Sino- Soviet Relations

1. Sino- Soviet Relations How it went down…

2. Background • Treaty of Versailles, Shandong, given to Japan. Student protest against “spineless” Chinese government. • U.S weak on self-determination and anti-imperialism – Chinese intellectuals start considering M/L to solve issues. • Post Qing dynasty warlords ruled – KMT leader Sun Yat-sen ignored by west, turned to soviets. • 1922 – CPC – 200 members, KMT 50,000 • Soviet policy of duel support • 1927 Shanghai Massacre – CPC-KMT split.

3. Civil War 1927-1949 • 1929 Manchurian Chinese Eastern railway – armed conflict with S.U • CPC growing popularity – Mao collabs with peasant rebels • Long March – Zhang Guotao’s failure – Mao undisputed leader • Second Sino-Japanese war – KMT more concerned with CPC – CPC guerrilla tactics against Japs wins more support • Soviets give CPC Japanese weapons – U.S keeps Manchuria from communists, helps KMT • Outbreak – Chiang and KMT retreat to Taiwan. PRC established

5. Early relationships • 1937 non aggression pact – help against Japanese, enabled Stalin to focus on west • Manchuria • Treaty of friendship and alliance (1950) – 300 million low-interest loan. Stress on relationship • Korean War – Stalin, Mao debate – Mao takes ground, Stalin air – changed relationship from titular to virtual • After Civil War, Soviets become PRC closest ally – design, equipment and skilled labour to help industrialize and modernize. • 1960’s Sino-soviet border conflict – increasingly PRC began to consider S.U as social imperialist and its greatest threat.

6. Stalin • As you have read in your text book Stalin and Mao did not see eye to eye on a lot of things. Ideological differences were not the only reasons what were they? • Peasants as a basis for revolution • Feared Mao as com leader • Did not want CW to spread to Asia • Preferred KMT

7. Seeds • In fighting civil war and Japanese – Mao ignored a lot of Stalin’s military advice and direction • Because of it’s position there was no urban working class. Why is this a problem? • Dawn out of China - “to change Marxism from a European to an Asiatic form... in ways of which neither Marx nor Lenin could dream”. – Due to struggle in Korea alliance continued despite. • Mao’s insistence of mobilization through peasant workers – lead to Great Leap Forward

8. Honeymoon period and Khrushchev • After Stalin’s death there was a period of reconciliation. • Khrushchev put an end to that by criti- cising Stalin and therefore Mao. • Soviet failure to ‘contain reactionary forces’ ? • Restoration of relationship with Josip Broz Tito (Stalin had denounced in 48) • De-emphasising of the core M/L idea of inevitable war between capitalism and socialism • Peaceful co-existence – ideological heresy • Soviet succession by ‘revisionists’

9. Activity time • Split into pairs and answer the review exercise on page 120 of your text books.

10. And then it got Humpty Dumpty… • Sino – Indian war, Khrushchev too appeasing to the west. • Soviets engaged in superpower confrontations (Berlin) • Mao critical of Khrushchev in Cuba – detectable weapons , backing down. “Khrushchev has moved from adventurism to capitulation” • Mao’s approach would provoke nuclear war • 1964 –Mao claims counter-revolution activity in USSR has re-established capitalism. Split final. • Warsaw countries follow Soviet suit. • After Khrushchev’s death, relations initially same.

11. Cold War context • Early Cold-War interpretation had a two way ideological competition exclusively between the U.S and USSR. Chinese competition with the USSR and subsequent communist-rivalry transformed the Cold-War into a “tripolar geopolitical contest”. Goodwill Commy bastards