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p In the history of the world socialist system the period between 1950 and 1956 was extremely complex. It was pointed out earlier that the formation of the world socialist system was completed in the main at the end of the 1940s.

p The period examined in this chapter coincides with the rise of some People’s Democracies, whose initial development entailed overcoming- internal and external difficulties. These difficulties were above all caused by the policy of the imperialist powers, the United States first and foremost, their drive against the forces of socialism, national liberation, democracy and peace.

p In the 1950s, the US imperialists, after sustaining a telling defeat in their attempts to block the road of democratic development in Central and Southeast Europe, exerted desperate efforts in the Far East to prevent the collapse of colonial regimes. US imperialism has always attached special significance to this area. As early as the dawn of its colonial expansion it staked a claim to exclusive rights in exploiting the wealth of the Far East. The very first war of the epoch of imperialism, the 1898 Spanish-American war 172 unleashed by Washington, laid bare the desire of the American monopolies to gain a foothold in the Pacific region, specifically in the Philippines, which particularly attracted New York and Boston businessmen because they are located on the direct approaches to China.

p The "open door" doctrine, proclaimed in 1899 by US Secretary of State Hay vis-a-vis China, reaffirmed the far-reaching plans of American finance capital.

p At the same time the United States long encouraged Japanese imperialism, hoping to utilise it as its “watchdog” in the Far East. These calculations determined Washington’s stand both during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 and subsequently, in 1931, when it encouraged Japan to attack China.

p The policy of encouraging the aggressor suffered a fiasco, as became obvious in 1941 when Japan launched war against the United States. Washington did not therefore succeed in carrying out its schemes with regard to the Far East. Even in the period of imperialism’s undivided domination in this area, the American monopolies had to share power with other imperialist pirates. Subsequently, when the might of the “old” colonial powers which had exploited the Far East collapsed, the attempts of the United States to become their heir were likewise foiled. The popular struggle was the main factor which foredoomed the policy of imperialism, as the outcome of the Second World War in the Far East clearly revealed. The rise of People’s Democracies in Asia—the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the People’s Republic of China—and the powerful 173 upsurge of the national liberation movement were major defeats sustained by imperialism.

p Imperialist postwar aggression in the Far East was designed to stille the national liberation movement, to neutralise the revolutionising influence exerted by the world socialist system on Asian countries and to prevent the collapse of the colonial order.

p Having failed in attempts to crush the Chinese revolution with the help of the Japanese military and the troops of Chiang Kai-shek, armed with American weapons, and also through direct intervention, the United States occupied China’s ageold territory, the island of Taiwan (Formosa), in order to convert it into its "unsinkable aircraft carrier”.

p In the mid-1950s the aggressive imperialist policy in Asia was extended by the United States launching war against the Korean People’s Democratic Republic. Its aims were formulated in a report of the Office of Intelligence Research, US Department of State, prepared as early as the beginning of 1949: "To secure through a stable and friendly government in Korea a partial stabilisation of the Far East and to offset, by success in Korea, diplomatic reverses suffered elsewhere in Asia.”  [173•1 

p It will be recalled that the US imperialists who succeeded in masking their aggression under the ilag of the United Nations did not score the wanted success. The Korean people, headed by 174 their vanguard, the Workers’ Party of Korea, together with Chinese volunteers, rose to the defence of their freedom and independence against the combined forces of South Korean reactionaries and the American interventionists. The war ended with the signing of an armistice agreement on July 27, 1953.

p In their just anti-imperialist liberation war the Korean people enjoyed the all-round material, military and moral support of the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and other countries. The aggressive plans of American imperialism failed and the victory of the Korean people s just cause was secured thanks to powerful support for their struggle by all socialist states, as a result of the united, co-ordinated and determined actions of these states against the common enemy. The heroism of the Korean people, the unity and solidarity of the socialist countries in the struggle against American aggression during the war in Korea, in defence of the freedom and independence of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, were the main causes which compelled the United States to abandon its interventionist plans in the Far East at that time.

p As for the development of the world socialist system the period between 1950 and 1956 was marked not only by the signal economic and political achievements of the socialist countries, but also by the joint struggle of their peoples to preserve and consolidate the independence of each of them. They had to stamp out the hotbeds of war which, owing to imperialism’s aggressive policy, existed in the world socialist system. This laid its imprint on all events in the world socialist system.

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p A large part was played by joint diplomatic actions undertaken by the Soviet Union and other socialist countries in defence of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic, their exposure of the aggressive policy of the United States and other Western powers both in and outside the United Nations. In the very first days of the military intervention by the United States in Korea, the Soviet Government declared that the "US Government has violated the peace and turned from the policy of preparing aggression to direct acts of aggression simultaneously in a number of Asian countries".  [175•1  The Soviet Government exposed the real objectives of American aggression, pointing out that in the open war against the Korean people US imperialism aimed "to deprive Korea of national independence, to prevent the establishment of single democratic Korean state and to implant by force an antipopular regime which would enable the US ruling circles to convert her into their colony and utilise Korean territory as a bridgehead in the Far East".  [175•2 

p The struggle of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries and their joint efforts in exposing US aggressive policy helped to mobilise the progressive forces in support of the just cause of the Korean people and to spread a powerful movement for ending the war in Korea and for a peaceful settlement of the Korean question. Soviet moral and political support of the initiative 176 of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic and the People’s Republic of China concerning an armistice agreement greatly facilitated its conclusion despite Washington’s exertions to foil the talks. "During the gravest period for our country,” said Kim II Sung, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, "the Soviet Union . . . rendered the Korean people tremendous help and support, defending our legitimate rights and interests internationally and inspiring our people to selfless struggle for our just cause and reinforcing our people’s faith in victory. This was one of the decisive reasons for our victory.”  [176•1 

p Another conflagration flared up in Indo-China, where the people of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam were compelled to wage armed struggle against the French colonialists. For eight years, from 1946 to 1954, the French imperialists, with the direct support of the United States, sought to crush the Vietnamese people by a war of attrition. Here the imperialists pursued the same objectives as in other areas: to prevent the victory of People’s Democracy, preserve the old, colonial regime and crush the national liberation movement.

p Washington made no secret of its desire to entrench itself in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, ousting its French allies. The US Government openly spoke of its intention to utilise the area as a strategic base against the socialist countries and the national liberation movement in Asia. Thomas Finletter, former US Secretary of the Air Force, wrote: "It was absolutely necessary, the United States had said again and again, to hold 177 Indo-China. If it fell, all Southeast Asia would fall, and Southeast Asia was vital to the interests of the United States.”  [177•1  The statement of President Truman of June 27, 1950, who ordered the launching of military operations in Korea and Taiwan, noted also that he "similarly directed acceleration in the furnishing of military assistance to the forces of France and the Associated States in Indo-China and the dispatch of a military mission to provide close working relations with these forces".  [177•2 

p The Vietnamese people won victory in this drawn-out and hard war, and the French colonialists had to leave the Indo-Chinese Peninsula and stop hostilities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Agreements on ending hostilities were signed at a conference of Foreign Ministers held in Geneva from April 26 to July 21, 1954.

p The results of the Geneva Conference were recorded in 12 documents and the Final Declaration inseverably connected with them.

p In the Final Declaration, "the Conference takes note of the clauses in the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam to the effect that no military base under the control of a foreign state may be established in the regrouping zones of the two parties, the latter having the obligation to see that the zones allotted to them shall not constitute part of any military alliance and shall not be utilised for the resumption of hostilities or in the service of an aggressive policy”. The 178 Conference pointed out that "the essential purpose of the agreement relating to Vietnam is to settle military questions with a view to ending hostilities and that the military demarcation line is provisional and should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary.” It was stated in the Declaration that so far as Vietnam is concerned, the settlement of political problems, effected on the basis of respect for the principles of independence, unity and territorial integrity should permit the Vietnamese people to enjoy the fundamental freedoms, guaranteed by democratic institutions established as a result of free general elections by secret ballot. General elections were to be held in July 1956 under the supervision of an international commission.  [178•1 

p The signing of these agreements was a great success for the peace-loving forces; it put an end to the eight-year war in Indo-China and abolished a dangerous hotbed threatening peace in Asia. Actually the agreements recorded the international recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam which embarked on the socialist path. This foiled the plans of the world reactionary forces which sought to destroy the DRV. The Soviet Government pointed out in its statement of July 23, 1954, that the Geneva agreements promoted an international detente and created favourable conditions for settling other outstanding international issues pertaining to Europe as well as Asia.

p But, contrary to its own commitments, assumed 179 in Geneva,  [179•1  the United States frustrated the normalisation of the situation in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. The US ruling circles at once attacked the Geneva agreements and began to carry out plans for converting South Vietnam into an American base. These actions torpedoed the implementation of the important decisions on general elections in Vietnam. Thus, the United States pursued in Indo-China a policy of aggression from the very outset.

p Subsequently, the United States intervened in the affairs of South Vietnam and launched aggression against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. While prior to mid-1965 it, at least officially, did not participate in the South Vietnamese war, its participation has since become open and official. The escalation of the war proclaimed by Washington included the extension of hostilities against the patriots in South Vietnam and the spread of military operations to the entire IndoChinese Peninsula. The Vietnamese people, with the support of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, of all the peace-loving nations, are offering brave resistance to the interventionists.

p The discontinuation of the war in Korea in 1953 and in Vietnam in 1954 signified victory for 180 peace and the just cause of their peoples, a victory that became possible thanks to the existence of the world socialist system.

p “Applying the Leninist principles of internationalism,” Ho Chi Minh, the late President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, stated, "the Soviet Union, the country of triumphant socialism, has always rendered great moral assistance to the national liberation movement in the colonies and dependent countries. In particular, the Soviet Union by its unswerving policy of peace and thanks to its great prestige the world over has rendered mighty support to the peoples of Korea and Vietnam who defended their country from the American imperialists and their allies. The diplomatic activity of the USSR has played a decisive part in the cease-fire in Korea and Vietnam.”  [180•1 

p The cease-fire in Korea and Vietnam was of great significance for preserving their revolutionary gains and for their advance along the road of socialism. At the same time, it helped strengthen world socialism, and increased the impact of the socialist system on the development of the AfroAsian national liberation struggle.

p Tension in the Far East was greatly increased by the aggressive actions of the United States against the People’s Republic of China. This time the main stake of the United States was on Taiwan and the Chinese offshore islands where the Chiang Kai-shek regime, ejected from the mainland, had entrenched itself with the help of the Pentagon. American military aid to Chiang 181 Kaishek was substantially stepped up. Taiwan was occupied by US forces and turned into an American military base, a point of support for all kinds of provocations against China.

p The United States and Chiang Kai-shek signed a military treaty on December 2, 1954, which, according to Washington’s intentions, was legally to consolidate American occupation of age-old Chinese territories.

p The offshore islands of China were thus turned into a dangerous seat of international tension, in effect, into a constant hotbed of war against China and other socialist states. If at particularly tense moments the imperialists did not venture to launch a major war against China it was only because of the world socialist system, the joint actions of the socialist countries in China’s defence.

p The situation in the Far East and Southeast Asia became especially acute after the signing of the pact which founded the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) in Manila on September 8,1954. SEATO was to become the "Pacific equivalent" of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and to be employed by the imperialists against the forces of socialism, the national liberation movement and peace in Asia.

p All this created the complex external conditions in which Asian peoples had to build the new socialist society. Immediately after the cessation of hostilities the peoples of North Korea and North Vietnam undertook to restore their war-ravaged economies. These countries, which for a long time had been under the heel of foreign colonialists, had an extremely backward economy when they embarked on the road of democratic 182 development. They had no modern industries and the main sector, agriculture, stood at a low level. During the restoration period they built the foundations of a modern industry and undertook the revolutionary reconstruction of the entire economy. But, because of imperialist aggression, the radical changes they had launched were not all completed.

p The three-year plan (1954-1956) of the economic restoration and development of the Korean People’s Democratic Republic was fulfilled ahead of time. In 1955 gross industrial output topped the targets set for 1956. In three years more than 320 large and medium-sized industrial enterprises were restored or built anew. In 1956 gross production of state and co-operative industry was double the level of the prewar year 1949. The output of means of production in three years (1954-1956) grew at an annual rate of 59 per cent and the output of consumer goods at 28 per cent. During this period the share of socio-economic sectors in gross industrial output changed radically, with the result that the socialist sector became predominant in the economy. Revolutionary land reforms were completed in the mid1950s. At the end of 1956 agricultural co- operatives united about four-fifths of all the peasant households.

p The fraternal assistance of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries played a big part in successfully surmounting the difficulties of economic restoration and development in the KPDR. The USSR rendered the republic free material and technical assistance totalling 1,000 million rubles. In addition, long-term aid was furnished in August 1956. The KPDR received mainly 183 goods for productive purposes: machinery and equipment, oil products, rolling stock, building materials and so on. These goods made up 75 per cent of all the imports from the USSR. The biggest industrial enterprises were restored or built with Soviet assistance. The People’s Republic of China rendered the Korean people help in restoring the railways, and supplied raw materials for industry, food and consumer goods. The republic received considerable aid and technical support from the German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Rumania. The Mongolian People’s Republic furnished considerable help in livestock breeding.

p Successful implementation of the three-year plan enabled the Workers’ Party of Korea to outline the main trends of the first five-year (1957- 1961) economic plan at its Third Congress in April 1956.

p The Vietnamese people had to cope with tremendous difficulties in restoring and developing their wrecked economy. They inherited from the colonial regime an extremely backward industry which, moreover, was destroyed in the course of the 15-year war. Industry was mainly of a handicraft nature: in 1954 there were 24,000 handicraft workshops and in 1955, 53,000. In 1956, it accounted only for 17 per cent of the gross industrial and agricultural output.

p The Democratic Republic of Vietnam restored its economy in 1955 and 1956, during which period important industrial projects were built with the help of the Soviet Union and other fraternal countries. During the visit of a DRV Government delegation to the USSR, China and the Mongolian People’s Republic in the summer 184 of 1955, agreements were reached on free aid by these countries to the Vietnamese people in restoring their economy. The Soviet Union allotted 400 million rubles for this purpose, part of which went for restoring and building 25 industrial enterprises and public utilities. The USSR rendered great help in training specialists, and in geological prospecting. The People’s Republic of China helped its neighbour restore the railways, docks, highways and bridges. During the same years North Vietnam established close economic ties with European socialist countries which supplied it with diverse machinery and equipment.

p Extensive measures were carried out during the restoration period in agriculture, the basic economic sector of the country. A land reform was completed in 1956, abolishing feudal landed proprietorship. The first steps were made in the socialist reconstruction of agriculture: state farms and mutual labour assistance teams were organised.

p Both in North Korea and North Vietnam the difficulties caused by the aftermath of the colonial past and the drawn-out wars were exacerbated by the division of these countries, the aggressive policy of the United States and the conversion of South Korea and South Vietnam into American strategic bases directed against the socialist countries. In mid-1950s US Senator Mansfield admitted that "what exists in the Far East is no peace at all; it is a truce, a tenuous truce" which "can collapse at any time. Each of these situations, Korea, Vietnam, and Formosa, contains a danger of war, which is not now adequately controlled. . . . Should local military action break out at 185 any of these points, it is almost inevitable that the great powers . . . will be drawn into the maelstrom.”  [185•1  The vast system of military bases created by the United States in these areas and named by Washington a "defence network”, was manned by some 1,750,000 troops.

p This situation naturally affected all political and economic developments in the People’s Republic of China against which the aggressive policy of the United States was primarily directed. This notwithstanding, the Chinese people effected a number of revolutionary socio-economic changes which radically altered the country’s aspect and strengthened the new popular democratic government.

p Fundamental transformations were wrought in agriculture too, which were largely completed in 1956, with about 89 per cent of all peasant households uniting into co-operatives.

p The first five-year (1953-1957) economic plan was of particular significance, the main objectives being formulated as follows: laying a primary basis for the country’s socialist industrialisation, the socialist remaking of agriculture and the handicraft industry; creation of a basis for the socialist transformation of private industry and trade by transferring them mainly onto the lines of state capitalism. In September 1956, the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of China noted that socialist changes in agriculture, the handicraft industry, capitalist industry and trade had been largely completed by the middle of that year.

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p In coping with economic problems, the Chinese people relied on the disinterested help of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. "In the period of restoring the economy and of carrying out the first five-year economic plan our country received tremendous sincere assistance from the Soviet Union and other fraternal countries,” Ghou En-lai noted in his report to the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of China. "This assistance helped us to overcome many difficulties and enabled our country to further socialist construction at comparatively high rates.”  [186•1 

p China received from the Soviet Union the bulk of plant and materials for entire enterprises; during the first five-year plan the Soviet Union furnished assistance in building 156 industrial enterprises and 21 factory shops for which it supplied 50-70 per cent of the equipment. Moreover, an agreement was signed in April 1956 on Soviet help to China in building another 55 industrial projects. During the period under review 211 industrial enterprises were being under construction in China with the help of the USSR, including large iron and steel works, electric power stations, coal mines, automobile and tractor works, oil refineries, and chemical plants. Subsequently, they became the core of the country’s modern industry. Works built with Soviet assistance had an annual capacity of 8.4 million tons of steel and 8.7 million tons of pig iron (in 1955 10 million tons of steel were produced in the PRC). Czechoslovakia, Poland, the German Democratic Republic and Bulgaria also rendered considerable industrial assistance to China.

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p In the political sphere Soviet-Chinese relations developed on the basis of the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance of February 14, 1950. There is an interesting admission of the importance of this treaty for China made by General G. Marshall, a leader of US imperialism. Marshall said that had it not been for the SovietChinese alliance, the United States would have freely used its naval and air forces for an attack on China at the beginning of 1951.

p A Joint Declaration of the governments of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, signed on October 12, 1954, reaffirmed that relations between the two countries were maintained "in full conformity with the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance of February 14, 1950".  [187•1  They denounced the aggressive policy of the United States in the Far East. "This policy, like the direct acts of aggression committed by the United States vis-a-vis the People’s Republic of China, particularly the continued occupation by the USA of part of its territory, the island of Taiwan, and also the military and financial support given to the Chiang Kai-shek clique hostile to the Chinese people, are incompatible with the tasks of maintaining peace in the Far East and reducing international tension,” it was pointed out in the Joint Declaration.  [187•2 

p An agreement on the Chinese Changchun Railway, Port Arthur and Dalny was signed together 188 with the Friendship Treaty of February 14, 1950. Under this agreement, the handing over of the Chinese Changchun Railway and Port Arthur to China was made conditional on the conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan; Port Dalny was handed over at once. The handing over of the Chinese Changchun Railway with all its property was completed on December 31, 1952, in accordance with the special agreement signed on September 15 of the same year. Simultaneously with the Joint Declaration of October 12, 1954, a communique was signed on the withdrawal of Soviet military units from the jointly used Port Arthur naval base and the transfer of this base to the full disposal of the People’s Republic of China. The sides agreed that the withdrawal of Soviet military units from the Port Arthur base would be completed by May 31, 1955; installations in the area of the naval base would be handed over gratuitously to the Chinese Government. A final protocol of the Soviet-Chinese combined military commission on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Port Arthur and the handing over of Soviet installations to China was signed on May 24, 1955.

p These facts show that from the moment the People’s Republic of China was founded the Soviet Union displayed special concern for the development of Soviet-Chinese relations on the basis of genuine equality and rendered all possible assistance in restoring and developing the economy, in reinforcing the defence capacity and consolidating and extending China’s international positions.

The period from 1950 to 1956 was one of hard struggle for the peoples of China, North Vietnam 189 and North Korea for their independence, and the preservation and strengthening of the revolutionary gains from the encroachments of international imperialism, especially American. In this difficult struggle the people enjoyed the mighty material and moral assistance of the Soviet Union and other fraternal countries; this was a decisive factor ensuring victory over the foreign interventionists and colonialists.