5. From the Second the the Third World Congress

From the Second to the Third World Congress

Editor’s Note:

The interval from the Second to the Third Congress covered approximately ten months from 7 August 1920 to 22 June 1921. In Soviet Russia it marked the concluding period of the Civil War, the definitive victory of the Red Army and the beginnings of the transition to a peacetime economy.

In March 1921, the Kronstadt mutiny occurred. After its liquidation the first steps were taken toward the New Economic Policy (NEP). The first trade agreements were made by the Soviet government with England (16 March 1921) and with Germany (8 May 1921).

In Europe, the working class suffered a major defeat in Italy, where the revolutionary movement reached its zenith in the seizure of factories, mills, and estates by the workers in the autumn of 1920, only to be betrayed by the treacherous SP leadership. Another defeat followed in Germany as a consequence of the March (1921) adventure, or the ‘March action’.

Despite the economic crisis which erupted in the capitalist world, the first signs of a temporary capitalist stabilisation became manifest, necessitating an abrupt change of tactics by the Comintern on the world arena.