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Polemic on General Line of International ... - From Marx to Mao

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were bent <strong>on</strong> strangling the new-born socialist republic in itscradle. They launched armed interventi<strong>on</strong> against the Sovietstate. Lenin rightly pointed out that c<strong>on</strong>fr<strong>on</strong>ted with thissituati<strong>on</strong> “unless we defended the socialist republic by force<strong>of</strong> arms, we could not exist”. 1By 1920 the great Soviet people had defeated the imperialistarmed interventi<strong>on</strong>. A relative equilibrium <strong>of</strong> forces hadcome in<strong>to</strong> being between the Soviet state and the imperialistcountries. After trials <strong>of</strong> strength over several years, theSoviet state had s<strong>to</strong>od its ground. It began <strong>to</strong> turn from war<strong>to</strong> peaceful c<strong>on</strong>structi<strong>on</strong>. It was in these circumstances thatLenin advanced the idea <strong>of</strong> a policy <strong>of</strong> peaceful coexistence.In fact, from that time <strong>on</strong>wards the imperialists had no choicebut <strong>to</strong> “coexist” with the Soviet state.During Lenin’s lifetime, this equilibrium was always highlyunstable and the Soviet Socialist Republic was subject <strong>to</strong>stringent capitalist encirclement. Time and again Leninpointed out that owing <strong>to</strong> the aggressive nature <strong>of</strong> imperialismthere was no guarantee that socialism and capitalism wouldlive in peace for l<strong>on</strong>g.In the prevailing c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>s, it was not yet possible for him<strong>to</strong> define at length the c<strong>on</strong>tent <strong>of</strong> the policy <strong>of</strong> peaceful coexistencebetween countries with different social systems. Butthe great Lenin laid down the correct foreign policy for thefirst state <strong>of</strong> the dicta<strong>to</strong>rship <strong>of</strong> the proletariat and advancedthe basic ideas <strong>of</strong> the policy <strong>of</strong> peaceful coexistence.What were Lenin’s basic ideas <strong>on</strong> this policy?First, Lenin pointed out that the socialist state existed indefiance <strong>of</strong> the imperialists’ will. Although it adhered <strong>to</strong> theforeign policy <strong>of</strong> peace, the imperialists had no desire <strong>to</strong> livein peace with it and would do everything possible and seizeevery opportunity <strong>to</strong> oppose or even destroy the socialist state.1V. I. Lenin, “Report <strong>of</strong> the Central Committee <strong>of</strong> the Russian CommunistParty (Bolsheviks) at the Eighth Party C<strong>on</strong>gress”, SelectedWorks, Eng. ed., Internati<strong>on</strong>al Publishers, New York, 1943, Vol. VIII,pp. 33.263

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