The 1957 coup against Khrushchev and the Sino-Soviet split

PoD: Georgy Zhukov dies in early '57.
As a result, the Anti-Party Group is successful in deposing Khrushchev later in the same year. He is replaced with Nikolai Bulganin, with Molotov, Malenkov and Kaganovich pulling the strings behind the scenes. The former will eventually be replaced for not being pliable and hardline enough.
All traces of Khrushchev's Secret Speech are destroyed, and the USSR returns to Stalinism As Usual.

Would there still be a Sino-Soviet split? Is it ASB for the PRC to denounce Stalinism? Or can they be enemies and both Stalinist (albeit of different flavours)? Would the US intervene in a Stalinist-on-Stalinist conflict?
 
it will help Sino Soviet relations for a time. In the words of Garry Trudeau the US will always consider the Sino Soviet split intra mural.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
The position of First Secretary was to be abolished, which means more power to the premiership.

Molotov will eventually emerge as top-dog in the Soviet Union, and he adored Mao and very much supported the Chinese "revolutionary spirit." I could see a delayed Sino-Soviet split leading to the PRC becoming the workshop of the Communist Bloc; there are huge markets for the PRC in an Eastern Bloc that will prefer focusing its budget on increasing military spending rather than consumer goods.
 
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