Comintern: Revolutionary Internationalism in Lenin's Time

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1915 (see “From Zimmerwald to Moscow,” page 3). That current
included the leaders of the revolution that brought Russian workers
and peasants to power in October 1917.
The Communist International or “Comintern” was founded in
March 1919 on the initiative of the Bolshevik Party of Russia. It
united revolutionary opponents of capitalism from diverse origins
and with a wide range of viewpoints: Marxists of different hues,
revolutionary anarchists, pioneer fighters against colonial domination.
Lenin declared that the Comintern’s foundation “heralds the
international republic of soviets, the international victory of communism.”
These hopes were not realized. The upsurge of workers’ struggles
following the First World War was defeated everywhere outside
Russia. In Russia itself, the Bolshevik Party and Comintern soon
fell into the grip of a bureaucratic faction headed by Joseph Stalin.
The Comintern ceased to be a revolutionary force. Most of the Comintern’s
founding leaders in Soviet territory fell victim to Stalin’s
murderous purges. The International was dissolved in 1943.
However, during its first five years, while still led by Lenin and
his closest collaborators, the Communist International elaborated a
program and strategy that incorporate the lessons of the revolutionary
era whose climax was the Russian revolution.
The purpose of this pamphlet is to introduce that program.
—John Riddell, December 2007