Beyond Moscow-Centric Interpretation: An Examination of the China Connection in Eastern Europe and North Vietnam during the Era of De-Stalinization

Abstract

The de-Stalinization process and the subsequent liberalization in the mid-1950s was a phenomenon of global communism. While acknowledging that Moscow was the most important source of this political change, this article challenges the Moscow-centric interpretation of de-Stalinization, which often ignores or underestimates sources of political change other than those initiated in Moscow. It examines China's role in the liberalization process in Eastern Europe and North Vietnam by revealing direct Chinese influence in these lands and by discussing parallels between these countries and China. The Eastern European and Vietnamese cases indicate that the China connection played an important role independent from Moscow in de-Stalinization. The article also suggests an Asian pattern of de-Stalinization represented by Chinese and Vietnamese intellectuals' dissent, as opposed to mass protest and even revolt represented by the Polish-Hungarian incident.