COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL (Comintern, International 3rd), an international organization that united the communist parties of various countries in 1919-1943. He declared himself the historical successor of the 1st International and heir to the best traditions of the 2nd International. For the first time, the idea of ​​creating the 3rd International was expressed by V. I. Lenin in November 1914 in the manifesto of the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) “War and Russian Social Democracy”. The Communist International was founded at the 1st (Constituent) Congress, held 2-6.3.1919 in Moscow. The congress was attended by 52 delegates from 35 parties and groups from 21 countries. In November 1919, a youth organization of the Communist International, the Communist International of Youth, was created. Since its inception, the Communist International has positioned itself as a counterbalance to the international organizations founded after the 1st World War by right-wing and centrist social democratic parties that were previously represented in the 2nd International (Bern International, International 2 1/2, Socialist workers international). The leading role in the Communist International was played by the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [RKP(b); since 1925 the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), VKP(b)]. In 1919-26, the Communist International was headed by G. E. Zinoviev, in 1926-29 - by N. I. Bukharin, from 1935 - by G. Dimitrov. In the political platform of the Communist International adopted by the 1st Congress, it was noted that its task was to unite all revolutionary forces and ensure the international solidarity of the working people in the conditions of the era of the collapse of capitalism and the communist revolution of the proletariat that began as a result of the victory of the October Revolution of 1917 in Russia.

At the 2nd Congress of the Communist International (July 19-August 7, 1920, Petrograd, Moscow), 21 conditions for admission to the Communist International were developed and approved (these included a complete break with the reformists and centrists, the recognition of democratic centralism as the main organizational principle of the party, etc. ). The Congress adopted the Charter of the Communist International, based on the principle of democratic centralism, and also formed the governing body - the Executive Committee (ECCI).

In the context of a revolutionary downturn, the 3rd Congress of the Communist International (22.6-12.7.1921, Moscow) outlined a program of perestroika communist movement and set the task of creating a united front of the working class, including by reaching a compromise with other political currents and organizations. Delegates from Germany, Austria, Italy and Czechoslovakia tried to oppose this line, formulated by V. I. Lenin, with the “offensive theory” (refusal of political compromises), but it was rejected. The issues of creating a united front of the working class were discussed at the conference of three Internationals (3rd, 2 1/2 and Berne) convened in Berlin on April 2-5, 1922 at the initiative of the Communist International, but the agreements reached on the unity of action were not fulfilled.

At the 4th Congress of the Communist International (November 5 - December 5, 1922, Petrograd, Moscow), discussions continued on the tactics of the international communist movement, overcoming the split in the trade union movement, the slogan of the struggle for the creation of a "workers' government" was put forward, and in relation to the conditions of colonial and dependent countries - the formation of a single anti-imperialist front, uniting national patriotic forces. Considerable attention at the congress was devoted to the struggle against the threat of fascism.

How the Congress of Struggle for the Bolshevization of the Communist Parties entered the history of the 5th Congress of the Communist International (17.6-8.7.1924, Moscow). The parties - members of the Communist International were given the task, based on the experience of the Russian Bolsheviks, to achieve mass character, organizational cohesion, firm adherence to the principles of revolutionary Marxism, rejection of dogmatism and sectarianism, the transformation of each party into a national political force capable of acting independently in specific conditions in its own countries. At the same time, the congress tried to formulate common methods for all parties to apply the tactics of the united front (subsequently, by the Communist International itself, this decision was qualified as excessive stereotyped, fettering the initiative of the communist parties). The theses of the 5th Congress of the Communist International also contained a provision on the absence of an essential difference between social democracy and fascism, adherence to which subsequently caused significant harm to the practice of unity of action.

After the death of V. I. Lenin, L. D. Trotsky and his supporters openly opposed Leninist theory about the possibility of building socialism in a single country, they tried to impose on the Communist International a line of artificially "pushing" the world revolution. At the 7th expanded plenum of the ECCI in December 1926, in a resolution adopted on the basis of a report by JV Stalin, Trotskyism was condemned as a petty-bourgeois Social Democratic deviation in the international working-class movement.

At the 6th Congress of the Communist International (July 17-1 September 1928, Moscow), the Program of the Communist International was adopted, which noted the approach of a new period of sharp aggravation of the contradictions of capitalism and the rise of the revolutionary movement. The congress directed the communist parties to prepare for a possible acute socio-political crisis in the capitalist countries, but proceeded only from the prospects of the proletarian revolution as the immediate task of the day and underestimated the threat of fascism. On the eve of the expected revolutionary upheavals, the Comintern called for an intensification of the struggle against the reformism of the Social Democracy, against the threat of a new world war, and for the defense of the USSR from the "international bourgeoisie". The congress characterized Trotskyism as a counter-revolutionary trend, at the same time also condemning the right-wing deviation in the international communist movement, whose representatives overestimated the degree of stabilization of capitalism, tried to prove the possibility of an “organized” stage of its development.

The world economic crisis of 1929-33 and the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany presented the Communist Parties with problems that had not been foreseen in the previous decisions of the Communist International, revealed the unsuitability of a number of previously developed tactical guidelines and recommendations. At the 13th Plenum of the ECCI (November-December 1933), the slogan of uniting all democratic forces, broad sections of the people, and above all achieving the unity of the working class as the main means of struggle, was put forward.

The strategy and tactics of the international communist movement under the new conditions were developed at the 7th Congress of the Communist International (July 25-August 20, 1935, Moscow). 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 imperialist elements. financial capital”, and also stated that the political crisis of the early 1930s created a new alternative - fascism or bourgeois democracy. In this regard, the question was raised about changing the attitude towards social democracy (taking into account also the change in the attitude of the social democratic parties towards cooperation with the communists) while maintaining the ultimate goal of the communist movement - the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat and socialism. As a top priority, the 7th Congress of the Communist International determined the creation of a united popular front - a broad class coalition against fascism and war, and the basis for the formation of a democratic government. The Congress noted that in its development this power, under favorable conditions, could develop into a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry, which in turn paved the way for the dictatorship of the proletariat. One of the central questions of the 7th Congress was the question of the struggle against the outbreak of a new world war. The Congress characterized German Nazism, Italian fascism and Japanese militarism as the main warmongers, criticized Western democratic governments' policy of appeasing aggressors, and categorically rejected claims that the Communists wanted war in the hope that it would bring revolution.

After the 7th Congress of the Communist International, the Communist Parties of a number of countries waged a struggle to expand their influence among broad sections of the population. In France, the Popular Front (established in 1935) won the parliamentary elections in 1936; in Spain it became one of the main active forces Spanish Revolution 1931-39. In order to restore the unity of the trade union movement, the Red Trade Unions led by the Communists, which were part of the Red International of Trade Unions (Profintern), began to join the general trade union associations of their countries, and in 1937 the Profintern was dissolved. In 1935-39, the ECCI repeatedly proposed to the leadership of the Socialist Workers' International to join forces in the fight against fascism and war, but a common platform was never worked out. In the second half of the 1930s, many senior officials of the apparatus of the Communist International in the USSR were repressed, and the Communist Party of Poland was dissolved by the decision of the Communist International.

Under the conditions of World War II, the difference in situations in different countries ah and regions of the world made it inexpedient and in many ways impossible to lead the world communist movement from a single center. To ensure the closest interaction between all national and international forces ready to fight against fascism, to intensify cooperation within the framework of the anti-Hitler coalition, it was necessary to eliminate the reason for accusing the USSR of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries through the communist parties led by it. For these reasons, the Presidium of the ECCI in May 1943 decided to dissolve the Communist International, which was approved by all its sections.

Source: Comintern and World War II. M., 1994-1998. Ch. 1-2; VKP(b), the Comintern and the National Revolutionary Movement in China. Documentation. M., 1994-2007. T. 1-5; The Comintern and Latin America. M., 1998; The Comintern and the Idea of ​​the World Revolution. Documentation. M., 1998; The Comintern and the Spanish Civil War. M., 2001; VKP(b), Comintern and Japan. 1917-1941. M., 2001; Comintern and Africa. Documentation. M., 2003; Comintern and Finland. 1919-1943. M., 2003; VKP(b), Comintern and Korea. 1918-1941. M., 2007.

Lit.: Communist International. Brief historical outline. M., 1969; Vatlin A. Yu. Comintern: the first ten years. Historical essays. M., 1993; James C.L.R. World revolution 1917-1936: the rise and fall of the Communist International. 3rd ed. Atlantic Highlands, 1993; international communism and the Communist International 1919-1943 / Ed. T. Rees, A. Thorpe. Manchester, 1999; Story Communist International. 1919-1943. Documentary essays / Edited by A. O. Chubaryan. M., 2002.

What is the Comintern? This is the abbreviated name of the Communist International, or the Third International. That was the name of one of international organizations, which united the communist parties of different countries in the period from 1919 to 1943. detailed information about what the Comintern is, will be described in the article.

Reasons and goals of creation

At the beginning of the study of the question of the meaning of the word "Comintern", which, as mentioned above, consists of an abbreviation of two such words as "Communist" and "International", let's consider how an organization under this name was created.

The question of creating the III International was on the agenda at the beginning of the 1st World War. Then the leaders of the Second International sought to support the governments of the countries participating in the war. V. I. Lenin, in the manifesto of the Central Committee of the RSDLP dated November 1, 1914, raised the question of the advisability of creating a renewed International.

The Comintern was founded on March 2, 1919. The initiator was the RCP (b) and its leader V. I. Lenin. The development and dissemination of the ideas of international revolutionary socialism was proclaimed as the goal. This was to be a counterbalance to the reformist socialism characteristic of the Second International. The final break with the latter was associated with the difference in positions in relation to the 1st World War and the October Revolution that took place in Russia.

Continuing to study what the Comintern is, let us consider some of the congresses it held.

Congresses of the Comintern

There were seven in total. Here are two of them:

• The first, constituent, was held in March 1919 in Moscow. From 21 countries, 52 delegates arrived, representing 35 parties and groups.
• The date of the last, the seventh, is from July 25 to August 20, 1935. The main topic of its meetings is the solution of the issue concerning the unification of forces necessary to combat the growing threat of fascism. The United Workers' Front was organized as a body responsible for coordinating the activities of workers of different political orientations.

In order to better understand the concept of "Comintern", consider what was the structure of this organization.

Structure

In August 1920, the charter of the Comintern was adopted, which stated that it, in fact, should be a single world communist party. And those parties that are active in each country should be considered as its separate sections.

The governing body of this organization was called the Executive Committee of the Communist International, abbreviated as the ECCI. At first, it included representatives who were sent by the Communist Parties. And since 1922 he began to be elected by the congress of the Comintern.

In 1919, the Small Bureau of the ECCI was formed, which in 1921 was renamed the Presidium. And also in 1919, the Secretariat was created, which dealt with personnel and organizational matters. In 1921, the Orgburo was created, which existed until 1926, and a control commission, whose task was to check the activities of the ECCI apparatus, each of its sections, and audit finances.

The chairman of the ECCI from 1919 to 1926 was Grigory Zinoviev, and then this post was abolished. Instead, the Political Secretariat was established, consisting of nine people. In 1929, the Political Commission was separated from its composition. She solved the most important political and operational issues.

In 1935, the post of General Secretary of the ECCI was introduced, to which G. Dimitrov was appointed. And the Political Commission and the Political Secretariat were abolished.

For a better understanding of what the Comintern is, let's look at some facts from its history.

Historical facts

Among them are such as:

• In 1928, Hans Eisler on German Anthem of the Comintern was written. In 1929, I. L. Frenkel translated it into Russian. In the chorus there was a hint that the slogan of the Comintern was the World Soviet Union.
• In 1928, in German, and in 1931 in French, the book "Armed Uprising" was published. It was prepared jointly by the Bureau of Agitation and Propaganda of the Third International and the command of the Red Army. It was a kind of manual that outlined the theory and practice of organizing an armed uprising. It came out under the pseudonym A. Neuberg, while its real authors are prominent figures in the revolutionary movement.

In conclusion of the consideration of the question of what the word "Comintern" means, one cannot but mention the repressions that were applied against its leaders.

Repression

During the so-called great terror of the period 1937-1938. a significant number of sections of the Comintern were actually liquidated, and the Polish section was officially dissolved. The repressions directed against international communist figures who ended up in the Soviet Union for various reasons began to be carried out even before an agreement was concluded in 1939 between Soviet Union and Germany on non-aggression.

In the first half of 1937, some members of the leadership of the German and Polish Communist Party, the Hungarian Bela Kun, were arrested. The former General Secretary of the Greek Communist Party A. Kaitas was arrested and shot. The same fate was prepared for A. Sultan-Zade, who was one of the leaders of the Communist Party of Iran.

Later, repression overtook many Bulgarian communists who moved to the Soviet Union, as well as communists from Romania, Italy, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Western Belarus, and Western Ukraine.

As a rule, Stalin made accusations of anti-Soviet positions, of anti-Bolshevism and Trotskyism.

Formally, in May 1943, the Comintern was dissolved.

Communist International (Comintern, International 3rd) - an international revolutionary proletarian organization that united the 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 rallying of the left forces in the international labor movement. In 1914, the Bolsheviks declared 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 leftist groups from a number of European and American countries was held in Petrograd. The meeting discussed the issue of convening international conference socialist parties to organize the 3rd International. A year later, in Moscow, under the leadership of V. I. Lenin, a second international conference was held, which appealed to left-wing socialist organizations with an appeal to take part in the international socialist congress. On March 2, 1919, the 1st (constituent) Congress of the Communist International began its work in Moscow.

In 1919-1920. The Comintern set itself the task of leading the world socialist revolution, designed to replace the world capitalist economy with the world system of communism through the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie. In 1921, at the Third Congress of the Comintern, V. I. Lenin criticized the 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 position of the working class, consolidate and expand the real results of the struggle in defense of everyday interests, combined with the preparation of the working masses for the struggle for the socialist revolution. The solution of this problem required the consistent implementation of the Leninist slogan: to work wherever there is a mass - in trade unions, youth and other organizations.

In the initial period of the activity of the Comintern and the organizations adjoining it, when making decisions, a preliminary analysis of the situation was carried out, a creative discussion was held, a desire was manifested to find answers to common questions, taking into account national characteristics and traditions. Subsequently, the working methods 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 workers' movement. They did especially great damage 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 activity of the Comintern was influenced by the campaign of "cleansing" its ranks of the so-called "rightists" and "conciliators", launched by I. 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 alignment 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, all-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 outpacing the onset of fascism. Understanding the need for a turn in the policy of the Comintern and the Communist Parties came belatedly. The 7th Congress of the Comintern, held in the summer of 1935, worked out the policy of a united workers' and broad popular front, which created opportunities for joint action by communists and social democrats, all revolutionary and anti-fascist forces to repulse fascism, preserve peace, and fight for social progress. The new strategy was not implemented for a number of reasons, including the negative impact of Stalinism on the activities of the Comintern and Communist parties. Terror in the late 1930s 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. The tragic events in the history of the Comintern were in no way linked to the policy of unity between the revolutionary and democratic forces.

A tangible (albeit temporary) damage to the anti-fascist policy of the communists was caused by the conclusion in 1939 of the Soviet-German pact. During the years of World War II, the Communist Parties of all countries stood firmly on anti-fascist positions, on 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 the new, more complicated situation required new organizational forms of association. Based on this, on May 15, 1943, the Presidium of the ECCI decided to dissolve the Comintern.

From 3 to 8 September 1866, the 1st Congress of the First International was held in Geneva, which was attended by 60 delegates representing 25 sections and 11 workers' societies of Great Britain, France, Switzerland and Germany. During the meetings, it was decided that the trade unions should organize the economic and political struggle of the proletariat against the system of wage labor and the power of capital. Among the others decisions taken- An 8-hour working day, the protection of women's labor and the prohibition of child labor, free polytechnic education, the introduction of workers' militias instead of standing armies.

What is an international?

The International is an international organization uniting socialist, social democratic, and some other parties in many countries. It represents the interests of the working people and is called upon to fight against the exploitation of the working class by big capital.

How many internationals were there?

1st international emerged on September 28, 1864 in London as the first mass international organization of the working class. It united cells from 13 European countries and the USA. The union united not only the workers, but also many petty-bourgeois revolutionaries. The organization lasted until 1876. In 1850 there was a split in the leadership of the union. The German organization called for an immediate revolution, but it was not possible to organize it out of the blue. This caused a split in the Central Committee of the union and led to the fact that repressions fell upon the scattered cells of the union.

Unofficial symbol of the III International (1920) Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

2nd international An international association of socialist workers' parties, founded in 1889. Members of the organization made decisions about the impossibility of an alliance with the bourgeoisie, the inadmissibility of joining bourgeois governments, held protests against militarism and war, etc. Friedrich Engels played an important role in the activities of the International until his death in 1895. During the First World War, the radical elements that were part of the association held a conference in Switzerland in 1915, laying the foundation for the Zimmerwald Association, on the basis of which the Third International (Comintern) arose.

2½ international- international workers' union socialist parties (also known as the "Two-Half International" or the Vienna International). It was founded on February 22-27, 1921 in Vienna (Austria) at the conference of socialists of Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Spain, Poland, Romania, USA, France, Switzerland and other countries. The 2½ International sought to reunite all three existing internationals in order to ensure the unity of the international labor movement. In May 1923, a single Socialist Workers' International was formed in Hamburg, but the Romanian section refused to join the new association.

3rd International (Comintern)- an international organization that united the communist parties of various countries in 1919-1943. The Comintern was founded on March 4, 1919 on the initiative of the RCP(b) and its leader V. I. Lenin to develop and spread the ideas of revolutionary international socialism, as opposed to the socialism of the Second International, the final break with which was caused by the difference in positions regarding the First World War and the October revolution in Russia. The Comintern was dissolved on May 15, 1943. Joseph Stalin explained such a decision that the USSR no longer makes plans to establish pro-Soviet, communist regimes on the territory of European countries. In addition, by the early 1940s, the Nazis had destroyed almost all the cells of the Comintern in continental Europe.

In September 1947, Stalin brought together the socialist parties and created the Cominform, the Communist Information Bureau, as a replacement for the Comintern. Cominform ceased to exist in 1956 shortly after the 20th Congress of the CPSU.

4th international- a communist international organization whose task was to carry out the world revolution and build socialism. The International was founded in France in 1938 by Trotsky and his supporters, who believed that the Comintern was under the complete control of the Stalinists, and was not capable of leading the international working class to conquer them. political power. The Trotskyist movement is represented in the world today by several political internationals. The most influential of them are:

- Reunited Fourth International
— International Socialist Tendency
- Committee for a Workers' International (CWI)
– International Marxist Tendency (IMT)
— International Committee of the Fourth International.

Great 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; the historical successor of the 1st International (see International 1st) and the heir to the best traditions of the 2nd International (see International 2nd), which fell apart after the outbreak of World War I as a result of an opportunistic degeneration and betrayal of proletarian internationalism by the overwhelming majority of the Social Democratic parties that were its members.
The collapse of the 2nd International prompted the Bolsheviks, led by V.I. Lenin to raise the question of creating a Third International cleansed 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 true to proletarian internationalism, the Bolsheviks, under the leadership of V.I. Lenin launched a struggle to rally the left groups in the social democratic parties. One of the most important prerequisites for the creation of a new International was the development of V.I. Lenin of ideological and political principles and theoretical foundations communist movement (revealing the imperialist nature of the 1st World War and substantiating the need to turn it into civil war against the bourgeoisie of one's own country; the 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, separately taken, capitalist country, formulated for the first time in 1915, etc.).
An important contribution to the rallying of the left Social Democrats was the active participation of Lenin and his associates 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 propaganda of Bolshevik views on questions 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 preparation for the creation of the 3rd International brought more and more tangible results as the working class became more active and gradually freed from the nationalist frenzy of the workers and the broad masses of working people, who were convinced by their own experience of the fatality of social chauvinism. However, to establish K.I. succeeded only after the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, which had an enormous 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. Lenin's Bolshevik Party stood at the head of this state. In the context of a powerful upsurge in the workers' and national liberation movements, the formation of communist parties began in a number of countries. In 1918 communist parties arose in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, and Finland. Revolutionary internationalist positions at that 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, and others. Communist groups and circles formed in 1918-19 in Czechoslovakia , Romania, Italy, France, UK, Denmark, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Brazil, China, Korea, Australia, South African Union and other countries.
In January 1919 in Moscow, on the initiative and under the leadership of V.I. Lenin held 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 Tesnyaks and Romanian leftists) and the US Socialist Labor Party. The meeting discussed the question of convening an international congress of representatives of revolutionary proletarian parties, appealed to 39 revolutionary parties, groups and trends in the countries of Europe, Asia, America, Australia to take part in the work of the founding congress of the new International and developed a draft of its platform.
On March 2-6, 1919, the 1st (Constituent) Congress of the CI was held in Moscow, which was attended by 52 delegates from 35 parties and groups from 21 countries of the world. The congress was attended by 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, British, French, Swiss, etc.). The congress was represented by the social-democratic parties of Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the USA, the Balkan Revolutionary Social-Democratic Federation. The Congress discussed and adopted the platform of K.I., developed on the basis of instructions from V.I. Lenin. New era, which began with the victory of the October Revolution, was characterized in the platform as the era of the disintegration of capitalism, its internal disintegration, the era of the communist revolution of the proletariat. The task of winning and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat has become on the order of the day, the path to which lies through the rallying of all revolutionary forces, a break with opportunism of all stripes, through the international solidarity of the working people. In view of this, Congress recognized the need for the urgent establishment of K.I.
One of the most important policy documents of K.I. - abstracts and report of V.I. Lenin on bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In his report, V.I. Lenin showed that bourgeois democracy, defended under the guise of "democracy in general" by the parties of the 2nd International, is always essentially the class dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the dictatorship of the minority, while the dictatorship of the proletariat, which suppresses 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 the 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, to resolutely oppose the Second International, formally restored in February 1919 in Bern by its right-wing opportunist leaders (see Berne International). The Congress adopted the Manifesto to the Proletarians of the Whole World, which stated that the communists who had gathered in Moscow, representatives of the revolutionary proletariat of Europe, America and Asia, feel and recognize themselves as the successors and executors of the cause, the program of which was proclaimed by the founders of scientific communism K. Marx and F. Engels in the Communist Manifesto.
Assessing the role that the new International was 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 exercise 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 to gather” (ibid., vol. 41, p. 274). The Second Congress was to carry out the complete formalization of an international proletarian organization of a new type.
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 the imperialist powers. The mass national liberation movement expanded in the colonies and semi-colonies (Korea, China, India, Turkey, Afghanistan, and others). The formation of communist parties continued. In May 1919, the Bulgarian Workers' Social Democratic Party (Close Socialists) was renamed into a communist one 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. On joining K.I. declared 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 in several countries . Under pressure from the revolutionary workers, the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), the French Socialist Party, the Socialist Party of America, the English Independent Labor Party, the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland, and some others announced a break with the 2nd International. The USPD and the French Socialist Party began negotiations to join the C.I.
Taking into its ranks the Social Democratic masses going 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 a break with right-wing opportunism. At the same time, a threat from the “left” appeared in many communist parties, born of the youth and inexperience of the communist parties, often inclined to solve the fundamental issues of the revolutionary struggle too hastily, as well as the penetration of anarcho-syndicalist elements into the world communist movement. In the struggle against the "leftist danger", as well as in the formation and activity of the communist parties in general, Lenin's book "Children's disease, leftism" in communism played an exceptional role. This book, summarizing the experience of the 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 workers' movement, Lenin showed the typical features of "left communism": sectarianism; denial of party membership 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 narrow-mindedness of the "Left Communists", Lenin called on the Communist Parties "... to learn as quickly as possible 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 July 19, 1920 in Petrograd, July 23 - August 17 continued and completed work in Moscow), the 2nd Congress of K.I. was more representative than the 1st: 217 delegates from 67 organizations (including 27 communist parties) from 37 countries participated in its work. The French Socialist Party and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany were represented at the congress with the right of an advisory vote. Congress listened to Lenin's report on international position and the main tasks of K.I. After analyzing 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,” Lenin said, “now to “prove” by practice revolutionary parties that they have enough consciousness, organization, connection with the exploited masses, determination, skill to use this crisis for a successful, victorious revolution.
In order to prepare this, evidence, "we gathered mainly for a real congress of the Communist International" (ibid., p. 228).
One of the central tasks facing the young communist parties, still immature in ideological, political and organizational terms, was to transform them into parties of a new type bound by close ties with the working class. Its fulfillment was served by Twenty-one conditions for admission to the CI, approved by the 2nd Congress. These conditions (they included: recognition by the parties entering 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 the 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 principles of the party, selfless loyalty to the principles of proletarian internationalism, etc.) were called upon to protect the communist parties from the penetration not only of open opportunists, but also of those elements whose inconsistency and inclination to compromise with traitors to the proletarian cause ruled out 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 for admission to the K.I. 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 "International 21 / 2". The latter in 1923 merged with the 2nd International (Bern) into the Socialist Workers' International (Socintern).
Of great fundamental importance were adopted by the 2nd Congress K.I. decisions on national and colonial issues. Proceeding from the fact that in the new historical era the national liberation movement becomes integral part world revolutionary process, the congress set the task of merging the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat developed countries with the national liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples into a single anti-imperialist stream. The emergence of the socialist state and its leading role in the global revolutionary movement opened up new opportunities for the peoples fighting for national independence, and above all, the prospect of a transition to socialism, bypassing the stage of capitalist development. Pointing to this perspective, the congress reflected in its resolution Lenin's idea of ​​a close alliance 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.
In determining the positions of the communist parties on the agrarian question, the congress proceeded from the Leninist principles of the alliance between the proletariat and the peasantry and the inevitability after the victory of the socialist revolution of the replacement of individual peasant farming by collective farming, stressing, however, that in solving this problem it is necessary to act "... with tremendous caution and gradualness.. .” (see Communist International in documents, M., 1933, p. 135). The Congress adopted the Charter of the CI, based on the principle of democratic centralism, and also formed the governing body of the Comintern - the 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 separating in practice from the centrists, from the direct and indirect agents of the bourgeoisie within the labor movement. This was done at the II Congress” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th edition, v.44, p.96).
At the end of 1920 and the 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. Now it has become obvious that it was not possible to break world capitalism by direct assault. A more thorough and planned preparation for the revolution was required, and this posed the problem of drawing the broad masses of the working people into the revolutionary struggle. In the Soviet Republic, the Bolshevik Party passed to the New Economic Policy, which was the first link in the implementation of Lenin's brilliant plan for building socialism in one country in conditions of capitalist encirclement. The Bolsheviks once again showed an example of the ability to determine the political line, taking into account the changing objective situation.
Under the new conditions, the central place in the struggle between the two social forces on the world stage - capitalism and the Soviet state - was occupied by the economy. “Now our main influence on the international revolution,” Lenin noted, “we exert our economic policy ... We will solve this problem - and then we will win on an international scale for sure and finally” (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 the restructuring of the communist movement in accordance with the requirements of a new stage in world development. The Congress was presented with a draft theses on tactics, prepared under the leadership of Lenin, which justified the need for the Communist Parties to win the majority of the working class. The 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" countered 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 stick to the old slogans that were correct in the past, but removed from the agenda by life itself, not be limited general provisions Marxism, specifically analyze the new situation and change accordingly political course, tactics. Lenin pointed out that anyone who, in the situation that had developed by the middle of 1921, demanded at all costs, immediately, immediately "attack" the bourgeoisie, he was pushing the working class into an adventure and could ruin the Communist Party. If it follows such a call, it will inevitably turn out to be a vanguard without a mass, a headquarters without an army. Lenin showed the complete theoretical groundlessness and political harm of the demand of the "lefts" that the main blow and the main forces of the communists in the workers' movement should continue to be directed against the centrists. Lenin noted that under the new conditions, the young communist parties, having 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 working-class movement, they know how to unite with the masses, to rally them around a correct line, to create a united front of the working class, making compromises with other political trends and organizations where necessary. The most important task of the Communist Parties under the new conditions was, as Lenin pointed out, to win over 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 the developed under the leadership of V.I. Lenin's theses on tactics. “A more thorough, more solid preparation for new, more and more decisive battles, both defensive and offensive - this is the main and main thing in the decisions of the Third Congress, ”Lenin pointed out (ibid., vol. 44, p. 98). Based on the decisions of the congress, a united front tactic was developed. In December 1921, the Presidium of the ECCI adopted detailed theses on a united workers' front.
The first experience of applying the new tactics in the international working-class 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 speeches concluded at this conference were reached at too high a price, since the delegation of the Comintern (Klara Zetkin, N.I. Bukharin, K. Radek and others) made excessive and irrelevant to the essence of the issue of unity of action, political concessions to the representatives of the 2nd and 21st/2nd Internationals. The leadership of the 2nd and 21/2nd Internationals frustrated the implementation of the decisions taken at the conference.
4th Congress of K.I. (opened November 5, 1922 in Petrograd, November 9-December 5, continued and completed work in Moscow; 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 devoted to the fifth anniversary of the October Revolution and the prospects for the world revolution, Lenin substantiated the thesis that it is necessary for the Communist Parties not only to be able to advance during the period of upsurge, but also to learn to retreat in the conditions of 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 offensive against capitalism. The prospects for the world revolution will be even better, V.I. 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 a fascist dictatorship in Hungary and Italy), the 4th Congress of K.I. stressed that the main means of struggle against fascism is the tactics of the united workers' front. In order to rally 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 to the need to fight for the unity of the trade union movement, which found itself in a state of deep split. The Congress clarified that a specific application of the united front tactic in the conditions of colonial and dependent countries is the united anti-imperialist front, which unites national patriotic forces capable of fighting against colonialism.
1923 was the year of major revolutionary uprisings that completed the post-war revolutionary upsurge. The protests of the proletariat that ended in defeat in Germany, Bulgaria and Poland revealed the weakness of the communist parties. The task of strengthening them on the basis of mastering Leninism, assimilating the international, generally significant in Bolshevism, arose to its full potential. This task, which was called the Bolshevization of the Communist Parties, had to be solved in a difficult situation. 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 planted in the labor movement the ideas of class cooperation (the theory of "political and economic democracy", supposedly developing under capitalism, "organized capitalism", etc.). Both right-wing and leftist-sectarian, Trotskyist elements raised their heads in the communist parties.
In January 1924 V.I. died. Lenin. It was 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. the disastrous line of artificially "pushing" the world revolution without taking into account the balance of class forces and the level of political consciousness of the masses in various 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, and 10 international organizations) went down in history as a congress of the struggle for the Bolshevization of the communist parties. In the main document of the congress - the theses, it was emphasized that the forging of genuine Leninist parties is the central task of all the activities of K.I. The congress pointed out 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, excluding any dogmatism and sectarianism in the methods and means of struggle; fidelity to the principles of revolutionary Marxism; democratic centralism and solidity of the party, which should be "... poured from one piece" (see Communist International in documents, M., 1933, p. 411). “Bolshevization,” it was said somewhat later in the decisions of the 5th expanded plenum of the ECCI (April 1925), “is the ability to apply general principles Leninism to a given concrete situation in one country or another” (ibid., p. 478). Course K.I. made it possible for each communist party, using its own experience of practical struggle, to become a national political force capable of acting independently in the specific conditions of its country, to become the real vanguard of the labor movement there. But in the implementation of this course, distortions were allowed. Congress, for example, attempted to formulate methods common to all parties for the application of united front tactics. Unity of action was envisaged only from below, negotiations at the top between parties and organizations were allowed only if initially unity was 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 simplistic approach to the tactics of a united labor front - only as a method of agitation, and not a method of practical implementation of unity of action in the labor movement.
The theses of the Fifth Congress contained an incorrect proposition that there was no difference in essence 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 the Communist Parties, the brutal persecution of the 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 of Bolsheviks, describing Trotskyism as “... a variety of Menshevism”, combining “...“ European opportunism ”with a left-wing radical phrase that often covers up political passivity” (V expanded plenum of the ECCI, March - April 1925, see ibid., p. 481). An especially important role in the ideological defeat of Trotskyism was played by the 7th expanded plenum of the ECCI (December 1926); 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 working-class movement was revealed. In its further struggle against Leninism, against the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Trotskyism more and more 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 CPSU (b) - I.V. Stalin, D.Z. Manuilsky, V.G. Knorin, I.A. Pyatnitsky. EAT. Yaroslavsky and others, representatives of friendly communist parties - G. Dimitrov, P. Togliatti (Erkoli), M. Torez, P. Semar, B. Shmeral, O. Kuusinen, Y. Sirola, E. Telman, V. Kolarov, p. Katayama and others, contributed to the strengthening of the communist parties on the positions of Leninism.
From July 17 to September 1, 1928, the 6th CI Congress was held in Moscow, which was attended by 515 delegates from 65 organizations (including 50 communist parties) from 57 countries. Congress noted the approach of a new, "third" period in revolutionary development world after October 1917, a period of sharp aggravation of all the contradictions of capitalism, as evidenced by the signs of an impending world economic crisis, the intensification of class battles and a new upsurge in the liberation movement in the colonial and dependent countries. In this connection, the congress approved the tactics outlined by the ninth plenum of the ECCI (February 1928), which was then expressed in the formula "class against class." This tactic envisaged intensifying the struggle against the reformism of the Social Democracy and oriented the communist parties to prepare for the possible emergence of an acute socio-political crisis in the 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. In addition, this tactic was applied in many cases in a sectarian manner. The Congress called on the Communists and the working class to intensify their struggle against the threat of a new world war. The congress unanimously stressed the need for all communist parties to defend the Soviet Union - the first and only country of socialism at that time. “The defense of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the international bourgeoisie,” said the theses of the congress on combating the war danger, “corresponds to the class interests and is the duty of honor of the international proletariat” (ibid., p. 810). Declaring the unconditional and active support of K.I. and all the communist parties of the national liberation struggle of the peoples of the 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 betrayal of the Kuomintang to 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 C.I. Program, in which scientific characterization capitalism, especially during the period of its general crisis, the periodization of the revolutionary movement for the 10 years that have passed since the October Revolution is outlined, and the goals of the world communist movement are highlighted. The Program emphasized the enormous importance of the first socialist state in history for the revolutionary struggle throughout the capitalist world and formulated the mutual international obligations of the Soviet Union and the international proletariat. However, on certain questions of tactics, the Program also reflected the incorrect assessments noted above. Developing the 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 the 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 arose before the communist movement in connection with the consequences of the world economic crisis of 1929-33, unprecedented in its destructive force, the intensification of the aggressiveness of imperialism and the offensive against democracy, up to the turn towards fascism. During this period, the communist parties of a number of countries acted as an influential force; a stable Marxist-Leninist core was forged in them, which rallied in France around M. Thorez and M. Cachin, in Italy - A. Gramsci and P. Togliatti (Ercoli), in Germany - E. Thalmann, V. Pick, V. Ulbricht, in Bulgaria - G. Dimitrov and V. Kolarov, in Finland - O. Kuusinen, in the USA - W. Foster, in Poland - Y. Lensky, in Spain - H. Diaz and D. Ibarruri, in the UK - W. Gallagher and G. Podlita. The changed conditions put the communist parties in front of problems that were not foreseen in the previous decisions of K.I.; 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 hard lesson for the entire international workers' and communist movement. The experience of the anti-fascist struggle has shown that its success requires the unification of all democratic forces, the broadest sections 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 the capitalist countries, placed particular emphasis on the creation of a united workers' front as the main means of combating this threat. However, a new tactical line, corresponding to the new conditions of the revolutionary struggle, still had to be worked out. It was developed taking into account the experience of the armed battles of the Austrian and Spanish proletariat in 1934, the struggle of the French Communist Party for a united workers' and people's front in their own country, and the anti-fascist struggle of the communist parties of other countries. This line was finally determined by the 7th KI Congress, preparations for which took place in the conditions of the broadest collective discussion of urgent problems.
By the time of the convening of the 7th Congress, K.I. (Moscow, July 25 - August 20, 1935) in K.I. included 76 communist parties and organizations, 19 of them as sympathizers. There were 3,141,000 communists in their ranks, including 785,500 in the 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. Telman, who was in prison in Nazi Germany. The Congress discussed the following issues: 1. Report on the activities of the ECCI (speaker V. Pick); 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 of the imperialist war and tasks of K.I. (speaker P. Tolyatti); 5. Results of the construction of socialism in the USSR (speaker DZ Manuilsky); 6. Election of the governing bodies of the Comintern. The work of the congress was held 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 the clear strategic and tactical lines of the communist parties in the struggle against the onset of fascism and the unleashing of a new world war. The Congress defined the class essence of fascism in power as "an open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital..." (Resolutions of the VII World Congress of the Communist International, [M.], 1935, p.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 its other form, an openly reactionary, terrorist dictatorship. In contrast to the post-October revolutionary upsurge, when the working class faced the question of a choice - a socialist revolution or bourgeois democracy (and support for the latter at that moment meant an actual transition to the side of the class enemy), the political crisis of the early 30s. put another alternative - fascism or bourgeois democracy.
In connection with this, the question of relations with the Social Democracy was also raised differently. The offensive 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, in the new conditions needed to be revised. Now it was necessary to unite all those 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 the new tasks. It was necessary to decisively end sectarianism, which remained one of the obstacles to the unity of action of the working class. The change of the previous line by the 7th Congress did not mean, of course, the rejection of the ultimate goals of the movement - the struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat, for socialism. The struggle for democracy strengthened the positions of the proletariat on 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, consequently, helped to form 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 the united workers' and people's front, the foundations of which were formulated by Lenin at the 3rd Congress of the Comintern. The first task of the international workers' movement was to create a united workers' front. The Congress stressed that it does not place unity of action "... no conditions, with the exception of one - elementary, acceptable to all workers ...: that unity of action be directed against fascism, against the offensive of capital, against the threat of war ..." ( Dimitrov G., The onset of fascism and the tasks of the Communist International..., see in Selected works, v.1, M., 1957, p.395). Of course, such a broad and flexible presentation of the question of a united workers' front did not signify reconciliation with the opportunism that was carried by the right-wing leaders of the Social Democracy. Closely connected with the problem of a united workers' front was the 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 the communist-led unions to either join the reformist unions or unite with them on a platform of struggle against fascism and the advance of capital. The congress raised the question of the prospects for the political unity of the working class more flexibly. Congress developed the principles of the Popular Front. It was about uniting on the basis of a united working front of broad sections of the peasantry, the petty urban bourgeoisie, the working intelligentsia, i.e. precisely those strata that fascism tried to drag along with it, intimidating it 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, given favorable conditions, could develop into a democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry, which in turn paved the way for the dictatorship of the proletariat. An enormous contribution to the development of the problems of the Popular Front was made by G. Dimitrov, representatives of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the French, Spanish and other Communist Parties.
The conclusions of the 7th Congress on the questions of the national liberation movement were of great importance. Rejecting the leftist attitudes, which were based on an underestimation of the national, anti-imperialist tasks of the revolutions in the colonial countries, the congress pointed out that for most colonies and semi-colonies a 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 policy of the Comintern on the national-colonial question, developed under the leadership of Lenin.
One of the central questions of the 7th Congress was the question of the struggle against the outbreak of a new world war. Noting that the redivision of the world had already begun, that the main warmongers were German and Italian fascism and Japanese imperialism, that the imperialists of the West were encouraging fascist aggression, the congress emphasized with all its might that in the event of an attack on the USSR, the communists would call on the working people "... by all means and at any cost to contribute to 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 bulwark of the freedom of the peoples, that the victory of socialism in the USSR had a revolutionary effect on the working masses of all countries, instilled in them confidence in their own strength and conviction in the necessity and practical possibility of overthrowing capitalism and building socialism. In the event of fascist aggression, the congress stressed, the communists and the working class are obliged to "...stand...in the front ranks of the fighters for national independence and wage the liberation war to the end..." (ibid., p. 42). Having refuted the slanderous allegations that the communists want war in the expectation that it will bring revolution, G. Dimitrov put forward in his closing speech at the closing of the congress the position that “the working masses by their military actions can interfere with the imperialist war” (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 peace 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. G. Dimitrov, an outstanding revolutionary-internationalist, was elected General Secretary of the ECCI.
7th Congress of K.I. was an important milestone in the further development of the forms of unity of the international communist movement. Taking into account the growth of political maturity and the expansion of the geographical range of the activities of the Communists, the Congress considered it possible and necessary to make changes in the methods and forms of leadership of K.I. The Congress proposed to the ECCI "... to avoid, as a rule, direct interference in the internal organizational affairs of the communist parties" (Resolutions of the VII World Congress of the Communist International, [M.], 1935, p. 4). The ECCI was to focus on the development of basic political and tactical provisions that had a common international importance. 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 Secretariat of the ECCI adopted a number of important resolutions in this direction.
Fulfilling 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. Questions of the work of this or that party were discussed with the active participation of its representatives. Sometimes these discussions were critical. The conclusions and recommendations made during the discussions were always the fruit of the 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 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 People's Front. In France, the victory of the Popular Front (established in 1935) in the April-May 1936 parliamentary elections 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 possibilities of the Popular Front, created in January 1936 as a force mobilizing the masses for the struggle against fascism, for the implementation of deep social transformations, were especially convincingly revealed during the National Revolutionary War of the Spanish people against the fascist rebels and the Italo-German interventionists (1936-39) . In China, the Communists directed their efforts towards creating a united anti-Japanese front of all the country's patriotic forces on the basis of cooperation between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. In Brazil, in 1935, the National Liberation Alliance, which united the democratic forces, was created, which took over the leadership of the anti-fascist armed struggle that unfolded in the autumn 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 Red Trade Unions led by the Communists, which were part of the Profintern (Red Trade Union International), 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 the unfolding in the 30s. 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 he proposed ten times to the leadership of the Socialist Workers' International a specific platform for uniting the efforts of the communist and social democratic movements in the struggle against fascism and unleashing 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 the 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 face of the onset of fascism and the growing danger of a new world war.
As a result of K.I. between the two world wars, the international working-class movement as a whole met the 2nd world war 1939-45 more prepared than the 1st. Despite the fact that the split of the working class and the policies of the Western powers prevented new war, the influence of the working class on the nature, course and results of World War II was wider and more significant than in 1914-18.
The great patriotic and international feat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 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 the communist parties became more complicated, K.I. the organizational form of their unification, which met the needs of the initial period of the communist movement, no longer corresponded 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. as the unified center of the entire communist movement. Some communist parties were supposed to operate in the aggressor countries, others - in the countries - victims of aggression. Some remained legal in countries with imperialist governments that fought against the fascist powers, others were driven underground by governments that capitulated to the aggressor. Some were located in colonies occupied or under threat of occupation by the states of the fascist bloc, others operated in colonies that were outside the direct sphere of war. Communist parties had to carefully consider the situation in their countries, the peculiarities of the internal and foreign policy one state or another. Due to all this, the leadership of the world communist movement from one center became practically not only impossible, but also inexpedient, because there would be a danger of schematizing tactics, imposing such decisions that did not correspond to the specific situation.
In addition, in order to ensure the greatest possible unity of action of all national and international forces 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 of "Moscow's interference" in the internal affairs of other countries, to deprive any grounds for slander 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 CI, which was approved by all its sections.
The great historical merit of K.I. consisted, first of all, in the fact that he defended the teaching of Marxism-Leninism from its vulgarization and distortion by opportunists, both from the right and the "left", carried out the connection of Marxism-Leninism with the labor movement on an international scale, developed the Marxist-Leninist theory, 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 rallying of the vanguard of the advanced workers of many countries and the truly proletarian party, helped them mobilize the masses of working people to defend their economic and political interests and fight against fascism and imperialist wars, strengthened internationalist unity of the working class, fought for the development and victory of the national liberation movement and played an important role in preparing the historical revolutionary transformations carried out during and after the end of World War II. 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 school of K.I. Great political experience, close ties with the first country of socialism - the Soviet Union allowed them to successfully carry out democratic and socialist transformations. All this led to the formation of a mighty world socialist system, which has a decisive influence on the entire course of world history in the interests of peace and socialism.
The experience of K.I. teaches that the strength and effectiveness of the communist movement is determined by loyalty to proletarian internationalism. K.I. raised the banner of internationalism high and contributed to the spread of its ideas throughout the world. After the dissolution of K.I. forms of international relations between fraternal parties have changed. However, the need to protect, develop and strengthen the principles of proletarian internationalism in every possible way remains a paramount task. This is a vital necessity for the communist movement: internationalism lies at the very basis of its activity as world power which expresses the fundamental interests of the working class, of all working people. Internationalism opposes national strife and racial enmity, beneficial to 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 locking them into national or regional frameworks. On present stage As noted by the 1969 International Conference of Communist and Workers' Parties, 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 fate of the entire working-class movement, for the fate of mankind. The traditions of K.I., the richest political experience he has accumulated, faithfully serve 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 their struggle against right and "left" opportunism.
In the new conditions that developed in the post-war period, Lenin's ideas and principles of the international communist movement received further development in the documents of the international conferences of communist and workers' parties in 1957, 1960 and 1969, in the decisions of the congresses of the CPSU, in the Program of the CPSU, in the Marxist-Leninist program documents of the fraternal parties.