3

The 1980 Summer Olympics was held in Moscow, Soviet Union.

Many countries boycotted the games initiated by the United States for Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

But there were some communist countries in the boycotting countries such as People's Republic of China, Albania and some else.

What was the reason for communist countries to boycott the 1980 games?

1 Answer 1

6

The 1980 boycott wasn't specifically a capitalist vs communist boycott - it was to protest at the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.

With particular regards to China, China and the Soviet Union had very divergent views of the "correct" interpretation of communism throughout the 1960s to 1980s; details of that are probably better in a Politics SE answer than a Sports SE one, but the long and short is that they were not allies who were going to unconditionally (or in some cases, even conditionally) support each other against the Western countries. Similarly, Albania was not an unconditional ally of the Soviet Union, having withdrawn from the Warsaw Pact in 1968 and to some extent allied itself with China.

1
  • I wish I could give a second upvote for the part of this answer that says this is better for Politics SE.
    – Damila
    Aug 22 at 4:44

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.