THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES

NAME : CHANDA REGINA

COMPUTER NUMBER : 18053192

COURSE CODE : HIS 4410

LECTURER : ASSIGNMENT ONE

DUE DATE : 28TH MARCH, 2022

CELL NUMBERS : 0979652500

EMAIL : reginachanda21@gmail.com

QUESTION: Account for the Sino-Soviet disputes after 1950

After the Second World War, different events took place. These world events connected to each other
and the immediate event that attracted people’s attention was the cold war. The war started in 1945
just after the Second World War ended. As the cold war was in its process, the relationship between
China and Russia weakened and this later resulted in the split between the United States of Soviet
Republic (USSR) and the Peoples’ Republic of China also known as the Sino-Soviet split. During the
Cold War, the USSR and China was the largest communist nation in the entire world. The split
between the USSR and the PRC was the first and most serious confrontation to arise in the
communist world at that time. The growing tension between these two large communist countries by
the late 50s led to their separations. Within this context, this essay presents the reasons behind Sino-
Soviet dispute after 1950.

The Sino-Soviet union was the union between Russia and china. The two countries united as they had
the same ideology. They supported each other in terms of economic ideas and the Chinese
Communist Party become the world's second-largest communist country. The fact is, Russia and
China were good friends before 1950 as they both supported communism. However, with time, this
relationship started disappearing especially after the Chinese Communist Party won the Civil War in
China between the Communists and the Nationalist Party.

Understanding the historical background will help to analyse the reasons behind the split of the Sino-
Soviet union. Early 1949, China signed the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance. It
mainly included mutual support in the event of a Japanese attack on either the Soviet Union or China
and a Soviet advance of $300 million in credits to China. The People's Republic of China was willing
to start implementing policies of socialist transformation and economic development transfer of
ownership from private to public hands and introducing centralized economic planning. So the First
Five Year Plan began and became successful. This was in line with little China had little choice, it
had to follow the path recommended by Lenin, implemented by Stalin and dictated by the Soviet
Union. The Soviet Union provided China with funds and expertise for industrialization, even though
China may not have been ready for it at the time.

Soviet influence was also felt in education, especially in higher education on college and university
level. Russian advisors helped with planning courses and Russian textbooks were widely used. In the
earlier times, influence from the West (Britain and the US) was prevailing in Chinese higher
education. Soviet Union sent specialists to China in order to educate them in key sciences for heavy
industry. Course like physics, engineering and chemistry were on high demand. The relationship was
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the turning point in the year 1953 for both China and Sino-Soviet relations. The Korean War that
happened to present a great financial burden to China ended in that year. Also, negotiations with the
Soviet Union for economic aid were concluded successfully, which meant that the First Five Year
Plan got approved. The death of Stalin in March 1953 had also an impact especially after Nikita
Khrushchev succeeded. It is a common belief that after Stalin's death, Mao was the most senior
communist leader and did, therefore, see himself as the head of international communism. That
created disagreements between the Soviet Union and China and the relationship between the two
weakened.

The most critical years that were characterized by a weak relationship between the Soviet Union and
China were the years between 1958 and1960. In 1958 the Great Leap Forward was started under
Mao’s directives. The aim of the campaign was to rapidly transform mainly agrarian China into a
socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. According to Khrushchev, China
was trying to establish socialism ahead of time; in other words, it wasn’t ready for it yet. Evidence of
deteriorating Sino-Soviet relations became known to the outside world in 1960 at the Romanian
Communist Party Congress meeting where Mao and Khrushchev openly insulted each other. The
immediate aftermath of the split was the Soviet withdrawal of specialists from China and a decrease
in trade between the USSR and the People’s Republic of China. Klochko, who was one of the
specialists working in China at the time remembers getting orders from Moscow ‘’not to extend me
in providing scientific assistance. Soon after, specialists were fully withdrawn from China.

The fact is, the USSR and the People’s Republic of China were the two greatest communist powers in
the world in the early 1950s. With the ideological similarities and a common enemy of capitalism,
their relations were flourishing bit by bit. Last years of the decade, differences and disagreements
between the two became too great and the communist bloc divided with the USSR on one side and
China on the other. There are disagreements between historians and other scholars upon when exactly
did the split happen and what was the trigger of the split. Some say that it was Mao’s pretentiousness
after Stalin’s death in 1953, others would argue that it was Khrushchev’s secret speech in 1956 that
triggered the split, and again the third would claim it was Mao’s Great Leap Forward in 1958 that
was the driving force that split the communist block apart. From that, one can only conclude that
exact date of the split cannot be determined and that it is only safe to assure it happened between
1953 and 1960. It seems like no single event led to the split, but it was rather a series of events that
happened during those years that caused the Sino-Soviet split.

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It is important to state that it was a series of events mentioned in the previous part of the essay that
led to the split. Some scholars claim that ideological differences between the USSR and the People’s
Republic of China were too great to sustain the relationship of mutual support and help. Lastly, there
are also theories, which will be discussed later on in the essay, that attribute greater weight to the
structure of the Communist system in the 1950s, rather than its politics or ideology.

Political and economic causes for the split; some of the political and economic circumstances were
the root cause of the Sino-Soviet split. Because China became a communist state, it had next to no
choice, but to accept aid offered by the Soviet Union. Without Soviet support, China would have
remained an underdeveloped country. In addition to that, the Soviet Union had substantial rights of
operation in Chinese Manchuria. If Mao had angered Stalin, Manchuria would have probably
remained under Soviet domination. The USSR was willing to provide financial help and specialists.
However, because of this ‘’leaning to one side’’, relations between the PRC and the USSR were
unbalanced and unsymmetrical and China was over-dependent on the USSR’s support. While China
was seeking to become an equal partner in relations and a great power, the USSR probably perceived
it as an unequal partner in Sino-Soviet relations. Once China reached considerable economic and
political power, it probably wanted to be treated in accordance to it.

However, after Nikita Khrushchev became a new leader of the USSR, the country’s stand towards the
US shifted to peaceful coexistence with capitalist West, rather than perpetual conflict over which
system should prevail. Mao, however, still saw the US as an enemy with whom peaceful coexistence
was not an option. The tensions strengthened after the Soviet Union had successfully launched the
first artificial satellite Sputnik into Earth’s orbit and thus showed the ability to match American
technological achievements. At this point Khrushchev reassessed their military capabilities and
decided it would be beneficial for both the US and the USSR to stop rapid development of military
technology and follow a path of peaceful coexistence. On the other hand, Mao saw this as an
opportunity for communism prevailing over capitalism. He thought that the East was gaining a
momentum in development of technology and that it should soon overtake the West. He described it
as ‘’the East Wind prevailing over the West Wind’. It seems that many scholars would agree that
different policy towards the US was too great to overcome and, therefore, it was an important factor
behind the Sino-Soviet split.

Besides Soviet Union and China sharing Marxist-Leninist thoughts about socialism and communism,
they have been also ideologically different. Those differences did not arise within the Nineteen
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Fifties, they have been present lengthy before. The ideological variations between USSR and the
People’s Republic of China happened at the very long time previous to 1950. During that length
Soviet have an impact on had an effect on the development of the Chinese Revolution and Chinese
Communism. Contrary to popular belief that the Soviet Union would assist the Communist in China
due to the shared Marxist-Leninist ideology, Mark argues that Stalin did now not assist Chinese
Revolution due to the fact his ideas became leading to organising socialism, but alternatively because
his concept changed into main to countrywide team spirit in China.

In conclusion, relations between the Soviet Union and China shifted from a sturdy and thriving
relationship to a complete standstill of cooperation among the Right after the Civil War, China
changed into in need of economic and professional resource, which the Soviet Union willingly
furnished. The act immediately determined family members between the nations; relations wherein
the Soviet Union was the superior resource and expertise company and China turned into the
receiver. With these asymmetrical family members between the two countries, the roots of the break
up seem to reach far returned to the very beginning of Sino-Soviet members of the family. The
relations worsened after Stalin’s dying in 1953 for many motives. Mao believed that it was his
function to be a superb leader of world communism as he become the maximum senior communist
chief. Furthermore, the finest disagreement among the two leaders turned into in overseas policy.
While the Soviet Union recommended for non violent coexistence with the West, Mao claimed that
the Soviet policy have been incompatible with Leninist thoughts. With each political and ideological
disputes in region, it seemed that the Sino-Soviet split turned into inevitable. However, the break up
might also had been inevitable due to some other, structural reason. According to the idea of political
coalitions, the very nature of the communist bloc in the 1950s became the purpose for the Sino-Soviet
cut up. Due to disproportionally allotted resources, smaller communist countries needed to shape
alliances with either the Soviet Union or China, which created an opposition among the over who will
benefit greater power. Based on the entirety referred to above, it's miles not possible to conclude
whether the principle cause for the Sino-Soviet split changed into political situations, ideological
variations, or structural features of the communist bloc. All seemed to play a critical role within the
split and are not always associated with each other. However, one end can be drawn; the Sino-Soviet
split changed into inevitable.