Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F088809-0038, Berlin, East Side Gallery

The socialist fraternal kiss was a special form of greeting between

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

leaders. The act demonstrated the special connection that exists between

socialist countries A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term ''communist state'' is oft ...

, consisting of an embrace, along with a series of three kisses on alternate cheeks. In rare cases, when the two leaders considered themselves exceptionally close, the kisses were given on the mouth rather than on the cheeks. The ''socialist fraternal embrace'' consists of a series of three deep hugs, alternating between the left and right sides of the body, without kissing. This modified greeting was adopted by Communist leaders in Asia, which lacks a tradition of

cheek kissing Cheek kissing is a ritual or social kissing gesture to indicate friendship, family relationship, perform a greeting, to confer congratulations, to comfort someone, to show respect. Cheek kissing is very common in the Middle East, the Mediterr ...

as greeting. During the Cold War, Communist leaders in Asia consented to receive kisses from Europeans and Cubans, but they themselves omitted the kiss.

History

This ritual originated in the European practice of

as a greeting between family members or close friends. It has also been associated with the Eastern Orthodox fraternal kiss. With the expansion of Communism after World War II, the Soviet Union was no longer isolated as the only Communist country. The fraternal socialist kiss became a ritualised greeting among the leaders of Communist countries. The greeting was also adopted by socialist leaders in the

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

, as well as the leaders of socialist-aligned

liberation movements A liberation movement is an organization or political movement leading a rebellion, or a non-violent social movement, against a colonial power or national government, often seeking independence based on a nationalist identity and an anti-imperiali ...

such as the

Palestinian Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...

and the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

Kremlinology

Kremlinologists paid attention to whether the fraternal embrace was exchanged between Communist leaders. The omission of the customary embrace indicated a lower level of relations between the two countries. After the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Len ...

, the Chinese refused to embrace their Soviet counterparts or to address them as "comrade". When Soviet premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

tried to embrace

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

on a visit to Beijing in 1959, Mao stepped back to avoid the embrace and offered a handshake instead. Even with the normalization of relations in 1989, the Chinese continued to omit the fraternal embrace when greeting Soviet leaders. This was done to emphasize that Sino-Soviet relations were not returning to the pre-split level of the 1950s; Chinese

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technolog ...

specifically insisted on "handshake, no embrace."

Cheek kissing

The socialist fraternal kiss should not be confused with ordinary

between world leaders. For example, it is traditional for the President of France to greet world leaders by kissing them on both cheeks.

References

External links

* {{Citation , last=Schimmel , first=Claudia , title=Der 'sozialistische Bruderkuß' , trans-title=The ‚Socialist Fraternal Kiss‘ , language=German , format=PDF, 128 kB , url=http://www.oei.fu-berlin.de/media/publikationen/boi/boi_11/27_schimmel.pdf Eastern Bloc kissing socialism