The DRV had less grounds for criticizing Soviet policy in Laos throughout 1958 and 1959. After a strong showing in
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supplementary elections held in early 1958, the Laotian Communists were in a good position to demonstrate the efficacy
of Khrushchev's doctrine of "peaceful transition to socialism." When a strongly anti-Communist Lao Government emerged in
August 1958, it was clearly in the interests of the Soviet leader, as prime advocate of this doctrine of revolution via the ballot box, and of the Soviet Union as leader of the bloc,
' to participate in a common effort to preserve the powerful Communist assets in that country. Even here, however, the Soviet Union appeared to favor a more conciliatory policy than that advocated by Communist China and North Vietnam.