First Comintern. Communist Internationals. History of the communist movement: dates, leaders

The history of COMINTERN - the Communist International - an association of several dozen communist parties began in 1919 and officially ended in 1943

Was it really a union of ideologically close parties or one “big” communist party consisting of sections in individual countries, or it was one party of Russian communists with many “branches” abroad - historians debate and find confirmation of each of the interpretations.

It is indisputable that without knowing the history of the Comintern it is impossible to understand the features political development and the relationship between the international communist movement and social democracy in the 20s and 30s, the fight against fascism, which was gaining strength in those same years, and many turns in the foreign policy of the USSR.

This section will present some documents, photographic materials, memoirs on the history of the Comintern - naturally not a complete history, since the archive of the Comintern contains tens and hundreds of thousands of storage units - after all, this is really the history of the international communist movement for two decades.

It is worth reading the documents thoughtfully, paying attention to what their provisions meant and how they could be assessed not only by foreign communists, but also by social democrats and governments of Western countries, that is, by both capitalists and proletarians.

For example, a phrase from the Comintern program adopted in 1928:

"The Communist International is the only international force that has as its program the dictatorship of the proletariat and communism and openly advocates organizer of the international revolution of the proletariat"?

How did the ordinary workers of England or France and the prime ministers of these countries interpret these words? Was this a propaganda call or a real intention? What did the leadership of the CPSU(b) mean? Did you want to organize a revolution or scare the capitalists?

The main events in the history of the Comintern were its 7 congresses (in other words, congresses). However, we note that important decisions were made not only at congresses, but also at the Plenums of the Comintern, as well as by the Executive Committee (ECCI) and the Bureau of the Executive Committee of the Comintern. And, of course, the most important decisions were prepared in the Kremlin. Therefore, we have included in this section several fragments of transcripts of the congresses of the RCP (b) - those meetings at which “Comintern” issues were discussed. They talked about the world revolution, and about Italian fascism, and about social democracy, and about the Trotskyists. And, of course, the activities of the Comintern were affected by the views of the leaders of the RCP(b) on the real prospects of the world revolution and on the possibility of building socialism in one country.

FIRST The Congress of the Comintern took place on March 2-6, 1919 in Moscow. It was attended by 52 delegates from 34 Marxist parties and groups. These figures, we note right away, require clarification.
In fact, on March 2, a conference of representatives of communist parties and groups began its work, which on March 4 proclaimed itself the founding congress of the Comintern. And this was the first idea - to announce ourselves.

SECOND The Congress of the Comintern (July 19 - August 7, 1920) began work in Petrograd and continued in Moscow. 217 delegates from 67 organizations from 41 countries attended. The main thing was the adoption of a kind of program - the Comintern Manifesto and the conditions for joining the Comintern (of 21 points). This congress can actually be considered the founding one. The congress also reviewed theses prepared by Lenin on agrarian and national-colonial issues, on trade unions, and on the role of the party. The main idea is to establish organizational principles for building an organization.

THIRD The congress took place from June 22 to July 12, 1921. 605 delegates from 103 parties and organizations took part. Lenin gave the main report “On the Tactics of the Comintern”. The main task was to win over the majority of the working class. The main slogan is “TO THE MASSES!”

FOURTH The congress took place from November 5 to December 5, 1922. 408 delegates from 66 parties and organizations from 58 countries took part. The main idea is the creation of a “united labor front”.

FIFTH congress June 17 - July 8, 1924. 504 delegates from 46 communist and workers' parties and 14 workers' organizations from 49 countries took part. The main thing was the decision to take a course towards the “Bolshevisation” of the parties that were part of the Comintern.

SIXTH The congress took place from July 17 to September 1, 1928. The Charter and Program of the Comintern were adopted. At the congress, the task was set to fight the influence of social democracy, which was characterized as “social fascism.”

SEVENTH The Congress took place from July 25 to August 20, 1935. The main thing was G. Dimitrov's report on the need to fight fascism and the choice of tactics to create a “broad popular anti-fascist front”.

In the period from 1922 to 1933 11 meetings of the extended Plenums of the ECCI (Executive Committee of the Comintern) were also held

I extended plenum of the ECCI (1922)
II extended plenum of the ECCI (1922)
III extended plenum of the ECCI (1923)
IV extended plenum of the ECCI (1924)
V extended plenum of the ECCI (1924 - 1925)
VI extended plenum of the ECCI (1925 - 1926)
VII extended plenum of the ECCI (1926 - 1927)
VIII Plenum of the ECCI (1927)
IX plenum of the ECCI (1927 - 1928)
X plenum of the ECCI (1929)
XI Plenum of the ECCI (1930 - 1931)
XII extended plenum of the ECCI (1932 - 1933)
XIII plenum of the ECCI (1933 - 1934)

The leaders of the Comintern were:

in 1919-1926 - G. Zinoviev (although the actual leader and leader was, of course, V.I. Lenin, who died in 1924)

In 1927-1928 - N. Bukharin

in 1929-1934 - collective leadership was formally exercised

in 1935-1943 - G. Dimitrov

Bulgarian Georgiy Dimitrov was arrested in 1933 on charges of setting fire to the Reichstag (parliament building) in Berlin, but as a result of a powerful solidarity campaign, after a trial and the adoption of Soviet citizenship, he was released and released into the USSR. He headed the Comintern in 1935.

In addition, the activities of several international organizations were associated with the Comintern, directed and partially financed by it:

Profintern(Profintern) (Red International of Trade Unions) - created in 1920

Krestintern- Peasant International (Krestintern) - created in 1923.

MOPR- International Workers' Relief Organization (MOPR) - created in 1922.

CMM- Communist Youth International - created in 1919.

Sportintern- Sports International (Sportintern)

and some others.

At the end of the 30s, during the period of the Great Terror, a number of members of the Comintern apparatus were accused of espionage, Trotskyism and subjected to repression.

The history of the Comintern, of course, is full of secrets, secrets and fascinating (but at the same time dramatic) stories about the struggle of underground communists in Italy, Germany, and Latin America.

How accurate, adequate and relevant are the assessments of capitalism, social democracy, fascism that were given by the leaders of the Comintern, how useful the documents of the Comintern are for today's politicians - let professional historians talk and argue about this and let the politicians themselves judge. But the recommendations about working among women, about the principles of party building, and even about how leaflets and posters should be distributed are, of course, at least interesting.

And despite all the controversial ideas and principles of the Comintern, the fact that it was foreign communists who were the first to come into direct conflict with fascism and sought to repel it both in the international brigades of Spain and in underground resistance groups in other countries is indisputable. That's how it was.

Of course, guidelines, instructions, resolutions, calls and slogans are not the most important thing in real life. political life, in political struggle. The main thing is the actions that politicians take and the results they achieve. And the activities of the Comintern are not instructions from the Kremlin and resolutions of Congresses, but rallies, demonstrations, strikes that were organized and carried out by the communists, newspapers, leaflets that they distributed, the results that parties received in parliamentary elections. There is perhaps more material on the practical implementation of the ideas and guidelines of the Comintern in the sections on the pre-war situation in Italy, the Popular Front in France and others.

Speaking at XV Congress of the Russian Communist Party(b) with a report on the work of the Comintern, N. Bukharin said:

“A whole series of reproaches about the fact that I did not cover some questions are not serious reproaches, because in my report I could not answer all the questions. Kozma Prutkov also said that “no one will embrace the immeasurable.” And even more than that. Kozma Prutkov says: “Spit in the eyes of anyone who says that you can embrace the incredible.” (Laughter.) And the topics related to the work of the Comintern, if we take their entirety, are truly “immense.” But, it seems, I said almost nothing unnecessary.”

Joining the words of Nikolai Ivanovich, we note that this section is not a textbook, but rather additional materials for those interested in the history of the Comintern, which will contain something useful for all practicing politicians.

Big Soviet encyclopedia: Communist International, Comintern, 3rd International (1919-43), an international organization created in accordance with the needs and tasks of the revolutionary labor movement in the first stage of the general crisis of capitalism; historical successor of the 1st International (see 1st International) and heir to the best traditions of the 2nd International (see 2nd International), which collapsed after the outbreak of the 1st World War as a result of opportunist degeneration and betrayal of proletarian internationalism on the part of the overwhelming the majority of the social democratic parties that were part of it.
The collapse of the 2nd International prompted the Bolsheviks, led by V.I. Lenin raised the question of creating a 3rd International, cleared of opportunism. This was already mentioned in the manifesto of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, “War and Russian Social Democracy,” published on November 1, 1914. Being the decisive authoritative force in the international labor movement, which remained faithful to proletarian internationalism, the Bolsheviks under the leadership of V.I. Lenin launched a struggle to unite left-wing groups in social democratic parties. One of the most important prerequisites for the creation of the new International was the development of V.I. Lenin's ideological and political principles and theoretical foundations communist movement (revealing the imperialist nature of the 1st World War and justifying the need to turn it into a civil war against the bourgeoisie own country; doctrine of the revolutionary situation; the conclusion about the possibility and inevitability of the victory of the socialist revolution initially in a few or even in one individual capitalist country, formulated for the first time in 1915, etc.).
An important contribution to the unity of the left Social Democrats was the active participation of Lenin and his comrades in the work of the Zimmerwald Conference and the Kienthal Conference, the creation of the Zimmerwald Left as part of the Zimmerwald Association, and the promotion of Bolshevik views on issues of war, peace and revolution at the international women's and youth conferences held in 1915 and the conference of socialists of the Entente countries. The activities of the Bolsheviks in preparing for the creation of the 3rd International brought more and more tangible results as the working class became more active and the workers and broad masses of workers, who were convinced from their own experience of the disastrousness of social chauvinism, were gradually liberated from the nationalist frenzy. However, to found K.I. succeeded only after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, which had a huge revolutionary impact on the whole world and created fundamentally new conditions for the struggle of the working class as a result of the emergence of the world's first socialist state. The head of this state was the Leninist Bolshevik Party. In the context of a powerful rise in the workers' and national liberation movements, the process of forming communist parties began in a number of countries. In 1918 communist parties originated in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, and Finland. Revolutionary-internationalist positions at this time were occupied by the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party (close socialists), the International Socialist Party of Argentina, the Left Social Democratic Party of Sweden, the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece, etc. Communist groups and circles formed in 1918-19 in Czechoslovakia , Romania, Italy, France, Great Britain, Denmark, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Brazil, China, Korea, Australia, Union of South Africa and other countries.
In January 1919 in Moscow, on the initiative and under the leadership of V.I. Lenin, a meeting of representatives of the communist parties of Soviet Russia, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Latvia, Finland, as well as the Balkan Revolutionary Social Democratic Federation (Bulgarian crowds and Romanian leftists) and the Socialist Workers Party of the USA took place. The meeting discussed the issue of convening an international congress of representatives of revolutionary proletarian parties, addressed 39 revolutionary parties, groups and movements in Europe, Asia, America, and Australia with an appeal to take part in the work of the founding congress of the new International and developed a draft platform for it.
On March 2-6, 1919, the 1st (Founding) Congress of the KI was held in Moscow, which was attended by 52 delegates from 35 parties and groups from 21 countries of the world. Representatives of the communist parties of Soviet Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Finland and other countries, as well as a number of communist groups (Czech, Bulgarian, Yugoslav, English, French, Swiss, etc.) took part in the work of the congress. The social democratic parties of Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the USA, and the Balkan Revolutionary Social Democratic Federation were represented at the congress. The Congress discussed and adopted K.I.’s platform, developed on the basis of V.I.’s instructions. Lenin. The new era, which began with the victory of the October Revolution, was characterized in the platform as the era of the decomposition of capitalism, its internal disintegration, the era of the communist revolution of the proletariat. The order of the day was the task of conquering and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat, the path to which lies through the unity of all revolutionary forces, a break with opportunism of all stripes, through international solidarity workers. In view of this, Congress recognized the need for the urgent establishment of C.I.
One of the most important program documents of K.I. - theses and report presented to the 1st Congress by V.I. Lenin about bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In his report, V.I. Lenin showed that bourgeois democracy, which was defended by the parties of the 2nd International under the guise of “democracy in general,” is always in essence a class dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, a dictatorship of the minority, while the dictatorship of the proletariat, suppressing the resistance of the overthrown classes in the name of the interests of the majority, means democracy for workers.
1st Congress of K.I. called on workers of all countries to unite on the principles of proletarian internationalism in the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat, and to decisively oppose the 2nd International, formally restored in February 1919 in Bern by its right-wing opportunist leaders (see Berne International). The Congress adopted a Manifesto to the proletarians of the whole world, which stated that the communists gathered in Moscow, representatives of the revolutionary proletariat of Europe, America and Asia, feel and recognize themselves as successors and makers of the cause, the program of which was announced by the founders of scientific communism K. Marx and F. Engels in the Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Assessing the role that the new International had to play, Lenin wrote in April 1919 that K.I. “... accepted the fruits of the work of the Second International, cut off its opportunist, social-chauvinist, bourgeois and petty-bourgeois filth and began to implement the dictatorship of the proletariat” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th edition, vol. 38, p. 303). At the 1st Congress of K.I., according to Lenin, “... the banner of communism was only hoisted, around which the forces of the revolutionary proletariat were supposed to gather” (ibid., vol. 41, p. 274). The full formation of an international proletarian organization of a new type was to be carried out by the 2nd Congress.
During the period between the 1st and 2nd congresses, the revolutionary upsurge continued to grow. In 1919, Soviet republics arose in Hungary (March 21), Bavaria (April 13), and Slovakia (June 16). In Great Britain, France, the USA, Italy and other countries, a movement developed in defense of Soviet Russia from the intervention of imperialist powers. The mass national liberation movement expanded in colonies and semi-colonies (Korea, China, India, Turkey, Afghanistan, etc.). The process of forming communist parties continued. In May 1919, the Bulgarian Labor Social Democratic Party (close socialists) was renamed communist and joined the K.I. From March 1919 to November 1920, communist parties were formed in Yugoslavia, the USA, Mexico, Denmark, Spain, Indonesia, Iran, Great Britain, Turkey, Uruguay, and Australia. About joining K.I. stated by the International Socialist Party of Argentina, the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece, the Left Social Democratic Party of Sweden, the Norwegian Labor Party, the Italian Socialist Party, the British Socialist Party, the Scottish faction of the English Independent Labor Party, the Socialist Party of Luxembourg, as well as revolutionary groups and trade unions of a number of countries . Under pressure from the revolutionary workers, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (NSPD), the French Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of America, the British Independent Labor Party, the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland and some others announced a break with the 2nd International. The NSDPD and the French Socialist Party began negotiations to join K.I.
Taking into his ranks the social democratic masses moving to the left, K.I. could not allow persons who had not broken with the ideology and practice of reformism to penetrate into their organizations. One of the main tasks in the formation of new communist parties was to break with right-wing opportunism. At the same time, in many communist parties a threat arose from the “left,” generated by the youth and inexperience of the communist parties, often inclined to too hastily resolve fundamental issues of the revolutionary struggle, as well as the penetration of anarcho-syndicalist elements into the world communist movement. In the fight against the “leftist danger,” as well as in the formation and activities of communist parties in general, Lenin’s book “The Infantile Disease of Leftism” in Communism played an exceptional role.” This book, summarizing the experience of strategy and tactics of the revolutionary struggle of the Bolshevik Party, showing its world-historical significance, helped the fraternal parties to master this experience. Using the examples of the German, English, Italian and Dutch labor movements, Lenin showed the typical features of “left communism”: sectarianism; denial of party affiliation and party discipline; denial of the need to work in mass organizations (trade unions, cooperatives), in parliaments, municipalities, etc. Lenin also revealed the roots of “left” and right opportunism, showing the need for a constant struggle against them.
Speaking against the sectarian narrowness of the “left communists,” Lenin called on the communist parties “... to learn with maximum speed to supplement or replace, if necessary, one form of struggle with another, to adapt their tactics to any such change caused not by our class or not by our efforts” ( ibid., p.89). Lenin's book largely determined the content and direction of the work of the 2nd Congress of K.I. (opened on July 19, 1920 in Petrograd, July 23 - August 17 continued and completed work in Moscow), 2nd Congress of K.I. was more representative than the 1st: 217 delegates from 67 organizations (including 27 communist parties) from 37 countries took part in its work. The French Socialist Party and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany were represented at the congress with an advisory vote. The Congress heard Lenin's report on the international situation and the main tasks of K.I. Having analyzed the situation in the world that had developed by that time, Lenin warned the communist parties against underestimating the depth of the crisis of the capitalist system, on the one hand, and against illusions about the possibility of an automatic collapse of capitalism as a result of the crisis, on the other. “It is necessary,” said Lenin, “to now “prove” through the practice of revolutionary parties that they have enough consciousness, organization, connections with the exploited masses, determination, and skill to use this crisis for a successful, victorious revolution.
To prepare this, proof, “we gathered mainly for the present congress of the Communist International” (ibid., p. 228).
One of the central tasks facing the young, ideologically, politically and organizationally immature communist parties was to transform them into parties of a new type, closely linked with the working class. Its fulfillment was served by the Twenty-one conditions for admission to K.I., approved by the 2nd Congress. These conditions (they included: recognition by parties joining the Comintern of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the main principle of the revolutionary struggle and the theory of Marxism; a complete break with reformists and centrists and their expulsion from the ranks of the party; a combination of legal and illegal methods of struggle; recognition of democratic centralism as the main organizational party principle, selfless loyalty to the principles of proletarian internationalism, etc.) were designed to protect the communist parties from the penetration of not only open opportunists, but also those elements whose inconsistency and tendency to compromise with traitors to the proletarian cause excluded the possibility of unity with them. Those centrist parties that could not free themselves from the ideology of social democracy and did not agree with the conditions of admission to the KI created in February 1921 at a conference in Vienna the so-called International Workers' Association of Socialist Parties, which went down in history under the name “Internationale 21/ 2". The latter merged in 1923 with the 2nd International (Bernese) into the Socialist Workers' International (Socintern).
Of great fundamental importance were the decisions adopted by the 2nd Congress of K.I. decisions on national and colonial issues. Based on the fact that the new historical era the national liberation movement is becoming integral part world revolutionary process, the congress set the task of merging the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat of developed countries with the national liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples into a single anti-imperialist stream. The emergence of a socialist state and its leading role in the global revolutionary movement opened up new opportunities for peoples fighting for national independence and, above all, the prospect of a transition to socialism, bypassing the stage of capitalist development. Pointing to this prospect, the congress reflected in its resolution Lenin’s idea of ​​​​a close union of all national and colonial liberation movements with Soviet Russia. At the same time, the congress pointed out the need to combat petty-bourgeois nationalist prejudices.
When determining the positions of the communist parties on the agrarian question, the congress proceeded from the Leninist principles of the union of the proletariat and the peasantry and the inevitability, after the victory of the socialist revolution, of replacing individual peasant farming with a collective one, emphasizing, however, that in solving this problem it is necessary to act “...with enormous caution and gradualism... .” (see Communist International in documents, M., 1933, p. 135). The Congress adopted the K.I. Charter, based on the principle of democratic centralism, and also formed governing body Comintern - Executive Committee (ECCI). Describing the historical significance of the 2nd Congress, Lenin said: “First, the communists had to proclaim their principles to the whole world. This was done at the 1st Congress. This is the first step. The second step was the organizational formation of the Communist International and the development of conditions for admission to it - conditions for separation in practice from the centrists, from direct and indirect agents of the bourgeoisie within the labor movement. This was done at the Second Congress” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th edition, vol. 44, p. 96).
At the end of 1920 and beginning of 1921, the first post-war economic crisis began in many countries, taking advantage of which the bourgeoisie launched an offensive against the working class. The class battles of the proletariat began to turn into defensive ones. It has now become obvious that it was not possible to break world capitalism by direct assault. More thorough and systematic preparation for the revolution was required, and this posed the problem of involving the broad masses of working people in the revolutionary struggle. In the Soviet Republic, the Bolshevik Party switched to the NEP, which was the first link in the implementation of Lenin’s brilliant plan for building socialism in one country under conditions of capitalist encirclement. The Bolsheviks again showed an example of their ability to determine a political line taking into account the changing objective situation.
Under the new conditions, the economy took a central place in the struggle between two social forces on the world stage - capitalism and the Soviet state. “Now we have our main influence on the international revolution,” Lenin noted, “with our economic policy... If we solve this problem, then we will definitely and finally win on an international scale” (ibid., vol. 43, p. 341) .
3rd Congress of K.I. (Moscow, June 22 - July 12, 1921; 605 delegates from 103 parties and organizations participated, including 48 communist parties from 52 countries) outlined a program for restructuring the communist movement in accordance with the requirements of the new stage of world development. The Congress was presented with a draft theses on tactics, prepared under the leadership of Lenin, which substantiated the need for the Communist Parties to win the majority of the working class. Delegates of the Communist Parties of Germany, Austria, Italy and some of the delegates of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia criticized the theses from the “left” and reproached Lenin for being “on the right wing of the Congress.” The “leftists” opposed Lenin’s line of struggle for the masses with the so-called “offensive theory.”
On July 1, 1921, Lenin delivered his famous speech at the congress in defense of the tactics of the Comintern, in which he showed how communist revolutionaries should act when faced with a change in the real situation: not to adhere to old slogans, correct in the past, but removed from the agenda by life itself, not be limited general provisions Marxism, specifically analyze the new situation and accordingly change the political course and tactics. Lenin pointed out that the one who, in the situation that had developed by mid-1921, demands at all costs, now, immediately, to “attack” the bourgeoisie, is pushing the working class into an adventure and can destroy the Communist Party. If it follows such a call, it will inevitably end up as a vanguard without a mass, a headquarters without an army. Lenin showed the complete theoretical inconsistency and political harm of the demands of the “left” that main blow and the main forces of the communists in the labor movement were still directed against the centrists. Lenin noted that in the new conditions, young communist parties, which have accumulated experience in the fight against centrism and right-wing opportunism, must develop the ability to fight “leftism” and sectarianism. They must prove in practice that they are the vanguard of the labor movement, know how to connect with the masses, rally them around the correct line, create a united front of the working class, making compromises with other political movements and organizations where necessary. The most important task of the communist parties in the new conditions was, as Lenin pointed out, their conquest of the majority of the working class. The Congress emphasized the importance of the struggle of the communist parties for the immediate demands of the working class and other sections of the working people.
The 3rd Congress of the Comintern unanimously approved those developed under the leadership of V.I. Lenin's theses on tactics. “More thorough, more solid preparation for new, increasingly decisive battles, both defensive and offensive—that is the main and most important thing in the decisions of the Third Congress,” Lenin pointed out (ibid., vol. 44, p. 98) . Based on the decisions of the Congress, united front tactics were developed. In December 1921, the Presidium of the ECCI adopted detailed theses on a united workers' front.
The first experience of using new tactics in the international labor movement was the Conference of the Three Internationals of 1922 (3rd, 21/2 and 2nd), held in Berlin. However, Lenin believed that the agreements on joint actions concluded at this conference were reached at too high a price, since the Comintern delegation (Clara Zetkin, N.I. Bukharin, K. Radek and others) made excessive and irrelevant to the essence of the issue unity of action, political concessions to representatives of the 2nd and 21/2 Internationals. The leadership of the 2nd and 21/2 Internationals disrupted the implementation of the decisions adopted at the conference.
4th Congress of K.I. (opened on November 5, 1922 in Petrograd, continued and completed its work in Moscow on November 9-December 5; 408 delegates from 66 parties and organizations from 58 countries of the world participated) continued the discussion of a number of issues considered at the 3rd Congress. In a report dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the October Revolution and the prospects for the world revolution, Lenin substantiated the need for communist parties not only to be able to advance during the period of upsurge, but also to learn to retreat in the ebb of the revolutionary wave. Using the example of NEP in Soviet Russia, he showed how a temporary retreat should be used to prepare a new attack on capitalism. The prospects for the world revolution will be even better, V.I. pointed out. Lenin, if all communist parties learn to master the organization, structure, method and content of revolutionary work. Foreign communist parties “... must accept part of the Russian experience” (ibid., vol. 45, p. 293). Lenin especially emphasized the need for creative assimilation of the experience of Bolshevism. Having paid great attention to the fascist danger (in connection with the establishment of the fascist dictatorship in Hungary and Italy), the 4th Congress of K.I. emphasized that the main means of fighting against fascism is the tactics of a united workers' front. In order to unite in a united front the broad masses of working people, not yet ready to fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat, but already capable of participating in the economic and political struggle against the bourgeoisie, the slogan “workers’ government” was put forward (later expanded to the slogan “workers’ and peasants’ government”). The Congress pointed out the need to fight for the unity of the trade union movement, which found itself in a state of deep division. The Congress clarified that the specific application of united front tactics in the context of colonial and dependent countries is an anti-imperialist united front uniting national patriotic forces capable of fighting against colonialism.
1923 was a year of major revolutionary uprisings that completed the post-war revolutionary upsurge. The protests of the proletariat in Germany, Bulgaria, and Poland, which ended in defeat, revealed the weakness of the communist parties. The task of strengthening them on the basis of mastering Leninism, assimilating the international, universally significant in Bolshevism arose in full force. This task, which was called the Bolshevization of the Communist Parties, had to be solved in difficult circumstances. The beginning of the partial stabilization of capitalism was accompanied by the activation of the right-wing leaders of social democracy and reformist trade unions, who intensively propagated the ideas of class cooperation in the labor movement (the theory of “political and economic democracy”, supposedly developing under capitalism, “organized capitalism”, etc.). In the Communist parties, both right-wing and leftist-sectarian, Trotskyist elements raised their heads.
In January 1924 V.I. died. Lenin. This was a huge loss for the world communist movement. After Lenin's death, Trotsky and his followers openly opposed Lenin's theory of the possibility of building socialism in one country, imposing the RCP(b) and the entire K.I. a disastrous line to artificially “push” the world revolution without taking into account the correlation of class forces and the level of political consciousness of the masses in different countries. A decisive struggle was launched against Trotskyism. The fact that the Bolshevik Party defended the Leninist course of building socialism in the USSR, defended Leninism against Trotskyism, was a major victory for the entire international communist movement.
5th Congress of K.I. (Moscow, June 17 - July 8, 1924; 504 delegates participated, representing 49 communist parties, one people's revolutionary party, as well as 10 international organizations) went down in history as a congress of the struggle for the Bolshevisation of communist parties. The main document of the congress, the theses, emphasized that the forging of truly Leninist parties is the central task of all the activities of K.I. The Congress indicated that the features of a truly Bolshevik party are: mass character (the slogan “To the masses!” put forward by the 3rd Congress remained in force); maneuverability, which excluded any dogmatism and sectarianism in the methods and means of struggle; loyalty to the principles of revolutionary Marxism; democratic centralism and the monolithic nature of the party, which should be “... poured from one piece” (see Communist International in documents, M., 1933, p. 411). “Bolshevisation,” it was said somewhat later in the decisions of the 5th extended plenum of the ECCI (April 1925), “is the ability to apply general principles Leninism to a given specific situation in one country or another” (ibid., p. 478). Course K.I. gave every communist party the opportunity, using own experience practical struggle, to become a national political force capable of acting independently in the specific conditions of their country, to become the real vanguard of the labor movement there. But in implementing this course, distortions were allowed. The Congress, for example, tried to formulate common methods for all parties to apply united front tactics. Unity of action was envisaged only from below; negotiations at the top between parties and organizations were allowed only if unity was initially achieved at the bottom. Such stereotyped tactics, as the Comintern itself later noted in its documents, limited the initiative of the Communist parties and prevented them from adapting their actions to the specific situation. This was a manifestation of a simplified approach to the tactics of a united labor front - only as a method of agitation, and not as a method for the practical implementation of unity of action in the labor movement.
The theses of the 5th Congress contained the incorrect position that there is essentially no difference between social democracy and fascism, which subsequently brought significant harm to the practice of unity of action. One of the factors that gave rise to such manifestations of sectarianism was the fierce struggle that the leaders of the Social Democratic parties and the Socialist International waged against the country of the Soviets and communist parties, the brutal persecution of communists by the Social Democratic governments.
In connection with the formation of the Trotskyist-Zinoviev opposition bloc in the CPSU (b) and the activation of Trotskyists in other communist parties, K.I. fully supported the position of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), describing Trotskyism as “... a type of Menshevism”, combining “...“ European opportunism ”with a left-radical” phrase, often covering up political passivity” (V extended plenum of the ECCI, March- April 1925, see ibid., p.481). The 7th extended plenum of the ECCI (December 1926) played a particularly large role in the ideological defeat of Trotskyism; in the report of I.V. Stalin at this plenum, and then in the resolution of the plenum, the nature of Trotskyism as a petty-bourgeois social-democratic deviation in the international labor movement was revealed. In its further struggle against Leninism, against the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Trotskyism increasingly revealed its counter-revolutionary essence, the 6th Congress of K.I. (1928) characterized the political content of the Trotskyist platform as counter-revolutionary.
A decisive ideological and political struggle against Trotskyism in the ranks of K.I., in which representatives of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) played an active role - I.V. Stalin, D.Z. Manuilsky, V.G. Knorin, I.A. Pyatnitsky. EAT. Yaroslavsky and others, representatives of friendly communist parties - G. Dimitrov, P. Tolyatti (Ercoli), M. Torez, P. Semar, B. Shmeral, O. Kuusinen, J. Sirola, E. Telman, V. Kolarov, p. Katayama and others contributed to the strengthening of communist parties in the positions of Leninism.
From July 17 to September 1, 1928, the 6th Congress of the KI was held in Moscow, in which 515 delegates from 65 organizations (including 50 communist parties) from 57 countries took part. Congress noted the approach of a new, “third” period in revolutionary development the world after October 1917 - a period of sharp aggravation of all the contradictions of capitalism, as evidenced by signs of the impending global economic crisis, the growth of class battles and a new rise in the liberation movement in colonial and dependent countries. In this regard, the congress approved the tactics outlined by the 9th plenum of the ECCI (February 1928), which were then expressed in the formula “class against class.” These tactics included intensifying the struggle against the reformism of social democracy and oriented the Communist parties towards preparing for the possible emergence of an acute socio-political crisis in capitalist countries. However, it proceeded only from the perspective of the proletarian revolution as the immediate task of the day and underestimated the dangers of fascism, which could take advantage of the crisis for reactionary purposes. Moreover, these tactics were used in many cases in a sectarian manner. The Congress called on the communists and the working class to intensify the struggle against the threat of a new world war. The Congress unanimously emphasized the need for all communist parties to defend the Soviet Union, the first and only socialist country at that time. “The defense of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the international bourgeoisie,” said the theses of the congress on the fight against the military danger, “meets class interests and is a duty of honor of the international proletariat” (ibid., p. 810). Declaring unconditional and active support for K.I. and all the Communist Parties of the national liberation struggle of the peoples of colonial and dependent countries, the Congress called for the defense of the Chinese revolution from imperialist interventionists. At the same time, under the impression of the Kuomintang's betrayal of the cause of the Chinese revolution (1927), the congress gave an erroneous assessment of the national bourgeoisie as a force no longer capable of participating in the struggle against imperialism.
The 6th Congress adopted the K.I. Program, which gave a scientific description of capitalism, especially the period of its general crisis, outlined the periodization of the revolutionary movement for the 10 years that passed after the October Revolution, and highlighted the goals of the world communist movement. The Program emphasized great value the first socialist state in the history for the revolutionary struggle throughout the capitalist world and the mutual international responsibilities of the Soviet Union and the international proletariat were formulated. However, on certain issues of tactics, the Program also reflected the incorrect assessments noted above. Developing problems of strategy and tactics of the international communist movement, K.I. with the active participation of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, he helped the communist parties overcome mistakes associated with the activation of representatives of the right deviation in a number of communist parties [N.I. Bukharin and others in the CPSU(b), D. Loveston in the US Communist Party, G. Brandler in the German Communist Party, etc.], who overestimated the degree of stabilization of capitalism, tried to prove the possibility of “organized capitalism” and made other opportunistic mistakes.
New tasks faced the communist movement in connection with the consequences of unprecedented destructive force the global economic crisis of 1929-33, the increasing aggressiveness of imperialism and the attack on democracy, up to the turn to fascism. During this period, the communist parties of a number of countries emerged as an influential force; they forged a persistent Marxist-Leninist core, rallied in France around M. Thorez and M. Cachin, in Italy - A. Gramsci and P. Togliatti (Ercoli), in Germany - E. Thälmann, W. Pick, W. Ulbricht, in Bulgaria - G. Dimitrov and V. Kolarov, in Finland - O. Kuusinen, in the USA - W. Foster, in Poland - Y. Lensky, in Spain - J. Diaz and D. Ibarruri, in Great Britain - W. Gallagher and G. Podlita. The changed conditions presented the Communist Parties with problems that were not foreseen in the previous decisions of the Council of Ministers; Moreover, some of the previously adopted tactical guidelines and recommendations of K.I. turned out to be unsuitable. The tragic experience of Germany, where fascism seized power in 1933, was a difficult lesson for the entire international labor and communist movement. The experience of the anti-fascist struggle has shown that for its success it is necessary to unite all democratic forces, the broadest strata of the people and, above all, the unity of the working class.
The 13th plenum of the ECCI (November-December 1933), noting the growing fascist threat in capitalist countries, placed special emphasis on the creation of a united workers' front as the main means of fighting against this threat. However, a new tactical line that would meet the new conditions of the revolutionary struggle had yet to be developed. It was developed taking into account the experience of armed battles of the Austrian and Spanish proletariat in 1934, the struggle of the French Communist Party for a united workers' and popular front in its country, and the anti-fascist struggle of communist parties in other countries. This line was finally determined by the 7th Congress of the KI, preparations for which took place in the conditions of the broadest collective discussion of pressing problems.
By the time of the convening of the 7th Congress of K.I. (Moscow, July 25 - August 20, 1935) in K.I. included 76 communist parties and organizations, 19 of them as sympathizers. In their ranks there were 3 million 141 thousand communists, including 785.5 thousand in capitalist countries. Only 26 organizations operated legally, the remaining 50 were driven underground and subjected to severe persecution. The congress was attended by 513 delegates representing 65 communist parties, as well as a number of international organizations - MOPR, KIM, Profintern, etc. E. Thalmann, who was in prison in fascist Germany. Congress discussed next questions: 1. Report on the activities of the ECCI (speaker V. Pik); 2. Report on the work of the International Control Commission (speaker Z. Angaretis); 3. The offensive of fascism and the tasks of K.I. in the struggle for the unity of the working class against fascism (speaker G. Dimitrov); 4. Preparation for the imperialist war and the tasks of K.I. (speaker P. Tolyatti); 5. Results of the construction of socialism in the USSR (speaker D.Z. Manuilsky); 6. Elections of the governing bodies of the Comintern. The work of the congress took place in an atmosphere of businesslike, comprehensive discussion and creative criticism and self-criticism.
The historical significance of the 7th Congress lies, first of all, in the fact that it outlined a clear strategic and tactical line for the communist parties in the fight against the onset of fascism and the outbreak of a new world war. The Congress defined the class essence of fascism in power as “an open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, the most chauvinistic and the most imperialistic elements of finance capital...” (Resolutions of the VII World Congress of the Communist International, [M.], 1935, pp. 10-11). The Congress stated that the coming of fascism to power did not mean the usual replacement of one bourgeois government by another, but the replacement of one form of class rule of the bourgeoisie - parliamentary democracy - with another form, an openly reactionary, terrorist dictatorship. In contrast to the post-October revolutionary upsurge, when the working class was faced with the question of choice - socialist revolution or bourgeois democracy (and supporting the latter at that moment meant an actual transition to the side of the class enemy), political crisis early 30s put a different alternative - fascism or bourgeois democracy.
In connection with this, the question of relations with Social Democracy was posed differently. The onset of fascism led to serious changes in the social democratic movement itself. The line of an irreconcilable struggle not only with its right-wing, openly reactionary leaders, but also with the centrists, which was absolutely correct in its time, needed to be revised in the new conditions. Now it was necessary to unite everyone who, for one reason or another, could oppose the fascist danger hanging over the peoples and the threat of a new world war. The tactics of the communist movement had to be brought into line with new tasks. It was necessary to decisively put an end to sectarianism, which remained one of the obstacles to the unity of action of the working class. The change in the previous line by the 7th Congress did not mean, of course, the abandonment of the ultimate goals of the movement - the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat, for socialism. The struggle for democracy strengthened the position of the proletariat in the general democratic front, contributed to the creation and strengthening of the alliance of the working class, the peasantry and all the working masses, and, therefore, helped the formation of the political army of the socialist revolution. Having considered the problems posed to the communist movement in the new situation, the 7th Congress of K.I. determined the tactics of a single worker and popular front, the foundations of which were formulated by Lenin at the 3rd Congress of the Comintern. The first priority of the international labor movement was to create a united labor front. The Congress emphasized that it does not impose “... any conditions for unity of action, with the exception of one elementary one, acceptable to all workers...: that unity of action be directed against fascism, against the advance of capital, against the threat of war...” ( Dimitrov G., The offensive of fascism and the tasks of the Communist International..., see in the book Izbr. prod., vol. 1, M., 1957, p. 395). Of course, such a broad and flexible formulation of the question of a united workers' front did not mean reconciliation with opportunism, the bearers of which were the right-wing leaders of Social Democracy. Closely related to the problem of a united workers' front was a new formulation of the question of the unity of the trade union movement, both on a national and international scale. The Congress came to the conclusion that it was necessary for trade unions led by communists to either join the reformist trade unions or unite with them on the platform of struggle against fascism and the offensive of capital. The Congress also posed the question of the prospects for the political unity of the working class more flexibly. The Congress developed the principles of the popular front. The talk was about uniting broad sections of the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie, the working intelligentsia, i.e., on the basis of a united workers’ front. precisely those layers that fascism tried to drag along with itself, intimidating with the bogey of the red danger. The main means of creating a popular front, the congress noted, is the consistent struggle of the revolutionary proletariat in defense of the specific demands and interests of these strata. The Congress developed the question of a popular front government, which was seen as the power of a broad class coalition directed against fascism and war. In its development, this power, if there is favorable conditions could develop into a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry, in turn paving the way to the dictatorship of the proletariat. A huge contribution to the development of the problems of the popular front was made by G. Dimitrov, representatives of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), French, Spanish and other communist parties.
The conclusions of the 7th Congress on the issues of the national liberation movement were of great importance. Rejecting leftist attitudes, which were based on an underestimation of the national, anti-imperialist tasks of revolutions in colonial countries, the Congress indicated that for the majority of colonies and semi-colonies the stage of national liberation struggle directed against the imperialist oppressors was inevitable. The main slogan put forward by the Congress for the peoples of the oppressed and dependent countries is to strive for the creation of an anti-imperialist united front uniting all the forces of national liberation. This slogan meant the consistent continuation and development of the Comintern's policy on the national-colonial issue, developed under the leadership of Lenin.
One of the central issues of the 7th Congress was the question of the fight against the outbreak of a new world war. Noting that the redivision of the world has already begun, that the main warmongers are German and Italian fascism and Japanese imperialism, that the Western imperialists encourage fascist aggression, the congress strongly emphasized that in the event of an attack on the USSR, the communists will call on the working people “... by all means and at any cost to promote the victory of the Red Army over the armies of the imperialists” (Resolutions of the VII World Congress of the Communist International, [M.], 1935, p. 44). On behalf of the communists of all countries, the congress declared that the Soviet Union is a stronghold of the freedom of peoples, that the victory of socialism in the USSR had a revolutionaryizing effect on the working masses of all countries, instilling in them confidence in their abilities and the conviction of the necessity and practical possibility of overthrowing capitalism and building socialism. In the event of fascist aggression, the Congress emphasized, the communists and the working class are obliged to “... become... in the first ranks of fighters for national independence and wage the war of liberation to the end...” (ibid., p. 42). Having refuted the slanderous allegations that the communists want war in the hope that it will bring revolution, G. Dimitrov put forward in his final speech at the closing of the congress the position that “the working masses can prevent the imperialist war with their fighting actions” (Dimitrov G.M. , In the struggle for a united front against fascism and war, M., 1939, p. 93). G. Dimitrov connected this possibility (which was completely absent in 1914) primarily with the fact of the existence of the Soviet Union and its peaceful policy.
The Congress elected the governing bodies of the Comintern - the Executive Committee, the International Control Commission, the Presidium and the Secretariat of the ECCI. The outstanding revolutionary internationalist G. Dimitrov was elected General Secretary of the ECCI.
7th Congress of K.I. appeared important milestone regarding the further development of forms of unity of the international communist movement. Given the growth of political maturity and the expansion of the geographical range of communist activities, the congress considered it possible and necessary to make changes in the methods and forms of leadership of K.I. The Congress invited the ECCI to “...avoid, as a rule, direct interference in the internal organizational affairs of communist parties” (Resolutions of the VII World Congress of the Communist International, [M.], 1935, p. 4). The ECCI should have focused on developing basic political and tactical provisions with a common international significance. Soon after the 7th Congress, on the initiative of representatives of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in K.I. The ECCI Secretariat adopted a number of important decisions in this direction.
Carrying out the decisions of the Congress, the most prominent figures of the Communist parties actively worked in the leadership of K.I. in an atmosphere of mutual trust and comradely cooperation. The principle of collective leadership was put into practice. Issues related to the work of a particular party were discussed with the active participation of its representatives. Sometimes these discussions were critical. The conclusions and recommendations adopted during the discussions were always the result of a collective decision of all participants.
During this period, some negative phenomena associated with Stalin’s personality cult also took place in the communist movement.
After the 7th Congress of K.I. The communist parties of France, Spain, China and other countries, acting in the spirit of his decisions, enriched the world communist movement with valuable experience in the struggle to expand ties with the masses, to create and strengthen the Popular Front. In France, the victory of the Popular Front (created in 1935) in the parliamentary elections in April-May 1936 not only eliminated the danger of a fascist coup, but also made it possible to carry out a number of progressive reforms. In Spain, the enormous potential of the Popular Front, created in January 1936, as a force mobilizing the masses to fight against fascism and to implement profound social changes, was especially convincingly revealed during the National Revolutionary War of the Spanish people against the fascist rebels and Italian-German interventionists (1936-39) . In China, the Communists directed their efforts to create a united anti-Japanese front of all patriotic forces in the country on the basis of cooperation between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. In Brazil in 1935, the National Liberation Alliance, which united democratic forces, was created and took over the leadership of the anti-fascist armed struggle that unfolded in the fall of that year.
The communists intensified their struggle to unite the working class and all democratic forces on an international scale. In order to restore the unity of the trade union movement, the communist-led Red trade unions that were part of the Profintern (Red International of Trade Unions) began to join the general trade union associations of their countries, and in 1937 the Profintern ceased to exist. The communists took an active part in what unfolded in the 1930s. the anti-war movement of the democratic public (international workers' and peasants' congresses, international congresses of writers, journalists, cultural figures, sports, women's, youth, etc.), as well as in the movement of solidarity with the Spanish, Chinese and Ethiopian peoples who fought for their freedom and independence.
Executive Committee K.I. in 1935-39 ten times he proposed to the leadership of the Socialist Workers' International a specific platform for uniting the efforts of the communist and social democratic movements in the fight against fascism and the outbreak of war. In 1935, twice - in Brussels and Paris - representatives of the ECCI Cachin and Thorez met with the leaders of the Socialist Workers' International. However, these efforts did not find the proper response from the right-wing leaders of Social Democracy. The position of the Socialist Workers International and the socialist parties led to the fact that the international working class remained split in the context of the onset of fascism and the growing danger of a new world war.
As a result of the activities of K.I. between the two world wars, the international labor movement as a whole met the 2nd World War (1939-45) more prepared than the 1st. Despite the fact that the division of the working class and the policies of the Western powers prevented the prevention new war, the influence of the working class on the nature, course and results of the 2nd World War was broader and more significant than in 1914-18.
The great patriotic and international feat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Soviet people in the war against fascism, the heroic anti-fascist struggle of the communists of Poland, Yugoslavia, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Mongolia, Albania, Greece, Romania, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands , Luxembourg, China, Korea, Vietnam, Spanish, German, Finnish and Japanese communists, the selfless activities of all the communist parties of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition were a significant contribution of the international communist movement in deciding the fate of the post-war world. However, as the world communist movement grew (1917 - 400 thousand communists, 1939 - 4.3 million), the level of political maturity increased and the tasks of communist parties became more complex, elected by the 1st Congress K.I. the organizational form of their association, which met the needs of the initial period of the communist movement, ceased to correspond to the new stage of its development.
The variety of situations in different countries and regions of the world, created by the nature and characteristics of the 2nd World War, changed the position of K.I. How single center the entire communist movement. Some communist parties were supposed to operate in aggressor countries, others - in countries that were victims of aggression. Some remained legal in countries with imperialist governments that fought against the fascist powers, while others were driven underground by governments that capitulated to the aggressor. Some were in colonies occupied or threatened with occupation by states fascist bloc, others operated in colonies outside the immediate sphere of war. Communist parties had to carefully take into account the situation of their countries, the peculiarities of the domestic and foreign policies of a particular state. Due to all this, leading the world communist movement from a single center became practically not only impossible, but also inexpedient, because there would be a danger of schematizing tactics and imposing decisions that did not correspond to the specific situation.
Moreover, in order to ensure the greatest possible unity of action among all national and international forces who were ready to fight against fascism, it was necessary to eliminate everything that could interfere with this, in particular, it was necessary to finally bury the myth about “Moscow’s interference” in the internal affairs of other countries, to deprive the slander of any basis that the communist parties are not independent and act “on orders from outside " For all these reasons, the Presidium of the ECCI in May 1943 decided to dissolve the ECCI, approved by all its sections.
The great historical merit of K.I. consisted, first of all, in the fact that he defended the teachings of Marxism-Leninism from vulgarization and distortion by opportunists, both on the right and on the “left”, carried out the connection of Marxism-Leninism with the labor movement on an international scale, developed Marxist-Leninist theory and strategy and tactics in the conditions of the first stage of the general crisis of capitalism and the construction of socialism in the USSR, contributed to the unity of the vanguard of advanced workers in many countries and a truly proletarian party, helped them mobilize the masses of workers to defend their economic and political interests and fight against fascism and imperialist wars, strengthened internationalist unity working class, fought for the development and victory of the national liberation movement and played an important role in preparing the historical revolutionary changes carried out during and after the end of the 2nd World War. The communist parties that led the working class during the people's democratic socialist revolutions that unfolded in a number of countries went through the invaluable school of K.I. Big political experience, close connection with the first country of socialism - Soviet Union allowed them to successfully carry out democratic and socialist transformations. All this led to the formation of a powerful world socialist system, which has a decisive influence on the entire course of world history in the interests of peace and socialism.
Experience of K.I. teaches that the strength and effectiveness of the communist movement are determined by loyalty to proletarian internationalism. K.I. raised high the banner of internationalism and contributed to the spread of its ideas throughout the world. After the dissolution of K.I. the forms of international relations between fraternal parties have changed. However, the need to fully protect, develop and strengthen the principles of proletarian internationalism remains a paramount task. This is a vital necessity for the communist movement: internationalism lies at the very basis of its activities as a global force that expresses the fundamental interests of the working class, of all working people. Internationalism opposes national hatred and racial hostility, which benefits the exploiting classes. The establishment and spread of internationalism is the most reliable guarantee against the fragmentation of the communist movement into separate detachments, against the danger of confining them within national or regional frameworks. At the present stage, as noted by the International Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties in 1969, an integral part of proletarian internationalism is the defense of real socialism. The correct internationalist policy of the communist parties is of fundamental importance for the destinies of the entire labor movement, for the destinies of humanity. The traditions of K.I., the rich political experience he accumulated, faithfully serve the communist parties in their struggle for peace, democracy, national independence and socialism, in their struggle for the unity of the international communist movement on the basis of Marxism-Leninism, proletarian internationalism, in the struggle against the right and "left" opportunism.
In the new conditions that have developed in post-war period, Lenin's ideas and principles of the international communist movement were further developed in the documents of the international Meetings of communist and workers' parties in 1957, 1960 and 1969, in the decisions of the CPSU congresses, the CPSU Program, and Marxist-Leninist program documents of fraternal parties.

Background

The 2nd International, corroded from within by opportunism, openly betrayed proletarian internationalism as soon as the First World War broke out. It broke up mainly into two groups warring with each other, each of which went over to the side of its bourgeoisie and actually abandoned the slogan “Workers of all countries, unite!” The most authoritative and united force in the international labor movement, which remained faithful to proletarian internationalism, was led by. Having revealed the essence of the collapse of the 2nd International, Lenin showed the working class a way out of the situation created as a result of the betrayal of the opportunists. leaders: the labor movement needed a new, revolutionary International. “The Second International died, defeated by opportunism. Down with opportunism and long live... The Third International!” - Lenin wrote already in 1914.

Theoretical background for the creation of the 3rd International

The Bolsheviks of Russia prepared the creation of the Communist International primarily through the development of revolutionary theory. V.I. Lenin revealed the imperialist nature of the outbreak of the world war and substantiated the slogan of turning it into a civil war against the bourgeoisie of his own country - as the main strategic slogan of the international labor movement. Lenin's conclusion about the possibility and inevitability of the victory of the revolution initially in a few or even in one single capitalist country, formulated by him for the first time in 1915, was the largest, fundamentally new contribution to Marxist theory. This conclusion, which gave the working class a revolutionary perspective in the new era, was a major step in developing the theoretical foundations of the new International.

Practical prerequisites for the creation of the 3rd International

The second direction in which the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, worked to prepare a new International was the unity of the left groups of social democratic parties that remained faithful to the cause of the working class. The Bolsheviks used a series of international conferences held in 1915 (socialists of the Entente countries, women's, youth) to promote their views on issues of war, peace and revolution. They took an active part in the Zimmerwald movement of socialist internationalists, creating a left group in its ranks, which was the embryo of a new International. However, in 1917, when, under the influence of the revolutionary movement in Russia, a rapid rise of the revolutionary movement began, the Zimmerwald movement, which united mainly centrists, went not forward, but backward, the Bolsheviks broke with it, refusing to send their delegates to the Stockholm Conference in September 1917.

Creation of the Communist International

The world imperialist war concentrated huge masses of people in the armies of the warring powers, bound them to a common fate in the face of death and most mercilessly confronted these tens of millions, often very far from politics, with the monstrous consequences of the policies of imperialism. Deep spontaneous discontent grew on both sides of the fronts, people began to think about the reasons for the senseless mutual extermination, in which they were unwitting participants. Gradually insight came. The working masses, especially in the warring states, increasingly felt the need to restore the international unity of their ranks. Countless bloody losses, ruin and hard labor exploitation on the part of the bourgeoisie, who profited from the war, were difficult experience, who convinced of the disastrous nature of nationalism and chauvinism for the labor movement. It was chauvinism, which split the 2nd International, that destroyed international unity the working class and thereby disarmed it in the face of imperialism, ready for anything. Hatred was born among the masses towards those leaders of Social Democracy who stubbornly adhered to chauvinism. positions of cooperation with “their” bourgeoisie, with “their” governments.

…Already since 1915,” Lenin pointed out, “a process of splitting of old, rotten, socialist parties, a process of movement of the masses of the proletariat from social-chauvinist leaders to the left, to revolutionary ideas and sentiments, to revolutionary leaders, has clearly emerged in all countries

Thus arose a mass movement for the international unity of the proletariat, for the re-establishment of the revolutionary center of the international labor movement.

The emergence of the world's first socialist state after the victory created fundamentally new conditions for the struggle of the working class. The success of the victorious socialist revolution in Russia was explained, first of all, by the fact that only in Russia did a new type of party exist. In the context of the powerful rise of the workers' and national liberation movements, the process of formation of communist parties began in other countries. In 1918, communist parties emerged in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, Finland, and Argentina.

Moscow meeting of 1919

In January 1919, in Moscow, under the leadership of Lenin, a meeting of representatives of the communist parties of Russia, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Latvia, Finland, as well as the Balkan revolution took place. Social-Democrats federations (Bulgarian crowds and Romanian leftists) and Socialist. Labor Party of the USA. The meeting discussed the issue of convening an international Congress of Revolutionary Representatives span. parties and developed a draft platform for the future of the International. The meeting pointed out the heterogeneity of socialism. movements. The opportunist leaders of Social Democracy, relying on a narrow stratum of the so-called. the labor aristocracy and the “labor bureaucracy,” deceived the masses with promises to fight against capitalism without resorting to dictatorship, they suppressed the revolutionary energy of the workers, distracting them with theories of “class peace” in the name of “national unity.” The meeting demanded a merciless fight against open opportunism - social chauvinism and at the same time recommended the tactics of a bloc with left-wing groups, the tactics of splitting off all revolutionary elements from the centrists, who were the actual accomplices of the renegades. The meeting addressed 39 revolutionary parties, groups and movements in the countries of Europe, Asia, America and Australia with an appeal to take part in the work of the founding congress of the new International.

I (Founding) Congress

At the beginning of March 1919, the Founding Congress of the Communist International took place in Moscow, which was attended by 52 delegates from 35 parties and groups from 30 countries. Representatives of the communist parties of Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Finland and other countries, as well as a number of communist groups (Czech, Bulgarian, Yugoslav, English, French, Swiss and others) took part in the congress. The social democratic parties of Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the USA, the Balkan Revolutionary Social Democratic Federation, and the Zimmerwald left wing of France were represented at the congress.

The Congress heard reports that showed that the revolutionary movement was growing everywhere, that the world was in a state of deep revolutionary crisis. The Congress discussed and adopted the platform of the Communist International, which was based on a document developed at the January 1919 meeting in Moscow. The new era, which began with the victory of October, was characterized in the platform as “the era of the decomposition of capitalism, its internal disintegration, the era of communism. revolution of the proletariat." The order of the day was the task of conquering and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat, the path to which lies through a break with opportunism of all stripes, through international solidarity of the working people on a new basis. In view of this, the Congress recognized the urgent need for the founding of the Communist International.

The First Congress of the Communist International determined its attitude towards the Berne Conference, held by opportunist leaders in February 1919 and formally restored. The participants of this conference condemned the October Revolution in Russia and even considered the issue of armed intervention against it. Therefore, the Congress of the Communist International called on the workers of all countries to begin the most decisive struggle against the yellow International and to warn the broad masses of the people against this “International of lies and deception.” The Founding Congress of the Communist International adopted a Manifesto to the proletarians of the whole world, which stated that the communists gathered in Moscow, representatives of the revolutionary proletariat of Europe, America and Asia, feel and recognize themselves as successors and executors of the cause, the program of which was announced by the founders of scientific communism, Marx and Engels in "Manifesto of the Communist Party".

“We call on workers and women of all countries,” the congress proclaimed, “to unite under the communist banner, which is already the banner of the first great victories.”

The creation of the Comintern was the response of revolutionary Marxists to the demand of a new era - the era of the general crisis of capitalism, the main features of which were increasingly clearly identified in the revolutionary events of those days. The Communist International, according to Lenin, was supposed to become international organization, designed to accelerate the creation of revolutionary parties in other countries and thereby put in the hands of the entire workers' movement the decisive weapon for victory over capitalism. But at the First Congress of the Communist International, according to Lenin, “... the banner of communism was only hoisted, around which the forces of the revolutionary proletariat were supposed to gather.” The complete organizational development of a new type of international proletarian organization was to be carried out by the Second Congress.

II Congress

The Second Congress of the Communist International was more representative than the first: 217 delegates from 67 organizations (including 27 communist parties) from 37 countries took part in its work. The socialist parties of Italy, France, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany and other centrist organizations and parties were represented at the congress with the right of an advisory vote.

During the period between the First and Second Congresses, the revolutionary upsurge continued to grow. In 1919, Soviet republics emerged in Hungary (March 21), Bavaria (April 13), and Slovakia (June 16). In England, France, the USA, Italy and other countries, a movement developed in defense of Soviet Russia from the intervention of imperialist powers. A massive national liberation movement arose in colonies and semi-colonies (Korea, China, India, Turkey, Afghanistan and others). The process of formation of communist parties continued: they arose in Denmark (November 1919), Mexico (1919), USA (September 1919), Yugoslavia (April 1919), Indonesia (May 1920), Great Britain (31 July - 1 August 1920), Palestine (1919), Iran (June 1920) and Spain (April 1920).

At the same time, the socialist parties of France, Italy, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Workers' Party of Norway and others broke with the Berne International and declared their desire to join the Communist International. These were mainly centrist parties and there were elements in them that brought with them a right-wing danger into the ranks of the Communist International, threatening its ideological monolithicity, which was a necessary and indispensable condition for the Communist International to fulfill its historical mission. Along with this, a threat “from the left” appeared in many communist parties, generated by the youth and inexperience of the communist parties, often inclined to rush too quickly to resolve the fundamental issues of the revolutionary struggle, as well as the penetration of anarcho-syndicalist elements into the world communist movement.

This was precisely what dictated the need for 21 conditions for admission to the Communist International, approved on August 6, 1920 by the Second Congress. The main ones among these conditions were: recognition of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the main principle of the revolutionary struggle and the theory of Marxism, a complete break with reformists and centrists and their expulsion from the ranks of the party, a combination of legal and illegal methods of struggle, systematic work in the countryside, in trade unions, in parliament, democratic centralism as the main organizational principle of the party, the party’s obligatory nature of the decisions of the congresses and plenums of the Communist International and its governing bodies. 21 conditions were necessary to ensure the organization of the political foundations of the activities of both the Communist International itself and the Communist Parties that were part of it. The conditions were based on Lenin's doctrine of a new type of party and played a huge role in forging Marxist-Leninist parties and their cadres, in the fight against opportunism and in the further development of the world communist movement.

The Congress adopted the Charter of the Communist International, based on the principle of democratic centralism, and also elected the governing body of the Communist International - and other bodies. Describing the historical significance of the Second Congress, Lenin said:

“First, the communists had to proclaim their principles to the whole world. This was done at the First Congress. This is the first step. The second step was the organizational formation of the Communist International and the development of conditions for admission to it - conditions for separation in practice from the centrists, from direct and indirect agents of the bourgeoisie within the labor movement. This was done at the II Congress.”

The Communist International (Comintern, 3rd International) is an international revolutionary proletarian organization that united communist parties of various countries; existed from 1919 to 1943

The creation of the Comintern was preceded by a long struggle of the Bolshevik Party, led by V.I. Lenin, against the reformists and centrists in the 2nd International for the unification of left forces in the international labor movement. In 1914, the Bolsheviks announced a break with the 2nd International and began to gather forces to create the 3rd International.

The initiator of the organizational formation of the Comintern was the RCP (b). In January 1918, a meeting of representatives of left-wing groups in a number of countries in Europe and America took place in Petrograd. The meeting discussed the issue of convening an international conference of socialist parties to organize the 3rd International. A year later, a second international meeting was held in Moscow under the leadership of V.I. Lenin, which addressed left-wing socialist organizations with an appeal to take part in the international socialist congress. On March 2, 1919, the 1st (founding) Congress of the Communist International began its work in Moscow.

In 1919-1920 The Comintern set itself the task of leading a world socialist revolution designed to replace the world capitalist economy with a world system of communism through the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie. In 1921, at the Third Congress of the Comintern, V.I. Lenin criticized supporters of the “offensive theory” who called for revolutionary battles regardless of the objective situation. The main task of the communist parties was to strengthen the positions of the working class, consolidate and expand the real results of the struggle in defense of everyday interests in combination with preparing the working masses for the struggle for the socialist revolution. The solution to this problem required the consistent implementation of Lenin's slogan: to work wherever there are masses - in trade unions, youth and other organizations.

In the initial period of activity of the Comintern and the organizations adjacent to it, when making decisions, a preliminary analysis of the situation was carried out, a creative discussion was held, and a desire was manifested to find answers to general questions, taking into account national characteristics and traditions. Subsequently, the methods of work of the Comintern underwent serious changes: any dissent was regarded as aiding reaction and fascism. Dogmatism and sectarianism had a negative impact on the international communist and labor movement. They caused especially great harm to the creation of a united front and relations with social democracy, which was regarded as the “moderate wing of fascism,” the “main enemy” of the revolutionary movement, the “third party of the bourgeoisie,” etc. Negative influence The activities of the Comintern were influenced by the campaign of “cleansing” its ranks of the so-called “right-wingers” and “conciliators” launched by J.V. Stalin after the removal of N.I. Bukharin from the leadership of the Comintern.

In the 1st half of the 30s. There was a significant shift in the balance of class forces on the world stage. It manifested itself in the onset of reaction, fascism, and the growth of the military threat. The task of creating an anti-fascist, general democratic union, primarily of communists and social democrats, came to the fore. Its solution required the development of a platform capable of uniting all anti-fascist forces. Instead, the Stalinist leadership of the Comintern set a course for a socialist revolution, supposedly capable of getting ahead of the onset of fascism. Understanding of the need for a turn in the policies of the Comintern and the Communist Parties came late. The VII Congress of the Comintern, held in the summer of 1935, developed a policy of a united workers' and broad popular front, which created the possibility of joint action by communists and social democrats, all revolutionary and anti-fascist forces to resist fascism, preserve peace, and fight for social progress. The new strategy was not implemented for a number of reasons, among which was the negative impact of Stalinism on the activities of the Comintern and the Communist Parties. Terror of the late 30s. against party cadres in the Soviet Union spread to the leading cadres of the communist parties of Austria, Germany, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Yugoslavia and other countries. Tragic events in the history of the Comintern were in no way linked to the policy of unity of revolutionary and democratic forces.

Significant (albeit temporary) damage to the anti-fascist policy of the communists was caused by the conclusion of the Soviet-German pact in 1939. During the Second World War, the communist parties of all countries stood firmly in anti-fascist positions, in the positions of proletarian internationalism and the struggle for the national independence of their countries. At the same time, the conditions for the activities of the Communist Parties in a new, more complicated situation required new organizational forms associations. Based on this, on May 15, 1943, the Presidium of the ECCI decided to dissolve the Comintern.