Peaceful Coexistence
평화공존
The foundational principle of Soviet foreign policy holding that the capitalist and socialist blocs could and should coexist without war. Codified as official doctrine by Khrushchev at the 20th Party Congress in 1956, it combined the practical imperative of avoiding nuclear war with Lenin's earlier notion of peaceful cohabitation between systems. The line became a central flashpoint of the Sino-Soviet split, with China and Albania denouncing it as revisionism.
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Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) overview of Soviet peaceful coexistence doctrine, its codification at the 20th Congress, and its role in the Sino-Soviet split
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian-language article tracing the concept from Lenin's 'мирное сожительство' through the Cold War-era doctrine, including its formal adoption in CPSU documents
- opil.ouplaw.com Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law entry distinguishing the Soviet concept from the Chinese Five Principles and documenting its Leninist origins and Khrushchev-era codification
- Marxists Internet Archive CPA Political Committee statement (1956) discussing the 20th Congress decisions on peaceful coexistence as a 'creative development of Marxist-Leninist theory'