Greetings to the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU
(February 9, 1956)

Source: RMRB (Feb. 16, 1956), 1.

This message was quite possibly delivered by the Chinese delegation to the Twentieth
Congress of the CPSU, which was convened in Moscow in February 1956. At this
Congress, Khrushchev, in a “secret report,” denounced Stalin for violating the
principles of socialism, for dictatorial methods of leadership, and as a serious
obstacle in the road of development of Soviet society. Khrushchev also approved of
employing “diverse methods,” including parliamentary methods, in lieu of political
revolutionary methods, toward the forming of socialist states in many countries. In
terms of international communism, Khrushchev approved of the principles of
“peaceful transition, peaceful coexistence, and peaceful competition” between bourgeois democracy and socialism. Despite this telegram’s laudatory sentiments, which
were expressed before the import of the congress became evident, Mao’s own critique
of this Khrushchevian de-Stalinization would develop quickly in the months ahead.
In the Soviet Union itself, the new line triggered the rapid emergence of protest
literature, and abroad, new anti-Soviet sentiments (not to mention the release of
pent-up anti-Stalinist feelings) precipitated the Poznan riots in Poland and the
Hungarian uprising in June and October 1956 (see text Nov. 15, 1956, note 27). As
a consequence of Khrushchev’s new line, which in Mao’s view negated the basic
significance of socialist revolution, Sino-Soviet relations rapidly deteriorated. See
the Russian Institute, ed. (1956), and D. Zagoria (1962). See also text Oct. 9, 1957.

To the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and all comrades
attending the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union:

On behalf of all the members of the Chinese Communist Party and all the
Chinese people, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party hereby
sincerely extends its warm congratulations to the Twentieth Congress of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Since the Nineteenth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,1
the Soviet Union has victoriously taken yet another great step forward on the road
to communism and has also achieved extraordinarily great and important successes

in the area of safeguarding and consolidating world peace. The Chinese Communist
Party is overjoyed and greatly encouraged by the magnificent victories scored by
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the people of the Soviet Union during
this period, and it expresses its warm congratulations.
Owing to the correct leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the
people of the Soviet Union have already completed the Fifth Five-Year Plan ahead
of schedule. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union has firmly adhered to the
general line of giving priority to the development of heavy industry; this has promoted
a general upsurge in all sectors of the Soviet Union’s national economy. The series
of correct measures adopted by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with regard
to the improvement of industrial technology and the improvement of the organization
of industrial production have also created expansive prospects for the further upsurge
of Soviet industry and for the raising of labor productivity to a new stage.
Owing to the correct leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
Soviet agriculture has recently achieved great successes. The series of resolutions
that have been passed adopted by the powerful measures that have been adopted by the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union with regard to opening up virgin land; to
further promoting the mechanization and electrification of agriculture; and to
increasing the production of grain, industrial raw materials, and animal husbandry
products are the foundation for the new victories achieved by the Soviet Union in
agricultural production.
Along with the rapid development of industrial and agricultural production, the
material and cultural levels of the people of the Soviet Union are being raised with
each passing day, and a splendorous outlook has emerged in Soviet sciences. In the
area of the peaceful use of atomic energy, the Soviet Union is ahead of [the rest of]
the world. All of this indicates that the Soviet Union, which is making great strides
toward communist society, is becoming increasingly prosperous and increasingly
strong. The draft directive of the Twentieth Congress with regard to the Sixth
Five-Year Plan vividly and brilliantly reflects the fact that the people of the Soviet
Union have already scored and will score astounding achievements. It constitutes a
milestone in the construction of communist society by the people of the Soviet Union.
This plan will certainly be fulfilled ahead of time and beyond the targets. This will
make the camp of world peace, democracy, and socialism increasingly an invincible
force.
Owing to the correct leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the
Soviet Union has likewise scored great successes in foreign relations. The further
broadening and consolidation of cooperation between the Soviet Union and the
people’s democracies of Europe and Asia; the normalization of relations between the
Soviet Union and Yugoslavia; the signing of a peace treaty between the Soviet Union
and Austria; the convening of the four-nation summit meeting; the improvement of
relations between the Soviet Union and Finland and Norway; the establishment of
diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the German Federal Republic; and
especially the visits of profound historical significance made by the delegations of
the Soviet Union to India, Burma, and Afghanistan—all have played an important
role in the struggle to safeguard world peace.

The great successes recently scored by the Soviet Union at home as well as
abroad cannot be separated from the correct leadership provided by the long-tempered Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union headed by
Comrade Khrushchev and the rock-solid unity of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has
abided by the doctrines of communism, has firmly adhered to the Leninist principle
of collective leadership, has forged intimate links with the millions of Soviet
people, has constantly developed criticism and self-criticism, and has resolutely
smashed Beria's traitorous conspiratorial clique.2 All this constitutes the basic
element in guaranteeing that the policies of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union will be victorious wherever they are applied and that the entire Party will
consolidate its unity. The more consolidated the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union is, and the more magnificent the victories of the Soviet Union in all areas
are, the stronger is the proof that the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, created
by Lenin and nourished by Stalin together with his intimate comrades-in-arms, is
strong and invincible.

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been in the past, is now, and will
be in the future an outstanding model for the communist parties of the various
countries throughout the world. It is the first shock brigade of the world's revolutionary movement and workers' movement.3

Between the Communist Party and the people of the Soviet Union and the
Communist Party and the people of China there exist the most intimate relations.
Such fraternal and inviolable friendly relations are developing day by day. They
have already become a powerful element in the consolidation of the socialist camp
and in the safeguarding of world peace. The Chinese Communist Party will forever
stand alongside the communist parties of the countries in the socialist camp headed
by the Soviet Union and [alongside] the communist parties of the various other
countries, and it will carry on the tireless struggle for the consolidation of world
peace and the realization of progress for all mankind.

The Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union will make
an enormous and creative contribution to the cause of the further construction of
communism in the Soviet Union and to the cause of the defense and consolidation
of world peace. It will be a new encouragement to the Chinese people and to the
people of the various other countries in the world. Let us shout:
Long live the great, glorious, and ever-triumphant Communist Party of the
Soviet Union! Long live the Leninist Central Committee of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union!
Long live the eternal and indestructible friendship between the peoples of the
two countries of China and the Soviet Union!
Long live the victory of the invincible cause of Communism!
Mao Zedong
Chairman
The Central Committee
The Chinese Communist Party
February 9, 1956

Notes

1. This Congress was convened during October of 1952. The Chinese delegation to the
conference was led by Liu Shaoqi and remained in the Soviet Union until January 1953.
2. See text Oct. 11, 1955(1), vol. I, note 67.
3. The Chinese term _tuji dui_, which is obviously originally a military term, is used often
by Mao to connote concentrated forces that are employed for the resolution of urgent
problems; see text Dec. 27, 1955(2), vol. I, note 99. At the risk of reading a bit too much
into the context here, we feel that there might have been some significance in the Chinese
Communists’ usage of this term here, rather than the term _xianfeng_, or “vanguard,” which
is more conventionally used to describe the relationship between the Communist Party and
the people, or the socialist movement in general.