The Quarrelling Brothers: New Chinese Archives and a ... - CiteSeerX

moves. 97 At a meeting in early March, the Politburo decided that China should use theopportunity of the ninetieth anniversary of Lenin’s birth to fight back against “modernrevisionism.” 98It took another month for the Chinese to assemble their weapons—three articlesentitled “Long Live Leninism,” which targeted the surrogate of Moscow, so-calledYugoslav modern revisionism, and alleged the betrayal of Leninism by modernrevisionism. The three articles systematically expounded the CCP’s views on a series ofimportant theoretic issues such as peaceful coexistence, peaceful transition, socialistrevolution and the essence of imperialism. The Soviets countered with articles attackingChinese views and positions. Allen S. Whiting has argued that the publication of the threearticles was “the first clear manifestation of the depth and seriousness of longaccumulatingantagonisms” between China and the Soviet Union. 99 In the eyes ofWestern scholars and policymakers, the controversy aroused by the three articlesrepresented Beijing’s first open challenge to Moscow, driven by Mao’s determination to“reach top status in the hierarchy of the world revolutionary movement.” 100Soviet leaders shared such a perception. In its report to Moscow, the Sovietembassy in Beijing noted, “The cult of personality of Mao Zedong is continuing todevelop in the PRC.” This observation received much attention from top Soviet leaderssuch as Khrushchev and Yuri Andropov. 101 Suslov’s report had revealed the Sovietleaders’ perception that Mao was becoming another Stalin, and Khrushchev continued to97 Wu Lengxi, ibid., pp. 250-253.98 Ibid., pp. 253-25899 Allen S. Whiting, “A Brief History,” in Zablocki ed., Sino-Soviet Rivalry, pp. 10-11.100 Zubok and Pleshakov, Inside the Kremlin’s Cold War, p. 232.101 Ibid.32