Frustrated by the rearmament of West Germany and the success of NATO, the Kremlin concocted a new strategy in the early 1960s in its quest to help capitalism self-destruct: encourage civil wars of "[[National liberation movement|national liberation]]" in the third world. The Communist logic, following [[Lenin]], was that the economic health of capitalism depended on its exploitation of the wealth of the [[Third World]]. Without that exploitation capitalism would finally collapse. Russia would give military and diplomatic support to anti-colonial, anti-capitalist pro- Communist movements. The new slogan of the left across the globe was that America—run by and for the benefit of giant corporations—had succeeded [[fascism]] as most dangerous agent of [[imperialism]]. [[Moscow]]'s differences with [[Beijing]] on Marxist theory meant that it had to compete for influence among [[leftist]]s: the winner would be the one seen as more anti-American. Third world proxy operations appeared to be much cheaper and safer than direct confrontation with [[NATO]]. | Frustrated by the rearmament of West Germany and the success of NATO, the Kremlin concocted a new strategy in the early 1960s in its quest to help capitalism self-destruct: encourage civil wars of "[[National liberation movement|national liberation]]" in the third world. The Communist logic, following [[Lenin]], was that the economic health of capitalism depended on its exploitation of the wealth of the [[Third World]]. Without that exploitation capitalism would finally collapse. Russia would give military and diplomatic support to anti-colonial, anti-capitalist pro- Communist movements. The new slogan of the left across the globe was that America—run by and for the benefit of giant corporations—had succeeded [[fascism]] as most dangerous agent of [[imperialism]]. [[Moscow]]'s differences with [[Beijing]] on Marxist theory meant that it had to compete for influence among [[leftist]]s: the winner would be the one seen as more anti-American. Third world proxy operations appeared to be much cheaper and safer than direct confrontation with [[NATO]]. |