Mao's meeting with Khrushchev in Moscow in 1957 was obviously more enjoyable than his meeting with Stalin in 1949.
Mao Zedong and Khrushchev
As Khrushchev, who had just come to power in the Soviet Union, showed great enthusiasm for Mao Zedong, even "obedience".
This is unprecedented for the Soviet leaders, who have always regarded themselves as "big brothers.". Why did Khrushchev show such extraordinary enthusiasm for Mao Zedong? How will Mao Zedong respond to Khrushchev's attempts?
This issue will tell you the history of this "honeymoon period". If you are interested in our topic, or want more people to see our article, please remember to like, retweet, comment and favorite, thank you for your support!
At the very moment of Stalin's death, the members of the Political Bureau of the USSR, the principal members of the Council of Ministers and the members of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet gathered together to convene a meeting and decided to abolish the Presidium of the Central Committee established at the Nineteenth Congress and to establish a new Presidium composed of Malenkov, Beria, Molotov, Voroshilov, Khrushchev and others.
Judging from the ranking of this list, Khrushchev is still far from the highest position.
More crucially, on Mikoyan's suggestion, Khrushchev was dismissed from his post as secretary of the Moscow Municipal Party Committee on the grounds that this would enable him to concentrate more on the work of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.
But in fact, in this way, Khrushchev was completely pushed out of the government.
However, what is unexpected is that Khrushchev, who only has party power, is obviously deeply impressed by Stalin's "charm", and in a few years, he will "engage" the committee members who ranked ahead of him one by one.
Until the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev made that secret report, to break the idol of Stalin, one of the reasons was to eliminate Stalin's political legacy and thus establish his authority.
Khrushchev
But Khrushchev's secret report was bound to cause a "great earthquake" within the Soviet Party. Soon after, the secret report was leaked out, and the whole of socialism would also face a shock.
On June 18, 1957, Malenkov, Molotov, and others staged a coup d'état aimed at stripping Khrushchev of his position as First Secretary.
Although the coup was quickly overthrown by the powerful faction led by Defense Minister Zhukov, and Malenkov and others were treated as anti-party groups, the coup reflected the extremely serious division in the Soviet Party after Stalin's death.
Throughout the Communist International, after Khrushchev broke his authority, the communist movement fell into ideological confusion and the voices of criticism from the Communist Parties of various countries continued.
The outbreak of the Polish-Hungarian Incident, which led to the blatant intervention of the Soviet Union, further weakened the authority of the Soviet Union, and the central position of the CPSU in the entire communist world had been and continued to waver.
At this time, Khrushchev, as he himself later said, "can only stand on one leg, and may be pushed down at any time."
In this case, how can you let yourself "land on the ground"? Khrushchev set his sights on China and on Mao Zedong.
With the leadership of a great power, with his seniority and prestige in the international communist camp, Mao Zedong was undoubtedly Khrushchev's best object of unity.
As early as 1954, Khrushchev came to Beijing to participate in the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. At that time, Khrushchev had not yet defeated his domestic political enemies, and he expressed a completely different friendship with China than Stalin.
He was not only ready to sign official documents to transfer the port of Lushun and the China-Long Railway, but also to carry out the economic construction assistance signed during the Stalin period but not yet put into practice, and also promised to give Chinese economic assistance and gradually abolish all the agreements signed during the Stalin period that were harmful to China's interests.
Khrushchev's efforts apparently yielded the results he most wanted, and Mao Zedong had a very good impression of the newly appointed leader of the CPSU.
After the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held many discussions on Khrushchev's behavior. Mao Zedong's approach to Khrushchev was "one with joy and one with furniture."
Happily, Khrushchev dared to be the first to break stalin's superstitions; all the more important thing is that Khrushchev's denial of Stalin in this way is bound to cause turmoil in the entire communist camp.
Moreover, Mao Zedong was very disapproving of Khrushchev's practice of speaking only of shortcomings and not of merits to Stalin in his secret report.
In order to make up for the shock caused by Khrushchev's secret report as much as possible, Mao Zedong believed that it was necessary to write articles and remedy the secret report, emphasizing that the twentieth congress of the CPSU exposing Stalin's mistakes was the result of the Communists' courage to self-reflect and self-criticize.
On 5 April, the People's Daily published "Historical Experience on the Dictatorship of the Proletariat," arguing that Khrushchev's total negation of Stalin was a grave mistake. Khrushchev apparently accepted Mao's differing views in a more friendly manner.
Shortly after the People's Daily article was published, Khrushchev presided over the adoption of a "Resolution on Overcoming the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences," which openly affirmed Stalin's exploits and called Stalin a true Marxist.
Despite the CCP's many rhetoric, and although Khrushchev was quick to specifically affirm Stalin's exploits, since Stalin's death, the "centrifugal forces" in the communist camp have only become more serious with the publication of secret reports.
The CPSU, the former de facto leader, also had to face the growing problem of "pluralism" within the communist camp.
Under the trend of pluralism, communists in some Asian countries began to put forward the idea of the CCP as the leader. Losing the status of "big brother", Khrushchev is of course unwilling, but it seems helpless.
Therefore, Khrushchev said that the Two Parties of China and the Soviet Union could take turns to serve as conveners of the Communist Party conferences of various countries, which obviously meant that China and the Soviet Union could jointly lead the international communist camp.
Was Mao Zedong willing to be the "bellwether"? At least in terms of strength, China at that time did not seem to be very suitable, and Mao Zedong, who knew that "the gun out of power", was very sober and quickly found a way to deal with it.
On November 2, 1957, Mao Zedong personally led a Chinese delegation to Moscow, preparing to attend the upcoming conference of representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties of various countries.
Khrushchev was so enthusiastic about Mao's arrival that he personally arranged for Mao to stay in the Kremlin's most lavish residence, Empress Catherine's bedchamber, while the leaders of other countries were placed to live on Lenin Hill.
Not only that, during Mao Zedong's few days in the Soviet Union, Khrushchev was inseparable from him, providing him with many conveniences. Regarding Khrushchev's enthusiasm, Mao Zedong also made it clear that we would help him.
Soon after arriving in Moscow, Mao Zedong, in a conversation with the leaders of the Communist Party in Poland and other countries, made it clear: We have a short tree, and the Soviet tree is tall. China is a populous country, but it is still a small country economically, with less steel production per year than Belgium, and the Soviet Union is ten times that of China.
On November 14, at a congress of communist and workers' parties, Mao Zedong spoke openly about the long-rumored question of "headedness": "Who is the leader?" Which one is not headed by the SOVIET Union? We in China cannot be the first, and we do not have this capital. We have less experience. We have revolutionary experience, not construction experience. We are a big country in terms of population and a small country in terms of economy. We didn't throw half a satellite on it. It is very difficult to take the lead in this way, and the people do not listen to the meeting. ”
In the course of the subsequent meeting, Mao Zedong also clearly said: "There is an old Chinese saying that although the lotus flower is good, it must also be green and leafy. Although this lotus flower of your Khrushchev is good, it must also be supported by green leaves. I Mao Zedong this lotus flower is not good, but also to help the green leaves."
Mao Zedong did what he said, and during the meeting in Moscow, he carefully supported Khrushchev as a "lotus flower." In view of the resistance within the Communist Parties of various countries caused by the practice of the CPSU Great Party during the Stalin period, Mao Zedong painstakingly persuaded them: "Some comrades do not have a good impression of the Soviet comrades because the Soviet Union made some mistakes during the Stalin period. I'm afraid this is inappropriate. These mistakes are harmless now",
"There were some unpleasant things in the past between the Communist Parties of various countries, not only in other countries, but also in China, but I suggest that we should look at the overall situation."
In addition, the Polish-Hungarian incident that occurred after the Twentieth CpSU Congress still had many remaining problems at this time. On the evening of Mao's arrival in Moscow, Khrushchev asked Mao to come forward to meet with Polish leaders to help ease tensions in Soviet-Polish relations, and Mao gladly agreed.
Khrushchev was very grateful for the several speeches that Mao Zedong refused to lead, and for the help that Mao Zedong provided to Khrushchev before and after the meeting. And for Mao Zedong, how much practical significance does it mean to get a vacant name of "leader" who convenes a meeting?
He did not excuse himself on the grounds that his national strength was still weak; he then helped Khrushchev and helped him to sit firmly in the position of "squad leader."
Khrushchev's "needs" and Mao Zedong's "push and shove" have brought the relations between the two leaders, the two parties, and the two countries into a brand-new stage, with the two sides in close contact, exchanging intelligence, and coordinating policies. However, the good times did not last long, and Khrushchev, who was finally able to walk on two legs, quickly changed his face.
Beginning with Khrushchev's proposal to establish a "combined fleet" in July 1958, Sino-Soviet relations gradually broke down in an all-round way...
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Yan Mingfu, "Before and After Khrushchev's Birthday celebration for Mao Zedong in 1960", Centennial Tide, No. 2, 2010
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