Causes and Elevation of the Sino-Soviet Schism 1927-1969 It can be argued that the most significant effect on foreign policy during the Cold War, besides the arms race, was the schism and eventually antagonism between the USSR Some historians have argued that the schism between the USSR continued toelevate throughout the Cold War. Alvin Z. Rubenstien, in his book “Soviet Foreign PolicySince World War II” makes the argument that “The Sino-Soviet rift is more complextoday [Rubenstien wrote his book in 1985] than ever before.” (Rubenstien, 148) Somehistorians argue that the schism has continued to grow long after the end of the 1960’s.Other argue that the schism had reached its climax by 1965, when both nations almostcompletely broke off relations with one another. By 1965 the schism between the USSRand the Soviet Union was complete and it had become a policy between the two nations topursue antagonistic policies against one another. (Nogee, 256-61)After the end of the second World War it was a goal of Stalin and the SovietUnion to encourage, and even coordinate, the rise of communist regimes in othercountries. (Salisbury, 33-7) But this was not the case in China, where the Soviets were notable to incite a communist revolution. Instead, Mao Zedong carried out a communistrevolution that was independent of Soviet influence. (Nogee, 199) This, of course,irritated the Soviets and cause them to oppose the People’s Republic of China for aboutthe first fifteen years of its existence. Many historians feel that this was the first of themany Sino-Soviet disputes- the mere fact that China was able to engender a communistregime. (Simmons, 17)In 1927 the Soviets had unsuccessfully tried to incite a communist revolution inChina, this attempt not only failed but brought the deaths of thousands of Chinesecommunists and the expulsion of Soviets from China. After this failure the Soviets refusedto invest anymore time in...
