
could be resolved to the "satisfaction of both sides."
In urging a solution to disarmament, Khrushchev, painted
a gloomy picture of the consequences of war--consequences
not only for the capitalists but for all. A new war, he
said,--coming close to Malenkov's heresy of 1954 that civi-
lization would be destroyed--would cause mankind "unprece-
dented sacrifice, devastation and suffering."
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Khrushchev concluded this remarkably conciliatory speech
with a plea for lasting peace.
The Soviet Government deems it its duty
to our people and to all of mankind to consol-
idate the achieved relaxation of tension in
international relations, and to adhere firmly
to a course leading from relaxation to a com-
plete liquidation of international tension, and
to turn the achieved relaxation into a lasting
peace.
In the above speech to the Supreme Soviet, Khrushchev put
himself on record before the Russian people as favoring a
long-range accommodation with the West and as prepared to
make as well as to receive concessions in order to achieve
the ace ommo datio n. He attributed sincerity to Western
leaders, particularly to President Eisenhower, in wanting
peace. In effect, he told his audience that having seen.
for himself the state of opinion in the United States, he
was convinced that a long-term stabilization was possible.
This is not to say that Khrushchev had overnight abandoned
the "world revolution." He did seem to believe, however,
that this revolution would be a long-term affair which could
not be promoted aggressively in the nuclear era.
For Mao, this speech must have been an abomination.
The April 1960 Red Flag and People's Daily articles, in-
dicting the who e tge`oretical stri ture of Soviet foreign
policy, were in large part directed at this speech. The
speech probably marked a new downward turn in the increas-
ingly troubled Sino-Soviet relationships. The lines between
Khrushchev and Mao were now drawn in classical fashion.
Khrushchev was calling Mao an adventurist and Trotskyite
who was pushing ahead much too fast both in his domestic
programs and in his plans for world revolution. Mao was
in effect calling Khrushchev an appeaser and was soon to
call him a rev'ionis t for abandoning the traditional Lenin-
ist views on imperialism,'war, and peace.
Khrushchev's 30 October speech, as indicated earlier,
was a statement of the upper limits of Khrushchev's detente
policy. The strategy underlying this policy can be gleaned
from a confidential "Peace Plan" formulated by Khrushchev
and disseminated to Communist parties throughout the world
in early October. In this plan, Khrushchev contended that
a more or less lengthy period of peace was necessary in
order to buy time for the bloc to outstrip the West in
economic production and for the revolutionary forces through-
out the world to prepare themselves "morally and materially."
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The prospects began by asserting that the CPSU expected
firm support for peace from all the fraternal parties. The
CPSU, it continued, had long-range plans for the building
of socialism throughout the world. Although there had been
a slight improvement in the world situation, the utmost
effort was still required so that peace might be prolonged
as long as possible.
During this peaceful phase, the socialist camp would be
in an increasingly good position to give moral as well as
material support to the socialist (i.e., Communist) forces
of non-Communist countries for the building up of the revo-
lutionary movements. In conditions of peace, the "genuine"
socialist forces of Asia, Africa and Latin America could
build up their revolutionary movements morally and materially.
Thus, Khrushchev's two directives to the world Communist
movement in October 1959 were: first, be careful to avoid
all actions that might lead to war; and, second, continue
to build up the party against the day when revolutionary
action might be feasible.
In another speech--to the Hungarian party congress--
on 1 December, Khrushchev advanced a long step forward in
his ideological indictment of Mao's domestic and foreign
policies. This time Khrushchev added a warning that such
deviation would not be tolerated--a warning which seemed to
have little effect on Mao.
"Khrushchev began be reviewing the lessons taught by
the "mistakes" of the Stalinist Rakosi,; leadership in?_;Hungary--
lessons which, he declared, "other Communist and workers
parties cannot but heed." He warned against "armchair
leaders" who "order the masses about"; he warned against
"disregarding objective conditions" and ruling "by decree"
instead of by persuasion; he avowed that although no Com-
munist leaders were guaranteed against mistakes in socialist
construction, "one must have the courage openly to admit
one's mistakes and to correct them in time." In all this,
he seemed to be aiming at Mao's headlong economic policies.
Turning then to a defense of the 20th Congress and
the reevaluation of Stalin, he did not agree with "some
people" who contended that the de-Staliftization question
should "not have been raised so sharply." The Chinese had
already indicated their dislike of Khrushchev's handling of
this question at the 20th Congress.
Then, in a series of passages that were unmistakably
directed at Mao, Khrushchev warned against foolishness and
conceit and stressed the need for discipline in the Com-
munist movement.
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Even now the enemies of socialism do not
abandon their plans of smashing the social-
ist camp and are, of course, looking for the
weak links in it. They want to rout the so-
cialist countries one by one. We must bear
this danger in mind, because it is real, and
we must do everything to deprive our enemies
of these hopes. In these sinister plans the
only ally of imperialist aspirations and
hopes can be our foolishness.
If we become conceited, if we commit mis-
takes in our leadership, if we distort the
teaching of Marxism-Leninism on the building
of socialism and Communism, these mistakes
can be exploited by the enemies of Communism
as'was done in
...our enemies will attempt to pet one
socialist country against another in order to
weaken the forces of socialism. We must bear
in mind that the striving to make the social-
ist countries quarrel among themselves, to
undermine the relations of friendship and
brottherhood between them, is one of the forms
of class struggle employed by our enemy. This
is why the immutable principles of proletarian
internationalism are the supreme, irrevocable
law of the internationa Communist movement...
We must make sensible use of the great ad-
vantages of the socialist system and strengthen
the world socialist camp in every war-... We must
be masters of Leninism. We must not fall be-
hind or go tdofar ahead. :;: We amust, figuratively
speaking, synchronize our watches. If the leader-
ship of this or that country becomes conceited,
this can only play into the hands of the enemy.
In this case, the socialist countries themselves,
the leadership itself, will help the enemy to
fight socialism, to fight Communism, and this
cannot be allowed. (emphasis supplied)
In these passages, Khrushchev was conceding that Sino-
Soviet relations had deteriorated to the point that they
were in serious danger of being "undermined." Mao's domes-
tic policies, he implied, might lead to insurrection as did
.Rakosi's in Hungary. Mao's foreign policy, he warned again,
was playing into the hands of the imperialist enemy. Finally,
he warned Mao that he must obey the "supreme irrevocable" law
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of proletarian internationalism--that is, submission to So-
viet policy3-and that independent courses would not be tol-
erated.
A few passages later, Khrushchev was back again re-
futing Mao's position on peace and war. "No Communist party
anywhere, if it really is Communist," he said, "has ever
said that it hopes to achieve its aims through war. Nor in-
deed, could it say so." Although this was a distortion of
the Chinese position, it was a rebuke to Mao's view that
armed struggle should be encouraged and supported in many
areas of the world.
Returning to the theme of his Supreme Soviet speech,
Khrushchev contended that the fight for a "stable and durable
peace" was one of the principal tasks of the Communist move-
ment. The importance of this struggle, he said, was "hard
to overestimate."
Public Criticism of Peiping in USSR
By December 1959, the Sino-Soviet relationship had deteri-
orated to'such a point that Soviet spokesmen began to crit-
icize their Chinese allies in public. 25X1
a Soviet speaker at a pub-
lic lecture at Moscow University had referred to difficul-
ties in the Sino-Soviet relationship. He specifically men-
tioned the Sino-Indian border dispute and the "cold and in-
correct reception" given Khrushchev on his visit to Peiping
in October. On 11 December, another Soviet public speaker
in Moscow criticized the Chinese commune program as a "mess,"
and asserted that the Chinese Communists.' cultural timetable
was off by 20 to 30 years, in view of the country's backward-
ness and poverty. On 18 December, a Soviet diplomat in Geneva,
talking to-newsmen as a Soviet official who could be so quoted
but not identified by name, reportedly lamented Communist
China's activity in connection with the Sino-Indian border
dispute as "more than untimely" and as a development that
would be "inopportune at any time."
On 21 December, the eightieth anniversary of Stalin's
birthday, Pravda and People's Daily presented diverging in-
terpretations of Stalin which highlighted the strategic and
doctrinal differences between the two parties. Pravda gave
a balanced presentation of Stalin's achievements and failures
and avoided his views on war and foreign policy; People's
Daily, on the other hand, attended almost exclusive Ty to
Stalin's virtues and, in what was clearly a criticism of
Khrushchev's detente line, remindedits:readers thatStalin
hadiurged the need for a "high degree of vigilance against
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imperialism." The Chinese editorial quoted a 1951 statement
by Stalin in which he warned that "should the warmongers re-
sort to lies to trap and deceive the people in order to drag
them into another war, such a war would become inevitable
a statement ignored in recent years by Soviet media and in
striking contrast to Khrushchev's current emphasis on the
possibility of excluding war from human life forever. The
editorial also praised highly the Moscow declaration of the
Communist parties in November 1957--anticipating an exchange
of charges between the Soviet and Chinese parties that the
other had departed from the declaration.
In sum, Khrushchev apparently came to Peiping in the
mistaken belief that China's dependence on the USSR would
force the Chinese party to accommodate to his global strategy.
In Peiping, he publicly rejected the Chinese contention that
the Bloc should pursue more militant and revolutionary strat-
egy all over the world under the protection of Soviet military
power; and Suslov endorsed Khrushchev's positions, perhaps
thus disabusing Mao of a belief that Mao had supporters among
Soviet leaders. The Chinese intensified their attacks on
Khrushchev's positions after his departure.
In several speeches in the USSR subsequently, Khrushchev
reaffirmed his belief in the overriding importance of avoid-
ing a general war, and his feeling that Western leaders were
coming to the same view. He stated his favor for a long-term
accommodation with the West (i.e., an avoidance of war or provo-
cation that might lead to war) ;based on mutual concessions.
Inter alia, he criticized Mao's thinking as Trotskyist, and
as playing into the hands of the enemy; to Peiping's dismay,
he took a conciliatory line on DeGaulle's proposals for ending
the Algerian war; he failed to endorse Chinese positions on
several Far Eastern issues; he derided Chinese domestic poli-
cies; he accused the CCP of conceit; and he warned that opposi-
tion to fundamental Soviet policies would not be tolerated.
By the end of 1959, Soviet public lecturers were openly re-
ferring to difficulties in the Sino-Soviet relationship and,
as Khrushchev himself suggested at the time, the relationship
had deteriorated to a dangerous point.
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II. THE WORSENING OF THE DISPUTE
In the first two months of 1960 there was abundant evi-
dence that the Sino-Soviet dispute on strategy was not only
not being resolved but was becoming more bitter. This was
apparent in divergent reactions to President Eisenhower's
State of the Union Message, in the Red Flag editorial on
New Year's Day, in the Chinese response toKhrushchev's im-
portant 14 January speech, in Sino-Soviet clashes in Com-
munist front organizations in January and February, and in
a sharp division between them at the Warsaw pact conference
in February.
The President's State of the Union Message:
The sharp contrast between Soviet and Chinese views on
the possibility and desirability of achieving a detente with
the United States was well illustrated in the divergent re-
actions to President Eisenhower's 7 January State of the
Union message. Moscow, in its limited comment, did not crit-
icize the President personally., picked out of the message
some of the more hopeful signs (in the Soviet view) that
the United States was prepared to ease international tensions,
and was in general quite restrained in whatever criticism it
offered. The Chinese, on the other hand, were unreservedly
critical both of the President personally and what they char-
acterized as deceitful- effort to talk peace while preparing
for war.
The TASS summary of Eisenhower's message began by stat-
ing that
the President emphasized in the message that
in his final year at the White House he is deter-
mined to throw every ounce of his energy into in-
suring world peace...
TAS.S further quoted the President as being "always ready to
participate with the Soviet Union in serious discussion of
these subjects (nuclear testing) or any other subjects that
may lead to peace with justice." It went on to qualify this,
however, by pointing to the President's stress also on the
need to maintain "a high degree" of military effectiveness.
In a routine commentary on 9 January, Moscow radio's North
American service outlined some of the proposals in the Presi-
dent's speech and commented that "we in the USSR can fully
agree with the general trend of the President's suggestions."
On the same day, Moscow's European service called attention
to the fact that many sections of the American press had in-
terpreted Eisenhower's speech as further evidence of his de-
sire for a further relaxation of international tension.
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The Chinese views on the President's message were set
forth in more authoritative media and in much more bellicose
terms. The People's Daily editorial of 21 January began its
frontal assault y cont~ entering that the message was "most
convincing evidence of the imperialist nature of the United
States." In going through the text of the message, it con-
tinued, it was not possible to detect "even a trace" of any
concrete steps the United States would take towards relaxing
tension; nor did Eisenhower make "any proposal" favorable to
peace.
From the State of the Union Message, said People's Daily,
"only one conclusion could be drawn"--there was no change
whatever in the "fundamental policy of arms expansion and
war preparations which the United States has long pursued."
The Chinese editorial pointed out that the United States 1)
was speeding up its programs for the development of inter-
continental missiles; 2) was speeding up the construction of
two IRBM bases in Italy; 3) was continuing to prepare for
war in the Far East; e.g. its recently concluded military
alliance with Japan, its continued arming of Chinese national-
ist forces, its repeated boasts that it would defend the off-
shore islands, and its expansion of missile bases in Japan,
South Korea and Taiwan; 4) was threatening to resume nuclear
tests at any time; 5) had mapped out in the NATO Council in
December 1959 a ten year program for strengthening NATO and
giving it the power to carry on large scale nuclear warfare
as well as greater flexibility to conduct local warfare; 6)
was stepping up the armament of West Germany with nuclear
arms and missiles,
In the Chinese view, the essence of America's two-faced
strategy of talking peace while preparing for war was that it
was a maneuver designed to "win time to regain military
superiority." To support this view, People's Daily cited a
report by an American research group to the of eect that the
major problem facing the U.S. in the early 1960's was the
need to eliminate the missile gap. Since this task could
not be achieved rapidly, according to the report, even if a
shock plan were instituted, gaining time was of the utmost
importance.
In sum, the Chinese interpretation of American detente
tactics was that they were nothing more than a maneuver to
buy the necessary time to overcome Soviet military superiority.
By implication, this meant that those people, such as Khru-
shchev, who thought that any meaningful detente could be
achieved even for a limited period, were in fact playing into
the hands of the West. For while the bloc was making uni-
lateral arms cuts and while bloc vigilance was being under-
mined by the phony "spirit of Camp David," the West would be
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stealthily trying to gain the missile lead and to strengthen
its military position. In a final show of exasperation,
People's Daily contended that this American double-dealing
was Being recognized for what it was by "more andrare people
from`East to West" and "though it still may deceive some
people at present, it cannot fool them for long." In short,
even Khrushchev would soon awaken.
In the first 1960 issue of Red Flag, Yu Chao-li re-
asserted in terms similar to those ci #e about the Chinese
argumentagainst a detente. The U.S. was pursuing a two-
faced strategy of putting out a smokescreen of peace while
continuing to suppress the national liberation movements and
to build up its military position throughout the world. To
strengthen peace it was necessary to continue to strengthen
the struggle against U.S. imperialism; all viewpoints which
overestimated the strength of the enemy and underestimated
the strength of the people were wrong.
An article in another Chinese journal on 3 January put
the warning even more blatantly. If the bloc took the
Western desire for peace at face value and failed to see
that the West was really interested in gaining time to re-
coup its strength, it would be led to disaster:
We are wrong if we fail to see the 'two
hands' of the imperialists. It will be even
worse /!or us7 if we should mistake their
secondary policy /seeking a relaxation,i6f
tension7 for their main policy /regaining
their strength?.
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Differences Over Disarmament
In his long speech to the Supreme Soviet on 14 January
1960, Khrushchev sketched. the outlines of a comprehensive
military strategic doctrine, bringing together the ideas
abCut modern war he had been propounding publicly since
mid-1957. in essence, this doctrine is based on the domi-
nant role of strategic nuclear weapons in modern war. In
contrast to the old battlefield-oriented concept of war
prevalent in past Soviet military doctrine, Khrushchev con-
tended that in the future war "there wou,1d'be little to
resemble previous wars," that war would "begin in the heart
of the warring countries" and that every strategic area
would be subjected to attack during the "first minutes" of
ware
Against the background of this latest step in the sera.-;-
egic revolution in Soviet military thinking that had been
going on in the USSR since 1955, Khrushchev proposed a one-
third cut in the Soviet armed forces from 346 to 2,4 million
men--contending that this troop reduction would save 16 to
17 billion rubles a year for the Soviet economy and that it
would not in the least diminish Soviet fire power or reduce
the effectiveness of its deterrent. Khrushchev further
offered the "hope" that "other countries" would follow the
road to curtailment of their armed forces, expressed the
view that disarmament "paves the way for stable peace and
economic development for all countries and all people," and
contended that the money saved could be useTo aid all the
economically underdeveloped countries. On 2 June, after the
collapse of the summit, the USSR offered a new disarmament
program in which several of the above-mentioned Khrushchev
statements were reiterated.
Whether or not Khrushchev was seriously interested-in
reaching a disarmament agreement, it was apparent that the
Chinese Communists doubted the wisdom both of the Soviet
troop cut and of the disarmament program.
Two days after Khrushchev?s Supreme Soviet speech, a
16 January People?s Daily editorial applauded the disarmament
aspects of the speech as a manifestation of the Soviet desire
for peace and as an example of Soviet confidence in its own
strength. At the same time, the Chinese paper contended that
the U.S. was building up its military strength in order to
facilitate its capabilities for both total and limited war,
noted that West Germany would soon expand its own troops by
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'Iftw
one-third and suggested that the United States was not
eager for disarmament but only for an "arms drive in prep-
aration for war."
To skip ahead for a moment, Chinese objections to Sov-
iet disarmament policy were to become even more explicit in
June. On 7 June, two days after the new Soviet disarmament
proposals had been presented to the West, a People's Daily
editorial insisted polemically that the bloc must "strengthen"
rather than reduce its armed forces.
o. in the face of the armed-to-the-teeth,
ambitious imperialist bloc headed by U.S. im-
perialism, it is entirely necessary for the
socialist countries to maintain a high degree
of vigilance and strengthen their armed forces
in order to defen their socialist homelands
and preserve world peace. (emphasis supplied)
One day later, on 8 June, the Chinese delegate to the
WFTU Meeting in Peiping, Liu Chang-sheng, a member of the
central committee, all but openly criticized the Soviet
troop cut and Soviet disarmament policy in general. Liu
went so far as to extract specific quotations from Khrush-
chev's 14 January speech and the subsequent Soviet disarma-
ment proposal for purposes of refutation and ridicule. He
began his remarks on the Soviet disarmament proposals by
claiming that "people" who took those proposals seriously
were suffering from an "unrealistic illusion."
The purpose of putting forward such a pro-
posal is to arouse the people throughout the
world to unite and oppose the imperialist
scheme for arms drives and war preparations,
to unmask the aggressive and bellicose nature
of imperialism.... But there are people who
believe that such a proposal can be realized
while imperialism still exists and that the
danger of war can be eliminated by relying on
such a proposal, This is an unrealistic il-
lusion.
Elsewhere in his speech, Liu quoted without attribution
and rejected Khrushchev's view that arms funds could be used
for "'assisting underdeveloped countries"'--a "downright
whitewash" of imperialism, Nor could one say--and again he
was paraphrasing Khrushchev's 14 January speech--that dis-
armament could"'bring general progress to people as a whole."'
A world without armament, said Liu, was possible only "when
the socialist revolution is victorious throughout the world."
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A still further indication that the Chinese were an-
noyed by Soviet disarmament policy was Liu's insistence that
"the Soviet,Union and the other socialist countries should
continue to develop their lead in the sphere of atomic energy"--
the implication being that a disarmament agreement, paricu-
larly a test ban, would inhibit that lead from being maintained
and developed and would particularly inhibit China from be-
coming a nuclear power. Final,y, Liu implied that any disarma-
ment agreement was worthless because even after its conclusion
"imperialism can still tear it to pieces."
Why should Peiping have objected to unilateral Soviet
troop cuts and Soviet disarmament proposals? Khrushchev him-
self provided one possible answer in his 14 January speech
when he asked--for purposes of refutation--whether or not
the troop cut would "undermine" the Soviet deterrent. Khrush-
chev claimed that it would not, because, as he had stated
many times before, the West was deterred both from all-out
and local war by Soviet strategic weapons. Mao, on the other
:hahd;, had been contending for some years that although the
West was deterred for the time being from general war, it
was not deterred from local wars. Mao may well have been
concerned that the Soviet troop cut would undermine the Sov-
iet capability to fight precisely the kind of war that Mao
regarded as "inevitable"--local wars.
Mao may also have been concerned with the long range
drift of Soviet disarmament policy. Although it is generally
assumed in the West that Khrushchev is not seriously in-
terested in a disarmament agreement, it is difficult to rec-
oncile this view with the very obvious concern expressed in
Liu Chang-sheng's remarks on 8 June about "people" who think
that the danger of war can be eliminated by "relying" on
disarmament proposals. Even if Mao exaggerated the serious-
ness of Soviet disarmament proposals, there seemed to be a
serious Chinese concern that the USSR might be jeopardizing
its military superiority. Last and certainly not least, Pei-
ping may well have feared that the signing of a test ban with
the West would obliterate its own chances to become a nuclear
power. Just one week after Khrushchev's 14 January speech,
Peiping--in its first statement in more than two years on
disarmament--flatly proclaimed that it would not be bound by
any disarmament agreements to which it was not a party and
signatory.
Another point made by Khrushchev in his Supreme Soviet
speech that must have been read with great interest, if not
dismay, in Peiping was about the relative military strength
of the two,camps. In a key passage, Khrushchev stated that
"impregnability is a rather relative concept," that is, that
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the USSR's enemies "will not be marking time /and7 can make
good their temporary lagging /in nuclear weapansT...and may,
sooner or later, draw even with us." KhrushcheV watered
down this possibility a paragraph later when he contended
that meanwhile the USSR would not"sit with arms folded," but
he nonetheless left open the possibility that the West would
reach a state of nuclear parity with the USSR in the near
future, perhaps five years. Peiping was presumably not
pleased by such an admission inasmuch as the Chinese had been
contending since 1957 that the West could never catch up if
the USSR did not fall victim to the spirit of detente and
reduce its military program.
Differences in the Front Organizations
During the first two months of 1960, Moscow and Peiping
clashed in two Communist front organizations--the World Peace
Council, meeting in January, and the International Union of
Students' executive council, meeting in February. In Jan-
uary, at the WPC executive committee meetin in Rome, the
differences between Moscow and Peiping werel 25X10
so acute that the Chinese member o He ex-
ecutive committee boycotted the two-day discussion on the
international situation. The main rapporteurl
(reportedly spoke at length about no-
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Soviet ail erence re girding the concentration of propaganda
efforts on the European situation (as the Russians wanted)
or on support of the colonial struggle (as the Chinese wanted).
The Soviet delegate intervened in the discussion to reject
the Chinese "accusation" that the USSR wanted to isolate Pei-
ping and was following a policy aimed at reaching a "modus
The discussion reportedly went
on or more than two hours without reaching "even a minimum
of clarification" primarily because there was a general
tendency to acquiesce to the Soviets.
In February 1960, at the IUS executive committee meet-
ing in Tunis, there were Sino-Soviet differences over the
question of cooperation with Western student groups. Accord-
ing to Belgrade radio, the Chinese offered formal amendments
to dilute the Soviet-sponsored resolution calling for the ex-
ploration of the possibility of greater cooperation with the
Western student organization. Moreover, the Chinese abstained
on several of the 11 resolutions adopted. According to Bel-
grade, the IUS executive adopted a broad program of practical
cooperation with Western and Yugoslav students groups which
was carried with only one dissenting vote, that of the Chinese
delegation.
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r
The Warsaw Pact Conference: February, 1960
The conference of the political consultative committee
of the member states of the Warsaw Treaty in early February
was called by the Russians to coordinate bloc strategy for
the forthcoming summit meeting but, of equal importance, to
discuss the pressing issues of global strategy that divided
Moscow from Peiping and threatened to divide the bloc as a
whole. fforts at conciliation
failed, a conclusion supported by the outbreak of violent
polemics from the Chinese just two months later.
Before going into the details of the conflict that de-
veloped at the meeting itself, it might be instructive to
examine some of the evidence that joint Chinese-East German
pressure for nuclear weapons sharing was brought to bear on
the Russians on the very eve of the conference. On 28 Jan-
uary, Ulbricht announced in a strongly worded warning to the
West Germans that the East German government would request
its allies to put rocket weapons at its disposal in order t
cope with the threat of West German atomic armament.I
in the Soviet and Chinese reaction to this East German threat
was striking. Moscow repeated it a few times in foreign
language broadcasts to Germany, but it offered no authorita-
tive comment either approving Ulbricht's suggestion or in-
dicating that it might comply. If the Ulbricht threat had
been a maneuver conducted beforehand with the Russians to
intimidate the West Germans and to discourage West Germany
from seeking nuclear weapons, it is hard to understand why
the Russians did not seize on the Ulbricht initiative to
dramatize the threat.
In contrast to Moscow's marked restraint on the issue,
a People's Daily editorial on 4 February--on the very eve
of tHe Pact conference--said that the request was "not
only fully justified but necessary." This Chinese support
for the proposal can be compared with the 5 February declara-
tion of the Warsaw Treaty states which took an optimistic
view of the "definite change for the better" in the inter-
national situation and made no mention of the possibility
that Moscow might transfer rocket weapons to East Germany.
In fact, the declaration referred once again to the possi-
bility of a nuclear free zone in Europe which would include
the GDR.
While it might seem improbable that Ulbricht should have
been trying, with Chinese support, to force the Soviet hand
on the matter, the opposite assumption, that the Russians
may have decided to proceed with the atomic armament of East
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Germany at this moment, six weeks before the 10-power disarma-
ment conference and three months before the summit, looks even
more unlikely, And, if the gambit were a joint GDR-Soviet one,
it is difficult, as already indicated, to understand why Mos-
cow did not join in more enthusiastically.
If the Chinese did encourage such an East German initia-
tive, it is not hard to see the reason. The Chinese may have
well have believed that if the Russians could be pressed into
granting a nuclear capability--however limited and restricted--
to the East Germans, the case against such a nuclear capabil-
ity for China would be drastically weakened.
Continuing Soviet resistance to pressures for nuclear-
weapons sharing was suggested the very next month in an un-
dated letter addressed by Khrushchev to the European Federa-
tion Against Atomic Armament, made public by TASS on 18 March.
Released about six weeks after President Eisenhower had inti-
mated, at his press conference of 3 February, the possibility
that the United States would share nuclear weapons with its
European allies, the letter was clearly calculated to warn
that such a step would force the USSR to follow suit. Khrush-
chev stressed the "undesirability of expansion of the so-
called atomic club" and cautioned that U.S. action to supply
nuclear weapons to its allies would set off "a kind of chain
reaction in the dissemination of nuclear weapons all over the
world." It is of interest, in this connection, that Soviet
news reports on the President's press conference stressed
the unlikelihood that Congress would amend the law in order
to permit nuclear-weapons diffusion while Chinese news re-
ports concentrated on the likelihood that such nuclear diffu-
sion would take place.
To turn to the conference itself, the 4 February report
of the Chinese delegate, or "observer" Kang Sheng, an al-
ternate member of the CCP Politburo, was clearly a minority
report.* It differed notably, both in tone and in substance,
from the much milder Declaration issued by the Warsaw Treaty
members on 5 February. Kang acknowledged" that "certain
procedural agreements had been reached" on disarmament, but
he attributed this not to the good will of the West but rather
to the "repeated struggles" by socialist forces and national
revolutionary forces throughout the world. He reiterated the
now-standard Chinese line that American talk about "peace"
was merely a stratagem to lull the bloc. He added the sig-
nificant new charge that this stratagem was also designed to
"dismember the socialist camp," i.e., was deliberately de-
signed to produce Sino-Soviet tensions. Moreover, said Kang,
CCp' is` dredibly reported to have protested later:that
Kang's role was restricted and his views ignored.
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25X1 C
the American "peace" strategem was designed to encourage a
"peaceful evolution" in the socialist countries, an indica-
tion of Chinese fears that a Soviet-American rapprochement
would lead to the growth of revisionism and other centrifugal
forces in the individual communist states.
Kang was most emphatic The his
burden veiled
of his u argument niwas the
Soviet disarmament policy.
that the U.S. would never agree to any real disarmament plan.
At the same time, indicating China's own refusal to disarm,
he falsely alleged that existing Chinese forces were less
than half their original size and reiterated.the position
taken by his government on 21 January that the CPR would not
be bound by any disarmament agreement in which it did not
participate. In contrast, the Warsaw Pact declaration said
that the "Warsaw Treaty countries," of which China is not
one, "arrived at the conclusion that the situation is now
more favorable than ever before for fruitful disarmament talks."
After detailing American military threats and provoca-.
tions, Kang went on to implicitly rebuke the USSR for its
failure to support China in its disputes with India and Indo-
nesia. The CCP, he said, had always "regarded an attack
against any socialist country by the imperialists and re-
actionaries as an attack against China."
The impasse that must have developed between the Chinese
and the Russians at the Warsaw meeting is suggested further
by the fact that Kang Sheng's speech was not reported nor
even mentioned by any bloc media except those of China.
On 6 February, a People's Daily editorial reviewing .the
Warsaw meeting struck hard at Soviet policy. "It is impossi-
ble not to see," it began polemically, that the West had in
fact stepped up its arms drive--the clear implication being
that this was no time for talk of disarmament. The American
peace strategem, it warned, was designed to "subvert, corrupt,
split and destroy the socialist camp." It was a "vicious and
sinister strategem."
of s-ino-Soviet discord
25X1 C
Soviet con lict at e 25X1
the USSR, supported by the East European satellites, alleged
that West Germany was the greatest immediate threat to the
socialist camp and that the best policy to follow in such
conditions would be to lessen world tensions and to reach a
rapprochement with the West, particularly the United States,
so that the German problem could be solved. The Asian Bloc,
led by the Chinese, argued that the United: States was the only
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enemy of Communism, first, last and always, and that o one
of
should deal with it only from an uncompromising position
strengths It may be recalled that Khrushchev in his 14 Jan-
uary speech asserted that only "madmen" could contemplate a
general war under current conditions; and he went on to in-
dicate that the nearest thing to a madman then in view was,
not any American leader, but Chancellor Adenauer, who was de-
nounced at great length, The Soviet desire to concentrate
its fire for the moment on West Germany rather than the United
States is an example of the kind of flexible differentiation
tactics used. by Khrushchev to probe differences in the Western
alliance--tactics disapproved by Peiping on the apparent
grounds that Khrushchev was overestimating his ability to
split the Western allies and that, in any case, fire should
be concentrated on the main enemy, the United-States.
25X1C Khrushchev made the main
speech at the c n recent Chinese actions
(i.e., the border dispute with India and the overseas Chi-
nese dispute with Indonesia) in strong terms. Khrushchev
said that these actions had compromised the Bloc's policy of
friendship with the non-Communist countries and had thus for-
feited much support for the Communist cause. Khrushchev also
reportedly criticized the severe attitude adopted by the Chi-
nese towards Yugoslavia, on the similar grounds that the per-
sistent Chinese attacks created disunity among the bloc coun-
tries. Khrushchev also complained that the Chinese had re-
fused to support the USSR's attempts to reduce world tension.
China, he said, had not followed the USSR's lead by demobiliz-
ing any part of its armed forces and had failed to support
Soviet disarmament policies and the banning of atomic weap-
ons. Khrushchev further reportedly alleged that the Chinese
party was too insistent on following its own independent pol-
icies, and that China's refusal to associate itself more
closely with economic and political policies adopted by the
other socialist countries towards the rest of the world was
harming the cause of Communism.
This general attack on the Chinese, delivered before
representatives of the entire bloc, illustrated the gravity
of the Sino-Soviet dispute. Khrushchev probably hoped that
his harsh criticism would make Peiping reconsider its course;
he also probably hoped to forestall any influence that China's
independent views might have on the actions of other satel-
lite regimes. He evidently failed, however, to forestall
the Asian satellites from supporting Peiping, and he may not
have completely obliterated sympathy for Peiping in East
Germany, Albania and Czechoslovakia--each of which had in the
past demonstrated considerable antipathy to Khrushchev's co-
existence tactics.
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C v it 1. i" a. i- y , a~i J %F -_ _ _
strengthen itself, by means short of war, to a point--possi-
bly in or around 1970--from which the world revolution could
advance rapidly to a final triumph, still without a general
war. In the meantime, the Soviet party seemed anxious to
prevent the international situation from deteriorating to a
point where one side or the other might undertake a surprise
attack. It was precisely on this question of acceptable risk
that Peiping most emphatically disagreed.
War and Peace
On 16 February, the periodical China Youth published a
series of 13 questions and answers ont awe subject of war and
peace which represent one of the frankest and most enlighten-
ing Chinese discussions of the question ever published in open
media. A close examination of these questions and answers is
helpful to an understanding of the fine points of the Chinese
view on the likelihood of war, and on the possibility and
means of averting it.
The 13 theses may be summarized as follows: 1) it is
increasingly difficult for imperialism to provoke a world war,
owing to the growing strength of the bloc, its neutralist
friends and the forces of peace; 2) the principal reason why
the U.S. dares not strike is that the USSR has superiority in
missiles; 3) despite the Soviet military lead and despite
the fact that time is on the bloc's side, it is impossible to
say that war will not break out, because as long as imperial-
ism exists there remains the danger of war; 4) by using
peace as a camouflage, the West is trying to gain 5ti a to
strug-
expand its armaments and close the missile gap;
gle for disarmament is a long and complex one and "no results
are possible immediately" because imperialism cannot do away
with armaments; for this reason, to rest the hope of lasting
peace on the possibility of reaching a disarmament agreement
is to-indulge in a dream; 6) war is inseparable from class
struggle and aggression, andwars are the necessary fruits.df
imperialism; 7) it is possible to strive for a fairly long
period of peace but, at the same time, we need "to strengthen
our own resources, hold fast to Marxist-Leninist policies,
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expose ceaselessly imperialist schemes, arouse the fighting
spirit of the worlds people and maintain a lasting strug-
gleao.;" 8) a "warless world" can be brought about only by
the abolition of the imperialism; 9) we seek peace but
never beg it from the imperialists; 10) we must support all
."just revolutionary wars" in order to weaken imperialism and
secure peace; 11) we cannot seek peace by compromise; 12)
there is no foundation to the view that war can never again
be the means of settling international disputes because we
can never be sure that imperialism will relinquish war; 13)
we oppose war but we do not fear it
The implications of these theses--all of which have
been reiterated--for bloc policy are evident: the cold war
cannot be abated; the danger of war will continue to exist
and the bloc must prepare for all contingencies; disarmament
negotiations are more or less useless; the bloc should con-
centrate first of all not on negotiations with the West but
on building its own resources and securing its own strength;
and the bloc must actively support all "just" wars.
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III. THE LENIN ANNIVERSARY POLEMICS
The Chinese Communist indictment of Soviet strategy,
which had begun in a low key in the fall of 1957 and had
become increasingly shrill in the period shortly before
Khrushc hev's trip to the United States, reached a new pitch
in spring 1960. Using the 22 April anniversary of Lenin's
birth as a peg, the Chinese offered a comprehensive indict-
ment of Soviet theory, strategy, and tactics in the form of
five lengthy and acrimonious doctrinal statements, two in
Red Flag (1 and 19 April), two in People's Daily (22 and 25
Wail) nd a speech on the anniversary a Politburo
member Lu Ting-i. The initial Soviet reply came in Polit-
buro member Kuusinen's anniversary address on 22 April, sub-
sequently in articles in Pravda and Soviet Russia in June,
and finally from Khrushchev himself at the Rumanian Party
Congress the same month.
Until the publication of the Lenin anniversary articles,
the Chinese Communist attacks on Soviet strategy--and the
doctrine which reflected that strategy--had generally been
cryptic and moderate. The Chinese Lenin anniversary articles
were of such a far-reaching and fundamental nature that they
could only be compared in importance to such water-sheds in
the post-Stalin era as Khrushchev's secret speech of February
1956. With copious documentation from Lenin and Marx and
pointed references to the ideas of some of Communism's most
notorious heretics such as Bernstein, Kautsky and Tito, the
Chinese in effect accused Khrushchev of "revising, emasculat-
ing and betraying" the most fundamental and sacred tenets of
Leninism. Such an attack could not but have the effect of
calling into question Khrushchev's leadership of the Com-
munist movement.
The three principal targets of the Chinese fire were
the very three basic ideological innovations which Khrushchev
personally had presented to the 20th party congress and which
provided the doctrinal rationalization for his more flexible
post-Stalin global strategy. These were Khrushchev's new
doctrine on peaceful coexistence, on the non-inevitability
of war, and on the possibility of peaceful accession to power
in non-Communist countries. The Chinese. articles rejected
all three of Khrushchev's innovations: they advocated a much
narrower definition of coexistence which in effect meant the
continuation of the cold war; they contended that wars,partic-
ularly local and colonial wars, were inevitable so long as
imperialism remained; and they minimized the possibility of
peaceful roads to power in the non-Communist world.
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In attacking Khrushchev's ideological innovations and
the new strategy which these innovations reflected, the
Chinese were not calling for general war or contending that
general war was inevitable, althotgh.Lythey,'may have-thought. it
ihevitable.They were attacking Khrushchev's gradualist rev-
olutionary conception and putting forth an alternative con-
ception based on the conviction that the West could be de-
feated sooner than Khrushchev thought if the USSR and the
world Communist movement were more aggressive. The Chinese
had sanquine estimates of the revolutionary potential in many
areas, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They
believed that the Soviet deterrent could be invoked to under-
write revolutionary action in many of these areas with only
a minimal risk of global war. They feared that Soviet grad-
ualism would unnecessarily delay the revolution in the short
run and perhaps lead to stagnation in the long run. Inter-
twined with this fear, presumably, was the belief that Khrush-
chev's gradualism was much too confining for Chinese aspira-
tions towards Taiwan and for its role as the self-appointed
leader of the revolutionary movement in the underdeveloped
areas.
Before going into the details of the polemics, three
observations might be offered. The first is that the Chi-
nese attack on Soviet strategy--while allowing for the ob-
vious oversimplifications and misrepresentation of that
strategy--cannot be understood outside the context of the
shift in Soviet strategy in recent years. The Soviet pro-
fessed desire for detente is generally put in quotation
marks in the West. Such skepticism is undoubtedly warranted
if its is meant to apply to the view that Khrushchev is in-
terested in detente for detente's sake or in achieving
lasting peace in terms of the present status quo. He be-
lieves and'indeed has said that he can use a detente to
extend the Soviet sphere of influence and to undermine the
Western alliance system. Yet he appears to believe that he
can achieve these goals without resorting to the actual use
of Soviet armed force and with a minimum of armed violence
on the part of Communist parties throughout the world.
The second observation is that the Chinese anniversary
attack was probably not a direct attempt to sabotage the
summit meeting scheduled for May. Khrushchev's summit di1
ploma