PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01446R000100060009-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 1998
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: September 15, 1959
• Content Type: RP

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Senior Research Staff on International Communism
15 September 1959
PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
Background
1. The use of the tactical concept of peaceful coexistence
can be traced to the early twenties when Lenin, in an interview with
the New York Evening Journal (18 February 1920) stated that 'bur
plans in Asia (are) the same as in Europe: peaceful coexistence with
the peoples, with the workers and peasants of all nations. " In March
1919 he had reported in quite a different vein to the Eighth Congress
of the Bolshevik Party that "the existence over any long period of the
Soviet Republic side by side with imperialist states is unthinkable.
One or the other must triumph in the end. And before that end super-
venes, a series of frightful collisions will be inevitable. "
2. Stalin periodically associated himself with the concept
of peaceful coexistence. In interviews with the American Labor Dele-
gation (1927) and with Walter Duranty (1930) he concluded that in spite
of the difference of the systems, the Communist and capitalist world
could come to a measure of understanding. On the other hand the
theses of the Sixth Comintern Congress very forcefully denied peace-
ful coexistence and asserted that the USSR was the center of the world
revolutionary movement.
3. In the thirties, peaceful coexistence was emphasized
more strongly, for example in Stalin's interview with Roy Howard
(1936), shortly after the USSR had become a member of the League
of Nations. Stalin said to Howard that "American democracy and the
Soviet system could coexist and compete peacefully . . . " But in
1938, in a letter to a certain Ivanov, Stalin reverted to the Leninist
thesis that coexistence over any prolonged period was impossible.
Later, in 1946, Stalin confirmed his belief in peaceful coexistence
to Alexander Werth, as likewise to Harold Stassen in 1947. In 1952,
answering the question of a group of American editors, he again, for
the last time, confirmed that peaceful coexistence is possible provided
there is a "mutual desire to cooperate and noninterference in the
internal affairs of other states. "
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4. Malenkov, during his brief period of power, reiterated
the concept of peaceful coexistence. Since 1955, this has been
refined as "active" coexistence, meaning that normal relations
should be developed with non-Communist states and that the latter
should be accepted for what they were. Khrushchev, at the XX
Congress, made it clear, however, that peaceful coexistence did
not mean an end of the ideological struggle:
We cannot pass by the fact that some people are trying
to apply the absolutely correct thesis of the possibility of
peaceful coexistence of countries with different social and
political systems to the ideological sphere. This is a harm-
ful mistake. It does not at all follow from the fact that we
stand for peaceful coexistence and economic competition with
capitalism that the struggle against bourgeois ideology,
against bourgeois survivals, can be relaxed. Our task is
tirelessly to expose bourgeois ideology, reveal how inimical
it is to the people, and show up its reactionary nature.
In a similar vein, Shepilov described peaceful coexistence as "a polit-
ical struggle, an economic struggle, an ideological struggle. " (12
February 1957).
Peace in Soviet Terminology
5. In 1916, Lenin wrote that "every peace program is a
deception of the people and a piece of hypocrisy unless its principal
object is to explain to the masses the need of a revolution, and to sup-
port, aid and develop the revolutionary struggle of the masses. " At
the VI Congress of the Comintern in 1928, it was stated that "the
international policy of the USSR is a peace policy . . . " and "the aim
of this policy is to guard the international revolution and to protect the
work of building up socialism . . . It strives to put off the conflict with
imperialism for as long as possible. " (Emphasis supplied).
6. Doctrinally, peace in Communist terms, pax Sovietica,
can be realized only after the sources of war are eliminated. These
sources are to be found, as the founding fathers of Soviet Communism
have stated over and over again, in the monopolistic "ruling circles"
of imperialism which. is intent on huge war profits and seeks to bolster
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its sagging economy with armament production. This means that
only after, the elimination of the last vestiges of capitalism can
"genuine" peace be established. There would then be no more
warmongers and the interest of the peoples of the world would
coincide rather than diverge. In the meantime, ways and means
must be found to prevent an open conflict with the imperialists
because they are still strong enough to inflict heavy damage on
the Bloc and thereby ruin at least some of the Communist achieve-
ments. The means of avoiding this danger is the tactic of peaceful
coexistence. This method does not, however, exclude possible
"peripheral" conflicts; these can be kept localized, particularly
in areas where, in the Communist view, there exists a power
vacuum.
7. Peaceful coexistence has been strengthened by the
modification of Lenin's thesis of the inevitability of war between
the Communist and capitalist camps. At the XX CPSU Congress
(February 1956) Khrushchev declared that such wars are no longer
"fatally inevitable. " Although this statement must be viewed in the
light of the nuclear deterrence stalemate, it is the logical continua-
tion of the peaceful coexistence concept, perhaps even enlarged from
a tactical to a strategic importance, but nonetheless a strictly tem-
porary expedient. Moreover, Khrushchev's emphasis on peaceful
coexistence suggests that he is now convinced that nothing can check
the rapid increase of strength of the USSR in particular and the Bloc
in general, so long as there is no major conflict which would greatly
deflect or partially destroy the development toward overwhelming
strength within the Bloc. By surpassing the capitalist countries in
"peaceful competition, it Communism will eventually "bury" capital-
ism.
8. There is no indication that these ideological fundamentals
have been relaxed. We therefore cannot assume that a period of lengthy
peaceful coexistence would affect Soviet-Bloc objectives. It could only
contribute to the strengthening of Communist political and ideological
influence, technological advance and economic progress. Nor can we
deduce from the general policy of relaxation inside and outside the USSR
that tension as an instrument of Communist dynamism has been abolished.
Rather the concept has changed from "tension by fear" into "tension by
motivation", e. g. "overtake America. "
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Conclusion
9. The desire for peaceful coexistence is, in itself,
genuine. This does not mean, however, that peaceful coexistence
is to be equated with peace as we understand it. It is, in a sense,
a prolonged armistice while the political and ideological struggle,
as well as the economic competition, go on. It also implies that,
since "hot" war is no longer regarded as an instrument of foreign
policy in the traditional sense, the "cold" war can be conducted
more boldly, though far more subtly. It means also that peaceful
coexistence may endure for a long time if the capitalist "system"
remains militarily, technologically, economically and politically
strong. If we were to become weaker, the concept of peaceful co-
existence would lose its meaning in proportion to the degree of our
weakness and vulnerability. Thus peaceful coexistence is nothing
more than a device to stay out of war, or to postpone a conflict,
while the International Communist Movement continues its endeavor
to undermine other governments and economies for its purposes
and to lull the Western peoples into a false sense of security.
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