The Foreign Service Journal, June 2020

18 JUNE 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Jonathan Pollack, a senior nonresi- dent fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted the irony of the White House requesting assistance from South Korea to combat the novel coronavirus even as it continues to push for more money. “It’s both a colossal mess and potentially 50 Years Ago Superpowers and Peaceful Coexistence E ven a cursory examination of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union since World War II makes one realize that we are lucky to be alive. Yet, for the past fourteen years or so, the name given by the Russians to this seem- ingly perilous state of affairs has been “peaceful coexistence.” Since this time span encompasses serious crises in many parts of the world, numerous threats, mobilizations and provocations, it is well to ask what the words mean. It is clear that peaceful coexis- tence has not meant an eschewing of competition or conflict. What it has meant, when it has been observed, is a set of ground rules, mainly tacit in nature, governing relations with the United States and its Allies: there still will be competi- tion, but this competition should halt short of war. The term is sanctified in Soviet usage by having been used by Lenin himself, but the way in which it has been applied since about 1955 has forced the Russians to expand and modify Lenin’s definition to justify its more recent practice. Thus, Lenin saw peaceful coex- istence as a tactic, useful merely to postpone the inevitable conflict between socialism and capitalism. It could be used in periods of com- munist weak- ness to give the forces of socialism breathing space to build up their strength for the preordained battle, but it was never more than an expedient; certainly not a permanent feature of ideology. More recent Soviet leaders, par- ticularly Khrushchev, gave peaceful coexistence a permanent place in Soviet policy and produced suit- able ideological modifications to Leninism to give it proper sanction. But why did the Soviet Union feel compelled to enunciate this doc- trine, and what were the practical and ideological manifestations of this policy? The proper order for a reply, I believe, is first to examine the circumstances which I think led to the adoption of peaceful coexistence, and then discuss the way it has been practiced and the modifications of Soviet doctrine required to sanction it. This order, in my estimation, corresponds to the way in which this policy (and almost any other) was adopted: a response made to a situation, followed later by the justification. —Thomas C. Calhoun (FSIO, ret.) in the June 1970 FSJ . a very dangerous one,” Pollack told The Washington Post . n This edition of Talking Points was compiled by Cameron Woodworth, Steve Honley and Shawn Dorman. AFSPA afspa.org ASU Thunderbird School of Global Management thunderbird.asu.edu/ emagam Clements Worldwide clements.com/fsj Episcopal Church Schools of Virginia episcopalschoolsva.org Federal Employee Protection Systems fedsprotection.com Georgetown University, Walsh School of Foreign Service, ISD casestudies.isd. georgetown.edu Jake Realty Group jackrealtygroup.com Property Specialists, Inc. propertyspecialistsinc.com Richey Property Management richeypm.com WJD Management wjdpm.com