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

The second question is: Can peaceful coexistence be madethe general line of foreign policy for socialist countries?We hold that the general line of foreign policy for socialistcountries must embody the fundamental principle of theirforeign policy and comprise the fundamental content of thispolicy.What is this fundamental principle? It is proletarian internationalism.Lenin said, “The foreign policy of the proletariat is alliancewith the revolutionaries of the advanced countries and withall the oppressed nations against all and any imperialists.” 1This principle of proletarian internationalism advanced byLenin should be the guide for the foreign policy of socialistcountries.Since the formation of the socialist camp, every socialistcountry has had to deal with three kinds of relations in itsforeign policy, namely, its relations with other socialist countries,with countries having different social systems, and withthe oppressed peoples and nations.In our view, the following should therefore be the contentof the general line of foreign policy for socialist countries:to develop relations of friendship, mutual assistance and cooperationamong the countries of the socialist camp in accordancewith the principle of proletarian internationalism; tostrive for peaceful coexistence on the basis of the Five Principleswith countries having different social systems and opposethe imperialist policies of aggression and war; and tosupport and assist the revolutionary struggles of all the oppressedpeoples and nations. These three aspects are interrelatedand not a single one can be omitted.The leaders of the CPSU have one-sidedly reduced thegeneral line of the foreign policy of the socialist countries to1V. I. Lenin, “The Foreign Policy of the Russian Revolution”,Collected Works, Eng. ed., Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1964, Vol.XXV, p. 87.282