The Kienthal Conference (also known as the Second Zimmerwald Conference ) was held in the Swiss village of Kienthal , between April 24 and 30, 1916. Like its 1915 predecessor, the Zimmerwald Conference , it was an international conference of socialists who opposed the First World War .
152-693: The conference had been called by an Enlarged Session of the International Socialist Commission (ISC) in February 1916. The reasons for a second conference included the opposition that the International Socialist Bureau was putting up against the Zimmerwald movement, the opposition of the bourgeois nationalists and the "gradually maturing plans for peace". The following delegates participated in
304-632: A revolutionary left-wing , a moderate center-wing , and a more reformist right-wing . Lenin condemned much of the center as "social pacifists" for several reasons, including their vote for war credits despite publicly opposing the war. Lenin's term "social pacifist" aimed in particular at Ramsay MacDonald , leader of the Independent Labour Party in Britain, who opposed the war on grounds of pacifism but did not actively fight against it. Discredited by its apathy towards world events,
456-663: A separate peace between Germany and Allied countries. Balabanoff was accused of negotiating with the Germans on behalf the Italian Socialist Party, but the Party quickly cleared her. However, Robert Grimm faced a more substantial charge. On May 26/27 he sent a telegram to Swiss Federal Councilor Arthur Hoffmann stating that there was a general desire for peace in Russia and that the only thing that could hinder it
608-604: A "fundamental" nature and the proletarians needed to be educated as to why the proposal foundered. No resolution was passed on the issue, though the movement for the Stockholm Conference is condemned, in passing, in the Conferences manifesto. The manifesto itself caused some trouble for the ISC. It was agreed that it would not be immediately released because it contained a call for co-ordinated mass action against
760-471: A circular (though not a full manifesto as the Zimmerwald Lefts had advocated) on the basis of a draft written by Grimm and extensively rewritten by a commission consisting of Zinoviev, Rakovsky, Serrati, Martov, Grimm and two delegates representing Germany and the ISC whose identity is not apparent. The Lefts were still not entirely satisfied with the circular, but considered it an improvement over
912-660: A circular to all the parties adhering to the ISB announcing their existence and the objects of the group. Only the Danish party replied, officially disapproving of the Zimmerwald venture. However, at the Congress of the Swiss Socialist Democratic Party at Aarau November 20–21, the delegates declared their adherence to the ISC and granted the organization 300 francs . On September 27, 1915, ISC sent out
1064-629: A confidential circular (which was nevertheless leaked to the unfriendly press) suggesting that the adhering groups appoint up to three extra delegates to join the Commissioners as part of an Enlarged Committee. The first session of this Enlarged Committee of the International Socialist Commission was held in Berne February 5–8, 1916. No official list of attendees was published and sources disagree about who
1216-829: A defense of the Soviet state. In that year, Joseph Stalin took power in Moscow and upheld the thesis of socialism in one country , detailed by Nikolai Bukharin in his brochure Can We Build Socialism in One Country in the Absence of the Victory of the West-European Proletariat? (April 1925). The position was finalized as the state policy after Stalin's January 1926 article On the Issues of Leninism . Stalin made
1368-692: A disciplined fashion whatever decision was made. In this period, the Comintern was promoted as the general staff of the world revolution . Ahead of the Second Congress of the Communist International, held in July through August 1920, Lenin sent out a number of documents, including his Twenty-one Conditions to all socialist parties. Congress adopted the 21 conditions as prerequisites for any group wanting to become affiliated with
1520-513: A draft by Zinoviev, 19. After this poll the resolutions were handed back to the commission, which now included Zinoviev and Nobs. This commission hammered out a compromise based on Lapinkis draft. Zinoviev called it the "Lapinski-Zinoviev-Modigliani draft...with amendments" and noted that the Italians gave an ultimatum reserving individual parties the right to call for a session of the Bureau. Though
1672-408: A formal international organization, they continued to maintain close relations with each other through a series of international forums. In the period directly after the Comintern's dissolution, periodical meetings of communist parties were held in Moscow. Moreover, World Marxist Review , a joint periodical of the communist parties, played an important role in coordinating the communist movement up to
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#17327724910941824-923: A higher proportion of the KPD Politburo membership had died in the Soviet Union than in Nazi Germany. Weitz also noted that hundreds of German citizens, most of them Communists, were handed over to the Gestapo by Stalin's administration. The Research Institutes 100 and 205 worked for the International and later were moved to the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
1976-551: A lengthy and ponderous draft manifesto submitted by Axelrod, Martov and Lapinski on behalf of the Mensheviks and the Polish Socialist Party - Left which mostly dealt with post-war plans for supranational government schemes and why bourgeois attempts would continue the regime of imperialism while a "complete economic and political unification of all civilized nations" should be the chief tasks of socialists once
2128-618: A meeting with a visiting Serb delegation on October 10. The Serbs were represented by Kaslerovic and Popvic. In addition to the Serbs, the following were present: Christian Rakovsky of Romania; Katerina Tinev of the Bulgarian Trade Union Federation and Kharlokov of the opposition with the "Broad" Bulgarian socialist party; Radek, Orlovsky and Haneki of the Bolsheviks; Yrjo Sirola of Finland and Fritz Rosen of
2280-552: A number of other Russian socialist luminaries. Grimm boarded this train and set off for the Russian frontier. Before he got to the Russian border he learned that the foreign minister who denied him a visa, Pavel Milyukov had resigned , and three more socialists had entered the Provisional Government. The new government issued him a visa but it did not get to him until after he had crossed the Russian border under
2432-478: A peace without annexations or indemnities on the basis of national self-determination. After debate in the conference a vote was taken: 10 votes for the majority report of the commission; 12 for the minority report of the Zimmerwald Left; a new draft introduced by Lapinski, 15; another draft by Hoffman favoring calling the Bureau, 2; a draft by Serrati "approximately the same as the majority report" 10; and
2584-583: A plenum of the ISB should be called those Zimmerwaldist parties participating had to use the opportunity to expose the real intentions of the social patriots, while reaffirming the fundamental principles of the International. Two annexes provided for a meeting of the Enlarged Committee of the ISC should a plenary session of the ISB be called, to discuss joint action by the Zimmerwaldists. A second reaffirmed each individual parties right to call
2736-548: A policy of non-intervention , declaring on November 6 that the conflict was an imperialist war between various national ruling classes on both sides, much like World War I had been, and that the main culprits were Britain and France. This period only ended on 22 June 1941 with the invasion of the Soviet Union , when the Comintern changed its position to one of active support for the Allies . During these two years, many communists turned their backs on their Comintern sections, and
2888-551: A proposed Paris conference of Entente socialist parties . The ISC called a meeting of the Enlarged Committee members of the Allied countries, but only those groups with a presence in Switzerland were able to attend. The meeting therefore, only issued a non-binding declaration recommending its affiliates not to attend. An official list of delegates was, again, not published, but the official communique stated "only those delegates of
3040-480: A session of the ISB on its own volition. There is some disagreement on the number of draft resolutions for a peace policy initially presented to the conference. The conferences official report states that three resolutions were presented: those of Robert Grimm, of the Zimmerwald Left and the German Internationale group. However, another source states that the third draft was one drafted by Lenin and
3192-590: A socialist women's conference to be held in connection with the Zimmerwald conference On August 1 another meeting of the ISC with Zimmerwald adherents in Stockholm decided to call the Third Zimmerwald Conference and meet in Stockholm on September 5 regardless of what happened to the movement for the proposed general Conference. The participants at this meeting included Lindhagen, Lindstorm, and Otto Strom of Sweden; Osip Arkadievich Ermanski of
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#17327724910943344-796: The 1923 insurrection . However, this proposal was rejected by the Politburo which was controlled by Stalin, Zinoviev, and Kamenev who decided to send a commission of lower-ranking Russian Communist party members. The dream of a world revolution was abandoned after the failures of the Spartacist uprising in Germany and of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the failure of all revolutionary movements in Europe such as in Italy, where
3496-732: The Central Committee for the Return of Political Exiles to Russia to intervene on their behalf with the Russian Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet for their return to Russia in exchange for German civil prisoners in Russia. However, Grimm was denied entry into Russia for the moment on the suspicion that he was a German spy. In the meantime, Grimm and the ISC learned that several affiliated parties had declared themselves sympathetic to
3648-634: The Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang were supported by the Comintern. However, after the definite break with Chiang Kai-shek in 1927, Joseph Stalin sent personal emissaries to help organize revolts which at this time failed. The Fourth World Congress was coincidentally held within days of the March on Rome by Benito Mussolini and his PNF in Italy . Karl Radek lamented
3800-726: The Communist International at its first congress in March 1919. Two membership lists of organizations adhering to Zimmerwald were published in Bulletins #3 and #4. Not included in either lists were the opposition sections within the German and French socialist parties. Additionally, the Finnish Social Democrats adhered in the summer of 1917. There were also other groups whose allegiance to
3952-600: The Communist Party of Poland in 1938). Above all, the Comintern exploited Soviet prestige in sharp contrast to the weaknesses of local parties that rarely had political power. Communist front organizations were set up to attract non-members who agreed with the party on certain specific points. Opposition to fascism was a common theme in the popular front era of the mid-1930s. The well-known names and prestige of artists, intellectuals and other fellow travelers were used to advance party positions. They often came to
4104-798: The Demain ; Karl Radek of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania ; and Willi Münzenberg , secretary of the International Socialist Youth League . Furthermore, there was apparently a representative of the Dutch Zimmerwaldists present, or one of the above may have held the Dutch mandate. The identity of this person remains unclear. After some debate the meeting decided to issue
4256-699: The Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist International was established in Siberia to develop their political influence in the Far East . Soon after its establishment, the bureau's manager Grigori Voitinsky arrived in Peking and established contact with local communist vanguard Li Dazhao . Li arranged for Voitinsky to meet with another Communist leader, Chen Duxiu , in Shanghai and began to establish
4408-756: The German Social Democratic Party ; Serrati , Modigliani and Angelica Balabanoff from the Italian Socialist Party ; Christian Rakovsky from the Social Democratic Party of Romania and Edmondo Peluso from the Social Democratic Party of Portugal . However, the Hoover Institution adds Alexander Martynov , for the Mensheviks, Franz Koritschoner , a dissident member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria ; Henri Guilbeaux , editor of
4560-550: The Nazi government 's propaganda against the Soviet Union and the Comintern, a treaty of assistance was concluded between Germany and Japan in 1936, the Anti-Comintern Pact . In it, the two states agreed to fight the Comintern and assured each other that they would not sign any treaties with the Soviet Union that would contradict the anti-communist spirit of the agreement. However, this did not prevent Hitler from signing
4712-785: The Nazi-Soviet Pact with Stalin in August 1939, which in turn meant the end of the Popular Front policy and, in fact, that of the Comintern as well. The German-Soviet non-aggression treaty contained far-reaching agreements on spheres of interest , which the two totalitarian powers implemented over the next two years using military means. On 3 September 1939, France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany after its invasion of Poland , beginning World War II in Europe . The Comintern sections now found themselves in
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4864-666: The Paris Commune had been crushed by force of arms in 1871. The Bolsheviks believed that this required a new international to foment revolution in Europe and around the world. During this early period (1919–1924), known as the First Period in Comintern history, with the Bolshevik Revolution under attack in the Russian Civil War and a wave of revolutions across Europe , the Comintern's priority
5016-494: The Popular Front led by Manuel Azaña winning the 1936 election in Spain , and with Léon Blum 's 1936 election which led to the Popular Front government in France . Stalin's purges of the 1930s affected Comintern activists living in both the Soviet Union and overseas. At Stalin's direction, the Comintern was thoroughly infused with Soviet secret police and foreign intelligence operatives and informers working under Comintern guise. One of its leaders, Mikhail Trilisser , using
5168-420: The Second International dissolved in 1916. In 1917, after the February Revolution overthrew the Romanov Dynasty , Lenin published the April Theses which openly supported revolutionary defeatism , where the Bolsheviks hoped that Russia would lose the war so that they could quickly cause a socialist insurrection. The victory of the Russian Communist Party in the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917
5320-417: The Socialist Propaganda League of America . No decisions or resolutions appear to have been made at this meeting. The Serb delegation were there to submit a memorandum to the Dutch-Scandinavian committee. The ISC held two meetings on November 8, 1917, the day after the Bolshevik seizure of power in Petrograd . Present, beside the formal members of the Commission, were Radek, Racovsky, Tinev and Kharlakov. At
5472-589: The fascist squadristi broke the strikes during the Biennio Rosso and quickly assumed power following the 1922 March on Rome . This period up to 1928 was known as the Second Period, mirroring the shift in the Soviet Union from war communism to the New Economic Policy . At the Fifth World Congress of the Comintern in July 1924, Zinoviev condemned both Marxist philosopher Georg Lukács 's History and Class Consciousness , published in 1923 after his involvement in Béla Kun 's Hungarian Soviet Republic , and Karl Korsch 's Marxism and Philosophy . Zinoviev himself
5624-402: The popular front against fascism . This policy argued that communist parties should seek to form a popular front with all parties that opposed fascism and not limit themselves to forming a united front with those parties based in the working class. There was no significant opposition to this policy within any of the national sections of the Comintern. It would have momentous consequences, with
5776-471: The 1919 Comintern founding congress. Trotsky, who was also marginalized and persecuted by Stalin, and other communists founded the Fourth International in 1938 as an oppositional alternative to the Stalin-dominated Comintern. In the years that followed, however, their sections rarely got beyond the status of the smallest cadre or splinter parties. Although the General Association of German Anti-Communist Associations had existed in Berlin since 1933 as part of
5928-436: The Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, and the Russian Social Revolutionaries, as well as Henri Guilbeaux and Willi Münzenberg. After the March Revolution in Russia the ISC decided to transfer its headquarters to Stockholm , to be closer to the center of revolutionary activity. Grimm left Switzerland on April 20, and arrived at Stockholm on April 24. Three days before he left, however, Grimm had agreed to an appeal of assistance from
6080-421: The Bolsheviks; Boris Reinstein for the US Socialist Labor Party ; Kirkov for Bulgaria and Balabanoff in her capacity as secretary of the ISC. The representatives of the Soviet were Goldenberg , Vladimir Rozanov and "Smirnov". At this meeting Balabanoff, Orlavsky and Reinstien stated their objections to the invitation of the majority Socialist parties to the proposed Stockholm conference. Goldberg replied that
6232-459: The Central Committee of the RSDLP, and that there was a heated disagreement between Bolsheviks and other members of the Zimmerwald Left over the conception of national self-determination , as well as disarmament and the "arming of the people". In any event the "Left Zimmerwald" draft was endorsed by Lenin, Zinoviev and Armand on behalf of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, as well as Radek, Bronski and Dobrowski of Poland, "one delegate from town X" of
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6384-419: The Chairman of the Executive. Zinoviev was assisted by Angelica Balabanoff , acting as the secretary of the International, Victor L. Kibaltchitch and Vladmir Ossipovich Mazin. Lenin, Trotsky, and Alexandra Kollontai presented material. The main topic of discussion was the difference between bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat . The following parties and movements were invited to
6536-406: The Comintern China Branch, which evolved into the Communist Party of China in 1921. The Third Congress of the Communist International was held between 22 June–12 July 1921 in Moscow. The Fourth Congress, held in November 1922, at which Trotsky played a prominent role, continued in this vein. In 1924, the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party joined the Comintern. At first, in China, both
6688-427: The Comintern labelled Social Democracy as social fascists and urged aligned parties to work to their destruction as the 'moderate wing of fascism'. Especially with the rise of the National Socialist Workers' Party in Germany after the 1930 federal election , this stance gave rise to some opposition inside. The Sixth World Congress also revised the policy of united front in the colonial (colonized) countries. China
6840-413: The Comintern. It was a network made up of the communist parties of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia (led by Josip Broz Tito and expelled in June 1948). The Cominform was dissolved in 1956 following Stalin's 1953 death and the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . While the communist parties of the world no longer had
6992-461: The Conference and stated that his party would attend. Again, Balabanoff reminded everybody that no single party could dictate the ISCs position, which would be decided by the third Zimmerwald Conference. On the next day the conclave resumed, this time without the Soviet delegates. A statement was adopted in the name of the "Bureau of the International Socialist Commission" to the effect that the Third Zimmerwald Conference would take place five days before
7144-425: The Conference was going to be held in the Netherlands to avoid passport denial or secret police surveillance, but a number of delegates were prevented from attending anyway. The Kienthal Conference adopted another manifesto and some important resolutions, but it declined to advocate a policy to be followed by its adherents toward the conference of Neutral Socialists scheduled to meet at the Hague that summer. This
7296-403: The Czech, Bulgarian, Yugoslav, British, French, and Swiss Communist Groups; the Dutch Social-Democratic Group; Socialist Propaganda League and the Socialist Labor Party of America; Socialist Workers' Party of China; Korean Workers' Union, Turkestan, Turkish, Georgian, Azerbaijani, and Persian Sections of the Central Bureau of the Eastern Peoples, and the Zimmerwald Commission. Zinoviev served as
7448-420: The Founding Congress: Of these, the following attended (see list of delegates of the 1st Comintern congress ): the communist parties of Russia, Germany, German Austria, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Byelorussia, Estonia, Armenia, and the Volga German region; the Swedish Social Democratic Left Party (the opposition), Balkan Revolutionary People's of Russia; Zimmerwald Left Wing of France;
7600-437: The German Independent Socialists arrived in Stockholm and the ISC met to discuss her request that the publication of the manifesto be postponed further. The ISP had been getting into trouble lately because of mutinies in the German navy led by alleged party members. The group's parliamentary leaders denied responsibility and pleaded that they were only for legal action. The publication of the manifesto at this time might lead to
7752-443: The German Opposition, Platten, Nobs, Robmann, Kaclerovic, and Serrati. The Zimmerwald Left draft stated that imperialist rivalry was the cause of the war and that plans developed by the opportunists and "social pacifists" such as a United States of Europe , disarmament, compulsory courts of arbitration etc. only deceived the masses because they gave the illusion of a "capitalism without war". The revolutionary struggle would arise out of
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#17327724910947904-482: The ISB ( Emile Vandervelde ) serve in a belligerent cabinet, thus making the ISB a tool of an "imperialist coalition"; its amicable relations with "social patriotic" parties and opposition to the Zimmerwald movement. The resolution did note, however, that under the pressure of the "growing indignation of the masses" the Executive Committee was examining the possibility of holding a session of the ISB. A session called under these circumstances, however, might be made to serve
8056-407: The ISB in order to "tear the masks from their social chauvinist faces"; the view of some, like Pavel Axelrod , who wished for the Zimmerwaldists to try and win over more of the elements within the ISB, and therefore did not advocate calling a meeting of the Bureau, but did not rule out participation; and a tendency represented by the Italians that claimed the ISB could be "conquered" if reconvened with
8208-440: The ISC and Zimmerwald was ambiguous. Third International The Communist International ( Comintern ), also known as the Third International , was an international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism , and which was led and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress in 1920 to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for
8360-404: The ISC which urged workers around the world to strike and form soviets to defend the Russian revolution from counter-revolution and defend peace. It also asked all the parties which approved of the revolution to send delegates to Stockholm. This was approved. At a second meeting later that night the publication of the manifesto adopted at the Third Zimmerwald Conference was approved. The ISC spent
8512-415: The ISCs "quarters" was between Balabanoff, Hoglund and Carlson for the ISC and Hendrik Ehrlich and another representative The Soviet delegation did not get a formal answer until July 11, when the ISC sent them a formal letter stating that they would not be able to participate in the preparations because the Stockholm Conference invitations had been "altered" to include the pro-war socialist parties and that
8664-420: The International. The 21 Conditions called for the demarcation between communist parties and other socialist groups and instructed the Comintern sections not to trust the legality of the bourgeois states. They also called for the build-up of party organizations along democratic centralist lines in which the party press and parliamentary factions would be under the direct control of the party leadership. Regarding
8816-476: The Menshiviks; Yrjo Sirola of Finland; J. Eads How of the United States; Ledebour of Germany; and Radek and Hanecki "representing both the Bolsheviks and the Social Democracy of Poland and Lithuania" Finally, the Third Zimmerwald Conference met at Stockholm on September 5–12, 1917. It had a smaller number of participants than any of the previous Zimmerwaldist Conferences, with only about thirty delegates from Russia, Germany, Poland, Finland, Rumania, Switzerland,
8968-403: The Provisional Government. While most at the meeting who gave an opinion were against socialist participation in the Provisional Government, there was also a broad consensus that the ISC did not have the authority to make such a statement without first consulting its affiliates. While in Petrograd both Balabanoff and Grimm were vigorously criticized in the press as being German agents working for
9120-435: The Romanian Social Democrats. According to her notes Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Riazanov and herself were opposed to participation in the purposed Stockholm conference, while Rakovsky, Grimm, Bobrov and Martynov were for attending. In any case, decision would have to wait until the next Zimmerwaldist Conference. The Bolshevik delegation also tried to prevail on the ISC to issue a condemnation of socialists serving as ministers in
9272-418: The Russian Revolution now transmuted into dependency on Moscow and belief in Soviet infallibility. Depressing cycles of "internal rectification" began, disgracing and expelling successive leaderships, so that by the later 1920s many founding Communists had gone. This process of coordination, in a hard-faced drive for uniformity, was finalized at the next Congress of the Third International in 1928. The Comintern
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#17327724910949424-480: The Russian Tsar. There were exceptions, such as the socialist parties of the Balkans . To Vladimir Lenin 's surprise, even the Social Democratic Party of Germany voted in favor of war. After influential anti-war French Socialist Jean Jaurès was assassinated on 31 July 1914, the socialist parties hardened their support in France for their government of national unity . Socialist parties in neutral countries mostly supported neutrality, rather than totally opposing
9576-424: The Second International to call upon the international working class to resist war if it were declared. But after the beginning of World War I, many European socialist parties announced support for the war effort of their respective nations. Including the British Labour Party who issued a manifesto stating, "the victory of the Germans would mean the death of democracy in Europe" while making no such criticisms of
9728-436: The Soviet Government had nothing to do with Comintern. I gave up co-editing a series of documents on Russo-American relations because my Russian colleague could not or would not get over that hurdle....Even today [2020], when the Russians are more liberal in their censorship of documentary publications, one has to verify where possible through other sources independent of Moscow. And although Comintern's archives are available on
9880-413: The Soviet Union , founded at roughly the same time that the Comintern was abolished in 1943, although its specific duties during the first several years of its existence are unknown. Following the June 1947 Paris Conference on Marshall Aid , Stalin gathered a grouping of key European communist parties in September and set up the Cominform , or Communist Information Bureau, often seen as a substitute to
10032-576: The Soviet Union for propaganda tours praising the future. Under the leadership of Zinoviev, the Comintern established fronts in many countries in the 1920s and after. To coordinate their activities, the Comintern set up international umbrella organizations linking groups across national borders, such as the Young Communist International (youth), Profintern (trade unions), Krestintern (peasants), International Red Aid (humanitarian aid), Sportintern (organized sports), and more. Front organizations were especially influential in France, which in 1933 became
10184-499: The Soviet Union were liquidated, and more than a thousand were handed over to Germany. Wolfgang Leonhard , who experienced this period in Moscow as a contemporary witness, wrote about it in his political autobiography, which was published in the 1950s: "The foreign communists living in the Soviet Union were particularly affected. In a few months, more functionaries of the Comintern apparatus were arrested than had been put together by all bourgeois governments in twenty years. Just listing
10336-401: The United States, Sweden and Norway, as well as the members of the ISC itself. By this point the question of attending the proposed general Stockholm Conference had been rendered practically moot because of the inability of the organizers to realize the project. The question was discussed anyway because some delegates felt that the issues raised by the movement for the Stockholm Congress were of
10488-459: The Zimmerwald Manifesto. The meeting also decided to arrange a new conference, drew up conditions for participation in it and a provisional agenda. The ISC set to work arranging for a new congress of Zimmerald adherents which met at Kienthal , Switzerland on April 24, 1916. Forty three delegates met at this conference, representing Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, Serbia, Portugal and Great Britain. The ISC publicly announced that
10640-472: The Zimmerwaldist movement from many sides used it as evidence that Zimmerwald movement was part of a German conspiracy. On June 20 Grimm resigned as Chairman of the International Socialist Commission. On the same day Carl Hoglund, acting on behalf of the Swedish Left Social Democratic Party and Youth League, appointed a commission of three to look after the affairs of the ISC -- Zeth Höglund , Ture Nerman and Carl Carlson . The first act of this new leadership
10792-421: The adhesion issue. The French Section of the Workers International (SFIO) thus broke away with the 1920 Tours Congress , leading to the creation of the new French Communist Party (initially called French Section of the Communist International – SFIC). The Communist Party of Spain was created in 1920, the Communist Party of Italy in 1921, the Belgian Communist Party in September 1921, and so on. In 1920,
10944-510: The base for communist front organizer Willi Münzenberg . These organizations were dissolved in the late 1930s or early 1940s. In 1928, the Ninth Plenum of the executive committee began the so-called Third Period , which was to last until 1935. The Comintern proclaimed that the capitalist system was entering the period of final collapse and therefore all communist parties were to adopt an aggressive and militant 'left' line. In particular,
11096-487: The break-up of the Eastern Bloc in 1989–1991. British historian Jonathan Haslam reports that even after in Moscow archives: all references to the Communist International and later the international department of the central committee, which drove the revolutionary side of foreign policy, were removed from published diplomatic documents, in order to fit in with the prevailing dogma established by Vladimir Lenin that
11248-438: The breaking of the "civil peace" was not a requirement of the parties to the conference On July 13, according to Fainsod, there was another meeting of the ISC with Zimmerwaldists in Stockholm. Participants reported included Radek, Alexandra Kollontai , Orowski, Martinov and Jermanski of Russia, "Mohr of Switzerland", Sirola of Finland, Storm and Kilborn of Sweden. Radek and Kollantai are supposed to have argued against going to
11400-484: The capitalist governments. The German Internationale groups draft, which also dealt with the ISB question, likewise blamed the war on imperialism and listed the various ways the war had immersirated the German proletariat. It set out a program of practical action against the war and the pro-war socialist parties that included refusal to vote for war credits, war tax resistance and the utilization of every organizational and parliamentary opportunity to harass and criticize
11552-612: The city. According to Balabanoff's notes this was attended by Lenin, Zinoviev and Kamenev of the Bolsheviks; Bobrov of the Social Revolutionaries; Grigorii Bienstock , Martov, Martynov, and Larin of the Mensheviks; Raphael Abramovitch of the Bund; Leon Trotsky , Mikhail Urinovich and Riazanov of the Inter-District Committee; Lapinski of the Polish Socialist Party - Left and Christian Rakovsky of
11704-572: The colonies. Notably, some of the delegates opposed the idea of an alliance with the bourgeoisie and preferred giving support to communist movements in these countries instead. Their criticism was shared by the Indian revolutionary M. N. Roy , who attended as a delegate of the Mexican Communist Party . The Congress removed the term bourgeois-democratic in what became the 8th condition. Many European socialist parties were divided over
11856-469: The conference plenum. However, the plenum never got around to discussing the issue and when the time came to vote on a peace declaration a number of different declarations were submitted. Because there was fundamental agreement on most issue and the delegates felt an exhaustive debate over every detail was unnecessary a resolution based on the Grimm draft was then unanimously adopted. The commission also received
12008-931: The conference: A number of delegates named by groups in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Sweden, Norway and by the General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia were unable to attend. Additionally, the Revolutionary Socialist League of the Netherlands had transferred its mandate to Radek and the Social-Democracy of the Lettish Territory had transferred its mandate to Zinoviev. A Lithuanian group around
12160-472: The criticisms that were being made against him and the French opportunists. None of the controversy around Brizons speech was reported in the official proceedings of the conference, but is recorded in the memoirs of Guilbeaux. Unlike the first conference, the manifesto did not engender much controversy and the text presented by Brizon as modified by a Commission was accepted unanimously. The manifesto stated that
12312-473: The declaration asked the member sections to approve: To dissolve the Communist International as a guiding centre of the international labor movement, releasing sections of the Communist International from the obligations ensuing from the constitution and decisions of the Congresses of the Communist International. After endorsements of the declaration were received from the member sections, the International
12464-507: The democratization of foreign policy could not end wars, as long as the capitalist system existed. " The struggle for lasting peace can, therefore, be only a struggle for the realization of socialism " (emphasis in the original). On the basis of the Stuttgart, Copenhagen and Basel resolutions the delegates declared that it is a vital commandment to raise a call for an immediate truce and peace negotiations. The workers would succeed in hastening
12616-486: The dissolution of the party by the government. Karl Radek, on the other hand, argued for immediate publication. The Commission decided to postpone issuing the manifesto for the time being. The ISC would publish it only after personal or telegraphic communication with the ISP and, barring that, on its own discretion. Radek threatened to publish the manifesto himself—and he did so, in a Finnish newspaper that November. The ISC held
12768-449: The end of the war and influencing the nature of the peace only to the extent that this call finds a response within the international proletariat and led them to "forceful action directed toward overthrowing the capitalist class." The proletariat also must struggle against annexations and attempts to create "pseudo-independent states" on the "pretext of liberating oppressed peoples". Socialists did not oppose annexations in order to return to
12920-690: The first Chairman of the Comintern's executive committee from 1919 to 1926, but its dominant figure until his death in January 1924 was Lenin, whose strategy for revolution had been laid out in What Is to Be Done? (1902). The central policy of the Comintern under Lenin's leadership was that communist parties should be established across the world to aid the international proletarian revolution . The parties also shared his principle of democratic centralism (freedom of discussion, unity of action), namely that parties would make decisions democratically, but uphold in
13072-472: The first it was moved that the ISC send a telegram of congratulations to the Petrograd Soviet in the name of all the affiliated parties. Racovsky protested against this, suggesting they wait until the situation in Russia was clear and all the parties were able to take a stand on what happened. He was overruled. Radek offered an already written appeal that he wanted issued jointly by the Bolsheviks and
13224-524: The first report, representing Germany. Pierre Brizon began his speech with the statement "Comrades, though I am an internationalist, I am still a Frenchman...I will not utter one word, nor will I make any gesture which might injure France, France, the land of the Revolution " He then turned to Hoffman and told him to inform Kaiser Wilhelm that France would gladly exchange Madagascar for the return of Alsace-Lorraine . Brizons speech lasted several hours,
13376-624: The foot of the Blüemlisalp from April 24 to 30, 1916. Portuguese delegate Edmondo Peluso gave a very detailed account: The spacious dining room of the Hotel Baren was transformed into conference chamber. The presidents chair was in the center and, as behooved an international conference, the Presidium consisted of a German, a Frenchmen, an Italian and a Serb. Two tables for the delegates were placed on either side and perpendicularly to
13528-578: The interest of either or both imperialist coalition. Therefore, the resolution demanded the Zimmerwald parties to "watch carefully all the activities of the Executive Committee of the International Socialist Bureau". The resolution further stated that the International could recover its political power only if it liberated itself from imperialist and chauvinist influences and resumed class struggle and mass action. If
13680-519: The magazine Social-Democratas in London tried to affiliate with the Zimmerwald Left and authorized Jan Antonovich Berzin to sign a draft manifesto of left-wing delegates for them, but he had already transferred his mandate to Zinoviev and their vote was "lost". A member of the Independent Labour Party was present as a "guest". The delegates met at the small Swiss village of Kienthal at
13832-486: The manifesto and resolutions of the conference and distributing them as widely as possible. To that end they first forwarded copies of the first number of their Bulletin to the socialist and trade union papers of the neutral countries. Within the belligerent countries the ISC was able to have the full documents published in Italy, Russia, France, England and Bulgaria but only summaries in Austria and Germany. They also sent
13984-418: The meeting of the ISB so that a new Executive Committee could be elected from socialists of the neutral countries; that all sections of the International expel members who entered into cabinets of belligerent countries; that all parliamentary representatives of sections of the International vote against war credits; civil peace be broken and class struggle resumed; and all sections should use "all means" to hasten
14136-435: The misery of the masses and the unification of a number of struggles - such as abolishing imperialist debts, unemployed movements, republicanism , repudiating annexations, liberating colonies and "abolishing state boundaries" - into a single struggle for political power, socialism and the "unification of socialist peoples." The peace program of social democracy was for the proletariat to turn their weapons on their common enemy -
14288-479: The morning. [...] Exactly 3 o'clock the car lights began to be seen [...] we stayed near the window and waited [to find out], where the car stopped". Among those persecuted were many KPD functionaries, such as members of the KPD Central Committee, who believed they had found safe asylum in the Soviet Union after Adolf Hitler's rise to power . Among them was Hugo Eberlein , who had been present at
14440-414: The most important sections and that other parties joining the International would have their own representatives. The Congress decided that the executive committee would elect a five-member bureau to run the daily affairs of the International. However, such a bureau was not formed and Lenin, Leon Trotsky , and Christian Rakovsky later delegated the task of managing the International to Grigory Zinoviev as
14592-542: The movement for a general socialist congress at Stockholm and issued an appeal on May 10 to all the European Zimmerwaldist parties to meet in a third Zimmerwaldist conference in Stockholm for May 31 to decide the Zimmerwald movements attitude toward the proposed Stockholm Conference. A train full of Russia exiles arrived from Switzerland in mid-May, carrying fellow ISC member and interpreter Angelica Balabanoff, as well as Martov, Riazanov, Pavel Axelrod and
14744-503: The names would fill entire pages." Fritz Platten died in a labor camp and the leaders of the Indian ( Virendranath Chattopadhyaya or Chatto), Korean, Mexican, Iranian, and Turkish communist parties were executed. Out of 11 Mongolian Communist Party leaders, only Khorloogiin Choibalsan survived. Leopold Trepper recalled these days: "In house, where the party activists of all the countries were living, no-one slept until 3 o'clock in
14896-457: The official report claimed that the vote in favor of this resolution was unanimous, Zinoviev claimed in his report that Axelrod abstained and Dugoni voted against. The final document condemned the Executive Committee of the ISB for not carrying out the resolutions of past Socialist Congresses; not calling a session of the Bureau despite demands for it from various parties; having the Chairman of
15048-445: The organization lost its political credibility and relevance. On 15 May 1943, a declaration of the executive committee was sent out to all sections of the International, calling for the dissolution of the Comintern. The declaration read: The historical role of the Communist International, organized in 1919 as a result of the political collapse of the overwhelming majority of the old pre-war workers' parties, consisted in that it preserved
15200-685: The other, considering the latter as an unreliable ally yet not a direct enemy. The Congress called on the Indian Communist Party to utilize the contradictions between the "national bourgeoisie" and the British Empire . The Seventh and last Congress of the Comintern was held between 25 July and 20 August 1935. It was attended by representatives of 65 communist parties. The main report was delivered by Dimitrov, other reports were delivered by Palmiro Togliatti , Wilhelm Pieck , and Dmitry Manuilsky . The Congress officially endorsed
15352-462: The outbreak of World War I was the catalyst for their separation. The Triple Alliance comprised two empires, while the Triple Entente was formed by three. Socialists had historically been anti-war and internationalist , fighting against what they perceived as militarist exploitation of the proletariat for bourgeois states. A majority of socialists voted in favor of resolutions for
15504-559: The overthrow of capitalism. Interspersed within the debates, the ISC presented a financial statement to the conference. The Commission reminded the conference that they received no compensation, even for translation services. International Socialist Commission The International Socialist Commission , also known as the International Socialist Committee or the Berne International
15656-635: The overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was preceded by the dissolution of the Second International in 1916. Vladimir Lenin , Leon Trotsky , and Joseph Stalin were all honorary presidents of the Communist International. The Comintern held seven World Congresses in Moscow between 1919 and 1935. During that period, it also conducted thirteen Enlarged Plenums of its governing Executive Committee , which had much
15808-546: The participation of South African, Japanese, Australian and even Indian delegates, and therefore advocated calling a meeting of the Bureau. A commission was elected to try to settle the issue. The commission consisted of Pavel Axelrod, Adolf Hoffman, Constantino Lazzari, Lenin , Charles Naine, Adolf Warski and an unnamed "German of the Internationale group". Two drafts came out of this commission. The majority endorsed by Axelrod, Hoffmann, Lazzari, and Naine called for
15960-426: The party bureaucracy replaced by functionaries responsible to the membership. Every "crisis" or dislocation caused by the war was to be used to develop class conscientiousness and a revolutionary situation. While the delegates were in broad agreement on the causes of the war, the fact that the proletariat must take an active role in struggle against war and for peace, and condemnation of "bourgeois" peace schemes, there
16112-591: The party line clear: "An internationalist is one who is ready to defend the USSR without reservation, without wavering, unconditionally; for the USSR it is the base of the world revolutionary movement, and this revolutionary movement cannot be defended and promoted without defending the USSR". According to Russian historian Vadim Rogovin , the leadership of the German Communist Party (KPD) had requested that Moscow send Leon Trotsky to Germany to direct
16264-425: The political situation in the colonized world, the Second Congress of the Communist International stipulated that a united front should be formed between the proletariat, peasantry, and national bourgeoisie in the colonial countries. Amongst the 21 conditions drafted by Lenin ahead of the congress was the 11th thesis which stipulated that all communist parties must support the bourgeois-democratic liberation movements in
16416-553: The politically suicidal situation of having to support, for example, the Soviet invasion and subsequent annexation of Eastern Poland . The Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov declared in an October 31 speech that "as far as the European great Powers are concerned, Germany is in the position of a State which is striving for the earliest termination of war and for peace, while Britain and France [...] are in favour of continuing
16568-414: The pre-1914 borders but because "...socialism strives to eliminate all national oppression by means of an economic and political unification of the peoples on a democratic basis, something which cannot be realized within the limits of capitalist states." So long as socialism has not achieved this, the proletariat's duty was still to oppose national oppression, attacks on weaker states, war indemnities, support
16720-473: The presidents table. These the right and the left, exactly as in parliaments. The Italian delegation, being very numerous, took their seats at another table in front of the president. The conference began with a speech by Robert Grimm, chairman of the ISC, on the work of the Commission. In order to save time it was decided that oral reports would only be heard by delegates of Germany and France. Hoffman gave
16872-483: The presidium of the Swiss Social Democratic Party. On September 1, 1917 the presidium voted 18-15 to accept the majority report of the commission, which came to most of the same conclusions as the Stockholm commission and recommended Grimm be restored to his previous party posts. A minority report signed by Charles Naine, Grimms former ISC colleague, was more condemnatory and denied the right of
17024-595: The presidium to restore Grimm to his previous mandates. Meanwhile, the ISC in Stockholm held a meeting at the office of the Stormklocken newspaper on July 3, with representatives of the Soviets to attempt to clarify the situation. Present at this meeting were Linstrom, Lindhagen and Hoglund for Sweden; Olausen for Norway; Otto Lang for Switzerland; Karl Kautsky, Hugo Haase, Luise Zietz , and Oskar Cohn for Germany; Sirola for Finland; Orlovsky, Radek and Hanecki for
17176-523: The pressure for conformity. A new policy of "Bolshevization" was adopted, which dragooned the CPs toward stricter bureaucratic centralism. This flattened out the earlier diversity of radicalisms, welding them into a single approved model of Communist organization. Only then did the new parties retreat from broader Left arenas into their own belligerent world, even if many local cultures of broader cooperation persisted. Respect for Bolshevik achievements and defense of
17328-429: The pro-war majority socialists and government in order to arouse the masses to action. It also encouraged particular attention toward propaganda among women, youth and the unemployed, who were particularly affected or radicalized by the war. The draft resolution also took a very firm line against the official party and unions, urging a clear socialist reformation from below to restore the party to its original principles and
17480-435: The proceedings in Italy as the "largest defeat suffered by socialism and communism since the beginning of the period of world revolution", and Zinoviev programmatically announced the similarities between fascism and social democracy, laying the groundwork for the later social fascism theory. Lenin died in 1924 and the next year saw a shift in the organization's focus from the immediate activity of world revolution towards
17632-419: The proletarian "peace policy" and the attitude toward the International Socialist Bureau , particularly in the event of its reconvening. With respect to the latter, three opinions emerged at the beginning of debate: the view of the Zimmerwald Left that the ISB was entirely discredited and focus should be on laying the groundwork for a Third International , though they did not rule out the possibility of attending
17784-431: The proletariat had taken power and abolished private property. The resolution finally adopted stated categorically that the war was a consequence of bourgeois property relations which had produced a series of imperialist antagonisms. The war would not end the capitalist economy or imperialism so therefore it would not do away with the causes of future wars. Schemes such as courts of international arbitration, disarmament and
17936-482: The proposed Stockholm Conference while it was still reiterated that only the Third Zimmerwald Conference could decide that. On July 18 Balabanoff did issue a revised invitation to the Third Zimmerwald Conference. The invitation gave the date as August 10, 1917 and included a provisional agenda, stated that the condition for participation were the same as those published in Bulletin #3 and also included an invitation to
18088-536: The proposed conference was open to socialist parties without conditions, and would include minorities as well as majorities. Radek re-emphasized the Bolshevik party's disapproval of the Stockholm Conference and the Party's determination to quit the Zimmerwald movement if the Third Zimmerwald Conference chose to participate. Haase, of the Independent Socialist Party of Germany , however, was for
18240-527: The proposed general Stockholm Conference, but should the conference not meet by September 15, 1917 the commission was empowered to call a conference of affiliates anyway. On July 9, once their meetings with the Dutch-Scandinavian Committee (the organization planning the Stockholm conference) were finished, the Soviet delegation tried once again to enlist the ISC in the preparation work for the Stockholm Conference. This meeting, held at
18392-631: The protection of minorities, and the autonomy of peoples on a "basis of real democracy". Finally, socialists should take advantage of mass movements originating in the dislocations of the war, such as unemployed movements and protest against the high cost of living and unite them into one international struggle for socialism. As at Zimmerwald, the Kienthal conference passed a resolution of sympathy for its "persecuted" comrades. It stated that there have been repressions in Russia, Germany, France, England and even neutral Switzerland and that these repression belie
18544-666: The protection of the Helsingfors Soviet . Grimm and Balabanoff arrived in Petrograd in time to speak at the All-Russian Conference of the Menshevik party and convince that organization to approve attending the Third Zimmerwald Conference (they also voted to advocate participation at the proposed Stockholm Congress). On May 28–29 they had an informal conference with members of Zimmerwaldist parties in
18696-695: The pseudonym Mikhail Aleksandrovich Moskvin, was in fact chief of the foreign department of the Soviet OGPU (later the NKVD ). Numerous Comintern officials were also targeted by the dictator and became victims of show trials and political persecution, such as Grigory Zinoviev and Nikolai Bukharin . At Stalin's orders, 133 out of 492 Comintern staff members became victims of the Great Purge . Several hundred German communists and antifascists who had either fled from Nazi Germany or were convinced to relocate in
18848-485: The remainder of its existence publishing its newsletter and other material supportive of the Bolshevik revolution. In March 1918 its published a special illustrated "Zimmerwald Russia Review", Frieden, Brot, Freiheit in twelve languages. It also published a pamphlet of Bukharin, Thesen über der sozialistische Revolution und die Aufgaben des Proletariats während seiner Diktatur in Russland . The final issue of Nachrichten
19000-555: The same function as the somewhat larger and more grandiose Congresses. Joseph Stalin , leader of the Soviet Union, dissolved the Comintern in 1943 to avoid antagonizing his allies in the later years of World War II , the United States and the United Kingdom. It was succeeded by the Cominform in 1947. Differences between the revolutionary and reformist wings of the workers' movement had been increasing for decades, but
19152-516: The stated objectives of a "war for liberation" and that these were inspiring examples of revolutionaries who fought social patriotism as much as the policy of their governments. The resolution particularly condemned the persecution of the Jews in Russia and greeted the French and German women who were being released from captivity. It urged the affiliated organization to follow the example of the persecuted comrades to continue to stir up discontent and hasten
19304-463: The teachings of Marxism from vulgarisation and distortion by opportunist elements of the labor movement. But long before the war it became increasingly clear that, to the extent that the internal as well as the international situation of individual countries became more complicated, the solution of the problems of the labor movement of each individual country through the medium of some international centre would meet with insuperable obstacles. Concretely,
19456-605: The telegraphic exchange without the knowledge of Balabanoff or any of the other Zimmerwaldists in Petrograd, and, while condemning him for practicing a kind of secret diplomacy , absolved him of attempting to reach a separate peace with Germany. It also absolved the International Socialist Commission itself, as no other member besides Grimm knew about the telegraphs. The "affair" also had repercussions in Switzerland. Councilor Hoffman resigned on June 19. When Grimm returned he faced another commission of inquiry, this time appointed by
19608-754: The three Russian socialist parties, who were in Switzerland - the representatives of the National Committee of the Polish Socialist Party (the Levitsa) and of the Bund, as well as a representative of La Vie Ouvriere in Paris, who resides in Switzerland - came to the conference." The editors of the Hoover Institutions The Bolsheviks and the World War , however, state specifically that the organizations represented included
19760-536: The war by the proletarians of all countries. The Conference felt it would be best to postpone publication until all the Zimmerwaldist groups had consented to this. A messenger was to memorize the text in English and go to London where he would deliver the manifesto orally. There it would be translated into French, memorized by another messenger who would travel to Paris. Meanwhile, on September 28, Louise Zeitz of
19912-537: The war was caused by imperialism and militarism and would only end when all countries abolished their own militarism. While repeating the Zimmerwald Conferences condemnation of bourgeois governments, parties and press, it also criticized the social patriots and bourgeois pacifists and stated categorically that the only way wars would end was if the working class took power and abolished private property. The major debate revolved around resolutions on
20064-414: The war. On the other hand, during the 1915 Zimmerwald Conference , Lenin, then a Swiss resident refugee, organized an opposition to the " imperialist war" as the Zimmerwald Left , publishing the pamphlet Socialism and War where he called socialists collaborating with their national governments social chauvinists , i.e. socialists in word, but nationalists in deed. The Second International divided into
20216-402: The war." This position has been described as a way for the Soviet government to explain its refusal to honour proposals for economic assistance to Poland, which had been made before and at the start of the war, since "it was found impossible to determine with any degree of certainty who was the aggressor and who the victim." The weakened and decimated Comintern was then forced to officially adopt
20368-467: The workers the "cause of the failure" of the International Socialist Bureau. Zinoviev argued against, claiming it would only confuse the workers. The meeting ultimately became deadlocked, with five votes for each proposition, so it was decided that each party should make up its own mind whether to attend, but they should uphold the Zimmerwald resolutions if they did. The ISC Enlarged Committee attempted to meet again at Olten on February 1, 1917 to consider
20520-422: Was a German offensive . Hoffmann responded on June 3, stating that people he spoke to in the German government would not launch an offensive while there was still a possibility of peace, as well as comment on possible territorial exchanges involving Poland, Lithuania and Galicia . The Provisional Government published these exchanges on June 16 and ordered Grimm deported. The event caused a scandal and opponents of
20672-688: Was a failed coup in Estonia by the Communist Party of Estonia . The Comintern was founded at a Congress held in Moscow on 2–6 March 1919. It opened with a tribute to Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg , recently executed by the Freikorps during the Spartacist Uprising , against the backdrop of the Russian Civil War . There were 52 delegates present from 34 parties. They decided to form an Executive Committee with representatives of
20824-555: Was a coordinating committee of socialists parties that adhered to the idea of the Zimmerwald Conference of 1915. The Zimmerwald Conference elected Angelica Balabanoff , Odino Morgari and Charles Naine to the Commission, with the Swiss socialist Robert Grimm as chairman and Balabanoff as interpreter. The Committee was charged with setting up a temporary secretariat and publishing a bulletin. The ISCs initial purpose
20976-505: Was a relatively small organization, but it devised novel ways of controlling communist parties around the world. In many places, there was a communist subculture, founded upon indigenous left-wing traditions which had never been controlled by Moscow. The Comintern attempted to establish control over party leaderships by sending agents who bolstered certain factions, by judicious use of secret funding, by expelling independent-minded activists and even by closing down entire national parties (such as
21128-612: Was considered to be one of such countries. However, in 1927, the Kuomintang turned on the Chinese Communist Party , which led to a review of the policy on forming alliances with the 'national bourgeoisie' in the 'colonizal countries'. The Congress did make a differentiation between the character of the Chinese Kuomintang on one hand and the Indian Swaraj Party and the Egyptian Wafd Party on
21280-669: Was deferred to the second meeting of the ISC Enlarged Committee on May 2. Each organization that participated in the Kienthal Conference was represented by one delegate. This meeting "considered some administrative matters, authenticated the Kienthal resolutions, and discussed matters of parliamentary action" as well as the Hague Conference. One group, headed by Martov, advocated participation, arguing that no opportunity should be missed to expose to
21432-593: Was disagreement on what exact measures the working class should take to end the war. They also agreed that the resolution should be more detailed in its reasons for taking its position, so as not to allow false interpretations. When the question was sent to a commission, there was further debate on the merits of such reforms as international arbitration and disarmament. While all agreed that these reforms could not abolish imperialist-rooted war, others felt they might have some use as ameliorative measures. When these measures could not be resolved in commission they were sent back to
21584-519: Was dismissed in 1926 after falling out of favor with Stalin. Bukharin then led the Comintern for two years until 1928, when he too fell out with Stalin. Bulgarian communist leader Georgi Dimitrov headed the Comintern in 1934 and presided until its dissolution. Geoff Eley summed up the change in attitude at this time as follows: By the Fifth Comintern Congress in July 1924 [...] the collapse of Communist support in Europe tightened
21736-477: Was dissolved. The dissolution was interpreted as Stalin wishing to calm his World War II allies (particularly Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill ) and to keep them from suspecting the Soviet Union of pursuing a policy of trying to foment revolution in other countries. According to historian Eric D. Weitz , 60% of German exiles in the Soviet Union had been liquidated during the Stalinist terror and
21888-644: Was exporting the October Revolution. Some communist parties had secret military wings. One example is the M-Apparat of the Communist Party of Germany . The Comintern was involved in the revolutions across Europe in this period, starting with the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919. Several hundred agitators and financial aid were sent from the Soviet Union and Lenin was in regular contact with its leader Béla Kun . The next attempt
22040-431: Was felt throughout the world and an alternative path to power to parliamentary politics was demonstrated. With much of Europe on the verge of economic and political collapse in the aftermath of the carnage of World War I, revolutionary sentiments were widespread. The Russian Bolsheviks headed by Lenin believed that unless socialist revolution swept Europe, they would be crushed by the military might of world capitalism just as
22192-435: Was interrupted by him drinking coffee and eating and included at least two attempts to physically assault him. Finally, he declared that he would vote against all war credits - which brought forth a great applause - and then added "but only once hostile troops leave France" which resulted in the second of the aforementioned assault attempts. He then offered a text of a draft manifesto that included, among other things, all of
22344-505: Was made at the time of the Ruhr crisis in spring and then again in selected parts of Germany in the autumn of 1923. The Red Army was mobilized, ready to come to the aid of the planned insurrection. Resolute action by the German government cancelled the plans, except due to miscommunication in Hamburg, where 200–300 communists attacked police stations, but were quickly defeated. In 1924, there
22496-780: Was present. Fainsod lists the following: Robert Grimm and Fritz Platten from the Swiss Social Democratic Party; Lenin and Zinoviev from the Bolsheviks ; Julius Martov and Pavel Axelrod from the Mensheviks ; David Riazanov of the Mezhraiontsy (also known as the Inter-District Committee); Feliks Kon and Pawel Lewinson from the Polish Socialist Party - Left ; Bertha Thalheimer , Adolf Hoffman and Georg Ledebour , dissidents from
22648-475: Was published on September 1, 1918 and contained an appeal to the workers in German, French, Swedish, Italian and English. That month Balabanoff went on a tour of several countries to try to revive the influence of the ISC and fight off calls for its return to Switzerland. She was not especially successful, being expelled from Switzerland and denied reentry into Sweden. As secretary of the International Socialist Commission, she consented into its formal dissolution into
22800-403: Was the March Action in Germany in 1921, including an attempt to dynamite the express train from Halle to Leipzig. After this failed, the Communist Party of Germany expelled its former chairman Paul Levi from the party for publicly criticizing the March Action in a pamphlet, which was ratified by the Executive Committee of the Communist International prior to the Third Congress. A new attempt
22952-439: Was to act as an intermediary between the affiliated groups in their struggle for peace. It was not to act as a replacement for the International Socialist Bureau and dissolve as soon as the ISB could begin functioning normally. Other adherents of the Zimmerwald movement, such as Vladimir Lenin , saw it as the beginning of a new International. The Commissions activity in the first months of its existences consisted of translating
23104-433: Was to recall Balabanoff from Russia. She would thenceforth be the secretary of the ISC. The ISC then appointed a commission of inquiry to look into the "Grimm affair". The membership of this commission consisted of Carl Lindhagen and Zeth Höglund of Sweden; Kirkov of Bulgaria; Karl Radek of Poland; Christian Rakovsky of Romania; Orlovsky of Russia; and Karl Moor of Switzerland The commission found that Grimm had made
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