With the introduction of the people’s communes in the
People’ s Republic of China in 1958, a far-reaching ideological
dispute arose between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
and the Communist Party of China. In the years following the
death of Stalin, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had
embarked upon a domestic policy which largely ignored many of
the directives laid down by the fathers of Communism, and
which often subordinated ideological considerations to pragmatic
economic considerations. The people's communes embodied an
attempt by the Chinese communists to realize all the prerequisites to Communism which the Soviet Union had forsaken in
their drive to increase production and thus constituted a
challenge to the "revisionist" policies of the Soviet Union.
This was especially true in the light of the specific rejection
of communes by the Soviet leaders a few months before the
Chinese communes were introduced. Moreover, because "anti-party" groups existed both within the Chinese and Soviet parties, and were given ideological support by the opposing
party, the dispute over the principles involved in the
communes was turned from a theoretical dispute into a concrete
struggle with in the separate parties.
Besides being an ideological dispute over the correct
policies to follow during the transition to Communism, the
commune controversy also related directly to the more predominant issues of the Sino-Soviet dispute. The military significance of the communes provided one such link; the
detrimental effect of the communes on the world's image of
Communism provided another such link, and the existence of
pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese factions within the two parties,
provided the other link; the latter situation was especially significant in the commune controversy since the C.P.S.U.’s
support for the anti-commune faction of Marshall Peng
Teh-huai and Chang Wen-tian, was at the same time support
for a faction more in sympathy with the "revisionist"
foreign policy of the Soviet Union.
In a broader perspective, the commune controversy also
raised important issues concerning ideological authority,
particularly over questions of domestic policy during the
transition to Communism.
Since the Chinese party remains determined to proceed
with their commune program as soon as economic conditions
allow, and since the C.P.S.U. continues to make a more and
more liberal interpretation of Communist society, it can be
expected that the issues embodied in the commune controversy
will continue to be strongly contended by the two parties.
Moreover, the fact that the commune issue is related to
the more predominant issues of the Sino-Soviet dispute,
suggests that the debate over the communes will continue
as long as differences remain between the two giants of the
Communist world. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41698 |
| Date | January 1964 |
| Creators | Marson, Derek Brian |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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