The Communist International was the eponymous official magazine of the Moscow-based Communist International (Comintern). The publication was published from 1919 until 1943 in a multiplicity of languages including (but not limited to) Russian, German, English, and French. Issued irregularly, monthly, or semi-monthly depending upon the language and year, the magazine is regarded as a vital primary source for the study of the international Communist movement.
The Communist International was a magazine launched at the March 1919 establishment of the Communist International in Moscow. [1] The publication was intended as the official organ of the governing Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI), headed by its president, Grigory Zinoviev, and was initially published in the four most commonly-used languages of the international Communist movement — Russian, German, English, and French. [1]
The earliest issues of The Communist International were produced at the Comintern's offices at Smolny in Petrograd, with Zinoviev listed as the publication's editor. [2] The first issue saw print about two months following the conclusion of the Founding Congress of the Communist International, bearing a cover date of May 1919. [2]
The publication was originally planned to be a monthly, although by the end of 1919 it had slipped into a slightly slower and more irregular pace of production. [3]
The large-format magazine was intended to convey news, Marxist theory, strategic ideas, and official pronouncements of the so-called "World Party," the Comintern to its supporters and sympathizers around the world, with a view to paving the way for world revolution. [1] In the estimate of one historian, early issues of The Communist International were largely "a compendium of the arguments that Bolsheviks felt would win the working class to their cause." [4]
The leading contributor to The Communist International during its inaugural year of 1919 was Grigory Zinoviev, who contributed 11 signed pieces to the publication. [5] Vladimir Ulianov (N. Lenin) provided an additional 7 signed pieces for the seven issues of 1919, with French Comintern functionary Victor Serge adding more. [5]
The Communist International was hampered by the Allied blockade of Soviet Russia during its formative years, a situation which both restricted the receipt of timely news of the world revolutionary movement and which greatly constrained distribution of the printed publication. [5] Owing to these circumstances, it was not effective as a transmission mechanism of timely news and information, a function fulfilled with greater success through the use of carefully focused radio-telegrams by the Comintern. [5] These pioneer radio broadcasts were able to be transmitted through any physical blockade and heard in Sweden or Switzerland before being transmitted to the radical press in the United Kingdom, Germany, or elsewhere in Europe for newspaper reproduction. [5]
The glossy and illustrated Communist International was supplemented in its intended task of spreading official documents and pronouncements of the Comintern with the September 1921 launch of a second, less elaborate and more frequent publication — the smaller-format International Press Correspondence (Inprecorr). [1]
Initial issues of The Communist International, known retrospectively as the "Old Series," were first published in Russian with direct translation of content into German and English, [1] although not every issue of the first dozen or so (issued during the years of the Allied blockade) made it to print in English.
Beginning in the early 1920s production of the magazine in non-Russian editions was decentralized, with the English-language edition published in London and from there exported to the United States. As its availability increased, the magazine became required reading for Communist Party leaders around the world. [6] A "New Series" of numbers for the London-produced English edition began in 1924. [6]
Through 1925 and into 1926 the magazine appeared regularly as a monthly in both Russian and English. [6] However, in September 1926 the Russian edition moved to a weekly frequency, with the English edition only partially following the change, moving to a semi-monthly publication schedule in 1927. [7] This twice-a-month frequency of the English edition was maintained through September 1935, when the magazine once again moved to a monthly schedule. [7]
Beginning in January 1934 parallel English-language editions of The Communist International were produced in London and New York City, initially with identical covers and pagination, [7] but eventually with slightly different form and content. This situation changed dramatically at the end of 1939, following the summer signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, paving the way for war between Nazi Germany and the United Kingdom.
The British edition of the magazine was abruptly terminated in December 1939 although a modified American magazine was permitted to appear beginning in 1940, with mention of the magazine's official status removed from the banner in favor of the words, "Edited by Earl Browder." [8] The American edition continued to publish translations of a limited number of articles from the Russian edition but essentially served as a voice of the Communist Party, USA during its final years of existence. [8]
The American version of the publication continued to be produced in New York through 1943, at which time the Comintern was abruptly dissolved as a wartime gesture by Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union towards his capitalist allies in World War II and along with it the magazine by the same name. [8]
Regarded by historians as one of the most important primary sources relating to the international Communist movement, [7] The Communist International was reissued in multiple hardcover volumes by the publisher Greenwood Press in a 1968 as part of their series of reissues of periodicals of the American radical movement.
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state". The Comintern was preceded by the 1916 dissolution of the Second International.
The Proletarian Party of America (PPA) was a small communist political party in the United States, originating in 1920 and terminated in 1971. Originally an offshoot of the Communist Party of America, the group maintained an independent existence for over five decades. It is best remembered for carrying forward Charles H. Kerr & Co., the oldest publisher of Marxist books in America.
Charles Emil Ruthenberg was an American Marxist politician and a founder and head of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).
The Red International of Labor Unions, commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Communist International (Comintern) with the aim of coordinating communist activities within trade unions. Formally established in 1921, the Profintern was intended to act as a counterweight to the influence of the so-called "Amsterdam International", the social democratic International Federation of Trade Unions, an organization branded as class collaborationist and an impediment to revolution by the Comintern. After entering a period of decline in the middle 1930s, the organization was finally terminated in 1937 with the advent of the Popular Front.
John Pepper, also known as József Pogány and Joseph Pogany, was a Hungarian Communist politician. He later served as a functionary in the Communist International (Comintern) in Moscow, before being cashiered in 1929. Later as an official in the Soviet government, Pepper ran afoul of the secret police and was executed during the Great Terror of 1937–38.
Robert Berkeley "Bob" Minor, alternatively known as "Fighting Bob", was a political cartoonist, a radical journalist, and, beginning in 1920, a leading member of the American Communist Party.
The Congress of the Peoples of the East was a multinational conference held in September 1920 by the Communist International in Baku, Azerbaijan. The congress was attended by nearly 1,900 delegates from across Asia and Europe and marked a commitment by the Comintern to support revolutionary nationalist movements in the colonial "East" in addition to the traditional radical labour movement of Europe, North America, and Australasia. Although attended by delegates representing more than two dozen ethnic entities of the Middle and Far East, the Baku Congress was dominated by the lengthy speeches of leaders from the Russian Communist Party (RCP), including: Grigory Zinoviev, Karl Radek, Mikhail Pavlovich, and Anatoly Skachko. Non-RCP delegates delivering major reports included Hungarian revolutionary Béla Kun and Turkish feminist Naciye Hanim.
The Pan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat (PPTUS) was a regional subdivision of the Red International of Labor Unions, the trade union organization associated with the Communist International. Established in Hankow, China, in May 1927, the PPTUS attempted to coordinate communist activity in the organized labor movement of China and the Pacific basin, including particularly Japan, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, and the United States.
Louis C. Fraina was a founding member of the Communist Party USA in 1919. After running afoul of the Communist International in 1921 over the alleged misappropriation of funds, Fraina left the organized radical movement, emerging in 1926 as a left wing public intellectual by the name of Lewis Corey. During the McCarthy era, deportation proceedings were initiated against Fraina-Corey. After a protracted legal battle, Corey died of a cerebral hemorrhage before the action against him was formally abandoned.
Problems of Peace and Socialism, also commonly known as World Marxist Review (WMR), the name of its English-language edition, was a monthly theoretical journal containing jointly-produced content by Communist and workers' parties from around the world.
During the ten decades since its establishment in 1919, the Communist Party USA produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in the English language.
Eteenpäin was a Finnish-language daily newspaper launched in New York City in 1921. The paper was the East Coast organ of Finnish-American members of the Communist Party USA. The paper moved to Worcester, Massachusetts in 1922 and to Yonkers, New York in 1931. In 1950 Eteenpäin was merged with the Communist Party's Midwestern Finnish-language daily, Työmies to create Työmies-Eteenpäin, which continued to be published from Superior, Wisconsin into the 1990s.
During the nine decades since its establishment in 1919, the Communist Party USA produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in at least 25 different languages. This list of the Non-English press of the Communist Party USA provides basic information on each title, along with links to pages dealing with specific publications in greater depth.
For a number of decades after its establishment in August 1901, the Socialist Party of America produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in an array different languages. This list of the Non-English press of the Socialist Party of America provides basic information on each title, along with links to pages dealing with specific publications in greater depth.
International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City, specializing in Marxist works of economics, political science, and history.
The 2nd World Congress of the Communist International was a gathering of approximately 220 voting and non-voting representatives of Communist and revolutionary socialist political parties from around the world, held in Petrograd and Moscow from July 19 to August 7, 1920. The 2nd Congress is best remembered for formulating and implementing the 21 Conditions for membership in the Communist International.
The 1st Congress of the Communist International was an international gathering of communist, revolutionary socialist, and syndicalist delegates held in Moscow which established the Communist International (Comintern). The gathering, held from March 2 to 6, 1919, was attended by 51 representatives of more than two dozen countries from around Europe, North America, and Asia.
The Revolutionary Age was an American radical newspaper edited by Louis C. Fraina and published from November 1918 until August 1919. Originally the publication of Local Boston, Socialist Party, the paper evolved into the de facto national organ of the Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party which battled for control of the Socialist Party throughout the spring and summer of 1919. With the establishment of the Left Wing National Council in June 1919, the paper was moved from Boston to New York City gained status as the official voice of the nascent American communist movement. The publication was terminated in August 1919, replaced by the official organ of the new Communist Party of America, a weekly newspaper known as The Communist.
The International Labor Defense (ILD) (1925–1947) was a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 in the United States as the American section of the Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the anti-lynching, movements for civil rights, and prominently participated in the defense and legal appeals in the cause célèbre of the Scottsboro Boys in the early 1930s. Its work contributed to the appeal of the Communist Party among African Americans in the South. In addition to fundraising for defense and assisting in defense strategies, from January 1926 it published Labor Defender, a monthly illustrated magazine that achieved wide circulation. In 1946 the ILD was merged with the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties to form the Civil Rights Congress, which served as the new legal defense organization of the Communist Party USA. It intended to expand its appeal, especially to African Americans in the South. In several prominent cases in which blacks had been sentenced to death in the South, the CRC campaigned on behalf of black defendants. It had some conflict with former allies, such as the NAACP, and became increasingly isolated. Because of federal government pressure against organizations it considered subversive, such as the CRC, it became less useful in representing defendants in criminal justice cases. The CRC was dissolved in 1956. At the same time, in this period, black leaders were expanding the activities and reach of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1954, in a case managed by the NAACP, the US Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional.
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