Peaceful coexistence
The term peaceful coexistence meant that the decision between capitalism and socialism should be made in peaceful competition between the two systems, i.e. with the exclusion of a military conflict.
The term was coined by Soviet politicians and entered the vocabulary of socialist rhetoric , especially from 1955 through the speeches of Nikita Khrushchev . With the collapse of the Eastern Bloc as a result of the revolutions in 1989 , it lost its importance.
The term
The term "peaceful coexistence" was first used on April 10, 1922 at the Genoa Conference by the head of the Soviet delegation, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Georgi Vasilyevich Chicherin . “Insisting on the standpoint of the principles of communism,” Chicherin recognized that economic cooperation between states was necessary for general reconstruction. In addition, the current historical epoch offers "the possibility of a parallel coexistence between the old and the emerging new order."
Khrushchev's politics
Building on this, the Soviet party leader Nikita Khrushchev founded his new foreign policy course, above all the new relationship with the USA that he was striving for . He stated literally: "Lenin's principle of peaceful coexistence between states with different social structures was and remains the general line in our country's foreign policy". On February 24, 1956, the XX. At the CPSU party congress this new general line of foreign policy, according to which “on the basis of Lenin's principle of peaceful coexistence, the course should be directed towards improving relations, strengthening trust and developing cooperation with all countries”.
As long as the nuclear armaments equilibrium between East and West sought by the Soviet Union was not achieved, the Soviet Union behaved cautiously and cooperatively in terms of foreign policy. Characteristic of this were the mild policy towards Germany (until 1953), the improvement in Soviet-Chinese relations , especially in the economic and technological sectors, and the partial reconciliation with the Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito .
However, this must not hide the fact that the struggle for socialism in all sectors, except armed conflicts, was viewed from a Marxist-Leninist perspective as a historical task and duty even in times of peaceful coexistence; the safeguarding and spreading of socialism was disguised in positivist rhetoric as a “fight for peace”.
On the XXII. At the party congress of the CPSU in 1961, Khrushchev explained that peaceful coexistence was “not a provisional unstable armistice between wars”. Peace and peaceful coexistence are not identical. The Soviet Union must therefore be armed militarily to keep the peace. The core of peaceful coexistence is: “It is a coexistence of two opposing social systems that mutually renounce using war as a means of resolving disputes between states”. In Pravda on October 18, 1961, it was further stated: “The principle of peaceful coexistence not only encompasses the field of foreign policy, but also the sphere of economic relations with foreign countries. [...] We are convinced that the socialist order will ultimately win everywhere. "
development
After Nikita Khrushchev was dismissed in 1964, the principle of peaceful coexistence continued. The XXIII. Party Congress of the CPSU in 1966, the XXIV. 1971, the XXV. 1976 and the XXVI. 1981 each confirmed the peaceful coexistence as the general line of Soviet foreign policy.
Web links
- The question of coexistence - Lecture by the Catholic social ethicist Gustav Gundlach at the “Church in Need” congress 1956 (audio)
- Peaceful coexistence at jugendopposition.de
- Wolfgang Leonhard : Coexistence: "A Form of Class Struggle" in Die Zeit , February 5, 1960
Individual evidence
- ^ VI Lenin: Collected Works. 5th Russian edition, volume 45, p. 63/64, Moscow 1965 and biography of Lenin in 12 volumes Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Biographical Chronicle 1870-1924. russisch, Moscow 1982, volume 12, pp. 252-246.