Page 43 - Encyclopedia Of World History

comintern 393

The proceedings of the Second Congress (1920) led to cates of “Socialism in one country,” led by Stalin and
the subsequent split in the world left between Bukharin after Lenin’s death in January 1924.
Communists—who adhered to the Comintern and its This was more than a personal quarrel, as the issue at
objectives—and Socialists, or Social Democrats, who stake was the orientation of the world Communist move-
rejected them. Many well-wishers from the Socialist ranks ment. In the end, Stalin’s views prevailed and in 1926
attended, but Zinovyev presented a list of twenty-one Bukharin (who was himself eliminated in 1929) replaced
conditions to which adherents had to subscribe—many Zinovyev at the head of the Comintern, which became a
of them unacceptable to people who otherwise sup- mere instrument in Stalin’s hands in the furtherance of
ported the Russian Revolution. All were asked to adopt Soviet—some would say Russian—interests. This is the
the standard name, “Communist Party,” and to accept period when Socialists were described as “Social Fascists”
Comintern decisions as binding, but the acid test was the in Communist publications and speeches all over the
adoption of “democratic centralism” as the governing world. Hitler’s ascent to power in January 1933 and fears
principle of the Party in each country. In combination of German aggression led to another radical about-face,
with the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” this mode of with the Communist International now clamoring for a
functioning was found incompatible with fundamental “united front against Fascism,” commonly called the Pop-
freedoms by many existing left-wing organizations, who ular Front, by all progressive forces. In 1935, the Seventh
therefore declined to join the Communist International. (and last) Congress of the Comintern, now headed by the
In a climate of extreme domestic and international bit- Bulgarian Giorgi Dimitrov, gave its official sanction to
terness, almost every developed or colonized country of this priority, which relegated world proletarian revolution
the world then saw the creation of a Communist Party, —the initial purpose of the Third International—to a dis-
side by side with the existing Socialist party or parties, tant future. The final ideological blow came with the
whatever their names. The ideal of world revolution Nazi–Soviet Pact of August 1939, which technically
obtained by civil or foreign war, which was sustained by made Communists worldwide the allies of Hitler, but the
the continued agitation and/or military operations in Ger- final dissolution of the Comintern came only on 22 May
many, Poland, and the debris of the Austro-Hungarian 1943, as a friendly gesture toward the Western allies of
Empire, did not really abate until the final defeat of the the Soviet Union in the “Great Patriotic War.”
German Communists in October 1923. The fiery anti-
Antoine Capet
bourgeois language of Comintern affiliates fueled both
See also Communism and Socialism; Revolutions, Com-
the revolutionary enthusiasm of its adherents and the
munist; Russian-Soviet Empire
fears of established governments, including those with
moderate left-wing majorities.
But then the Comintern effected the first of the about- Further Reading
faces for which it became so notorious.At the Third Con- Aron, R. (1962). World communism: A history of the communist interna-
tional (introduction). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
gress (1921), Lenin acknowledged that world revolution Borkenau, F. (1938). The communist international. London: Faber and
had not resulted from the “Imperialists’ War” (World War Faber.
The Communist International, 1919–1943. (2004). Retrieved April 20,
I) and that the Revolution could only be consolidated in
2004, from http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/
Russia if the economy was modernized, notably with Lazic, B. M., & Drachkovitch, M. M. (1986). Biographical dictionary of
imports from capitalist countries. During the Fourth the comintern. Hoover Institution Publications, 121. Stanford, CA:
Hoover Institution Press.
Congress (1922),Trostky delivered an enthusiastic speech McDermott, K., & Agnew, J. (1996). The comintern: The history of inter-
in favor of Russia’s New Economic Policy, but the rift was national Communism from Lenin to Stalin. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Rees,T., & Thorpe, A. (Eds.). (1998). International Communism and the
becoming evident between the continued supporters of
Communist International, 1919–1943. New York: Manchester Uni-
world revolution (Trostky and Zinovyev) and the advo- versity Press.