Stalin and China

Question 1

What was China locked in 1935?

Answer 1

• Civil war
• CCP, led by Mao vs GMD, led by Chiang Kai-shek

Question 2

What did Stalin decline to do throughout the years 1935-45?

Answer 2

• Act in spirit of Communist brotherhood, gave little support to Mao
• Stalin’s main aim was make the Chinese Communists obey Soviet instructions and conform to Soviet notions of Marxist revolution

Question 3

Why did Stalin decline to help the CCP in terms of national self interest?

Answer 3

• Declined to give the CCP full support in its war with the Japanese
• Believing that the Chinese communists were far weaker than the Nationalists, Stalin gave his main backing throughout the 1930s to Chiang Kai-shek
• Stalin’s hope was the by encouraging GMD resistance to the Japanese occupation of China, Russia would be less likely itself to be the object of Japanese expansionism

Question 4

What was the result of Stalin’s policy?

Answer 4

• Broadly worked
• Series of fighting incidents on the Manchurian border, but these were resolved in 1941 with the signing of a non aggression pact with Japan
• Held good until August 1945 when the USSR declared war on Japan