HISTORY LESSONS: FEATURES OF THE SINO-SOVIET MANAGEMENT OF CER IN THE 1920’S

Abstract

The article is devoted to the Sino-Soviet management of Chinese Eastern railway (CER), which still stays poorly studied, full of contradictions. Despite the variety of studies on the history of CER there is a number of questions that need clarification. What was CER for the USSR and China? Was the equal terms real, not nominal? How justified were the claims of the Soviet and Chinese sides to each other? On the basis of unpublished archival sources, (in particular, Russian State Historical Archive), the article examines the points of view of both the Soviet and Chinese sides on the activities and importance of the CER, analyzes the composition of the CER Board and Management, employees and workers with Soviet and Chinese citizenship, identifies cases of parity violation. The author comes to the conclusion that the joint Sino-Soviet management of CER faced a number of problems related to the political, social and cultural differences between the two countries, as well as the international and domestic political situation. Both sides suspected each other of violating parity and exceeding authority, and treated hierarchy issues differently. In addition to language difficulties and problems of intercultural communication, the unclear prospects of the USSR in Northern Manchuria and increased Chinese nationalism played a role. Nevertheless, both the Soviet and Chinese sides have shown themselves being pragmatists and realists, using various strategies to strengthen and keep power at the CER.