Dmitry Mosyakov

The Beginning of a New Era: the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its Impact on Soviet-Vietnamese Relations

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2025, №4(69), 292-313

 
Annotation: Soviet Union, Vietnam, Geneva Conference, agrarian policy, repressions, A.I. Mikoyan, 20th Congress, N.S. Khrushchev, report, personality cult

Keywords: The article analyzes Soviet-Vietnamese relations in the period after the death of Joseph Stalin and the rise to power of Nikita Khrushchev in the USSR. It explores the impact of this change on the relations between the two parties and countries. In this context, the study of the so-called common position of the socialist countries at the Geneva Peace Conference is particularly important. The article highlights the general dissatisfaction of the leadership of the Workers' Party of Vietnam with the outcome of this forum and their early conflicts with their Chinese and Soviet allies. The article also examines the negative reaction of the Vietnamese communists to the results of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Nikita Khrushchev's speech criticizing the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin. Special attention is paid to the historical visit to Vietnam by A.I. Mikoyan as part of the study of the general nature of mutual relations. Оn the one hand, he failed to convince his Vietnamese colleagues of the correctness of the new Soviet leadership's criticism of Stalin, but on the other hand, his firm and principled stance managed to stop the wave of repressions in the party and the country, significantly change the model of building socialism in the countryside, and even achieve the resignation of the General Secretary of the PTV. Apparently, A.I. Mikoyan's visit was the highest point in the trust between the two parties and the influence of the CPSU on the Vietnamese communists. After his visit and the criticism, Hanoi decided to no longer allow foreign emissaries to solve its problems and set a course for resolving internal issues without the involvement of foreigners and for gradually distancing itself from its Soviet friends, who, according to the Vietnamese leadership, had taken the wrong course in building global socialism.