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The Communist Movement at a Crossroads
Plenums of the Communist Internationalâs Executive Committee, 1922-1923
Series: - Historical Materialism Book Series, Volume: 160
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This volume contains the proceedings and resolutions from three expanded meetings of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (Comintern) held in 1922â1923, while Lenin was still alive. At these 'mini-congresses', Communist leaders from around the world debated out major strategic questions and initiatives, from united front policy to the fight against fascism.
The material in this book â much of it appearing in English for the first time â is an essential source for understanding the world revolutionary movement in Leninâs time, as well as the subsequent evolution of the Comintern. It is an important supplement to the widely acclaimed series of volumes edited by John Riddell containing the record of the Cominternâs first four world congresses.
The material in this book â much of it appearing in English for the first time â is an essential source for understanding the world revolutionary movement in Leninâs time, as well as the subsequent evolution of the Comintern. It is an important supplement to the widely acclaimed series of volumes edited by John Riddell containing the record of the Cominternâs first four world congresses.
Mike Taber has edited collections of works by Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, James P. Cannon, and Maurice Bishop.
John Riddell has translated and edited eight volumes of documents of the Communist movement in the era of the Russian revolution, including the proceedings and resolutions of the Communist Internationalâs ï¬ rst four world congresses.
John Riddell has translated and edited eight volumes of documents of the Communist movement in the era of the Russian revolution, including the proceedings and resolutions of the Communist Internationalâs ï¬ rst four world congresses.
"The Communist Movement at a Crossroads is a vital edition to our understanding of the International Communist movement at its revolutionary height." - Chris James Newlove, in: Marx and Philosophy Review of Books, 1 April 2021 [Full review]
Resolutions and Reports
Editorial Introduction
About This Edition
List of Abbreviations
Appeal by the Communist International Executive Committee
Session 1. Organisation of Meeting; National Reports (21 February) Election of Presidium. Report of Credentials Commission (Rákosi). Agenda. Rules of order (Brandler). Election of commissions. Report of the Communist Party of Germany (Thalheimer, Zetkin).
Session 2. National Reports (21Â February) The Communist Party of France (Cachin). The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Burian, Kreibich).
Session 3. National Reports. (22Â February) The situation in Britain (MacManus). The situation in Italy (Terracini). The situation in the United States of North America (Marshall). Salute to the Red Army (Cachin).
Session 4. National Reports (22Â February) Activity of the Communist Party of the United States (Carr). The situation in Poland (Antonowicz). Report from Balkan Federation (Kolarov). New commissions.
Session 5. Executive Committee Report (24Â February) Report of the Executive Committee and Presidium (Zinoviev). Report on negotiations with representatives of the Two-and-a-Half International (Radek). Report on activity of the International Womenâs Secretariat (Kollontai).
Session 6. United Front Report (24Â February) Report on united-front policy (Zinoviev).
Session 7. United Front Counter-Reports (25Â February) Counter-reports on united-front policy (Renoult, Roberto, Terracini).
Session 8. United Front Discussion (26Â February) Discussion on united-front policy (Lunacharsky, Radek, MacManus, Thalheimer, Burian).
Session 9. United Front Discussion (26Â February) Continuation of discussion on united-front policy (Walecki, Trotsky, Marshall).
Session 10. United Front Discussion (27 February) Discussion on united front (Lozovsky). The situation in Yugoslavia (StaniÄ). Discussion on united front (Treint, Kolarov, Tomann, Rákosi).
Session 11. United Front Discussion; Béla Kun Affair (27 February) Continuation of discussion on united-front policy (Bobst). The Béla Kun affair (Lunacharsky, Landler, Zinoviev).
Session 12. United Front Summaries; Workersâ Opposition (28Â February) Summaries on united-front policy (Terracini, Renoult, Zinoviev). The case of the âWorkersâ Oppositionâ (Letter of the 22, Reply by RCP Central Committee).
Session 13. Trade Unions (1Â March) Reports on the trade-union question (Lozovsky, Brandler).
Session 14. Famine Relief; New Economic Policy (1 March) Report on famine relief (Münzenberg). Theses on New Economic Policy in Russia (Sokolnikov).
Session 15. Communist Press; Youth (2 March) Report on the Communist press (Humbert-Droz). Report on International Press Correspondence (Thalheimer). Report on the economic demands of youth (Schüller). Resolution on the struggle against the impoverishment of worker youth. Motion on the agricultural proletariat (Osinsky).
Session 16. France; War Danger (2Â March) Report on the situation of the workersâ movement in France (Trotsky). Resolution on the French question. Report on the danger of new imperialist wars (Zetkin). Election of the Presidium.
Session 17. Resolutions (4Â March) Resolution on united-front policy. Resolution on proposed international conference. Resolution of the minority on the united front. Resolution of the minority on the international conference. Resolution on the trade-union question. Resolution on the Communist press. The New Economic Policy. Resolution on the struggle against war. Resolution on the Near East. Resolution on the British question. Resolution against the white terror. The agrarian question. Motion on famine relief and economic aid. Decision to call the Fourth World Congress. Report on the Russian question (Kreibich). Resolution on the Russian question. Announcements. Closing words (Zinoviev).
Appendix. Theses on the United Front (18Â December 1921)
Session 1. Opening; Social Revolutionaries; United Front (7 June) Attendance and voting. Agenda. The trial of the Social Revolutionaries (Zinoviev). Defence of Tomasz Dombal (Próchniak). Report on break-up of the Committee of Nine (Radek). Remarks on the united front (Zinoviev).
Session 2. Czechoslovakia (7Â June) The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (JÃlek, Å meral, Kreibich).
Session 3. Youth. France (8Â June) Report of the Youth Executive (Kreibich). Reports on the French question (Frossard, Souvarine, Trotsky).
Session 4. Norway (9Â June) The Norwegian question (Friis, Kuusinen, Friis).
Session 5. France (9Â June) Discussion on the French question (Bordiga, Kreibich, Rappoport, Zetkin).
Session 6. France (10Â June) Continuation of discussion on the French question (Brandler, Trotsky, Frossard, Zinoviev).
Session 7. Resolutions (11Â June) Motion on the Berlin Conference. Report of the Czech Commission (Brandler). Resolution on the Czechoslovak Communist Party. The Italian question (Zinoviev). The trade-union question (Zinoviev). The French question (Trotsky). Resolution on the French Communist Party. Report from Norwegian Commission (Å meral). Resolution on the Norwegian question. Fourth World Congress (Zinoviev) Programme Commission (Radek). Closing words (Zetkin).
Appendix A. The Berlin Conference of the Three Internationals (1) Attendance. (2) Common declaration adopted by conference. (3) Declaration of the Third International.
Appendix B. Lenin on the Berlin Conference (1) Letter to Bukharin and Zinoviev, 1 February 1922. (2) Letter to Politburo members on draft resolution of Enlarged ECCI Plenum, 23 February 1922. (3) Letter to Politburo members on the directives for the Comintern delegation to Berlin Conference, 14â15 March 1922. (4) Letter to the Politburo with a draft of directives to comrades travelling abroad, 17 March 1922. (5) We Have Paid Too Much, 9 April 1922.
Session 1. Opening; Executive Committee Report (12Â June) Attendance (Neurath). Agenda. Election of commissions. Report of the Executive Committee and Presidium (Zinoviev).
Session 2. Executive Committee Discussion (13 June) Discussion on Executive Committee report (Zinoviev, Duret, Varga, Urbani, Höglund, Radek, Falk, Bukharin, Böttcher).
Session 3. Executive Committee Discussion (13Â June) Continuation of discussion on Executive Committee report (Flieg, Shatskin, Ewert, Trachtenberg, Johnson).
Session 4. Executive Committee Discussion (14 June) Continuation of discussion on Executive Committee report (Negri, Koritschoner, Newbold, Rosmer, Zápotocký, Kolarov, Beruzzi, Amter).
Session 5. Executive Committee Discussion (14 June) Continuation of discussion on Executive Committee report (VladetiÄ, Saitta, Scheflo, Serra, Giacomo, Höglund, Laursen, Krajewski, Aoki, Tranmael).
Session 6. Executive Report Summary; World Situation (15Â June) Summary of discussion on Executive Committee report (Zinoviev). Report on world political situation (Radek).
Session 7. World Political Situation Discussion (16 June) Discussion on world political situation (Neurath, Roy, Böttcher, Jackson, Hoernle, Trachtenberg, Brand, Katayama, Tan Malaka).
Session 8. World Political Situation Discussion (16Â June) Discussion on world political situation (Newbold, Aparicio, Thibaut). Summary of discussion on world political situation (Radek). In memory of Vorovsky (Stewart).
Session 9. Centralism Question (18 June) Reports on the limits of centralism in the Comintern (Bukharin, Ström). Discussion on centralism question (Falk, Beuer).
Session 10. Centralism Question (18 June) Discussion on centralism question (Ewert, Amter, Schüller, Scheflo, Lévy, Kuusinen, Höglund, Koritschoner, Radek, Urbani, Stewart, Ström, Falk, Flieg). Summary of discussion on centralism question (Bukharin).
Session 11. Trade Unions (19Â June) Reports on trade-union question (Lozovsky, Walcher).
Session 12. Trade Unions; Fascism (20 June) Discussion on trade-union question (Urbani, Wieser, Zápotocký, Gallacher, Katayama, Johnson, Meshcheriakov). Summary of discussion on trade-union question (Lozovsky). Report on the struggle against fascism (Zetkin).
Session 13. Fascism; Comintern Programme (20 June) Discussion on fascism (Krajewski, Böttcher, Frey, Serra, Šmeral, Gyptner, Radek). Summary of discussion on fascism (Zetkin). The programme of the Communist International (Bukharin).
Session 14. Denmark; Norway (22 June) Report from Danish Commission (Ström). Resolution on the Danish question. Report from Commission on Centralism (Ewert). Resolution on the Norwegian question. Statements on Norwegian resolution (Falk, Inkpin, Amter, Stirner, Ewert, Zinoviev, Falk, Furubotn).
Session 15. Bulgaria; Commission Reports; Resolutions (23Â June) Report of Credentials Commission (Hoernle). Report on the coup in Bulgaria and the Communist Party (Radek). Appeal to Bulgarian workers and peasants. Resolution on the Executive Committee report. Resolution on the workersâ and peasantsâ government. Resolution on the Hamburg Congress. Resolution on the Russian-British conflict. Resolution on Communistsâ attitude to religion. Regarding the murder of Comrade Vorovsky. Resolution on the Japanese question (Katayama). Resolution on fascism. Resolution on the trade-union question. Report from Cooperatives Commission (Hoernle). Resolution on the cooperatives question. Report from Italian Commission (Lunacharsky). Resolution on the Italian question. Resolution on the Swiss question. Resolution on the Austrian question. Report from commission on the woman question (Zetkin). Report from Dutch Commission (Trachtenberg). British Commission. Conference of Blacks. Resolution on the Fifth World Congress. Re-election of the Presidium. Greetings and thanks. Closing address (Zinoviev).
Chronology Glossary Bibliography Index
Editorial Introduction
About This Edition
List of Abbreviations
First Enlarged Plenum 21Â Februaryâ4Â March 1922
Appeal by the Communist International Executive Committee
Session 1. Organisation of Meeting; National Reports (21 February) Election of Presidium. Report of Credentials Commission (Rákosi). Agenda. Rules of order (Brandler). Election of commissions. Report of the Communist Party of Germany (Thalheimer, Zetkin).
Session 2. National Reports (21Â February) The Communist Party of France (Cachin). The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (Burian, Kreibich).
Session 3. National Reports. (22Â February) The situation in Britain (MacManus). The situation in Italy (Terracini). The situation in the United States of North America (Marshall). Salute to the Red Army (Cachin).
Session 4. National Reports (22Â February) Activity of the Communist Party of the United States (Carr). The situation in Poland (Antonowicz). Report from Balkan Federation (Kolarov). New commissions.
Session 5. Executive Committee Report (24Â February) Report of the Executive Committee and Presidium (Zinoviev). Report on negotiations with representatives of the Two-and-a-Half International (Radek). Report on activity of the International Womenâs Secretariat (Kollontai).
Session 6. United Front Report (24Â February) Report on united-front policy (Zinoviev).
Session 7. United Front Counter-Reports (25Â February) Counter-reports on united-front policy (Renoult, Roberto, Terracini).
Session 8. United Front Discussion (26Â February) Discussion on united-front policy (Lunacharsky, Radek, MacManus, Thalheimer, Burian).
Session 9. United Front Discussion (26Â February) Continuation of discussion on united-front policy (Walecki, Trotsky, Marshall).
Session 10. United Front Discussion (27 February) Discussion on united front (Lozovsky). The situation in Yugoslavia (StaniÄ). Discussion on united front (Treint, Kolarov, Tomann, Rákosi).
Session 11. United Front Discussion; Béla Kun Affair (27 February) Continuation of discussion on united-front policy (Bobst). The Béla Kun affair (Lunacharsky, Landler, Zinoviev).
Session 12. United Front Summaries; Workersâ Opposition (28Â February) Summaries on united-front policy (Terracini, Renoult, Zinoviev). The case of the âWorkersâ Oppositionâ (Letter of the 22, Reply by RCP Central Committee).
Session 13. Trade Unions (1Â March) Reports on the trade-union question (Lozovsky, Brandler).
Session 14. Famine Relief; New Economic Policy (1 March) Report on famine relief (Münzenberg). Theses on New Economic Policy in Russia (Sokolnikov).
Session 15. Communist Press; Youth (2 March) Report on the Communist press (Humbert-Droz). Report on International Press Correspondence (Thalheimer). Report on the economic demands of youth (Schüller). Resolution on the struggle against the impoverishment of worker youth. Motion on the agricultural proletariat (Osinsky).
Session 16. France; War Danger (2Â March) Report on the situation of the workersâ movement in France (Trotsky). Resolution on the French question. Report on the danger of new imperialist wars (Zetkin). Election of the Presidium.
Session 17. Resolutions (4Â March) Resolution on united-front policy. Resolution on proposed international conference. Resolution of the minority on the united front. Resolution of the minority on the international conference. Resolution on the trade-union question. Resolution on the Communist press. The New Economic Policy. Resolution on the struggle against war. Resolution on the Near East. Resolution on the British question. Resolution against the white terror. The agrarian question. Motion on famine relief and economic aid. Decision to call the Fourth World Congress. Report on the Russian question (Kreibich). Resolution on the Russian question. Announcements. Closing words (Zinoviev).
Appendix. Theses on the United Front (18Â December 1921)
Second Enlarged Plenum 7â11Â June 1922
Session 1. Opening; Social Revolutionaries; United Front (7 June) Attendance and voting. Agenda. The trial of the Social Revolutionaries (Zinoviev). Defence of Tomasz Dombal (Próchniak). Report on break-up of the Committee of Nine (Radek). Remarks on the united front (Zinoviev).
Session 2. Czechoslovakia (7Â June) The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (JÃlek, Å meral, Kreibich).
Session 3. Youth. France (8Â June) Report of the Youth Executive (Kreibich). Reports on the French question (Frossard, Souvarine, Trotsky).
Session 4. Norway (9Â June) The Norwegian question (Friis, Kuusinen, Friis).
Session 5. France (9Â June) Discussion on the French question (Bordiga, Kreibich, Rappoport, Zetkin).
Session 6. France (10Â June) Continuation of discussion on the French question (Brandler, Trotsky, Frossard, Zinoviev).
Session 7. Resolutions (11Â June) Motion on the Berlin Conference. Report of the Czech Commission (Brandler). Resolution on the Czechoslovak Communist Party. The Italian question (Zinoviev). The trade-union question (Zinoviev). The French question (Trotsky). Resolution on the French Communist Party. Report from Norwegian Commission (Å meral). Resolution on the Norwegian question. Fourth World Congress (Zinoviev) Programme Commission (Radek). Closing words (Zetkin).
Appendix A. The Berlin Conference of the Three Internationals (1) Attendance. (2) Common declaration adopted by conference. (3) Declaration of the Third International.
Appendix B. Lenin on the Berlin Conference (1) Letter to Bukharin and Zinoviev, 1 February 1922. (2) Letter to Politburo members on draft resolution of Enlarged ECCI Plenum, 23 February 1922. (3) Letter to Politburo members on the directives for the Comintern delegation to Berlin Conference, 14â15 March 1922. (4) Letter to the Politburo with a draft of directives to comrades travelling abroad, 17 March 1922. (5) We Have Paid Too Much, 9 April 1922.
Third Enlarged Plenum 12â23Â June 1923
Session 1. Opening; Executive Committee Report (12Â June) Attendance (Neurath). Agenda. Election of commissions. Report of the Executive Committee and Presidium (Zinoviev).
Session 2. Executive Committee Discussion (13 June) Discussion on Executive Committee report (Zinoviev, Duret, Varga, Urbani, Höglund, Radek, Falk, Bukharin, Böttcher).
Session 3. Executive Committee Discussion (13Â June) Continuation of discussion on Executive Committee report (Flieg, Shatskin, Ewert, Trachtenberg, Johnson).
Session 4. Executive Committee Discussion (14 June) Continuation of discussion on Executive Committee report (Negri, Koritschoner, Newbold, Rosmer, Zápotocký, Kolarov, Beruzzi, Amter).
Session 5. Executive Committee Discussion (14 June) Continuation of discussion on Executive Committee report (VladetiÄ, Saitta, Scheflo, Serra, Giacomo, Höglund, Laursen, Krajewski, Aoki, Tranmael).
Session 6. Executive Report Summary; World Situation (15Â June) Summary of discussion on Executive Committee report (Zinoviev). Report on world political situation (Radek).
Session 7. World Political Situation Discussion (16 June) Discussion on world political situation (Neurath, Roy, Böttcher, Jackson, Hoernle, Trachtenberg, Brand, Katayama, Tan Malaka).
Session 8. World Political Situation Discussion (16Â June) Discussion on world political situation (Newbold, Aparicio, Thibaut). Summary of discussion on world political situation (Radek). In memory of Vorovsky (Stewart).
Session 9. Centralism Question (18 June) Reports on the limits of centralism in the Comintern (Bukharin, Ström). Discussion on centralism question (Falk, Beuer).
Session 10. Centralism Question (18 June) Discussion on centralism question (Ewert, Amter, Schüller, Scheflo, Lévy, Kuusinen, Höglund, Koritschoner, Radek, Urbani, Stewart, Ström, Falk, Flieg). Summary of discussion on centralism question (Bukharin).
Session 11. Trade Unions (19Â June) Reports on trade-union question (Lozovsky, Walcher).
Session 12. Trade Unions; Fascism (20 June) Discussion on trade-union question (Urbani, Wieser, Zápotocký, Gallacher, Katayama, Johnson, Meshcheriakov). Summary of discussion on trade-union question (Lozovsky). Report on the struggle against fascism (Zetkin).
Session 13. Fascism; Comintern Programme (20 June) Discussion on fascism (Krajewski, Böttcher, Frey, Serra, Šmeral, Gyptner, Radek). Summary of discussion on fascism (Zetkin). The programme of the Communist International (Bukharin).
Session 14. Denmark; Norway (22 June) Report from Danish Commission (Ström). Resolution on the Danish question. Report from Commission on Centralism (Ewert). Resolution on the Norwegian question. Statements on Norwegian resolution (Falk, Inkpin, Amter, Stirner, Ewert, Zinoviev, Falk, Furubotn).
Session 15. Bulgaria; Commission Reports; Resolutions (23Â June) Report of Credentials Commission (Hoernle). Report on the coup in Bulgaria and the Communist Party (Radek). Appeal to Bulgarian workers and peasants. Resolution on the Executive Committee report. Resolution on the workersâ and peasantsâ government. Resolution on the Hamburg Congress. Resolution on the Russian-British conflict. Resolution on Communistsâ attitude to religion. Regarding the murder of Comrade Vorovsky. Resolution on the Japanese question (Katayama). Resolution on fascism. Resolution on the trade-union question. Report from Cooperatives Commission (Hoernle). Resolution on the cooperatives question. Report from Italian Commission (Lunacharsky). Resolution on the Italian question. Resolution on the Swiss question. Resolution on the Austrian question. Report from commission on the woman question (Zetkin). Report from Dutch Commission (Trachtenberg). British Commission. Conference of Blacks. Resolution on the Fifth World Congress. Re-election of the Presidium. Greetings and thanks. Closing address (Zinoviev).
Chronology Glossary Bibliography Index
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