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Etymology edit

From split +‎ -ism, a calque of Chinese 分裂主義分裂主义 (fēnlièzhǔyì).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

splittism (uncountable)

  1. Political separatism, specifically the following of independent interests as opposed to central Communist party policy.
    • 1934 December 24, “Muddying the Waters”, in Kingsport Times[1], Kingsport, TN, page 4:
      If the situation in which the Democrats find themselves today in respect to numerical strength in the national controls, they will not be immune from the germ of this very spirit of splittism and divisiveness.
    • 1963 July 12, Life[2], page 4:
      The Chinese have intensified their ideological quarrel with Khrushchev to the point of an almost irreparable break. They accuse him of the most heinous Communist heresies: "adventurism" (for moving missiles into Cuba), "capitulationism" (for moving them out), "great-power chauvinism" (for interfering in non-Russian parties), "revisionism" (for not wanting nuclear war) and even "splittism."
    • 2010 July 17, The Economist, page 53:
      To China's rulers it is a backward kind of place whose former serfs, ‘liberated’ by the Communist army, have repaid the favour with ingratitude and even outright ‘splittism’.
    • 2013, Simon Winder, Danubia, Picador, published 2014, page 254:
      The Habsburg narrative for the Hungarians has always been about their treachery, mendacity, religious splitism and lack of gratitude.

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