Agents of Change

Soviet Advisers and High Stalinist Management in China, 1949–1960

Bibliographic Data

ID12747675
AuthorsDeborah Kaple (Deborah Kaple is a senior research scholar and lecturer in sociology at Princeton University., corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume18
Issue1
Pages5-30
Publication date2016-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Cold War Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1520-3972 • E-ISSN: 1531-3298
PublisherThe MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1162/jcws_a_00617
OpenAlexW2295271815
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited14

This article chronicles the interactions between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (PRC) during the years of the Sino-Soviet alliance (1949–1960) as experienced by the Soviet advisers in China. Based on interviews, archival sources, and other materials, the article shows that the Soviet advisers who came to the PRC during that time brought with them the management techniques of the late Stalin period, known as High Stalinism (meaning strict Communist Party control over all aspects of political, cultural, and economic life and severe management methods including a heavy reliance on mass methods, education and reeducation techniques, coercion, and the threat of imprisonment). High Stalinism was a useful management tool that fit into Mao Zedong's own plan for the “economic Stalinization” of China and helped to pave the way for Mao's later radicalization. After differences emerged between the two countries in 1956 about the merits of de-Stalinization, Mao and the Chinese Communist Party began promoting radical policies such as the Great Leap Forward, which dramatically deviated from the Soviet experience and led to the removal of Soviet advisers in 1960

Alliance · China · Coercion (linguistics · Communism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Radicalization · Sociology · Soviet union · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Law

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