Vol. XIII (2007), no 20 - The International Newsletter of Communist ...

The International Newletter of Communist Studies Online XIII (2007), no 20 39
Communist Parties that more or less willingly obeyed and carried out Moscow’s wishes (Tim
Rees & Andrew Thorpe, 1998:1). 80
Research results and literature on the LAI have a meagre character, and in cases where LAI
appears the academic output in many cases offers a generalized interpretation. A few
examples are worth to be included in this report though. Historian Mustafa Haikal in 1995
published an article in the anthology Willi Münzenberg: ein deutscher Kommunist im
Spannungsfeld zwischen Stalinismus und Antifaschismus 81 which in a cursory and
chronological manner examined the life and decline of the LAI. In 1987, the Karl Marx
University in Leipzig published an anthology, Die Liga gegen Imperialismus und für nationale
Unabhängigkeit, 82 aiming to celebrate the 60 th Anniversary of the LAI and its “historical
importance” as the first global humanitarian movement ever to have existed, in which Haikal
contributed an article. But due to the inaccessibility to relevant sources, that at that time
where under lock and key in Moscow in the Central Party Archive, and its biased character,
the anthology can not be regarded to have any useful academic input. The same principle can
be applied to G. Z. Sorkin’s Antiimperialisticeskaja Liga (1927-1935). 83 Historian J. D.
Hargreaves was, along with Haikal, one of the first scholars outside of Russia to empirically
evaluate the LAI in the beginning of the 1990s, using Comintern sources. In a research note,
published in the journal African Affairs, 84 Hargreaves acknowledged the presence of “new
research possibilities” concerning the history of anti-colonial movements in Europe, Africa,
and other parts of the world.
Purpose, Aim & Academic Relevance
The purpose of this thesis dissertation is to investigate, analyse, and interpret the
organisational and individual networks that were constructed, and in a second stage, how
they were engaged in the anti-imperialist movement, from the establishment of the LAI to its
demise. The aim is therefore set to interprete the LAI as a unique object during the Inter-war
era, to provide a genuine historicisation which in a broader sense hopefully can contribute indepth
knowledge and new academic perspectives on the political, social, and individual
networks that existed in the LAI, its ties with the Comintern and other actors, and from a
broader point of view, to enrich the historiography on international communism.
Theoretical frameworks on the structure and functions of organizations, for example, have
been inspired by Russian scholar Inessa Iazhborovskaia’s work (Centre and Periphery, 1996:57-
80
Tim Rees, Andrew Thorpe (eds.): International Communism and the Communist International 1919–
1943, New York 1998.
81
Tanja Schlie (ed.): Willi Münzenberg. Ein deutscher Kommunist im Spannungsfeld zwischen Stalinismus
und Antifaschismus, Frankfurt am Main 1995.
82 Hans Piazza (ed.): Die Liga gegen Imperialismus und für nationale Unabhängigkeit. 1927-1937. Zur
Geschichte und Aktualität einer wenig bekannten antikolonialen Weltorganisation. Protokoll einer
wissenschaftlichen Konferenz am 9. und 10. Februar 1987 an der Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig, Leipzig
1987.
83 Grigorij Z. Sorkin: Antiimperialističeskaja Liga. 1927-1935. Istoričeskij očerk, Moskva 1965.
84 J. D. Hargreaves: The Comintern and Anti-Colonialism. New Research Opportunities. In: African Affairs
92 (1993), p. 255-261.