Table Of ContentCOMMENT ON THE OPEN LETTER OF
THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPSU (VI)
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS
PEKING
PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
- T W O DIA TRICALLY
OPPOSED POLICIES
- COMMENT ON THE OPEN LETTER OF
THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE CPSU (YI)
by the Editorial Departments of Renmin Ribao
(P~ople's Daily) and Hongqi (Red Flag)
DecembeT
12, 1963
FOREIGN I.;ANGUAGES PRESS
PEKING 1963
of
IN~E the 20th Congress the CR_SU Khrushchov
and. other comrades have more about .the ques
tal~ed
of
tiqn peaceful coexistence than about anything else.
Again and again the leaders -of the CPSU claim that
'
they have been to Lenin's .. policy! of. . 'peaceful
faithful ~
coexistence and have creatively developed it. They as
cribe to· their ·policy of ''peaceful coexistence'' all the
credit for the victories won by the of l.the world
peopl~s .
ins prolonged revolutionary struggles.
Trrey a.dver·tise .th'e notion that imperialism, and U 6S.
imperialism- in particular, supports peaceful coexistence,
and they want.only malign tlie Ghinese "'Communist Party
and all Marxist-Leninist part1.es ~as beiti'g. . opponenls bf
,
"peaceful coexistence. The Qpen Letter of Central
th~
Con1mitt~e of. . the cpsu·~ even slanaers China . favour.!.
as~-
ing ''c!ompetition-- in unleashing wari' with imperialists:
th~
They .. describe-. the, \Vords and deeds by which they have
.betrayed a"Marxism-teninism, th proletarian world rev
olution and tlfe ' revolutiohary · cause .. of tne oppressed
peoples ..,.and nations as bt=ihg in conforn1ity with Lenin's
or·
policy· peacetul ceexistence.
But' can .'.the1- words ''peaceful coexistence'' really- ser\1e
-as a ·talisman'" fo1· the leadets · <if' the CPSU in their
betrayaf of ·~Marx1sm~Lenirii~ffi?.. ~o, absolutely not.
We are now~~otl1rorited· w~tlf. . two diametrically~ opposed
policies of. peti.c. efu1" '"c' oeXfstence.
~ ·o!)..e-is :Lenin._ qn~ Sfa1ifi's policy of peaceful coexis
·which all
ten~e, Maexi~t:.:Le.hihists,( ihclU:ding the Chinese
• i,,_' •. • • ' ,. • .,,
Communis~ ts, .stahd ·fQr.. . ~ .
,~
,
1
The other is A-the anti-Leninist policy of peaceful
coexis~
tence, the so-called general line of ·peaceful coexiste11ce
advocated by Khrushchov and others. .
Let us now examine Leni11 and Stalin's policy of .
pet:1ceful:co~x1stence and the stuff Khrushchov and others
call the: general line of peaceful coexistence!
t
•
j
~
t .LENIN AND .STALIN'S POLICY OR PEACEFUL
,
·'
1 COEXISTENCE
1
)
It was I.;enip .. *7ho advanced t)le idea .that,.the socialist
stpte should pursue. . a policy peaceful
of~
eoe~istence t~
· wcrrd~~ countries "'7ith ~· different social systems. .....~. . This· ep1'-
,
rj?'Ct
poli~Y' was long follow~d by (the Q9mmunist.:.··Party
1:1Jld .the iGover!}ment cthe
o'f
A SQ.v~et Union }u' nder the
1eadership qf Lenin" and Stalin.
"'
1 ~Tlie:-question of peacefuJ coexistence between socialist
and vcapitalist countries could not possibly have
arj~~n
prior to~ the October Rev:olution, .since there was ·no
so~
.ciqli.st country in existence. Nevertheless, on, the .. basis
of
~~is scientjfic artalysis of
~imwrialism, L·enin fpresaw.
in 1915-16 cthat"
''social~m-cannot ·achieve Victory tSimul7
taneoµsly in all countries. ..Jt will achieve victory·
~irsp
in one or several
countries,~.while. the others will remp.in
b9~rgeois qr pre-bourgepis foi:: some time''.
(''The War
frogralD-
of~~ ?roletarian R~vol4tion'~, Selecteq Works,
For:~ign ·Danguages Publis4ing House, Moscow, 1950, Vo,l.
'1.,
Pprt 2, p. 571.). In other
a·
r words,~within ~ertain period
•
of time, socialist countries would exist sjde by side wijh
capitalist. ·~r p1"e-=capitalist
countries.~ The very nature
of the. socialist syste11J. dete1111ines ·that sqcialist _countries
must pursue a foreign policy of pe.ace. J..,enin saiq, ''On.ly
•
•t
'
•
•
the· WQrking cJass ~~en· it wins pow.er: can· a
1 pursue~
policy of peace pot in \vords . L~.. but in deeds. (''D1 aft
't
• 1
R.,esolution on the
Cur1"~nt l.\!IoQJ.ent in Politics'', Colleqted
-
Works,
fourth
Russ~an ed.,1 Gospolitizdat, Moscow, Vol-,
j
?.P,
pp. ·'291-92.) 'fhese views ,of,f Lenin's can pe said tp
constitute. the ~ theoretical basi& of the policy of peaceful
coexj.stence.
i
After the victory qf the 9ctobe1" Revolution, pro"'\
Lenin~
claimed to the. . world on many occasions t}:lat the ioreigq
policy of state
:·the~ovi~t was one of peace. But the
-
im~
.
perialists we1~~ ~ bent on .str,,angling the new.,.born social-
ist republiq., in }ts
~radle. They" lat1nched ..
arme~ ··inter~
yention against the" Sov,iet state:
Leni~, i .. ightly poi)1ted
out:~ that confronAt eq with thiS ·s+,tuation
we de-
''unl~ss
~ende~ the socialist republic by f 01--ce of arms, we could
not exist''. (''Report of the ·central Committee of the
..
Russian "'
~01nmunist Party (Bolsheviks) at "the Eig·h·~ th~
P.a r.t y
··Congress'', Selected Works,
Inte1--national Pu·b·
..
lishers, N~ ew ¥ork,
1943,-, V61. p:
~a, 33.)~_
" vBy' 1920 the'; great Sdviet p ople had ·defeated the
hhperia1ist arn1etl intervention. ·l A· relative eqtiilibriwn
of fore.es,. haC i come into being.- between the Soviet state
.. ,..
and the ·imperialist ' i
~countries. . After trials ·Of strength
1
•
dver
Nseveral srears, the Soviet state had stood .its ground'!
\urn
It began lo -from war lo pe<lfeful construction. I••t
was in these circumstances that Lehin advanced the iqea
of .a policy of peaceftil co€xistence. In fact, froif.l that
tin1e onwards the imperialists had no choice· but
~o
~~coe~i~,,~w tt)(-the st9te.
·S.ovi~t
.. Durjrrg Lenin's lifetiple, tqis
~q~ili~r.iuqi was .. al\Vqys "
J;ijgl1ly.
unst~ble a11d the socialist Ss>viet. ..R,epublic was
subj~ct .. to "stJ.:ipgent capit~list r .encirclement. Time a.nd
·~
agaJI\
~J}il\, PPi~·~ed .~out th..a~ pwing to tqe
aggre~sive l}a~
•
3
•
tltre of in1perialism the1"e was no guarantee that socialistn
and capitalism wottld li"tle in .peace for long.
..
ln the prevailing conditions, it was not yet possible
for ,,,h im to de"' f· ine at'I length th• e content of the policy of
peaceful coexistence bettveen countries with different
social systems. But the great Lenin laid down the cor-!
rect foreign policy for the first state of the dictatorship
of •
the proletariat and ad"v anced ' thft. e bas)i. c ideas of t•• he
•
policy of~ p,eaceful coexistence.
•
- What were Lenin's basic ideas on th• is
p~licy?
•
First, "Leh~ irr pointed ouft that the socia•l ist state existed
in defiance of the imperialists' wiil. Although -it adhe1"ed
t
to· tA he fore• ign pol"i'" cy of pea.ce, ·the im erialist"s had• no
c[esire to live in pe~ce '- *-7ith it and WO
ld do everything
pqssible ':f r I .~ •
_ an~ seiz.~~ every oppor·tunity to or even
op~ose
11
des;~r·oy th~ .spcia.. l ist state'!,..
..
.
Lenin said:
1' .. .1
•
....
•
International
,imperi~lism . coulcJ not ••. live
! ! sid~
" 'by side "With· the Soviet Repub~ lic, both because of,. its
..
..
objective
position~ and because of the inter-
~onom\c
ests of. the .. capitalist class which .are embqdied in .,it. .•
f
(''Report on" Whr and· Peace'', delivered ·to the Seventq
Congress of the Russian Comn1unist Party (Bolsheviks),
'Selected Works: FLPH; Moscow, 1952, Vol! 2, Part l;
p. 422.)
'
Further:
..; t
•
• . . the existence of the ·Soviet Republic
by
sid~
•
a
- side \vitn imperialist states for long time is
un~
..... t
thinkable. One or the, other must· trium.pt' .h. in the end.
And befo1 e that end"
1 ~upervenes, a series of ft'ightful
. "'
.
~ - ·~ conisions 'between. the Soviet Repuo1ic ai:ici the hour-
..
•
•
4
(
geois
l st~tes will be ...i nevitable. (''Report of the Central
Con11nittee of the Rus~i?ll,. Communist Pai-·ty (Bolshe-
-
~
viks) ·at the Eighth Party Selected \Vorks,
- ·Congress'',~
NeW York, Vol. 8, p. 33.)
• •
He therefore stressed time and again that the socialist
shouln
""state ·maintain
cefnstant vigilance aga1nst,
impe~
l'ialism.
• • . the. lesson a1I workers and peasants ...n 1ust master
must
is tqat w~ be on.our g1~a1·d .and remember that .we
,. are surrounded by men, classe~ and .. governmepts
openly expiessipg (their ext1--eme liatred for us. ~ y;e
at
must ,rem,eillb,er that. w~. are ~lw~yt a h,8i,r's b"r~adth
of
,,_ fron1 all, kinds Domestic and
invasio~s. (''Op.~the
Foreign Poltc;ies of tJ:te .R~public,i R~po1. . t Delivered at
the ..N. intht All-Russian of Sovie,ts'',
Co~gr~~,s Colle~ted
Works, fourth Russian ed., Moscow, Vol .. 33, p. 122.)
I
" . , ,.....,
. ~ .
Secondly., lLenin pointed out ihat: it wa& onl~ through
struggle -that the Sov:iet ~,:State .· as( able ~P five~ in ~{leace
.,.
with the ·ipiperi(\list. c0untries This was the of
r~s.ult
F
~repeatetl trials of st1"ength betweeµ the. ., imperi'!li$t ,coun
tries anq ~1:1~ Soviet state, which aCi9p'ted a ~orrect p9licy,
relied on tpe su~12ort of .the! pr._o~etariat ana oppr:essed p.a-
w..
tions of,, th~ o:rlcL and ... utilized l:ne_. . cpntrapictions a~ong
,the imper{~li~ts . ., , I , .
j,,. ,. .'
.._ Lenin ,said in~ Noy~mberr ~1919:,' ,
enemy
way
~tliatJis-th~ !it .alyvays is when ilie is
beaten,
he .40e·gins talking l;)eace: We have these
'1 ~told
gentlemeh, wthe
imperifil).st~1 of "Europe, ~time:~and· ·again'
- ihat we agree' but they
to'.m,.ak~ ·~;ice, ~ohtinti.ed_. to
dream "Of~ enslaving., .Russia. Now ,they ha.ve relllized
cpm.e
that .their,:SlreAqis are n_Qt
'f~teg~t~o tru~~ _,,(~'Speech
......
Delivered at•the First All-Russian Conference on Party
Work
in tHe
Cot1ntryslae'', Alliance of the Working
,. 1 ' ; ,.....
Class the A
a11d Peasctntry,.ir F~Pfl, Moscow; 1959,'P~ 326~).
.it
He pointed out in 1921:
f ••
.
:~::,J:
:!·1'~ ~·
J .)I. ' ( •
. ~ , ~"th~ 1'imperialist powers, with" all their hatred. of
Soviet Russia and desire to throw themselves upon her;
have ,had to reject thought, because the decay of
.~his
the ·capitalist wo.r ld is iµcreasirigly advancing, itS unity
..
is less and le~ ss, and the of' the
~coming pressu~e ~forces
of
... tf!I'- ..
the opp1~sed colonial peoples, with a population~ of
over 1,000 Jllillion, iS. with each year,
becoming~sfronger
even
each mont)ii!., and each week. (''Speech at the
} l( ,
j
l ~ l
Conclusion of the Tenth ·~ati6nal Confer.ence of the
·Party
;· ~~si~n 'COmm,uhis~· (BolS~,~vif;>'~ :CQllec'ted
pp.
f W.~rkS, 'fourlJllRUss1an ed. Vol. 32; ~12-1~.).'
1
Thi~dly, ~i~ c~rry!ng Ol:lt the policy of ,pepceful
coe,ci~S.il!
wi?J
.~ence, ;~~nin· ~Ciopted differ~nt principl~s re~~rd to
the types of countries in the· capitalist:
~different
world'~
. He
a~tached particular importa11-ce. to establishing
f,.r. iendly relatiO?l$ }VitIth cou' ntries"' w'""' hic}l;Ct-i the imperi.• ali., sts
·w.:_;r.
-b~Ilrilig and. oi:>pr~ihg. · ~e poin~;'! ~~t thit ''.the
/
fUndamental ,interests of .all peoples suffering from the
"' .. '\ . .... * ,'( .. '
yoke' of i~mperialism coincide'' and ~ th~t th~ ,,,~orl. .d .J'if? "O' !i' cy
of Jm~rialism is leading to the establiShmetit ' Of.1 close'r
relations, alliance and friendship ttmo'ng· all the oppressed
-=na~.ions'~. tie said that the *peace policy of the Soviet
!'state '-'will the establishment of ·clC$et
incr~asirigly"Compel
,,tie~ between the~ R.S.F.S.R. [Russjari Soviet Federaied
tiSocialist Republic] arid a growing number. . of neighbour. ..
4ng ~tates''~ ~(~'Tqe· Work of the Couhcil of ~eople's OJ.m
at
:A1issa~,1-Report Delive'Ped the Eighth -All-Russian
~COn-
Works,.v New Yo1. . k, Vol. 8; pp.
gress of 'Soviets'', Selected
251 and 252.)
Lenin also said :
.~
We now set as the-· main task for -0urselves:. . to defeat
.
.
the e]$:ploiters apd win the :w..averers to our ~ide ~thi§
)is :a one. The waverers ihclude a
~sit world-~ide
.. which as bourgeo-is
wpole, series of bou~geois sta~tes,
states hat"'e Jo.us, ·but on tlle Qther haJ}d, as oppressed
staies, prefer peac~ with ~ust. . ~.(''Report on tl1e Work. of
and the
the Central 'Executive Com~ittee
All-Ru~sian
•
of ,People's Cpmmissars'', Collected Wo?tks,
;+Goun,cil~,
. fot}rth. .. Russia)l ed., Vol:~ 30, p. 1 2~9~)
'
• As Jf or the .basis for peace with the imperialist counJ.
tries-, s.. ucli1 as t' he -~United ... St~a t·I.e s·~ he sa1,• d: t'Let the U.S~
·to
capitalists refrain~ fron1 tOU$!Hing us~'' {The obStacle
C(
the:e
peace?' our
such;t a Frprl( s1di!, jsi non~. From 'the
or tpe
side ·the: American (a11d' ~11 other) capi~alists, it~· is
·1mpe'rialism. '' (~'Reply'~ to 'Qtiesijoris' by: thef Correspon~ent
?f
t~e' Anieri~ati Nevn:pa:t>e~, New Y~rk ~~eninfl Jounial'~,
Works, Ru ian ed.,_ Vol. 30,,; p! p~O.)
pollec~ed fo~1·th
coexis
Fourth!Y, Lenin aBvanced h"e policy of peac.~ful
I.,r
.)i
p;olet!iriat
in
tence as a policy toi be tpursued by~ the
power towards coµntries with differeri't sbcial systems.
He totai
n~ver made it''the sum of a ~ocialist t~buntry's · '
clear·
foreign~ policy: Time .arid lagai'· be~in ~fuafi~ ~ it ·tpat
·f
~he fuhdamenlal prindiple,.~of·1.t i~. .. o¢ign po~ic'y WC\S prdl
letarian int ernat ionalisrfi. '"'' t -~ ~'t~... ~ r 1
r
f.Fie
s~\d: ~ ~ ,~, 'i .. • '
i •' !<"' ,... .., .#A ':.. .:
~-;4 -S6vi:i:~ussf~a consiaJr~ 1t.l ier ~reatest pride' to he p
,
'f I •
the worl(ers of t.be whole world'! in· tneir difficult strqg.:
..gle for ;·tlie overthrow+. of t!apjtalisll), ('.:!fo th~ Fourtli
.. uf Co!!lintern and.; \}le.. P¢trogtad
~World Congr~ss the~
Soviet Wo1·ke1·s a11d ·Red !U'my Deputies'', Collected
~of
Wor1es, fourth·· Russian ed., Vol. 33, p. :
37~·~)
In the Decree on Peace issued afte1" the October Rev
olution, while ptopos'lng art ifumediate· peace without
anrlexation o'r"inderhnities to all the belligerent.. countries,
Lenin 'ccilled upbn ~the class-conscious WOl"kers in the cap
1
italist countries to help, by comprehensive; ·-determined,
and sttpremely vigo1--ous action, ''to ..b 1:ing t6 a successful
,
...
conclusion the cause of Jpea:ce, ana at the same time the
•
'Cause of the ema11cipation of .the toiling and -Exptoited
ma13ses of the ·population from all forms .. of slavery~ and
all forn1s of exploitati..o n'·'. ('1Report Peace'', delivered
~ oh
pt the Se~ond,. A·il-Russian Congress of Soviets of Work...;
ers' and Soldiers' Deputies, Selected FLPH,
~orks, ~9S~
p.
Vol. 2, Part 1,. 331.)
~ow, ')
The D1. . aft Programme of the Party wl1ic.h Lenin drew.
...
up for the Sevepth Congress of the
~ussian Commun~t
Party laid down explicitly that ''support of the revolu.-1!
tionafy movement .., of the socialist , proletariat i)I n th~e
ad~anced countries'' and ''support of the de]llocratic anc;?
revolutionary movement in .a-11 co. .u ntries
and
J.n ~geI\eral,
._oarticularly i1~ the coloi:iies and ~ countri,es''
dep~dent
constituted t!le
importa~t aspects of- the P~rty's i interpa•
ti?.nal po!isy: (Selected Wo:rks, New York, Vol. 8, p. 334.)
..Fiftjl.ly, penin .. ,cqnsistently held that it 'o/as impossible
for· ... ~he oppressed classes and nations-to peacefully
co~~ist
with the OI;>pressor classes and n.ati9ns.
~ ~~·· I(~
rn. "!
·"t:
the Theses on the Fundamental Tasks of the Sec-
••
• .; Ji..
9nd;G,ongres~ o~, th~ Commun·~i st International, jie pointed
out:
..
...
...
f
~ ~ . • th~ -bourgeoisie~ even the most educated·{ and
,democratic,
now no"' long~r*- lresitates to resort rto -S:ny
