Socialist fraternal kiss

History

This ritual originated in the European practice of cheek kissing as a greeting between family members or good friends. It has also been associated with the Eastern Orthodox fraternal kiss. It was in use already in the Russian Empire, among soldiers and officers.

With the expansion of Communism after World War II, the USSR was no longer isolated as the only Communist country. The fraternal socialist kiss became a ritualised greeting among the officials of Communist countries. The greeting was also adopted by socialist officials in the Third World, as well as the officials of socialist-aligned liberation movements such as the Palestine Liberation Organization and the African National Congress of South Africa.

Kremlinology

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

After the Sino-Soviet division, the Chinese refused to embrace their Soviet counterparts or to address them as "comrade". When Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev tried to embrace Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong 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 officials. This was done to emphasize that Sino-Soviet relations were not returning to the pre-split level of the 1950s; Chinese protocol specifically insisted on "handshake, no embrace".

Cheek kissing

The socialist fraternal kiss should not be confused with ordinary cheek kissing between officials. For example, it is traditional for the President of France to greet his foreign counterparts by kissing them on both cheeks.

References

References

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