ABSTRACT
In 1977 the Chinese Communist party (CPC) began to emerge from a long period of self-imposed isolation and to reinsert itself into the international Communist party system. Like the Yugoslav and Italian parties, the CPC is reordering the old hierarchical system of progressive forces under the self-proclaimed leadership of Communist parties. The CPC’s most active relations are indeed with the German Social Democrats--to whom Chinese representatives have expressed the wish to participate in some form in the work of the Socialist International. Communist party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) silence also clearly indicates a certain perplexity in Moscow on the best way to handle Beijing’s new strategy in world Communism. The three world Communist conferences in 1957, 1960, and 1969 aimed at this goal, which Beijing rules out, if only because it fears that the CPSU would force the Chinese into a minority position, subjugating them to Soviet will.
