1957 International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties

International event held in Moscow, USSR, 16–19 Nov. 1957 An International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties was held in Moscow, Soviet Union, November 16–19, 1957. The meeting was attended by 64 political parties from all over the world. The meeting was the first of its kind, marking a new form of forum for the world communist movement following the disbanding of the Communist International (Comintern) and the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (Cominform).R. Craig Nation Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917–1991 https://books.google.com/books?id=taJhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA230 5 July 2018 Cornell University Press 978-1-5017-2910-2 230 Four additional parties (including the Communist Party USA) attended clandestinely out of fear of repercussions at home.Zhihua Shen, Yafeng Xia "Hidden Currents during the Honeymoon: Mao, Khrushchev, and the 1957 Moscow Conference" in Journal of Cold War Studies, Volume 11, Number 4, Fall 2009 p.76 Background The 1957 meeting took place midst celebrations of the 40th anniversary (ruby jubilee) celebrations of the October Revolution, for which celebrations had taken place in Moscow on November 6–7, 1957.Jian Chen Mao's China and the Cold War https://books.google.com/books?id=-NJpAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 15 March 2010 Univ of North Carolina Press 978-0-8078-9890-1 71Edvard Kardelj Reminiscences--the Struggle for Recognition and Independence the New Yugoslavia, 1944-1957 https://books.google.com/books?id=YPQcAAAAMAAJ 1982 Blond & Briggs 978-0-85634-135-9 134 The traditional military parade of the Soviet Army's Moscow Military District forces, military academy cadets, and representatives of the Navy and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, took place on Red Square in front of the participating leaders and a banquet was held in the Kremlin. Except for Josip Broz Tito the meeting was attended by the leaders of each of the 13 ruling communist parties around the world.Owen Pearson Albania as Dictatorship and Democracy: From Isolation to the Kosovo War, 1946-1998 https://books.google.com/books?id=TBYWAQAAMAAJ 2006 Centre for Albanian Studies 531 978-1-84511-105-2 The November 16–19 meeting was preceded by the Conference of Representatives of Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries, held November 14–16, 1957, at which 12 ruling communist parties signed a joint declaration.Harvard University. Center for International Affairs Robert R. Bowie Harvard University. East Asian Research Center Communist China 1955-1959: Policy Documents with Analysis https://books.google.com/books?id=zCTZJ6tBztIC&pg=PA412 1962 Harvard University Press 978-0-674-14900-7 412 The 1957 meeting occurred in the aftermath of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, at which Joseph Stalin had been denounced, and revolts in Hungary and Poland.Robert Vincent Daniels Documentary History of Communism https://books.google.com/books?id=TygP8B5ViA8C&pg=PA249 1987 I.B.Tauris 978-1-85043-035-3 249 The 1957 meeting sought to reaffirm communist unity, demarcating against the revisionism represented by the Yugoslav party and the hardliners resisting "de-Stalinization". The meeting backed Khrushchev's new line of different national paths towards socialism, peaceful coexistence, and popular front tactics. As per the line given by the meeting, transition to people's democracy was possible through parliamentary elections, as long as the communist parties combined electoral work with mass struggles against reactionary forces.Thomas Johnson Nossiter Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation https://books.google.com/books?id=8CSQUxVjjWQC&pg=PA143 1982 University of California Press 978-0-520-04667-2 143 The meeting adopted a 'peace manifesto', outlining capitalist monopolies as the main threat to world peace.Alfred D. Low Professor Alfred D Low The Sino-Soviet Dispute: An Analysis of the Polemics https://books.google.com/books?id=ZygelRGUoU8C&pg=PA110 1976 Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press 978-0-8386-1479-2 110AFL-CIO. Dept. of International Affairs AFL-CIO Free Trade Union News https://books.google.com/books?id=0eVaAAAAYAAJ 1961 Department of International Affairs, AFL-CIO. 10 Unity and division Whilst the intended purpose of the meeting was to display unity of the world communist movement, the outcome was quite different.Augusto Varas Alfredo Riquelme Marcelo Casals El partido comunista en Chile: Una historia presente https://books.google.com/books?id=QgdNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT189 25 January 2018 Editorial Catalonia 978-956-324-588-2 189 In the debates at the meeting Mao Zedong argued for a centralized world communist movement whilst the Italian communist leader Palmiro Togliatti argued for decentralization of the world communist movement and autonomy of individual parties.EDUARDO GONZÁLEZ CALLEJA Socialismos y comunismos. Claves históricas de dos movimientos políticos https://books.google.com/books?id=ABJADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA225 2017 Ediciones Paraninfo, S.A. 978-84-283-3850-9 225 For Mao, the talk of "peaceful road to socialism" meant a negotiation of revolutionary politics and a capitulation to electoral politics. The meeting had lasting impact on the world communist movement. With the Moscow meeting indicating an increased space for independent policy by national communist parties, the Workers' Party of Korea organ Rodong Sinmun carried an editorial on the meeting which called for increasingly independent political self-reliance of the Workers' Party of Korea. Following the 1957 meeting, the Romanian Communist Party took an increasingly independent political course.Communist Affairs https://books.google.com/books?id=T5wbAQAAMAAJ 1967 Research Institute on Communist Strategy and Propaganda, University of Southern California 24 Sino-Soviet split thumb|Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Soong Ching-ling at the 1957 Moscow conference. The 1957 meeting marked a turning point in Sino-Soviet relations, for the first time the contradictions between the Soviet and Chinese parties came into the forefront (which would later result in the Sino-Soviet split).Charles K. Armstrong Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950–1992 https://books.google.com/books?id=23PRnGPxSd0C&pg=PT165 18 June 2013 Cornell University Press 978-0-8014-6893-3 165 Whilst the meeting marked increasing divergence between the Soviet and Chinese communist parties, the Chinese Communist Party signed both the declaration and peace manifesto after some hesitation. Mao Zedong addressed the meeting on November 18, 1957, at which he publicly affirmed support for Khrushchev's leadership in his struggle against the "Anti-Party Group". The speech, released in full by Chinese authorities only in 1985, marks the sole known statement of Mao siding with Khrushchev against the "Anti-Party Group". Moreover, Mao took advantage of the Moscow meeting to improve Sino-North Korean relations, by holding bilateral talks with the Korean leader Kim Il Sung and expressing remorse over Chinese interference in Korean affairs in 1956.Kyung-Ae Park Scott Snyder North Korea in Transition: Politics, Economy, and Society https://books.google.com/books?id=mwoD97Y8XPMC&pg=PA214 5 October 2012 Rowman & Littlefield Publishers 978-1-4422-1813-0 214 In his speech at the meeting, Kim Il Sung avoided touching on the Sino-Soviet contradictions. Yugoslav question On the other hand, the meeting was preceded by a few months of gradual normalization of relations between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslav party was invited to the event. The Yugoslavs rejected the invitation for the preceding meeting of Communist and Workers Parties from the Socialist Countries but attended the broader international meeting.James G. Hershberg The Cold War in Asia https://books.google.com/books?id=qlNqWJMN_pcC&pg=PA184 December 1996 DIANE Publishing 978-0-7881-3510-1 184 However, the rapprochement backfired as the Yugoslav delegates rejected the political line of recognizing the leading role of the Soviet Union in the struggle for socialism, and the Yugoslavs refused to sign the documents of the meeting.Gordon C. McDonald American University (Washington, D.C.). Foreign Area Studies Yugoslavia: a country study https://books.google.com/books?id=aLS3AAAAIAAJ 1979 The American University 281 Just a few days before the event, when the Yugoslavs obtained the draft text for the declaration of the meeting, Tito cancelled his trip to Moscow altogether.Svetozar Rajak Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the Early Cold War: Reconciliation, Comradeship, Confrontation, 1953-1957 https://books.google.com/books?id=7ywvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 18 October 2010 Routledge 978-1-136-90552-0 202 The Chinese Communist Party had managed pushed the Soviets to adopt a tougher stand against Yugoslav revisionism,Alvin Z. Rubinstein Yugoslavia and the Nonaligned World https://books.google.com/books?id=UZZ9BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA288 8 March 2015 Princeton University Press 978-1-4008-7095-0 288 and at the Moscow meeting Mao was supported by Maurice Thorez and Mikhail Suslov on this point.Jean Elleinstein Georges Ayache Histoire mondiale des socialismes: 1945-1960 https://books.google.com/books?id=sqfaAAAAMAAJ 1984 Ed. des Lilas 141 978-2-200-37058-9 The Albanian leader Enver Hoxha had published a statement on October 26, 1957, condemning the Yugoslav positions, causing dismay in the Yugoslav leadership.Jože Pirjevec Tito and His Comrades https://books.google.com/books?id=6J1WDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA282 22 May 2018 University of Wisconsin Pres 978-0-299-31770-6 282 Meanwhile, the Polish communist leader Władysław Gomułka had unsuccessfully lobbied to exclude the wording 'with the Soviet Union at the fore' from the declaration of the meeting. The Italian delegation had been supportive of the Polish position on this matter, whilst the Danish communist leader Aksel Larsen voiced pro-Yugoslav positions (for which he was subsequently expelled from his party).Eric Robert Terzuolo Relations Between the Communist Parties of Italy And Yugoslavia, 1941-1960 https://books.google.com/books?id=oL9EAQAAIAAJ 1980 Stanford University 301 Officially Tito's absence at the October Revolution celebrations was explained by a sudden case of "lumbago". The fallout marked a setback for Khrushchev, who had hoped to be able to gather both Mao and Tito (representing opposite extremes of the increasingly divergent world communist movement) in a show of grand unity at the podium. Latin American meeting During the Moscow meeting, a separate meeting of Latin American communists was held.AFL-CIO. Dept. of International Affairs AFL-CIO Free Trade Union News https://books.google.com/books?id=uNhaAAAAYAAJ 1975 Department of International Affairs, AFL-CIO. 12 The meeting set up a special commission for Latin American affairs.Publications Relating to Various Aspects of Communism https://books.google.com/books?id=_bAnAQAAMAAJ 1959 U.S. Government Printing Office 29 The Popular Front line of the Chilean communists was based on input from this meeting. Delegations Present for both the Conference of Representatives of Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries and the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Party of Labour of Albania, delegation headed by Enver Hoxha. Bulgarian Communist Party, delegation headed by Todor Zhivkov.United States. Foreign Broadcast Information Service Daily Report: People's Republic of China https://books.google.com/books?id=lL0sAAAAMAAJ 1987 National Technical Information Service 50 Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, delegation headed by Antonín Novotný. Chinese Communist Party, delegation headed by Mao Zedong. The delegation also included Deng Xiaoping. Socialist Unity Party of Germany, delegation headed by Walter Ulbricht.David Childs The GDR (RLE: German Politics): Moscow's German Ally https://books.google.com/books?id=amjfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 17 December 2014 Routledge 978-1-317-54210-0 55 The delegation also included the German Democratic Republic Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl. Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, delegation was led by János Kádár.Cheng Guan Ang Vietnamese Communists' Relations with China and the Second Indochina Conflict, 1956-1962 https://books.google.com/books?id=2ONOHIXGnrEC&pg=PA66 1 January 1997 McFarland 978-0-7864-0404-9 66 Workers' Party of Korea, delegation headed by Kim Il Sung.Ilpyong J. Kim Communist Politics in North Korea https://books.google.com/books?id=KgkEAQAAIAAJ 1975 Praeger 978-0-275-09190-3 95 Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, delegation headed by Dashiin Damba.Pacific Affairs https://books.google.com/books?id=GZcSAAAAIAAJ 1960 University of British Columbia 142 Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal was also part of the delegation, but did not get a space on the podium during the October Revolution anniversary celebration. Polish United Workers' Party, delegation headed by Władysław Gomułka.Ruud van Dijk William Glenn Gray Svetlana Savranskaya Jeremi Suri Qiang Zhai Encyclopedia of the Cold War https://books.google.com/books?id=QgX0bQ3Enj4C&pg=PA373 13 May 2013 Routledge 978-1-135-92311-2 373 Romanian Workers Party, delegation led by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. Nicolae Ceaușescu was also part of the delegation.The Current Digest of the Soviet Press https://books.google.com/books?id=GfxVAAAAYAAJ January 1965 29 Communist Party of the Soviet Union, delegation headed by Nikita Khrushchev. Workers Party of Vietnam, delegation led by Ho Chi Minh. He was accompanied by Lê Duẩn and Phạm Hùng. Phạm Hùng left the meeting on November 17, to attend the funeral of the President of Czechoslovakia Antonín Zápotocký. Present only at the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Algerian Communist PartyJean Elleinstein Georges Ayache Histoire mondiale des socialismes: 1945-1960 https://books.google.com/books?id=sqfaAAAAMAAJ 1984 Ed. des Lilas 295 978-2-200-37058-9 Communist Party of Argentina, delegation headed by Victorio Codovilla. Communist Party of Australia Communist Party of Austria Communist Party of Belgium Communist Party of Bolivia Communist Party of Brazil Communist Party of Canada Communist Party of Ceylon Communist Party of Chile Colombian Communist Party People's Vanguard Party of Costa Rica People's Socialist Party of CubaPolítica: quince días de México y del mundo https://books.google.com/books?id=304QAAAAIAAJ May 1963 xv Communist Party of Denmark, delegation headed by Aksel Larsen.Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev Serge Khrushchev Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev https://books.google.com/books?id=nR0f25dmbn0C&pg=PT372 2004 Penn State Press 0-271-02935-8 372 People's Socialist Party of the Dominican Republic Communist Party of Ecuador Communist Party of Finland, delegation headed by Ville Pessi.Milorad M. Drachkovitch Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern https://books.google.com/books?id=UWALiF59JU4C&pg=PA359 1973 Hoover Press 978-0-8179-8403-8 77, 155, 165, 249, 345, 359, 370 French Communist Party, delegation led by Maurice Thorez. Communist Party of Germany Communist Party of Great Britain, delegation headed by Harry Pollitt. Communist Party of Greece Guatemalan Party of LabourJaime Díaz-Rozzotto El carácter de la revolución guatemalteca: ocaso de la revolución democrático-burguesa corriente https://books.google.com/books?id=JzQy9OjE6r0C 2011 República de Guatemala Centroamérica 378 Communist Party of Honduras Communist Party of India Communist Party of Indonesia, delegation headed by Sudisman.Partai Komunis Indonesia. Comite Central Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Indonesia, March 31st-April 3rd, 1958: Documents https://books.google.com/books?id=DHgFAAAAMAAJ 1958 Jajasan Pembaruan 102 Iraqi Communist Party Communist Party of Israel, represented by Moshe Sneh and Tawfik Toubi.Joel Beinin Was the Red Flag Flying There? Marxist Politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Egypt and Israel 1948-1965 https://books.google.com/books?id=N4noUpCUfMYC&pg=PA192 22 October 1990 University of California Press 978-0-520-07036-3 192 Italian Communist Party, delegation headed by Palmiro Togliatti. Communist Party of Japan, represented by Yoshio Shiga and Korehito Kurahara.Fifty Years of the Japanese Communist Party https://books.google.com/books?id=plkLAQAAIAAJ 1980 Japanese Communist Party 175 Jordanian Communist Party Communist Party of Luxembourg Communist Party of Malaya, represented by Siu Cheong and Musa Ahmad.Aloysius Chin The Communist Party of Malaya: the inside story https://books.google.com/books?id=0yBwAAAAMAAJ 1994 Vinpress 978-967-81-0192-9 17Yōji Akashi Mako Yoshimura New Perspectives on the Japanese Occupation in Malaya and Singapore, 1941-1945 https://books.google.com/books?id=qHeGUGRrdtwC&pg=PA89 1 December 2008 NUS Press 978-9971-69-299-5 89 Mexican Communist Party Moroccan Communist Party Communist Party of the Netherlands, delegation headed by Paul de Groot. Communist Party of New Zealand, represented by Alec Ostler.Australian Journal of Political Science https://books.google.com/books?id=Rj5VAAAAYAAJ 1968 Carfax 169V. G. Wilcox New Zealand Party's Firm Stand: World Communist Differences https://books.google.com/books?id=1p4GAAAAMAAJ 1964 Foreign Languages Press 55 Communist Party of Norway People's Party of Panama Paraguayan Communist Party Peruvian Communist Party Portuguese Communist Party Sammarinese Communist Party Communist Party of Spain Communist Party of Sweden, delegation headed by Hilding Hagberg. Swiss Party of Labour Syrian–Lebanese Communist PartyGreat Soviet Encyclopedia https://books.google.com/books?id=3mHSiteDJ20C 1980 49New Times https://books.google.com/books?id=sBELAQAAMAAJ 1957 Newspaper "Trud," 32 Communist Party of Thailand Tunisian Communist Party Communist Party of Turkey Communist Party of Uruguay Communist Party of Venezuela League of Communists of Yugoslavia, delegation led by Edvard Kardelj and Aleksandar Ranković. Following the departure of John Gates from the Communist Party USA, the CPUSA subsequently endorsed the declarations of the 1957 meeting. See also Sino-Soviet split Soviet–Albanian split Tito-Stalin split 1960 International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties References External links The Struggle for Peace, Democracy and Socialism: Documents of Meetings of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties, Held in Moscow in November 1957, in Bucharest in June 1960, and in Moscow in November 1960 Declaration of Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist Countries Speeches at the 1957 'Moscow conference' Hidden Currents during the Honeymoon: Mao, Khrushchev, and the 1957 Moscow Conference Category:Communist parties Category:1957 in Moscow Category:1950s political conferences Category:1957 conferences Category:1957 in the Soviet Union International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties