172 { China’s Quest
the final end state of human society, classless and equalitarian communism,
could begin.
As successor to Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, Mao needed to establish
himself as a theorist. Mao had a staff of ideologues that drafted and repeat-
edly redrafted the various ideological statements issued during these years.
But Mao always had the final say. Even documents promulgated by other peo-
ple and under other names were closely edited by Mao. But in addition to the
mere creation of a body of theory, Mao needed to demonstrate the correctness
of that theory in practice, through successful application. Domestically, suc-
cess was measured by whether Chinese society continued to move toward the
utopian vision of communism. Internationally, success was to be measured
by the advance of Maoist-style wars of national liberation, with Southeast
Asia the most important geographic test bed for this effort.
Mao’s understanding of the international communist movement was
profoundly romantic. Through his polemical struggles against the CPSU’s
“mistakes,” Mao was in fact attacking a major mechanism of Soviet national
power—Moscow’s leadership of the international communist movement—but
seems not to have realized this until 1961 or 1962. By 1960, there were com-
munist parties in 100 countries.^18 In thirteen of those countries, the parties
were in power. In many countries, nonruling parties were influential: Italy,
France, Indonesia, Iran, and Iraq, to name a few. In others, the parties were
less influential or even marginal. But even then, they typically gave Moscow
the ability to inject Soviet views into the local political scene. Moscow’s ability
to guide the international communist movement was, in fact, a major instru-
ment of Soviet national power, second only to the might of the Red Army. But
the Soviet military was limited to lands fairly close to Soviet borders. Even
utilization of Soviet armed forces (in 1956 for example) was legitimized by the
international communist movement. Moscow’s ability to guide the interna-
tional communist movement gave Moscow a truly global voice to vindicate
and support Soviet moves.
The crux of Moscow’s control over the international communist movement
was its ability to define that movement’s line. Moscow also provided cash sup-
port, medical treatment, and other succor for foreign communist leaders who
were often pariahs in their own countries.^19 Moscow also sometimes provided
training, weapons, or equipment. These incentives were important. But the
international communist movement was, at its core, a messianic movement
inspired by a vision of a better society. For communists, at least those who
looked to Moscow, the Soviet Union represented the creation-in-progress of a
“new civilization,” as prominent British socialists Sidney and Beatrice Webb
proclaimed in the 1930s. It was this that inspired loyalty to Moscow, a will-
ingness to accept Moscow’s dictate of “line.” It was this that was undermined
by Beijing’s polemics.