4th World Congress of the Communist International explained

4th World Congress of the Communist International
Location:Moscow
Founders:-->
Prev:3rd Congress
Next:5th Congress
Or Sponsors:-->

The 4th World Congress of the Communist International was an assembly of delegates to the Communist International held in Petrograd and Moscow, Soviet Russia, between November 5 and December 5, 1922. A total of 343 voting delegates from 58 countries were in attendance. The 4th World Congress is best remembered for having amplified the tactic of the United Front into a fundamental part of international Communist policy. The gathering also elected a new set of leaders to the Comintern's governing body, the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI).

History

Historical background

The 4th World Congress of the Comintern was convened on November 5, 1922 — just days after Benito Mussolini's March on Rome that effectively seized power for his National Fascist Party.[1] The revolutionary upsurge which had swept Europe during the years immediately following the termination of World War I was clearly in full retreat and the international Communist movement saw itself in need for accommodation to this changed political environment.

With the prospects for immediate revolution in the industrialized countries of Western Europe fading, the defense of the regime in Soviet Russia had rapidly come to be seen as the chief priority of the Communist movement.[2] Owing to the failure of revolution in Finland, Germany, Hungary, and elsewhere, the stature of the Communist Party of Russia was enhanced relative to other Communist Parties of the world, and tendencies towards centralization and Russian dominance were thereby accelerated.

Convocation

The 4th World Congress was attended by 343 voting delegates from 58 different countries.[3] An additional 65 delegates were present with the right to speak but not to vote, and another 6 were admitted as guests.[4] The gathering was the last congress of the Comintern attended by Soviet leader V.I. Lenin, who was too ill to attend any regular sessions and only appeared to deliver a single speech.[5]

The Congress opened at 9 pm in the People's House in Petrograd, called to order by Clara Zetkin of Germany, who noted the fifth anniversary of the October Revolution of 1917.[6] An honorary 13 member Presidium of the Congress — chosen in advance by ECCI in consultation with important national parties — was unanimously elected as the first order of business.[7]

Factional turmoil

The World Congress, as the highest decision-making authority of the Communist International, was marked by the bitter factional battles of various member parties, with each group seeking final decision in favor of its policies and positions. Chief among these was the battle among the delegates of the Communist Party of America, split into two hostile factional groups.[8] The battle spilled into the nominations for the American seat on the governing Executive Committee of the Communist International, with American Otto Huiswoud protesting the nomination of C.E. Ruthenberg for this position, arguing that he had himself been selected for the spot by the American delegation. Huiswoud's protest was to no avail as the new Executive was proposed as a single slate of pre-determined names, all amendments were rejected, and the list of candidates was approved en bloc.

Policy of the United Front

Paying considerable attention to the growth of the fascist danger (in connection with the establishment of the fascist dictatorship in Italy), the Congress emphasized that the main means of combating fascism was the tactics of the united workers' front. To rally the broad masses of working people, who were not yet ready to fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat, but were already capable of fighting for economic and political rights against the bourgeoisie, the slogan of a “workers' government” was put forward (later the slogan of a workers' and peasants' government). While the tactic of the United Front was first adopted by ECCI in December 1921,[9] the 4th World Congress is remembered to history for having extended and further institutionalized the tactic.[10]

Presidium of the 4th World Congress

Members of the presidium were:[7]

Speakers at the 4th World Congress

Speakers at the 4th World Congress[11]
width=18%Namewidth=15%Countrywidth=15%SessionsNotes
Isidoro AcevedoSpain6
Sadrettin Celal AntelTurkey17, 20Used pseudonym "Orhan." Trade Unions; Eastern Question.
Izidoro AzzarioItaly1
Karl BeckerGermany4
Max BedachtUSA7
Émile BéronFrance1, 18, 19, 26
Amadeo BordigaItaly3, 4, 12, 18, 27, 30, 32Report of ECCI; Italy.
Tahar BoudenghaTunisia19Eastern Question.
Nikolai BukharinSoviet Russia5, 6, 14, 18, 31Program; Norway.
Sidney BuntingSouth Africa20Eastern Question.
Marcel CachinFrance17, 25, 29Trade Unions; France.
Antonio CanellasBrazil29France.
John S. ClarkeGreat Britain16Trade Unions.
Roderic ConnollyIreland26, 32
Henryk DomskiPoland6, 7
Pierre DormoyFrance7
Jean DuretFrance4, 7
William EarsmanAustralia20Eastern Question.
Hugo EberleinGermany13, 26, 29
Alfred S. EdwardsUSA7Used the pseudonym "Sullivan."
Ferdinand FaureFrance5
Franciszek FiedlerPoland26Used pseudonym "Keller."
Ruth FischerGermany3
Paul FriedländerAustria7, 26
Jock GardenAustralia17Trade Unions.
Egidio GennariItaly25
Antonio GraziadeiItaly4, 7, 30Italy.
Anna GrünAustria27, 32
Otto HuiswoudUSA22, 32Used the pseudonym "Billings." Negro Question.
Fritz HeckertGermany17Trade Unions.
Arthur HenrietFrance23Cooperative Movement.
Edwin HoernleGermany13, 25, 32Education.
Jules Humbert-DrozSwitzerland2, 5, 13, 29Report of ECCI; France.
Mahmud Husni el-ArabiEgypt20Eastern Question.
Renaud JeanFrance29France.
Jack JohnstoneUSA12Used the pseudonym "Pullman."
William JossGreat Britain21Agrarian Question.
Khristo KabakchievBulgaria15Program.
Varsenika KasparovaSoviet Russia24Women's Movement
Sen KatayamaJapan1, 6, 19, 22, 27Eastern Question; Agrarian Question.
Ludwig KatterfeldUSA5Used pseudonym "Carr."
L.M. KhinchukSoviet Russia23Cooperative Movement.
Vasil KolarovBulgaria1, 6, 19, 27, 32Eastern Question.
Feliks KonPoland1, 27, 31
Wera KostrzevaPoland22Agrarian Question.
Nadezhda KrupskayaSoviet Russia25Education.
Joseph E. KucherUSA17Trade Unions.
Béla KunHungary9Five Years of the Russian Revolution commemoration.
Otto KuusinenFinland29France.
Jenö LandlerHungary6
Henri LauridanFrance17, 23Trade Unions; Cooperative Movement.
V.I. LeninSoviet Russia8Five Years of the Russian Revolution commemoration.
Liu RenjingChina20Eastern Question.
A. LozovskySoviet Russia16, 18Trade Unions.
Julian MarchlewskiPoland27
Claude McKayUSA22Negro Question.
V.N. MeshcheriakovSoviet Russia23Cooperative Movement.
Ernst MeyerGermany3, 7
Haakon MeyerNorway5, 32
J.T. MurphyGreat Britain5, 24, 26Women's Movement; Versailles Treaty.
Willi MünzenbergGermany18, 31International Workers' Aid.
Alois NeurathCzechoslovakia3
Karim NikbinIran20Eastern Question.
Kosta NovakovicYugoslavia31Used the pseudonym "Stanic." Yugoslavia.
Ana PaukerRomania21Eastern Question.
Jan PavlikCzechoslovakia17Trade Unions.
Gabriel PériFrance7
Karl RadekSoviet Russia3, 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, 20, 30
Ljubomir RadovanovicYugoslavia13, 25, 31Used the pseudonym "Radic." Versailles Treaty; Yugoslavia.
Mátyás RákosiHungary6
Daniel RenoultFrance29France
Roger RieuFrance21Agrarian Question.
Alfred RosmerFrance6, 13, 17Trade Unions.
M.N. RoyIndia19Eastern Question.
G.I. SafarovSoviet Russia20Eastern Question.
Richard SchüllerAustria22, 29Youth; France.
Mauro ScoccimarroItaly7
Armin SeidenCzechoslovakia6
Giacinto SerratiItaly30Italy.
Bohumír ŠmeralCzechoslovakia12, 25, 30Czechoslovakia.
Sofia SmidovichSoviet Russia24Women's Movement.
Boris SouvarineFrance7, 29France; Czechoslovakia.
Rose Pastor StokesUSA27Used the pseudonym "Sasha."
Ciril ŠtukeljSlovenia31Used the pseudonym "Marynko."
Václav ŠturcCzechoslovakia30Czechoslovakia.
Hertha SturmGermany17, 34Trade Unions; Women's Movement.
Arne SwabeckUSA17Trade Unions.
Ibrahim Datoek Tan MalakaDutch East Indies7Anticolonial Collaboration of Communism and Pan-Islamism
Angelo TascaItaly17Trade Unions.
Ivan TeodorovichSoviet Russia21Agrarian Question.
August ThalheimerGermany14Program.
Oscar TorpNorway32
Leon TrotskySoviet Russia10, 28, 29Five Years of the Russian Revolution commemoration; France.
Hugo UrbahnsGermany12
Emanuel VajtauerCzechoslovakia3
Eugen VargaHungary3, 21, 22, 27Agrarian Question.
Eduard van OverstraetenBelgium19Eastern Question.
Willem van RavesteynNetherlands6, 13, 19Eastern Question.
Julius VercikCzechoslovakia17Trade Unions.
Voja VujovicFrance7
Adolf WarszawskiPoland5Used the pseudonym "Michalkowski."
Harry WebbGreat Britain13, 20Eastern Question.
Franz WeltiSwitzerland13
Clara ZetkinGermany1, 8, 9, 13, 24, 32Keynote opening speech; 5 years of the Russian Revolution; Women's Movement
Grigory ZinovievSoviet Russia1, 2, 3, 7, 13, 18, 30, 32President of the Comintern.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Bertil Hessel, "Introduction" to Theses, Resolutions, and Manifestos of the First Four Congresses of the Third International. London: Ink Links, 1980, pp. xxxi-xxxii.
  2. Hessel, "Introduction," pg. xxxii.
  3. Duncan Hallas, The Comintern: A History of the Third International (1985). Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2008; pg. 71.
  4. Jane Degras (ed.), The Communist International, 1919-1943: Documents: Volume 1, 1919-1922. London: Oxford University Press, 1956; pg. 374.
  5. Hallas, The Cominern, pg. 70.
  6. John Riddell (ed.), Toward the United Front: Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 1922. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012; pg. 63.
  7. Riddell (ed.), Toward the United Front, pg. 64.
  8. Degras, The Communist International, 1919-1943, vol. 1, pg. 375.
  9. John Riddell, "Editorial Introduction," to John Riddell (ed.), Toward the United Front: Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 1922. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012; pg. 12.
  10. Hallas, The Comintern, pg. 73.
  11. Riddell (ed.), Toward the United Front, pp. vii-ix

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "4th World Congress of the Communist International".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.