Little Chance 91 sives by the Eighth Route Army against Japanese forces in China;it figured prominently in Chinese foreign policy in the early and late(though not the mid)1950s,was enshrined in Lin Biao's 1965 essay on People's War,and reemerged in Mao's waning years in his Three Worlds Theory.Even after Mao had concluded that the USSR was not socialist and lumped Soviet revisionism together with U.S.imperialism in the superpower "First World,"he still saw the revolutionary struggles of the "Third World"as constituting the cutting edge of world progress. The concept of the intermediate zone had substantial significance for the PRC's foreign relations.It meant that by helping foreign revolutionary movements and states in the intermediate zone,the PRC was defending itself.The U.S.imperialists,or later the Soviet hegemonists,were less likely to attack China if the Korean,Vietnamese,Algerian,Congolese,etc. anti-imperialist forces were advancing.The concept of the intermediate zone dissolves the oft-cited conundrum of contradiction between national security and ideological solidarity.Although the CCP never supported all foreign revolutionary movements in all times and all places,when it did render such support,it typically saw such support as merging the interests of China's revolutionary state and foreign revolutionary movements.Strong foreign revolutionary movements were China's own first line of defense. Another component of Mao's thinking about the global revolutionary process was that the socialist countries were the natural,sincere friend of the revolutionary struggles of the intermediate zone.While imperialist na- tions might sometimes find it expedient to give assistance to such struggles- as the United States did during the Japan-U.S.war-this assistance always had ulterior motives.Its purpose was to maintain and strengthen the mecha- nisms of imperialist domination and exploitation.Only the socialist coun- tries were not motivated by imperialist objectives.Although Mao had long been critical of the Comintern's"mistakes"regarding the Chinese Revolu- tion,he nonetheless saw a fundamental sincerity,sympathy,and identity of interests in PRC-USSR relations.While Stalin gave greater or less support to the Chinese revolutionary movement depending on the immediate re- quirements of Soviet diplomacy.he was,Mao believed,fundamentally sym- pathetic to the Chinese Revolution and its victory.The USSR,unlike the USA,would welcome and support the extrication of China from the global system of imperialism. Here again we return to Lenin's concept of imperialism.Imperialism was by definition a phenomenon of capitalism.Since socialist economies were not driven by profit-seeking accumulation of capital,countries with such economies could not be imperialist.It also followed that such countries had no interest in maintaining the system of imperialist domination and exploita- tion of countries in the intermediate zone,such as China.Indeed,socialist and intermediate zone countries had a common interest in weakening imperi- alism.With the founding of the PRC,Mao and his comrades acted on these beliefs.Little Chance : 91 sives by the Eighth Route Army against Japanese forces in China; it figured prominently in Chinese foreign policy in the early and late (though not the mid) 1950s, was enshrined in Lin Biao’s 1965 essay on People’s War, and reemerged in Mao’s waning years in his Three Worlds Theory. Even after Mao had concluded that the USSR was not socialist and lumped Soviet revisionism together with U.S. imperialism in the superpower “First World,” he still saw the revolutionary struggles of the “Third World” as constituting the cutting edge of world progress. The concept of the intermediate zone had substantial significance for the PRC’s foreign relations. It meant that by helping foreign revolutionary movements and states in the intermediate zone, the PRC was defending itself. The U.S. imperialists, or later the Soviet hegemonists, were less likely to attack China if the Korean, Vietnamese, Algerian, Congolese, etc. anti-imperialist forces were advancing. The concept of the intermediate zone dissolves the oft-cited conundrum of contradiction between national security and ideological solidarity. Although the CCP never supported all foreign revolutionary movements in all times and all places, when it did render such support, it typically saw such support as merging the interests of China’s revolutionary state and foreign revolutionary movements. Strong foreign revolutionary movements were China’s own first line of defense. Another component of Mao’s thinking about the global revolutionary process was that the socialist countries were the natural, sincere friend of the revolutionary struggles of the intermediate zone. While imperialist na￾tions might sometimes find it expedient to give assistance to such struggles – as the United States did during the Japan-U.S. war – this assistance always had ulterior motives. Its purpose was to maintain and strengthen the mecha￾nisms of imperialist domination and exploitation. Only the socialist coun￾tries were not motivated by imperialist objectives. Although Mao had long been critical of the Comintern’s “mistakes” regarding the Chinese Revolu￾tion, he nonetheless saw a fundamental sincerity, sympathy, and identity of interests in PRC-USSR relations. While Stalin gave greater or less support to the Chinese revolutionary movement depending on the immediate re￾quirements of Soviet diplomacy, he was, Mao believed, fundamentally sym￾pathetic to the Chinese Revolution and its victory. The USSR, unlike the USA, would welcome and support the extrication of China from the global system of imperialism. Here again we return to Lenin’s concept of imperialism. Imperialism was by definition a phenomenon of capitalism. Since socialist economies were not driven by profit-seeking accumulation of capital, countries with such economies could not be imperialist. It also followed that such countries had no interest in maintaining the system of imperialist domination and exploita￾tion of countries in the intermediate zone, such as China. Indeed, socialist and intermediate zone countries had a common interest in weakening imperi￾alism. With the founding of the PRC, Mao and his comrades acted on these beliefs