WHAT THEY ARE FIGHTING ABOUT AT ITS SIMPLEST, THE RUSSIAN-CHINESE QUARREL IS 
OVER WHAT STRATEGY TO FOLLOW TOWARD THE ULTIMATE VICTORY OF COMMUNISM 
AND OVER WHO SHALL BE IN CHARGE OF OPERATIONS . BUT 
BENEATH THIS THERE LIES A FAR DEEPER SPLIT : THE SPLIT 
BETWEEN COMMUNIST THEORY AND HUMAN REALITY . EVER SINCE KARL MARX 
PREDICTED THAT THE REVOLUTION WOULD BREAK OUT IN INDUSTRIALLY ADVANCED WESTERN 
EUROPE, WHILE IT ACTUALLY CAME IN BACKWARD, AGRICULTURAL RUSSIA, SUCH CONTRADICTIONS 
HAVE HAUNTED COMMUNISM . TODAY, ACCORDING TO MARXIST THEORY, CAPITALISM SHOULD 
BE IN ITS DEATH THROES, THE WORKING CLASS IN UTTER MISERY, 
AND THE FORMER COLONIAL PEOPLES WELL ON THE ROAD TO COMMUNISM 
. INSTEAD, CAPITALISM IS THRIVING, WESTERN WORKERS ARE GOING MIDDLE-CLASS, AND 
THE EX-COLONIES TEND TOWARD SOCIALISM BUT HARDLY TOWARD COMMUNISM . NIKITA 
KHRUSHCHEV FAVORS CHANGING THE THEORY TO FIT THESE FACTS MORE CLOSELY 
; HE IS, AS PEKING ACCURATELY CHARGES, A REVISIONIST . MAO 
TSE-TUNG FAVORS CHANGING THE FACTS TO FIT THE THEORY ; HE 
IS, AS MOSCOW SAYS, A DOGMATIST . BUT BOTH ARE ALSO 
REALISTS, MOTIVATED BY DIFFERENT NATIONAL INTERESTS, DIFFERENT ECONOMIES, AND DIFFERENT HISTORIES 
. KHRUSHCHEV, THE RULER OF A NATION THAT HAS AT LAST 
BEGUN TO GAIN SOME MATERIAL REWARDS, ARGUES THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT 
INTERESTED IN WAR OR REVOLUTION BUT IN PEACEFUL PROSPERITY, AND THAT 
ROCKETRATTLING WILL ONLY DRIVE MILLIONS AWAY FROM COMMUNISM . MAO, RULER 
OF A COUNTRY WITH A LOT LESS TO LOSE, MASTER OF 
A PEASANTRY WHOSE APPETITES DEMAND A BOWL OF RICE, NOT A 
TV SET OR A CAR, REPLIES IN EFFECT THAT HE IS 
NOT RUNNING A POPULARITY CONTEST WITH THE WEST . POWER CANNOT 
BE WON BY WOOING ADHERENTS BUT BY FIGHTING FOR IT OTHERWISE 
COMMUNISM WILL ATROPHY . FROM THE GOLDEN HORDE TO YENAN MARXISM 
PRETENDS THAT IT RAISES PEOPLE ABOVE RACE AND NATION, BUT MOSCOW 
AND PEKING ARE DIVIDED BY RACIAL HOSTILITY AND MEMORIES OF CONFLICT, 
WHICH WOULD PERSIST EVEN IF IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES COULD BE IRONED OUT 
. RUSSIA HAS NEVER FORGOTTEN THE GOLDEN HORDE OF GENGHIS KHAN, 
WHICH SWEPT WEST FROM MONGOLIA IN THE 13TH CENTURY, CONSCRIPTING VOLGA 
BOATMEN INTO THE KHAN'S ARMY AND FORCING LOCAL PRINCES TO KOWTOW. 
WHEN, AFTER 200 YEARS, THE MONGOL EMPIRE COLLAPSED, THE NEWLY UNITED 
RUSSIANS LOST NO TIME IN GETTING EVEN . " WEHRE IS 
CHINA ? " ASKED CZAR MIKHAIL ROMANOV . " IS IT 
RICH ? WHAT CAN WE LAY CLAIM TO ? " RUSSIAN 
CLAIMS (MANCHURIA, OUTER MONGOLIA, SINKIANG) CAUSED FRICTION FOR CENTURIES, DOWN TO 
THE PRESENT . AS LATE AS 1949, WHEN THE CHINESE REDS 
HAD VIRTUALLY CONQUERED THE MAINLAND FROM THE NATIONALISTS, MOSCOW WAS STILL 
DICKERING FOR TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS . THE CHINESE STILL SNEER AT THE 
RUSSIANS AS " BIG NOSES " AND CONSIDER THEM AS ALIEN 
AS OTHER WESTERNERS . MOREOVER, THE POPULATION PRESSURE ALONG THE SINO-SOVIET 
BORDER IS A CONSTANT MENACE TO MOSCOW ; BY 1980 THERE 
WILL BE 1 BILLION CHINESE . WHEN A BRITISH VISITOR SUGGESTED 
TO KHRUSHCHEV NOT LONG AGO THAT THE CHINESE MASSES WOULD EVENTUALLY 
EXPLODE NORTH INTO SIBERIA OR SOUTH TO AUSTRALIA, NIKITA REPLIED GRIMLY 
: " I'M IN FAVOR OF AUSTRALIA . " FROM THE 
START, RUSSIAN NATIONAL INTERESTS ALSO SHAPED MOSCOW'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE CHINESE 
COMMUNISTS . IN THE 1920S, STALIN RUTHLESSLY SACRIFICED MAO'S COMMUNIST MOVEMENT 
TO CHIANG KAISHEK, WHOM HE SUPPORTED BECAUSE HE CONSIDERED HIM A 
STRONG SOVIET ALLY WHO WOULD FIGHT BOTH WESTERN AND JAPANESE THREATS 
TO RUSSIAN POWER. DECIMATED BY CHIANG, THE RAGGED CHINESE COMMUNISTS SURVIVED 
IN THE CAVES OF YENAN AND EVENTUALLY WENT ON TO CONQUER 
CHINA, DESPITE STALIN'S WARNING THAT THEY WERE BACKWARD AND NOT READY 
FOR REVOLUTION . AFTER THE WAR, STALIN SENT MAO A RUSSIAN 
HANDBOOK OF PARTISAN STRATEGY AGAINST THE NAZIS ; MAO PASSED IT 
TO AN AIDE WHO SNORTED : " IF WE HAD THIS 
AS OUR TEXTBOOK WE WOULD HAVE BEEN ANNIHILATED TEN YEARS AGO 
. THUS MAO WAS BEHOLDEN NO ONE, LEAST OF ALL STALIN, 
FOR HIS VICTORY . YET IRONICALLY, THE FIRST OPEN IDEOLOGICAL CRACK 
IN THE MOSCOW-PEKING PARTNERSHIP CAME OVER KHRUSHCHEV'S 1956 DENUNCIATION OF STALIN 
. FROM " SECRET SPEECH " TO SPUTNIK MAO HAD SENT 
A MESSAGE TO THE 20TH PARTY CONGRESS LAVISHLY PRAISING THE DEAD 
DICTATOR . WITHOUT BOTHERING TO CONSULT THE CHINESE, KHRUSHCHEV DELIVERED HIS 
FAMED " SECRET SPEECH " TO THE CONGRESS, IN WHICH HE 
SUDDENLY UNMASKED STALIN AS A MEGALOMANICAL TYRANT . PEKING WAS STUNNED 
. MAO FELT CORRECTLY, AS WAS PROVED A FEW MONTHS LATER 
BY THE UPRISINGS IN POLAND AND HUNGARY THAT THE DESTALINIZATION DRIVE 
WOULD TOUCH OFF A WAVE OF UNREST . EVEN THOUGH STALIN 
HAD BULLIED AND BETRAYED THE CHINESE COMMUNISTS (AS WELL AS HELPED 
THEM, AT A PRICE, DURING THE KOREAN WAR), MAO BELIEVED IN 
STALIN'S PRINCIPLE OF CENTRALIZED RULE, PREFERRED A STABLE RED EMPIRE TO 
ONE IN FERMENT . THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE HASTILY 
CALLED A SECRET SESSION ; A MONTH LATER, RED CHINA DEFIANTLY 
ANNOUNCED THAT, DESPITE WHAT THE KREMLIN HAD TO SAY, STALIN'S ACHIEVEMENTS 
OUTWEIGHED HIS ERRORS . ON FOREIGN POLICY PEKING AGREED FOR THE 
MOMENT TO BACK KHRUSHCHEV'S TALK OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE WITH THE WEST, 
SINCE MAO HIMSELF WAS THEN ENERGETICALLY PUSHING THE " BANDUNG SPIRIT 
" OF SWEET NEIGHBORLINESS IN ASIA . EVEN THIS QUALIFIED SUPPORT 
FOR THE KREMLIN DISAPPEARED WHEN, IN AUGUST 1957, THE SOVIET UNION 
TEST-FIRED ITS FIRST ICBM AND TWO MONTHS LATER LAUNCHED SPUTNIK . 
RUSSIAN ROCKETRY, PEKING DECIDED, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY GAVE 
THE COMMUNIST CAMP MILITARY SUPERIORITY OVER THE WEST ; THE REDS 
MUST NOW SEIZE THE ADVANTAGE BY FOMENTING REVOLUTIONS IN UNDERDEVELOPED NATIONS, 
EVEN AT THE RISK OF WAR . INSTEAD, KHRUSHCHEV PURSUED A 
DETENTE WITH THE WEST . IN 1958 HE AGREED TO A 
MORATORIUM ON NUCLEAR TESTING IN THE ATMOSPHERE (BROKEN IN 1961), PARTLY 
DESIGNED TO FREEZE OUT PEKING AS AN ATOMIC POWER . WHEN 
THE CHINESE WANTED RUSSIAN ATOMIC COVER FOR A MOVE AGAINST THE 
OFFSHORE ISLANDS AND FORMOSA, MOSCOW REFUSED . FROM GREAT LEAP TO 
GREAT BRAWL MEANWHILE, THE RUSSIANS DID NOT SEEM EAGER TO HELP 
THEIR CHINESE BROTHERS WITH THEIR GROWING INTERNAL ECONOMIC DIFFICULTIES . WHILE 
KHRUSHCHEV WOOED NEUTRALIST INDIA AND EGYPT WITH AID, AND EVEN BROUGHT 
HIS MONEYBAGS ON A PILGRIMAGE TO THAT RENEGADE RED, TITO, NOT 
AN ADDITIONAL RUBLE WAS ALLOTTED TO MAO . THE RED CHINESE 
USED THE ONLY SURPLUS RAW MATERIAL AT THEIR COMMAND : PEOPLE 
. MILLIONS OF PEASANTS WERE HERDED INTO PEOPLE'S COMMUNES AND HITCHED 
TO PLOWS . PEKING BROKE UP FAMILIES, TRIED TO BAN MONEY, 
JERRY-BUILT HUNDREDS OF " BACKYARD " STEEL FURNACES . THE SLOGAN 
WAS : " COMMUNISM CAN GROW GRAIN AND MAKE STEEL . 
" THROUGH BRAWN AND " REVOLUTIONARY ROMANTICISM " CHINA WAS TO 
TURN ALMOST OVERNIGHT INTO AN INDUSTRIALIZED LAND . THE GREAT LEAP 
FORWARD WAS HAILED AS A SHORT CUT TO COMMUNISM AND A 
SLAP AT MOSCOW . KHRUSHCHEV WARNED THAT IT COULD NOT BE 
DONE . AFTER A FEW MONTHS THE EXPERIMENT INDEED COLLAPSED . 
GLOATING OVER THE FAILURE, KHRUSHCHEV TOLD VISITING HUBERT HUMPHREY THAT MAO'S 
IDEA HAD BEEN FOOLISHLY " UTOPIAN . " BY THE TIME 
NIKITA SHOWED UP IN PEKING IN 1959, FRESH FROM HIS TOUR 
OF THE U.S . AND THE MEETING WITH IKE AT CAMP 
DAVID, HE WAS BARELY ON SPEAKING TERMS WITH HIS HOSTS . 
THE AIRPORT WAS DECORATED WITH HUGE POSTERS OF STALIN ; ON 
THE WAY TO TOWN, KHRUSHCHEV AND MAO BEGAN AN ARGUMENT THAT 
LASTED FOR THE NEXT FOUR DAYS . WHEN THE SOVIET RULER 
LEFT, NOT EVEN THE NICETIES OF A FORMAL COMMUNIQUE WERE OBSERVED. 
BY EARLY 1960 MAO HAD CLEARLY GIVEN UP HOPE OF PERSUADING 
KHRUSHCHEV TO CHANGE HIS FLEXIBLE COLD WAR POLICY, AND BEGAN AN 
ALL-OUT CHINESE OFFENSIVE DESIGNED TO TOPPLE KHRUSHCHEV FROM POWER . IT 
WAS ALSO THE START OF AN ENDLESS ARGUMENT ABOUT WHETHER AUTHORITY 
FOR MOSCOW'S " PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE " OR PEKING'S " INEVITABILITY OF 
WAR " COULD BE FOUND IN THE SACRED LENIN TEXTS . 
ACTUALLY LENIN, AND EVEN STALIN, HAD ARGUED BOTH WAYS AT VARIOUS 
TIMES, DEPENDING ON CONDITIONS AND MOSCOW POINTED OUT THAT CONDITIONS WERE 
CERTAINLY DIFFERENT IN THE NUCLEAR AGE . WHEN MAO'S MEN CARRIED 
THE ATTACK INTO A MEETING OF WORLD COMMUNIST LEADERS IN BUCHAREST 
IN JUNE, KHRUSHCHEV WAS INCENSED . " ONE CANNOT MECHANICALLY REPEAT 
WHAT LENIN SAID DECADES AGO, " HE SHOUTED . " WE 
LIVE IN A TIME WHEN NEITHER MARX NOR ENGELS NOR LENIN 
IS WITH US . IF WE ACT LIKE CHILDREN WHO STUDY 
THE ALPHABET BY BUILDING WORDS OUT OF LETTERS, WE SHALL NOT 
GET VERY FAR . " A FULL-DRESS SUMMIT SESSION OF 81 
COMMUNIST PARTIES IN MOSCOW IN NOVEMBER 1960 PRODUCED A STATEMENT (ADOPTED 
UNANIMOUSLY, OF COURSE) THAT MERELY LUMPED TOGETHER THESE DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED OPINIONS 
. THEN LAST FALL, THE RED CHINESE INVASION OF INDIA ONLY 
SERVED TO JUSTIFY KHRUSHCHEV'S VIEW THAT MAO WAS A RECKLESS FANATIC, 
AND MOSCOW OSTENTATIOUSLY FAILED TO BACK PEKING . AS FOR KHRUSHCHEV'S 
WITHDRAWAL OF SOVIET MISSILES FROM CUBA, THE MANEUVER CONFIRMED MAO'S WORST 
FEARS ABOUT VACILLATING KREMLIN LEADERSHIP, LEANING FIRST TO " ADVENTURISM, " 
THEN TO " CAPITULATIONISM . " THUNDERED PEKING : " IT 
IS 100 PER CENT APPEASEMENT . A MUNICH PURE AND SIMPLE 
. IMPERIALISM IS ONLY A PAPER TIGER . " TO WHICH 
KHRUSHCHEV REPLIED : " THE PAPER TIGER HAS NUCLEAR TEETH . 
ONLY A MADMAN WOULD SPEAK OF A NEW WORLD WAR . 
" AND THAT IS ESSENTIALLY WHERE THE ARGUMENT STILL STANDS . 
FROM VISION TO DANGER TIME WAS WHEN WESTERN SKEPTICS WONDERED WHETHER 
THE SINO-SOVIET SPLIT WAS REAL . KHRUSHCHEV, THEY FIGURED, MIGHT BE 
RELATIVELY NICE TO THE WEST ONLY LONG ENOUGH TO WANGLE SOME 
CONCESSIONS ON NATO OR NUCLEAR ARMS CONTROL ; THEN MAO WOULD 
STEP IN AND TOGETHER THEY WOULD DEMOLISH THE FREE WORLD . 
TODAY IT IS INCONCEIVABLE THAT THE QUARREL IS MERELY AN ACT 
. IN FACT, THERE IS A GROWING VISION SHARED BY SUCH 
DISPARATE PROPHETS AS ARNOLD TOYNBEE AND CHARLES DE GAULLE OF RUSSIA 
AND THE WEST SOME DAY STANDING TOGETHER AS ALLIES AGAINST CHINA 
. STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED IN HISTORY . YET THE VISION 
HAS ITS DANGERS . THE WEST HAS ALMOST IMPERCEPTIBLY MOVED INTO 
A NEW ERA OF SOFTNESS TOWARD COMMUNISM . FEW ANY LONGER 
TALK OF DEFEATING COMMUNISM ; COEXISTENCE IS MORE OR LESS ACCEPTED 
IN THE WEST . THIS MAY BE ONLY REALISTIC IN THE 
NUCLEAR AGE . BUT ALL OVER THE WEST THERE IS A 
CREEPING NOTION THAT KHRUSHCHEV'S KIND OF COMMUNISM CAN BE LIVED WITH 
THAT ONLY PEKING'S IS REALLY BAD AND THIS HAS TAKEN MUCH 
STEAM OUT OF THE ANTI-COMMUNIST POSITION . NIKITA'S " REASONABLE " 
APPROACH HAS HELPED THE ITALIAN REDS GAIN STRENGTH, HAS REVIVED DREAMS 
OF A NEW POPULAR FRONT AMONG ONCE SOLIDLY ANTI-COMMUNIST FRENCH SOCIALISTS, 
HAS EVEN PROMPTED BELGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER PAUL HENRI SPAAK TO SAY 
THAT THE REMOVAL OF U.S . NUCLEAR STOCKPILES FROM WESTERN EUROPE 
MIGHT NOT BE SUCH A BAD IDEA AFTER ALL . THESE 
ARE ONLY MODEST RED GAINS . BUT KHRUSHCHEV CAN POINT TO 
THEM TO ARGUE PLAUSIBLY THAT HE IS NOT NEARLY SO BAD 
A COMMUNIST STRATEGIST AS PEKING MAKES HIM OUT TO BE 