The East Wind Prevails Over the West Wind

November 17, 1957

[Extracted from Mao's remarks to Chinese students in Moscow, 17 November 1957. (Mao Ch-his tasai Su-lien ti yen-lun, pp.14-15).]

Chairman Mao pointed out first of all that the October Socialist Revolution marks a turning point in world history; the appearance in the heavens of two artificial satellites and the coming to Moscow of delegates from the sixty-four communist and works' parties to celebrate the holiday of the October Revolution mark a new turning point. The forces of socialism surpass the forces of imperialism. The imperialist forces have a leader, America; our socialist camp must also have a leader, and that leader the Soviet Union. If we do not have a leader our forces might disintegrate! Chairman Mao... said it was an event of great significance that the communist and workers' parties of sixty-four countries attended the celebrations of the fortieth anniversary of the great October Socialist Revolution. It showed the solidarity of the socialist countries, let by the Soviet Union. It showed the solidarity of the communists and workers' parties the world over, with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as their center. Chairman Mao said that the direction of the wind in the world had changed. In the struggle between the socialist and capitalist camps, it was no longer the west wind that prevailed over the East wind, but the East wind that prevailed over the West wind. The world now has a population of 2.7 billion, the countries now struggling for independence or for complete independence plus the capitalist countries with neutralist tendencies 600 million, and the imperialist camp only about 400 million, besides which they are also divided internally. Earth quakes are likely to occur over there. At present, Chairman Mao said, it was not the west wind that was prevailing over the East wind, but the east wind prevailing over the west wind.

Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung