The Chinese and the Russians

Klaus Mehnert
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Klaus Mehnert: Institute of Technology, Aachen, Germany

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1963, vol. 349, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: The Russians have been and still are Europeans, not less so than other peoples who—like the Spaniards—have lived part of their history under foreign domination—in Rus sia's case, this was Tatar domination. Hence, the Russians differ from the Chinese as much as other Europeans do. This fact is illustrated by comparison of the Chinese and the Rus sians with regard to their intellectual, spiritual, and emotional aspects. In some respects, the Russians are even remoter from the Chinese than other European peoples because they have been molded by a particularly emotional form of Christianity which is very far removed from the matter-of-factness of Con fucianism. In the field of social organization, the two main peculiarities of China—the power of the clan over its members and the formation of the ruling elite by examinations—have no counterpart in Russia. In turn, the slavelike position of the Russian peasant and the power of the hereditary nobility around the czar were unknown in China. The explanation for the victory of communism in the two vastly different countries is, thus, not to be found in a particular predisposition of the Chinese and the Russians to communism but in peculiar histori cal circumstances, forces, and personalities which operated in each country, largely as a result of the Western impact which hit both these huge, proud, gifted, and economically backward nations.

Date: 1963
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:349:y:1963:i:1:p:1-13

DOI: 10.1177/000271626334900102

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