third congress of the communist international

3/9/2015 Third Congress of the Communist International

https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/3rd-congress/tactics.htm 1/28

Third Congress of the Communist International

On Tactics

Source: Theses Resolutions and Manifestos of the First Four Congress ofthe Third International, translated by Alix Holt and Barbara Holland. Ink Links1980;Transcribed: by Andy Blunden.

12 July 1921 (drafted by Russian delegation in consultation withGerman delegation; introduced by Radek).

I. Definition of the Question

A new international association of workers is being formed to organise the unitedaction of the proletarians who live in different countries, but share a common aim:the overthrow of capitalism, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariatand the transition to the first stage of Communist society – an international Sovietrepublic which will completely eliminate classes and will establish socialism. Thisdefinition, confirmed in the statutes of the Communist International, clearly pointsto all the tactical questions that have to be solved – the tactical questions, in otherwords, that we face in our struggle for the proletarian dictatorship: how to win themajority of the working class to Communism, and how to organise the more activesection of the proletariat for the coming struggle for Communism. The statutes alsotouch on the questions of what attitude the proletariat should take to theproletarianised pettybourgeois layers, the quickest ways to bring about thedisintegration and destruction of the organs of bourgeois power and how to preparefor the dictatorship. There is no question of there being any other path to victorythan through dictatorship. The development of the world revolution has provedbeyond any doubt that in the given historical situation the dictatorship of theproletariat is the only alternative to the dictatorship of capital. The Third Congressof the Communist International is reviewing the question of tactics at a time ofrevolutionary developments in a whole number of countries, when several massCommunist Parties have been formed, none of which, however, has yet taken into its



hands the actual leadership of the working masses in its genuinely revolutionarystruggle.

II. On the Eve of New Battles

The world revolution, which is produced by the decay of capitalism, theaccumulation of the revolutionary energy of the proletariat and its organisation intoa militant, triumphant force, will require a long period of revolutionary struggle.Because the level of social conflict varies from one country to another, socialstructures and the obstacles to social change also vary. In the capitalist countries ofWestern Europe and North America, the World War has not been followed by thevictory of the world revolution, because the bourgeoisie here is highly organised. TheCommunists were therefore right when they said, even during the war, that theepoch of imperialism would develop into a protracted epoch of socialrevolution, i.e., into a long series of civil wars in individual capitalist states and asuccession of wars between capitalist governments on the one hand and proletarianstates and the exploited colonies on the other. The world revolution does not developalong a straight line: at certain periods of chronic capitalist decay, the daytodayrevolutionary work aimed at undermining the system leads to heightened socialtension and acute crises. However, the world revolution is developing even moreslowly than was expected, because strong workers’ organisations and workers’parties, namely the socialdemocratic parties and the trade unions, which werecreated by the proletariat to fight the bourgeoisie, turned during the war into organsof counterrevolutionary influence that ensnared the proletariat and are continuingto hold it in their grip. As a consequence, the bourgeoisie has found it easier to copewith the problems of the demobilisation period and, during the fluke period ofeconomic prosperity in 1919 and 1920, was able to raise workingclass hopes ofimproving their position within the framework of the existing capitalist system. Theproletarian defeats of 1919 and the sluggish growth of the revolutionary movementin 1919 and 1920 can be attributed to the influence of the socialdemocratic partiesand trade unions. However, the world economic crisis which began in 1920 and hasnow spread right across the world, creating and increasing unemployment on everyhand, demonstrates to the international proletariat that the bourgeoisie is powerlessto rebuild the world from the ruins of the war. Political conflicts at the internationallevel are intensifying. The French campaign of plunder against Germany, theconflicting interests of Britain and America, and America and Japan, and theresulting increase in armaments on a worldwide scale are evidence that the



moribund capitalist world is approaching the brink of world war. Even the League.of Nations, that international trust set up by the victors to organise the exploitationof their defeated rivals and the colonial peoples, has been split by AngloAmericanrivalry. The working class is beginning to shed its illusions and understand that if itrejects revolutionary means of seizing political power in favour of acting peacefullyand gradually, it can never establish political and economic rule. By fostering theseillusions, international socialdemocracy and the bureaucracy of the trade unionshave up until now managed to restrain the working masses from participation inrevolutionary struggle. In Germany, however, the farcical nationalisationprogramme which the SchiedemannNoske government employed in March 1919 toprevent a workers’ uprising has been shelved. Idle talk about socialisation has givenway to Stinnesation i.e., the subordination of German industry to a capitalistdictatorship and its clique. The attack launched by the Prussian government underthe socialdemocrat Horsing is merely the prelude to a general campaign by theGerman bourgeoisie aimed at reducing the wages of all German workers. In Britainall nationalisation projects have been thrown overboard. Instead of implementingthe nationalisation plans of the Sankey Commission, the government is usingmilitary force to support the lockout of the miners. The French government is onlysaving itself from economic bankruptcy by robbing Germany. It is giving no thoughtto the question of systematic economic reconstruction. There has been some attemptto rebuild the devastated regions of northern France, but only in so far as this servesto enrich the capitalists. The bourgeoisie in Italy, aided by the reactionary fascistgroups, has taken the offensive against the proletariat. Bourgeois democracy has hadto compromise itself everywhere, both in the countries where it has been longestablished and in the new nations which have risen from the ruins of imperialism.Witness the White Guard organisations and the dictatorial government actionagainst the miners in Britain; the fascists and the Guardia Regia in Italy; thePinkertons, the expulsion of socialist deputies from parliaments and lynchlaw in theUnited States; the White Terror in Poland, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Latvia and Estonia;and its legalisation in Finland, Hungary and the Balkan States; antiCommunistlegislation in Switzerland, France, etc. On every hand the bourgeoisie is attemptingto push the consequences of the deepening economic chaos onto the shoulders of theworking class by lengthening the working day and reducing levels of pay. Its effortsare aided by the leaders of socialdemocracy and the Amsterdam TradeUnionInternational. However, while they may succeed in temporarily delaying thedevelopment of new workingclass struggles and a new wave of revolutionaryactivity, they cannot stem the tide. At this very moment the German proletariat ispreparing a counterattack and the British miners, in spite of being betrayed by their



tradeunion leaders, have been fighting heroically against the capitalist mineownersfor many weeks. The advanced sections of the Italian proletariat have learnt fromtheir experience of the vacillating policies of the Serrati group and their will to fighthas hardened, as witnessed by the creation of the Italian Communist Party.

We can see how the Socialist Party in France, now that it has split and dissociateditself from the socialpatriots and the centrists, is no longer content with engaging inCommunist agitation and propaganda, but is initiating mass campaigns against theoutrages of imperialism. In Czechoslovakia we have seen the political strike ofDecember in which, despite the complete absence of a united leadership, millions ofworkers took part and after which the mass revolutionary Czech Communist Partywas founded. In February there was the railway strike in Poland led by theCommunist Party, and also a general strike called in sympathy with the railwayworkers. We are now witnessing the disintegration of the socialpatriotic PolishSocialist Party. In the present situation we must expect not the ebb of therevolutionary wave, but on the contrary the aggravation of social contradictions, theescalation of the social struggle and the transition to open civil war.

III. The Most Important Tasks of theDay

At the present moment the most important task of the Communist International isto win a dominant influence over the majority of the working class and involve themore active workers in direct struggle. Although the economic and political situationis objectively revolutionary and a revolutionary crisis could develop without warningas a result of a major strike, a colonial uprising, a new war or a serious parliamentarycrisis, the majority of the working class is nevertheless outside the Communistsphere of influence. This is particularly true in countries such as Britain and Americawhere finance capital is so powerful that it has enabled imperialism to corrupt entiresections of the working class, and effective revolutionary mass propaganda is in itsearly stages. From the day of its foundation the Communist International has clearlyand unambiguously stated that its task is not to establish small Communist sectsaiming to influence the working masses purely through agitation and propaganda,but to participate directly in the struggle of the working masses, establishCommunist leadership of the struggle, and in the course of the struggle createlarge, revolutionary, mass Communist Parties.



Even in the first twelve months following its foundation the CommunistInternational repudiated sectarian tendencies and demanded that all affiliatedparties, however small, should work in the trade unions in order to defeat thereactionary union bureaucracy from within and transform the unions intorevolutionary mass proletarian organisations that could further the proletarianstruggle. In its first year the Communist International made it clear that theCommunist Parties were not to act merely as propaganda circles, but were to takeadvantage of all the opportunities the bourgeois state provided for organising theworking class and conducting agitation. Freedom of the press, freedom ofassociation and A bourgeois representative institutions were to be used, theInternational argued, even if the freedoms they offered were very limited. In itsresolutions on the tradeunion movement and on the tactic of parliamentarianismpassed at its Second Congress, the Communist International politically rejectedsectarian tendencies.

The experience of the Communist Parties over the last two years of strugglehas fully confirmed the position taken by the Communist International. Thetactics of the Communist International have in a number of countriessucceeded in separating the revolutionary workers not only from the openreformists, but also from the centrists. The latter have founded the TwoandaHalf International which openly joins the Scheidemanns, Jouhauxs and Hendersonsin accepting the positions of the Amsterdam TradeUnion International. This canonly clarify the real state of affairs for the proletarian masses and make futurebattles easier to fight. At the time of the January and March struggles in 1919,German Communism was only an insignificant political tendency, but by pursuingthe tactics of the Communist International – revolutionary work in the trade unions,open letters, etc. – it has transformed itself into a great and revolutionary massParty. The influence the Party has gained in the trade unions has been so great thatthe tradeunion bureaucracy, fearing the revolutionary influence of Communistactivity, has been forced to expel many Communists from the trade unions and takethe blame for splitting the unions. In Czechoslovakia the Communists havesucceeded in winning the majority of the politically organised workers to their side.The Polish Party, in spite of incredible persecution which has forced it underground,has worked in the trade unions so effectively that it has not only maintained contactwith the masses but come forward as the leader of the mass struggle. In France theCommunists have won a majority in the Socialist Party. The Communist groups inBritain are consolidating their position by following the tactics and directives of theCommunist International. The socialtraitors have responded to the growing



influence of the Communists by trying to close the doors of the Labour Party tothem. The sectarian Communist groups such as the KAPD in Germany etc. have, onthe other hand, not met with any success at all. The theory of promotingCommunism by propaganda and agitation alone and by the formation of separateCommunist trade unions has been proved utterly incorrect. Not a single CommunistParty of any influence has been formed by these means.

IV. The Situation in the CommunistInternational

The Communist International has not been totally successful in its attempts toorganise mass Communist Parties. A great deal still remains to be done in some ofthe most important countries, where capitalism is still firmly in position.

For various historical reasons there was no large revolutionary movement in theUSA in the period before the war and even now the Communists are still at theelementary stage of creating a nucleus of Party members and establishing links withthe working masses. The present economic crisis, which has thrown five millionpeople out of work, means favourable conditions for this kind of work. The Americancapitalists are well aware of the threat a revolutionised workers’ movement wouldrepresent and of the influence that Communism would be likely to have on such amovement. They are therefore trying to suppress and destroy the young Communistmovement, employing barbarous methods of persecution to force the Partyunderground. They hope that the Communist Party will lose its links with themasses, degenerate into a propaganda sect and die a natural death. The CommunistInternational reminds the United Communist Party of America that, though it isillegal, the Party must not only recruit and educate members, but must do all it canto reach beyond its underground organisations to the discontented working massesand find ways and means of uniting the broad masses in open political struggleagainst the American capitalists.

The British Communist movement has also failed to develop into a mass Party,despite the fact that the Communists have united in a single Party.

The British economy continues to be unstable, the strike movement is withoutprecedent, the broad masses are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the LloydGeorge government and it is possible that at the next General Election there will be a



Lib/Lab victory. New perspectives for the development of the revolution are openingup in Britain, placing questions of the utmost importance before the Communists.

The most important task of the British Communist Party is to become a massParty. The British Communists must take as their starting point the mass movementwhich already exists and is continuing to expand. They must study every aspect ofthe movement and base a persistent and militant campaign of agitation andpropaganda on the various individual and partial demands of the workers.

For many thousands and millions of workers the strength of the strike movementis the test of the reliability, perseverance and good intentions of the tradeunionapparatus and its leaders. The work the Communists do in the trade unions istherefore particularly important. Party criticism coming from the outside is lesseffective than the persistent, daily efforts of the Communist cells in the trade unionto show up and discredit the hypocrites and traitors of the union movement, who, inBritain more than in any other country, have become political pawns in the hands ofthe capitalists.

In countries where the Communist Parties are mass Parties, they aim at takinggreater initiative in launching mass action, but in Britain the Party must make it apriority to intervene in mass activity and show the masses in practice that theCommunists represent workingclass interests, demands and feelings effectively andbravely.

The mass Communist Parties of Central and Western Europe are not onlydeveloping methods of revolutionary agitation and propaganda that can giveexpression to their militancy, but are making the transition from propaganda andagitation to action. This transition is hampered by the fact that in many countriesthe workers became revolutionary and moved towards the Communists underleaders who had not broken with their centrism and are either incapable ofconducting genuine Communist agitation and propaganda or are simply afraid ofdoing so, because they know that this agitation will lead the Party to revolutionarystruggle.

In Italy these centrist tendencies have brought about a split in the Party. Insteadof harnessing the spontaneous, growing movement of workingclass activity in orderto develop a conscious struggle for power, for which the conditions in Italy were ripe,the Party and union leaders of the Serrati group have allowed opportunities to slipby. They did not see Communism as a means of initiating revolutionary upsurge anduniting the working masses in the struggle. They were afraid to fight and so they



diluted their ideas and gave their agitation and propaganda a centrist slant. Theinfluence of centrists in the Party (Turati and Treves) and in the unions (d'Aragona)increased. There was nothing either in their words or deeds to distinguish thesecentrists from the reformists, with whom as a consequence they were loath to partcompany, preferring to break with the Communists. This Serratitype policyincreased on the one hand the influence of the reformists and on the other thedanger of antiparliamentary, ultraleft tendencies emerging in the Party. The splitat Livorno and the formation of an Italian Communist Party uniting all theCommunists on the basis of the decisions of the Second Congress of the CommunistInternational could make Communism a mass force in Italy. This will depend onwhether the Party keeps firmly to its fight against the opportunist policy of Serrati, atthe same time maintaining close contact with the tradeunion rank and file duringstrikes and in the struggle against the counterrevolutionary fascist movement. Italso depends on whether the Party unites the mass action of the working class andtransforms spontaneous action into wellprepared campaigns.

The chauvinist poison of ‘national defence’ and the intoxication of victory provedstronger in France than in any other country and the reaction against the wardeveloped at a slower pace. Nevertheless, the majority of the French Socialist Partymoved towards Communism even before the march of events posed decisively theneed for revolutionary action. Socialists were influenced by the Russian revolution,the revolutionary struggles in other capitalist countries and the experience of theirleaders’ betrayals. The more decisively the French Communists Party acts to rid itsranks, and in particular its leadership, of the nationalpacifist and parliamentaryreformist ideology which still has a grip, the more completely and effectively theParty will be able to take advantage of its position. The Party must make closercontact than it has done in the past, or is doing at present, with the mass andparticularly with the more oppressed layers in both town and country, in order togain a precise and complete picture of their needs and sufferings. The Party mustmake a clean break with all the hypocritical formality and false courtesy of Frenchparliamentarianism, deliberately fostered by the bourgeois to hypnotise andintimidate the working masses. The parliamentary representatives of theCommunist Party must do all in their power through their tightly controlledparliamentary interventions to show the hollow nature of nationalist democratismand traditional revolutionism and present every question as one of class interestsand inevitable class struggle.

Agitation must, in practice, be concentrated on a few issues and be conducted withmore energy. It must be capable of adapting to the changes in the political situation.



Agitation must draw revolutionary lessons from each and every event, whether ofmajor or minor importance, and see that they are learned by the most backward ofthe working masses. Only by adopting such a truly revolutionary approach can theCommunist Party become something more than just a left wing of the radicalLonguet bloc – a ‘bloc’ that is more and more eagerly and successfully placing itselfat the service of bourgeois society, offering to shield it from the series of upheavalswhich are inevitably approaching. The decisive revolutionary events may comesooner or they may come later, but a disciplined, determined revolutionaryCommunist Party, even at this preparatory stage, can mobilise the working massesaround economic and political demands and broaden and develop their worldview.

The attempts of politically impatient and inexperienced elements to resort toextreme methods, e.g., the proposal that those conscripted in 1919 resist the callup,contain elements of a highly dangerous adventurism that demands an alloutrevolution when it is a single issue that is being raised. If these methods wereadopted, all the real revolutionary work done to prepare the proletariat for theseizure of power would be set back for some considerable time.

The French Communist Party and all other Parties must reject such highlydangerous methods. In no circumstances, though, must the Party use this as apretext for inactivity.

Closer contact with the masses means, above all, closer contact with the tradeunions. The aim of the Party is not to achieve the mechanical and formalsubordination of the trade unions, but to ensure that the truly revolutionaryelements inside the unions which are unified and led by the Party give tradeunionactivity a direction that accords with the general interests of the proletariat in itsstruggle for dictatorship. The French Communist Party must criticise in a friendlybut also clear and firm manner those anarchosyndicalist tendencies which reject thedictatorship of the proletariat and deny the need to unite the vanguard within asingle centralised leading organisation – in other words through a Communist Party.The Party should also be critical of those syndicalist tendencies that are using thecharter of Amiens – drawn up eight years before the war – as an excuse to avoidgiving a clear and straight answer to this fundamental question of the postwarperiod.

The French syndicalists’ dislike of politicians is mainly the expression of aperfectly justified sense of indignation at the conduct of traditional ‘Socialist’parliamentarians.



The Communist Party as a genuinely revolutionary Party can convince allrevolutionary elements that political groups are needed if the working class is to winpower. The fusion of the revolutionary syndicalist and Communist organisations isessential if the French proletariat is to engage in serious struggle. The revolutionarysydnicalists’ tendency to act prematurely, and their principles of loose organisationand organisational separatism, must be defeated and rejected. Success in thisendeavour will only be achieved, we repeat, if the Party takes a revolutionaryapproach to the daytoday questions of life and struggle and proves capable ofattracting the French working class.

Over the last two years the working masses of Czechoslovakia have largely freedthemselves from reformist and nationalist illusions. In September of last year themajority of the socialdemocratic workers broke away from their reformist leaders.In December one million of the threemillionstrong industrial work force took partin a mass revolutionary struggle against the Czech capitalist government. In May ofthis year a Czechoslovak Communist Party with 350,000 members was establishedalongside a GermanBohemian Party with 60,000 members which had beenfounded some time before. The Communists therefore represented a significantsection not only of the Czechoslovak proletariat, but of the population as a whole.The Czechoslovak Party now has to engage in effective Communist agitation to winstill wider masses of workers to the Party and to educate them by using its clear anduncompromising Communist propaganda. The Party must unite the workers of thecountry’s different nationalities and form a solid proletarian front againstnationalism. Nationalism is the main weapon of the Czechoslovak bourgeoisie andso if the proletariat can form a united front it will be invincible in the forthcomingbattles against the government and against capitalist oppression. The clarity anddetermination with which the Party discards its centrist traditions of hesitation andthe willingness with which it revolutionises and unites the broadest proletarianmasses and prepares them for victorious struggle will depend on the establishmentof the united front. Congress resolves that the Czechoslovak and GermanBohemianParty organisations should merge by a date decided upon by the ExecutiveCommittee.

The United Communist Party of Germany, formed by the fusion of theSpartacusbund and the left independent working masses, is already a mass party butthe tasks facing it are enormous: to increase its influence on the broad masses,strengthen the proletarian mass organisations, win the trade unions and break theinfluence of the socialdemocratic parties and the tradeunion bureaucracy, and thus



lead the mass proletarian movement in future struggles. All the Party’s agitationaland organisational work must therefore aim at winning the sympathy of the majorityof the working class, for without their support Communism cannot defeat the powerof German capital. Neither the content of the agitation nor it influence is as yetadequate for this purpose. Nor is it the case that the Party has succeeded inconsistently following the course laid down in its ‘Open letter’ – the course ofcounterposing the practical interests of the proletariat to the rightwing policy of thesocialdemocratic parties and the tradeunion bureaucracy. The Party press and itsorganisation still bear the stamp of a peaceful association rather than of a militantorganisation. Because of its centrist tendencies, the Party, when faced with the needto fight, is inclined to take up struggles without sufficient preparation; at the sametime, it lacks vital contact with the, nonCommunist masses. The German nationaleconomy continues to disintegrate and capitalism threatens the very existence of theworking masses. The VKPD win soon have to move into action. This action will onlybe effective if, .instead of seeing agitation and organisation as a way to prepare foraction, the Party maintains its. revolutionary militancy at all times, carries outagitation that can reach the people, and builds an organisation that has close contactwith the masses and is capable of weighing the military situation carefully andpreparing thoroughly for the struggle.

The Parties of the Communist International can become revolutionary massparties only when they finally overcome the tradition and influence of opportunismin their ranks. They can achieve this by maintaining the closest contact with theworking masses in their struggles, deriving their tasks from the battles of theproletariat, and rejecting revolutionary demagogy and the opportunist and selfdeceiving policy of smoothing over irreconcilable social contradictions. TheCommunist Parties came out of the split in the old Socialist Parties. This splitoccurred because during the war these parties scabbed on the proletariat andcontinued to do so after the war had ended, forging alliances with the bourgeoisie orfollowing a cowardly policy of avoiding struggle. The fundamental positions andprinciples of the Communist Party provide the basis for the unity of the workingmasses, because they sum up all the needs of the proletarian struggle. The socialdemocratic and centrist parties and currents atomise and divide the working masses,while the Communist Parties are a force for unity. Thus, when the majority of theGerman Party chose Communism, the centrists broke away. Fearing the influence ofCommunism, the German socialdemocrats and Independent democrats as well asthe socialdemocratic tradeunion bureaucracy rejected the Party’s suggestion thatthey work with the Communists to defend the daytoday interests of the proletariat.



In Czechoslovakia it was the social democrats who split the old Party when they sawthat the Communists had won. The Communist Party in France is working to unifythe Socialist and syndicalist workers, while the Longuet group has cut itself off fromthe majority of the French socialist workers. In Britain the reformists and centristsare afraid of the Communists’ influence; they have driven the Communists out of theLabour Party and are constantly sabotaging attempts to unite workers in the fightagainst the capitalists. Everywhere it is the Communist Parties which are supportingproletarian unity based on the struggle to defend proletarian interests; an awarenessof their role will give the Communists new strength.

V. SingleIssue Struggles and SingleIssue Demands

The Communist Parties can only develop through struggle. Even the smallestParties should not limit themselves to propaganda and agitation. The Communistsmust act as the vanguard in every mass organisation. By putting forward a militantprogramme urging the proletariat to fight for its basic needs, they can show thebackward and vacillating masses the path to revolution and demonstrate how allparties other than the Communists are against the working class. Only by leading theconcrete struggles of the proletariat and by taking them forward will theCommunists really be able to win the broad proletarian masses to the struggle forthe dictatorship.

All the agitation, propaganda and political work of the Communist Parties muststart from the understanding that no longterm improvement in the position of theproletariat is possible under capitalism and that only the overthrow of thebourgeoisie and the destruction of capitalist states will make possible thetransformation of workingclass living conditions and the reconstruction of theeconomy ruined by capitalism. This does not mean, however, that the proletariathas to renounce the fight for its immediate practical demands until after ithas established its dictatorship.

Even though capitalism is in progressive decline and is unable to guarantee theworkers even a life of wellfed slavery, social democracy continues to put forward itsold programme of peaceful reforms to be carried out on the basis and within theframework of the bankrupt capitalist system. This is a deliberate deception of theworking masses. Although it is evident that capitalism in its present stage of decline



is incapable of guaranteeing workers a decent human existence, the social democratsand reformists everywhere are daily demonstrating their unwillingness and inabilityto fight even for the most modest demands in their programme. The demandadvanced by the centrist parties for the socialisation or nationalisation of the mostimportant branches of industry is equally a deception because it is not linked to ademand for victory over the bourgeoisie. The centrists want to divert the workersfrom the real, vital struggle for their immediate goals by holding out the hope thatindustrial forms can be taken over gradually, one by one, and that ‘systematic’economic construction can then begin. The social democrats are thus retreating totheir minimum programme, which now stands clearly revealed as a counterrevolutionary fraud.

Some centrists think that their programme of nationalisation (e.g., of the miningindustry) is in line with the Lassallean idea of concentrating all the energies of theproletariat on a single demand, using it as a lever of revolutionary action that thendevelops into the struggle for power. However, this theory is false. In the capitalistcountries the working class suffers too much; the gnawing hardships and the blowsthat rain down thick and fast on the workers cannot be fought by fixing all attentionon a single demand chosen in a doctrinaire fashion. On the contrary, revolutionaryaction should be organised around all the demands raised by the masses, and theseseparate actions will gradually merge into a powerful movement for socialrevolution.

The Communist Parties do not put forward minimum programmes which couldserve to strengthen and improve the tottering foundations of capitalism. TheCommunists’ main aim is to destroy the capitalist system. But in order to achievetheir aim the Communist Parties must put forward demands expressing theimmediate needs of the working class. The Communists must organise masscampaigns to fight for these demands regardless of whether they are compatible withthe continuation of the capitalist system. The Communist Parties should beconcerned not with the viability and competitive capacity of capitalist industry or thestability of the capitalist economy, but with proletarian poverty, which cannot andmust not be endured any longer. If the demands put forward by the Communistscorrespond to the immediate needs of the broad proletarian masses, and if themasses are convinced that they cannot go on living unless their demands are met,then the struggle around these issues becomes the startingpoint of the struggle forpower. In place of the minimum programme of the centrists and reformists, theCommunist International offers a struggle for the concrete demands of theproletariat which, in their totality, challenge the power of the bourgeoisie, organise



the proletariat and mark out the different stages of the struggle for its dictatorship.Even before the broad masses consciously understand the need for the dictatorshipof the proletariat, they can respond to each of the individual demands. As more andmore people are drawn into the struggle around these demands and as the needs ofthe masses come into conflict with the needs of capitalist society, the working classwill come to realise that if it wants to live, capitalism will have to die. This realisationwill be the main motivation in their struggle for the dictatorship of the proletariat.The task of the Communist Parties is to extend, deepen and unify the strugglearound these concrete demands. The bourgeoisie mobilises to respond to every stepthe working masses take in fighting for even a single demand and, on the occasion ofany major economic strike, the whole ruling class comes swiftly to the side of thoseemployers threatened, in order to prevent the proletariat from winning even apartial victory (mutual employers’ aid in Czechoslovakia, the bourgeois strikebreakers in the rail strike in Britain, and the fascists in Italy are examples). In thestruggle against the workers the bourgeoisie mobilises its entire governmentmachine: in Poland and France workers have been called up into the army;emergency laws were passed in Britain during the miners’ strike. In this way,workers fighting on single issues are automatically forced to take on the wholebourgeoisie and its government apparatus. As the struggle over single issues and theseparate struggles of different groups of workers develop into a general workingclass struggle against capitalism, the Communist Party must extend its slogans,grouping them around the main slogan of overthrowing the enemy. The CommunistParties should make certain that the demands they put forward not only correspondto the demands of the broad masses, but also draw the masses into battle and lay thebasis for organising them. Concrete slogans that express the economic need of theworking masses must lead to the struggle for control of industry – control basednot on a plan to organise the economy bureaucratically and under the capitalistsystem, but on the factory committees and revolutionary trade unions. Only thecreation of such organisations and their coordination within the different industriesand areas makes possible the organisation of a unified struggle of the workingmasses and a fight against the split in the mass movement – a split for which socialdemocracy and the leaders of the trade unions bear responsibility. The factorycommittees will be able to accomplish their tasks only if they are established in thecourse of the struggle to defend the economic interests of the broad working massesand if they succeed in uniting all the revolutionary sections of the proletariat – theCommunist Party, the revolutionary workers’ organisations, and those trade unionsundergoing a process of radicalisation. The objections raised against singleissuedemands and the accusations that campaigns on single issues are reformist reflect



an inability to grasp the essential conditions of revolutionary action. This was thecase with the opposition of certain Communist groups to participation in tradeunions and in parliament. It is not a question of appealing to the proletariat to fightfor the ultimate goal, but of developing the practical struggle which alone can leadthe proletariat to the struggle for the ultimate goal. The fact that even the tinyorganisations formed by the socalled Left Communists as sanctuaries of pure theoryhave been forced to formulate single demands, in order to attract a larger number ofworkers to the struggle than they have hitherto managed to muster, is the best proofthat their objections to partial demands are groundless and divorced from therealities of revolutionary life. The present epoch is revolutionary precisely becausethe most modest demands of the working masses are incompatible with thecontinued existence of capitalist society, and the struggle for these demands istherefore bound to develop into the struggle for Communism.

While the capitalists are using the growing army of unemployed to put pressure onthe organised workers by lowering wages, the cowardly social democrats, theIndependents and the official leaders of the trade unions distance themselves fromthe unemployed; they regard them as objects of state and tradeunion charity andcategorise them politically as lumpenproletarian. The Communists mustunderstand clearly that in the present circumstances the army of the unemployedrepresents a revolutionary factor of tremendous significance. They must assume theleadership of this army. By exerting pressure on the unions through theunemployed, the Communists can hasten the liberation of the trade unions from theinfluence of their scab leaders. By uniting the unemployed with the proletarianvanguard in the struggle for socialist revolution, the Communist Party can restrainthe more revolutionary and impatient elements among the unemployed fromengaging in individual acts of desperation. If conditions are favourable, the Party canorganise the mass of unemployed in support of the action of one or another sectionof the proletariat and, by extending the struggle beyond the limits of the originalconflict, can make it the start of a major offensive. In short, the unemployed can betransformed from the reserve army of labour into an active army of the revolution.

By actively defending this layer of the working class, by supporting the mostoppressed section of the proletariat, the Communist Parties are not championingone layer of the workers at the expense of others, but are furthering the interests ofthe working class as a whole. This the counterrevolutionary leaders have failed todo, preferring to advance the temporary interests of the labour aristocracy. The moreunemployed or shortterm workers there are, the more important it is that theirinterests become the interests of the working class as a whole, and the more



important it is that they are not subordinated to the interests of the labouraristocracy. Those who promote the interests of the labour aristocracy, eithercounterposing or simply ignoring the interests of the unemployed, destroy the unityof the working classes and are pursuing a policy that has counterrevolutionaryconsequences. The Communist Party, as the representative of the interests of theworking class as a whole, cannot merely recognise these common interests verballyand argue for them in its propaganda. It can only effectively represent these interestsif it disregards the opposition of the labour aristocracy and, when opportunitiesarise, leads the most oppressed and downtrodden workers into action.

VI. Preparing the Offensive

The character of the transition period makes it imperative that every CommunistParty does all it can to prepare for military combat. Any confrontation may turn intoa struggle for power. The Party can only achieve a sufficient level of preparation if allits agitation is a vehement attack on capitalist society, if, through its agitation, itsucceeds in making contact with the broadest layers of the people, and if it speaks tothem in a language which can convince them that the vanguard at their head isfighting for power. The task of the Communist press and propaganda is not just toprove theoretically that Communism is right, but to herald the proletarianrevolution. The job of the Communists in parliament is not to debate with theiropponents or attempt to convert them, but to unmask ruthlessly the agents of thebourgeoisie, encourage the working masses to take up the struggle and win the semiproletarian and pettybourgeois layers to the side of the proletariat. Ourorganisational work in the trade unions and Party must not be aimed atconsolidating structures and increasing membership in a mechanical way, but atpreparing for the battles of the future. Only when the Party’s activity andorganisation is permeated with the will to struggle can it take advantage of theopportunities for largescale militant action.

Where Communist Parties represent a mass force and have an influence on thebroad working masses outside the Party organisation, they must encourage themasses to struggle. The influential mass Parties must not limit themselves tocriticising other parties and counterposing Communist demands to theirs. SuchCommunist Parties have a responsibility for the development of revolutionaryideology. Wherever the position of the working masses is deteriorating, theCommunist Parties must do all they can to get the working masses to fight for their



interests. In Western Europe and America where the working masses are organisedin trade unions and political parties and the emergence of spontaneous movementsis therefore only likely to be a rare occurrence, the Communist Parties must try tolaunch a joint struggle for the immediate interests of the proletariat bystrengthening their influence in the trade unions and increasing their pressure onthe proletarianbased parties. Should nonCommunist parties be drawn into thestruggle the Communists must warn the working masses that they could be let downby these parties at any stage of the struggle. The Communists must do all they can tointensify the conflict and consolidate their position so that, if necessary, they cancontinue the struggle independently. The ‘Open letter’ of the VKPD is an excellentexample of this tactic. If Communist Party pressure in the press and on the tradeunions is not sufficient to produce a united proletarian front in the struggle, theCommunist Party must independently lead large sections of the masses into action.The Party must rouse the masses from passivity by organising a militant proletarianminority.

The most active and conscious section of the proletariat can defend the interests ofthe whole class with success only if it is able to involve the backward masses, if itproposes goals which stem from the actual situation and if these goals are acceptedby the broad masses, who, even though they are not yet capable of fighting for theseinterests, recognise them as their own.

The Communist Party, however, must do more than just defend the proletariatfrom the dangers threatening it and the blows directed at it. In the period of theworld revolution the Communist Party is essentially a party on the offensive, a partyat war with capitalist society. It must extend and intensify every defensive struggle,transforming it into an attack on capitalist society. It must make every effort.whenever the conditions are right, to draw the working masses into this campaign.To reject in principle this policy of taking the offensive means to abandon the basictenets of Communism.

Taking the offensive depends, firstly, on stepping up the struggle in the campof the bourgeoisie at the national and international level. If the forces of the classenemy are divided by this struggle, then the Party must take the initiative into itsown hands and, after careful political and – where possible – organisationalpreparation, lead the masses into battle.

Secondly, it depends on important sections of the working class displaying amilitancy which gives grounds for hope that the working class as a whole is ready to



form a united front against the capitalist government. If the movement is growing,the Communist Party must develop more militant slogans; in the event of a defeat, itmust organise a disciplined and orderly retreat. The actual circumstances determinewhether the Communist Party wages a defensive or an offensive struggle. What ismost important is that the Communist Party should be ready and willing to fight,and that its agitational and organisational work and struggle should be capable ofovercoming the centrist attitude of ‘wait and see’ which holds back even theadvanced workers. The mass Communist Parties must be ready and willing to takethe offensive at any moment, not only because it is their duty as mass Parties to wagesuch a struggle, but because the contemporary situation is one of capitalist decayand falling living standards of the masses. This period of decline must not beallowed to continue, for otherwise the material basis of Communism will bedestroyed and the militancy of the working masses crushed.

VII. The Lessons of the March Events

The March Action was forced upon the VKPD by the government’s attack upon theproletariat of central Germany.

This was the first important struggle in which the Party intervened, and itcommitted a number of mistakes. In the first place, it failed to emphasise clearly thedefensive character of the struggle. The bourgeoisie, the SPD and the USPD –unscrupulous enemies of the proletariat – were able to use the fact that the Partycalled for an offensive to prove to the proletariat that the VKPD was attempting a‘putsch’. Several Party comrades made matters worse by developing the theory thatthis offensive was at that time the Party’s main method of struggle. The Party –through its chairman comrade Brandler has officially admitted this mistake.

The Third Congress of the Communist International nevertheless considers theMarch Action to have been a step forward. Hundreds of thousands of proletariansparticipated in an heroic struggle against the bourgeoisie. By assuming theleadership of the defence of the workers of central Germany, the VKPD has shownitself to be the party of the German revolutionary proletariat. Congress is of theopinion that by adapting its fighting slogans to the actual situation, studying morethoroughly the balance of forces and coordinating its actions, the VKPD will bebetter placed to organise mass action.

The VKPD must pay careful attention to the facts and opinions which point to the



obstacles to action and must examine thoroughly the arguments put forward againstaction. The Party must then be in a position to weigh carefully its chance of success.

Once the Party has decided on a certain course of action, all comrades must abideby the decisions of the Party and actively assist in their implementation. Criticismsshould be made only after the campaign has been completed, only inside the Partyorganisations and only after taking into consideration the position of the Party inrelation to the class enemy.

VIII. Forms and Methods of DirectAction

The forms and methods and the scope of the struggle are dependent – as are thequestions of offensive and defensive action – on certain conditions which cannot becreated at will. Previous revolutionary experience has shown us various forms ofpartial action:

431 Action by individual sections of the working class (the action of the miners andrailway workers etc. in Germany and Britain and of agricultural workers etc.).

432 General workingclass action directed towards a limited objective (the actionduring the Kapp putsch and the action of the British miners against theirgovernment’s military intervention in the RussoPolish war.

Such struggles may spread across individual regions or across a number ofcountries simultaneously.

In the course of the revolution these methods will. be employed in every country.The Communist Party must not refuse to launch actions which are confined to aparticular locality, but it must strive to transform every important local workingclass action into a general struggle. The Party aims to involve the whole workingclass in the defence of workers of any one branch of industry and similarly persuadethe proletariat in other industrial areas to come out in support of a local workers’struggle. Revolutionary experience shows that the larger the field of battle, thegreater the chance of victory. In its struggle against the unfolding world revolutionthe bourgeoisie relies, on the one hand, on the White Guard organisations and, onthe other, on the atomisation of the working class and the difficulties in forming aunited proletarian front. The larger the number of people drawn into the struggle



and the broader its scope, the more the enemy is compelled to divide his forces.Sometimes workers move to support the section of the proletariat under attack, butfor a time have few forces at their disposal. Even in this situation the capitalists haveto divide their military strength, since they have no way of knowing to what extentthese workers will take part in the struggle and to what extent their intervention willescalate the conflict.

Over the last year the capitalist offensive has become increasingly bold. One canobserve that the bourgeoisie is no longer satisfied with the usual state institutionsand in every country has created under its protection various legal and semilegalWhite Guard organisations which have been playing an important role in all themajor economic confrontations.

In Germany an organisation known as Orgesh has been formed; it has governmentbacking and receives support from parties whose political leanings range fromStinnes to Scheidemann.

In Italy the activities of the fascist gangsters have brought about a completechange in the mood of the bourgeoisie and apparently also in the balance of forces.

When the Lloyd George government in England was faced with the threat of astrike, it called for volunteers prepared to defend property and ‘the right to work’ byscabbing on the strikers and destroying their organisations.

The semiofficial French paper, Le Temps, which is clearly under the influence ofthe Millerand clique, is waging a campaign to promote the already existing CivicLeagues and introduce the methods of fascism into France.

American liberty has always been supplemented by strikebreakers and assassinsbut these have now acquired an organisation – the American Legion – whichrecruits the riffraff left over from the war.

The bourgeoisie boasts of its power and stability, but the bourgeois governmentsknow perfectly well that they have only won a brief respite and that in the presentcircumstances any mass strike could develop into a civil war and a direct struggle forproletarian power.

Not only must Communists be at the forefront and explain the fundamentalrevolutionary tasks to those participating in the struggle, but they must also workwith the most dedicated and active elements of the industrial work force, createproletarian military organisations and workers’ defence groups, oppose the fascists



and prevent the jeunesse dorée of the bourgeoisie slandering and attacking strikers.

The Communist Party, and particularly its tradeunion cells, must devote specialattention to the extremely important question of counterrevolutionaryorganisations. A good intelligence and communication network must be organisedwhich can keep a constant watch on the military organisations and forces of theWhite Guards, their headquarters and arms depots. It must check on the linksbetween the White Guard headquarters and the police, the press, and the politicalparties, and must have detailed contingency plans ready for defence andcounterattack.

The Communist Party must work through words and actions to convince thewidest sections of the proletariat that, given the right combination of circumstances,every economic and political conflict can develop into a civil war which raises thequestion of the seizure of state power.

The Communist Party must not forget the horrors of the White Terror and mustwarn the proletariat against giving way to the enemy’s pleas for clemency at the timeof the insurrection. The oppressors of the proletariat must be tried according to theprinciples of proletarian justice administered through the organised people’s court.When the proletariat is only preparing for struggle and is only beginning to mobilisethrough agitation, political campaigns and strikes, the use of weapons and acts ofsabotage have a point only if they are aimed at obstructing the transport of troopsintended for use against the fighting proletarian masses or at wresting strategicpositions from the enemy in direct struggle. Individual acts of terrorism reflect therevolutionary indignation of the masses and can be justified as a protest against thelynch law of the bourgeoisie and its socialdemocratic hangers on, but they are in noway capable of raising the level of proletarian organisation and militancy, for theycreate the illusion amongst the masses that individual acts of terrorism can take theplace of the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat.

IX. Our Attitude to the SemiProletarian Strata

In Western Europe there is no class other than the proletariat which is capable ofplaying the significant role in the world revolution that, as a consequence of the warand the land hunger, the peasants did in Russia. But, even so, a section of the



WesternEuropean peasantry and a considerable part of the urban pettybourgeoisie and broad layers of the socalled middle class, of office workersetc., are facing deteriorating standards of living and, under the pressure of risingprices, the housing problems and insecurity, are being shaken out of their politicalapathy and drawn into the struggle between revolution and counterrevolution. Thebankruptcy of imperialism in the countries which were victorious in the world war,and the bankruptcy of pacifism and semireformist currents in the countries whichwere defeated, drives these middle layers either into the camp of open counterrevolution or into the camp of revolution. The Communist Party must always beconcerned with these layers of the population. One of the main prerequisites for thetriumph of the proletarian dictatorship is the winning of the small farmers to theideas of Communism. This would make it possible to take the revolution from theindustrial centres out into the countryside and create organisations in the villages toarrange food distribution – one of the most vital questions of the revolution. It isalso important to win the sympathy of technicians, whitecollar workers, the middleand lowerranking civil servants and the intelligentsia, who can assist the proletariandictatorship in the period of transition from capitalism to Communism by helpingwith the problems of state and economic administration. If such layers identify withthe revolution, the enemy will be demoralised and the popular view of the proletariatas an isolated group will be discredited. The Communist Party must watch closelythe ferment within the pettybourgeois layers and make as effective use of them aspossible, even when they still cling to bourgeois illusions. The Communist Partiesmust draw into the proletarian front those sections of the intelligentsia and officeworkers which have freed themselves from these illusions, using them to win thesupport of the pettybourgeois masses who are militant but not yet committed to therevolution.

The economic disintegration and consequent dislocation of state finances willforce the bourgeois to condemn to increasing poverty the lower and middlerankingcivil servants who are the main supporters of its own state apparatus. The economicdecline of these layers directly threatens the whole structure of the bourgeois stateand, though conflicts may be temporarily resolved, it is becoming more and moredifficult for the bourgeois state to preserve its organisational base. In the same way itbecomes impossible for capital to preserve its system of exploitation while at thesame time guaranteeing a decent standard of living to its hired workers. Bydefending the interests of the lower and middleranking civil servants regardless ofthe state of public finances, the Communist Parties are carrying out very importantpreliminary work for the destruction of the bourgeois stateinstitutions and



preparing for the construction of the proletarian state.

X. International Coordination ofAction

We must put all our energies into achieving a united international leadership forthe revolutionary struggle. Only then will it be possible to effect a breach in theinternational counterrevolutionary front and employ the forces of the CommunistInternational to hasten the victory of the revolution. The Communist Internationaldemands that all the Communist Parties render each other maximum support in thestruggle. The national economic battles that are developing require that theproletariat of other countries, wherever possible, intervenes immediately. TheCommunists must use their influence to see that the trade unions not only oppose byall the means at their disposal the dispatch of blacklegs, but ban all exports to thecountries where large sections of the proletariat are engaged in struggle. Where thecapitalist government of one country takes action against another with the aim ofrobbing or dominating it, the Communist Parties must not simply make protests, butdo everything to obstruct such a campaign of plunder. The Third Congress of theCommunist International welcomes the demonstrations organised by the FrenchCommunists as the beginning of a more active struggle against the counterrevolutionary role of French capitalist exploitation. Congress reminds the Frenchcomrades of their duty to do all they can to bring the French soldiers in the occupiedzone to the realisation that they are acting as the policemen of French capital andthat they ought to refuse to play this shameful role. The French Communist Partyhas to make the French people understand that by allowing the army of occupationto be organised and drilled in the spirit of nationalism, it is tying its own noose, forthe occupied areas are the trainingground for troops which will subsequently be athand to crush the revolutionary movement of the French working class. Thepresence of black troops in France and in the occupied territories gives the FrenchCommunist Party special responsibilities. It provides the French Party with theopportunity of approaching these colonial slaves and explaining to them that theyare serving their own oppressors and exploiters, of rallying them to fight against thecolonial regime and establishing links with the peoples of the French colonies.

The German Communist Party must make it clear to the German proletariat thatthere can be no struggle against exploitation by Entente capital unless the Germancapitalist government is overthrown. For despite the noises of opposition to the



Entente, the German government acts as its overseer and agent. The VKPD will onlybe able to encourage the proletarian masses of France to fight French imperialism ifit mounts a fierce and relentless struggle against the German government, whichwould show that far from seeking to give bankrupt German imperialism a new leaseof life, the Party wishes to free itself from the domination of this imperialism andfight alongside the working masses of France and Belgium for the reconstruction ofEurope on Communist lines. The Communist International has made it clear to theinternational proletariat that it views the indemnity demands of the Ententecapitalists as a campaign of plunder directed against the working masses of thedefeated nations and has denounced the attempts of the Longuists andIndependents to find a way of minimising the harmful effects of this campaign forthe working masses as a cowardly capitulation to the Entente stock exchanges. TheInternational demonstrates to the proletariat of France and Germany that the onlyway to reconstruct the devastated areas and to improve the lot of widows andorphans is to rally the proletariat of both countries to struggle together against theirexploiters. The German proletariat can assist the Russian proletariat in its uphillclimb only if, by its own victories, it brings nearer the unification of Russianagriculture and German industry.

It is the duty of Communist Parties in countries whose troops are participating inthe subjugation and division of Turkey to use all available means to conduct acampaign to revolutionise these troops. The Communist Parties of the Balkancountries must do their utmost to oppose nationalism by establishing a BalkanCommunist federation which could hasten their victory. The victory of theCommunist Parties of Bulgaria and Serbia would bring about the fall of the shamefulHorthy regime and end Boyar rule in Rumania, extending the base for agriculturalrevolution into most of the more industrially developed neighbouring countries.Unconditional support of Soviet Russia is still the priority for the Communistseverywhere. Communists must resolutely resist any attempts to attack Soviet Russiaand fight to eliminate the obstacles erected by the capitalist states to prevent SovietRussia from establishing links with the world market and with the peoples of othercountries. Only when Soviet Russia has successfully reconstructed its economy andalleviated the terrible poverty caused by three years of imperialist war and threeyears of civil war will productivity improve and the country be in a position to helpthe future victorious proletarian states of the West with food and raw materials andprotect them from strangulation by American capital.

The international political task of the Communist International is not to organisedemonstrations when important events take place, but to make sure that the links



between the different national tightly organised Communist fronts are continuouslyimproved. It is impossible to predict in advance on which front the proletariat willsucceed in making a b breakthrough – whether it will be in Germany, where theproletariat is harshly oppressed by the German and Entente bourgeoisie and wherethe choice is between death or victory, or in the agrarian countries of SouthEastEurope, or in Italy, where the decline of the bourgeoisie has reached an advancedstage. The Communist International must therefore do everything it can to intensifyproletarian militancy on all sections of the international front. Communist Partiesmust do their utmost to support the major campaigns of each individual section ofthe Communist International. This can best be achieved if, whenever there are largescale conflicts in one country, other Communist Parties bring any internal conflictsin their own countries to a head.

XI. The Decline of the Second and TwoandaHalf Internationals

The third year of the Communist International is witnessing the further politicaldecline of the socialdemocratic parties and the reformist leaders of the tradeunion movement.

Over the last year, however, they have attempted to achieve organisational unityand have attacked the Communist International. During the miners’ strike inBritain, the leaders of the Labour Party and the trade unions considered it their dutydeliberately to destroy the workers’ front that was being formed and to protect thecapitalists from the workers. The breakdown of the Triple Alliance is proof that thereformist leaders of the trade unions have no desire to fight to improve the positionof the working class even within the framework of the capitalist system. When theGerman socialdemocratic party withdrew from the government, it became obviousthat the party was no longer capable of even the oppositional agitation that socialdemocracy had conducted in the prewar period. If it made any oppositionalgestures, its chief aim was to prevent the working class from engaging in struggle. Inspite of the fact that, nationally, German social democracy was supposedly anopposition party, in Prussia it organised a White Guard campaign against the minersof Central Germany with the conscious aim of provoking an armed struggle beforethe Communists had had time to organise themselves for militant action. TheGerman bourgeoisie had capitulated to the Entente; the Entente had dictated termswhich the German bourgeoisie can only meet by reducing the German proletariat to



abject poverty – but, in spite of this, German social democracy has entered thegovernment once again and is assisting the bourgeoisie in enslaving the Germanproletariat.

In Czechoslovakia social democracy is mobilising the army and the police todeprive workerCommunists of their homes and organisations. The dishonest tacticsof the Polish socialdemocratic party are helping Pilsudski to organise theintervention against Soviet Russia. The party helps the government to put thousandsof Communists in prison, and throws Communists out of the trade unions where, inspite of all the persecution, they are winning more and more workers to their side.The Belgian social democrats remain in a government which is involved insubjugating the German people. The centrist parties and groups of the TwoandaHalf International are conducting themselves just as shamefully as the counterrevolutionary parties. The German Independents have rejected outright the appealof the German Communist Party for a joint struggle against the fall in workingclassliving standards, irrespective of the differences that divide them. The Independentsregistered their disapproval of the White Terror, but this was after they hadunequivocally taken the side of the White Guard government during the battles ofMarch, after they had helped contribute to the victory of the White Terror and had,in full view of the bourgeois republic, slandered the proletarian vanguard asgangsters, robbers and lumpenproletarians. In spite of the fact that back at theHalle congress the party promised to support Soviet Russia, it is now conducting aslanderous campaign against the Russian Soviet republic in its press. It has joinedWrangel, Miliukov and Burtsev and the Russian counterrevolution in supportingthe Kronstadt rising against the Soviet republican rising which signifies that theinternational counterrevolution has adopted a new tactic against the Sovietrepublic. It plans to overthrow the Russian Communist Party – the heart and soul,the brain and the backbone of the Soviet republic – judging that without the Party,the country is a lifeless corpse that can be dealt with easily. The French Longuetistshave joined the German Independents in the campaign against Soviet Russia and, indoing so, have clearly sided with the French counterrevolutionaries who, the factsshow, have supported the new tactic. It is the policy of the Italian centrist groups ofSerrati and d'Aragona to retreat in the face of every struggle; this has given thebourgeoisie new strength and the possibility, with the help of the fascist bands, ofdominating the Italian scene.

In spite of the fact that the centrist parties and social democracy differ only in thephrases they use, these groups have not so far united in one International. LastFebruary the centrist parties even established their own international organisation,



complete with political platform and statutes. On paper this TwoandaHalfInternational hovers between the slogans of bourgeois democracy and those ofproletarian dictatorship. In practice, it not only helps the capitalist class in eachindividual country, encouraging the development of splits within the working class,but even shows the bourgeoisie how to carry out its programme of exploitationwithout unleashing the revolutionary force of the masses – and this in spite of thefact that the bourgeoisie is responsible for the complete destruction of the worldeconomy and the subjugation of part of the world by the capitalist states who, asEntente members, won the war. Both reformists and centrists are frightened of thepower of capital, but the TwoandaHalf International differs from the SecondInternational in that it is also afraid of clearly formulating its position in order not tolose once and for all its influence over the masses, who have been radicalised but arestill politically naive. The basic political similarity between the reformists andcentrists, finds its expression in their common defence of the Amsterdam TradeUnion International, this last stronghold of the international bourgeoisie. In thosetrade unions in which they still possess some influence, the centrists have joined thereformists and the tradeunion bureaucracy in fighting the Communists; they haveresponded to the attempt of the Communists to revolutionise the trade unions byexcluding them from membership. In these ways, the centrists have shown that theycan rival the social democrats as leaders of the counterrevolution and as staunchopponents of proletarian struggle.

Now and in the future the Communist International must firmly oppose not onlythe Second International and the Amsterdam TradeUnion International, but alsothe TwoandaHalf International. Only by giving daily examples of theunwillingness of the social democrats and centrists to fight either for the overthrowof capitalism or for the most basic and pressing demands of the working class canthe Communist International destroy the influence these agents of the bourgeoisiehave on the working class. This struggle can be brought to a successful conclusiononly if the Party completely suppresses any centrist deviations in its ranks. Inits daily practice the Communist International has to show that it is an Internationalof Communist action and not just of Communist phraseology and theory. TheCommunist International is the only organisation of the international proletariatwhich can provide the principles and the leadership needed in the fight againstcapitalism. Internal cohesion and international leadership and activity must beimproved so that the Communist International can achieve the goals set out in itsstatutes: “to organise joint action by the proletarians of different countries who arepursuing a single aim: the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of the



dictatorship of the proletariat and of an international soviet republic. “

Comintern | Third Congress

https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/index.htm

https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/3rd-congress/index.htm

third congress of the communist international

Documents

communist internationalhttps

congress ofthe

decay of capitalism

question of tactics

intoa long seriesof

straight line

triumphant force

given historical situation