The Genesis of the Third International: Crisis, War, and Revolution
Part 1: Study Guide to Histoire de l'Internationale Communiste
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This is the first instalment in a study guide series exploring the history of the Communist International (IC), drawing on Pierre Frank's extensive work Histoire de l'Internationale Communiste, expanding on themes outlined in the series introduction. The goal is to provide a thematic journey through the Comintern's history while highlighting crucial theoretical and practical lessons. This initial instalment examines the critical historical context that led to the founding of a new international revolutionary organisation in 1919. Later posts will be thematic, rather than chronological, to make the key concepts more visible.
The founding of the Communist International in March 1919 was a direct response to the profound crisis of the international workers' movement triggered by the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. This event is referred to as the "failure of August 1914".
Pierre Frank's history of the Communist International focuses on the major historical events and revolutionary struggles that the IC was created to address. Frank states that he primarily used the IC's publications as material, including minutes of congresses and Executive Committee sessions, official publications like L'Internationale Communiste and Correspondance Internationale, and debates within the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik). He considers these documents the most suitable for understanding the IC's history.
1. The Failure of the Second International: August 1914
In the years leading up to 1914, the parties of the Second International had passed numerous resolutions against imperialist war, pledging international working-class solidarity and action to prevent conflict. However, with the declaration of war in August 1914, the majority of these parties, particularly their leaderships, betrayed these commitments. Contrary to their pre-war resolutions, they largely aligned themselves with their respective national bourgeoisies and governments, supporting the imperialist conflict. This betrayal of international working-class solidarity demonstrated the bankruptcy of the Second International and underlined the urgent need for a new, genuinely revolutionary international body. Understanding this "principled break with opportunism" was a crucial lesson from the IC's genesis.
2. The Impulse of the October Revolution and Lenin's Call
While the war exposed the Second International's failure, the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 provided the crucial impulse for the creation of the Third International. The success of the Bolshevik-led revolution, establishing a workers' state, demonstrated the possibility of overthrowing capitalism and inspired revolutionary movements across the globe. Frank notes that the IC was founded "under the impulse of the October Revolution, on a theoretical foundation, that of revolutionary Marxism."
Lenin, a key figure in the Bolshevik Revolution, had long argued for the necessity of a new International composed of parties committed to revolutionary Marxism, breaking from the opportunism of the Second International. As early as April 1917, upon his return to Russia, he included in his famous "April Theses" the point: "Renew the International. Take the initiative in creating a revolutionary International, an International against the social-chauvinists and against the "centre"." In May 1917, in a draft platform, he explicitly stated that "The Zimmerwald International has failed, the Third International must be founded." He continued to emphasize the need to create a new International and define its character.
The Soviet power actively engaged in internationalist activity from its inception. For example, in December 1917, Trotsky oversaw the distribution of a revolutionary Russian daily newspaper in German to enemy trenches to stimulate fraternisation. By April 1918, an international congress of prisoners of war was held in Moscow, and material was published for foreign troops involved in the imperialist aggression against Soviet Russia. Following the October Revolution and amidst the revolutionary wave sweeping Europe, the conditions ripened for the formation of the new International that Lenin had called for.
3. The First Congress (March 1919) and Founding Principles
The First Congress of the Communist International was convened in Moscow in March 1919. While a relatively small gathering due to the difficult circumstances of civil war and isolation, it brought together key figures and representatives of the burgeoning revolutionary movements. Frank notes that the First Congress represented the consecration of the conquests of the international proletarian masses. Lenin himself stated that the founding of the Third International, the Communist International, in Moscow on March 2, 1919, "has been the consecration of the conquests of the proletarian masses, not only Russian, not only from Russia, but also German, Austrian, Hungarian, Finnish, Swiss, in a word, of the international proletarian masses."
The Congress was founded "on a theoretical foundation, that of revolutionary Marxism." Its explicit goal was "to gather national sections whose task was to lead revolutionary struggles worldwide, to overthrow capitalism and establish a socialist society." A key debate at this congress, highlighted in the sources, was that between "bourgeois democracy vs. soviets." The Congress affirmed the principle of soviet power as the form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, seeing the emergence of soviets in countries like Germany as verification of this form of proletarian democracy.
The Manifesto of the founding congress was drafted by Trotsky. The Congress designated an Executive Committee (ECCI) composed of representatives from the most important countries, with a five-member Bureau including Lenin, Trotsky, Zinoviev, Rakovsky, and Platten.
4. Early Figures and Revolutionary Thought
Figures like Lenin and Trotsky were central to the founding and early direction of the IC, being part of its first elected Bureau. Their theoretical contributions and practical leadership in the Russian Revolution were foundational to the IC's orientation towards world revolution.
Other significant revolutionary thinkers of the era, like Rosa Luxemburg, also recognised the fundamental importance of an international organisation for the working class. Rosa Luxemburg, strongly critical of the Second International's weaknesses, had a clear conception of the future International. She believed it should be a structure where decisions on essential problems were binding, under penalty of exclusion. As she put it in April 1916: "It is in the International that the centre of gravity of the class organisation of the proletariat is located." She argued passionately against those who wanted the International to remain merely a loose, federative gathering of independent national parties, seeing this as a central issue for the working-class movement.
Lessons for Today
The genesis of the Third International provides crucial insights for contemporary revolutionary strategy. It highlights the conditions under which a new international organisation becomes necessary: specifically, the failure of existing formations (like the Second International) to meet the challenges posed by revolutionary crises (like the First World War and the post-war revolutionary wave). The founding of the IC underscores the importance of a principled break with opportunism and social-chauvinism and the need to base revolutionary action on the theoretical foundations of revolutionary Marxism. Understanding these initial conditions and the strategic choices made at the outset is essential for grasping the subsequent history of the Comintern and its relevance for building revolutionary movements today. This installment has laid the groundwork; subsequent articles will delve into the major strategic debates and periods of the IC's history.
Later in this series
This series will:
Focus on the crucial discussions and decisions of the Second Congress particularly the "21 Conditions" for affiliation that defined the nature of the revolutionary vanguard party
Examine the debates around the role, structure, and discipline of the party
Discuss the relationship with mass organisations, such as trade unions and factory committees, and the approach to participating in bourgeois parliaments
Introduce the National and Colonial Questions, and explain the strategy of Permanent Revolution