The need for the International¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter, published in Socialist Appeal in June 1943, argues that the dissolution of the Communist International (Comintern) by Stalin represents not the obsolescence of the international form of working-class organisation, but the final betrayal of its revolutionary purpose. The core narrative thrust is that the Third International, founded by Lenin and Trotsky as an instrument of world revolution in the aftermath of the First World War, has degenerated into a tool of Kremlin diplomacy, and its dissolution clears the ground for the Fourth International.
The chapter opens by situating the Comintern’s birth within the revolutionary upheavals following the 1914-18 war, inspired by the Russian Revolution as the first step toward world socialism. It draws on Lenin’s analysis of imperialism as the epoch of wars and proletarian revolutions, when capitalism’s progressive role had ended. The rise of fascism and the Second World War are presented not as evidence of a change in conditions but as symptoms of capitalism’s aggravated decline, resulting from the failure of the old working-class organisations to solve the historical problems placed before them.
The central polemic is directed against the Stalinist justification for dissolving the Comintern. The chapter quotes the official statement at length, then systematically dismantles it. The claim that the Comintern preserved Marxism from vulgarisation is met with bitter sarcasm: the British, American and other “communist” parties have drained the limits of opportunism by supporting their respective capitalist classes in the war, precisely the crime that separated the Third International from the Second. The reference to fascism without explaining its class content is exposed as mere obedience to Kremlin diplomacy, contrasted with the Comintern’s policy during the Stalin-Hitler pact, when it denounced the capitalist “democracies” and demanded peace on Hitler’s terms.
The chapter then refutes the argument that differences between countries make a world party unnecessary. It insists that the interdependence of world economy, expressed through uneven development, binds workers of all lands together indissolubly. The theory of “socialism in one country” is presented as the logical culmination of this degeneration. Drawing on Marx and Engels, the chapter argues that the international is not a matter of sentiment but arises from the objective tasks of the working class: capitalism created the world market, but the national state and private ownership have become fetters on further development, producing the impasse expressed in fascism and imperialist war.
The dissolution is interpreted as a concession to Anglo-American imperialism, which demands guarantees against social revolution in Europe. Stalin has closed the road to extending the October Revolution, leaving the Soviet Union dependent on American imperialism. The chapter concludes that the disintegration of the national communist parties will be speeded up, clearing the way for the Fourth International. It ends with a quotation from Rosa Luxemburg, asserting that the revolution will rise again.