The First Five Years of the Communist International¶

Core Argument¶

This collection of speeches, reports, letters, and resolutions from Leon Trotsky's leadership years in the Communist International (Comintern) argues that the first four congresses of the Comintern (1919–1922) represent the authentic, living heritage of revolutionary Marxism, systematically distorted by the later Stalinist bureaucracy. The central thesis is that the working class cannot overthrow capitalism without a mass revolutionary international organisation, and that the early Comintern—forged in the revolutionary wave following the October Revolution—provided the only genuine model of such an organisation. Trotsky insists that the fundamental strategic questions confronting revolutionaries today were thrashed out in these congresses with a clarity that the subsequent Stalinist degeneration deliberately obscured.

The book sets out to prove that the revolutionary wave of 1919–1920 broke not against objective economic limits but against the subjective failures of party leadership—above all, the betrayal of the Second International's social-democratic parties, which consciously worked to preserve capitalist society after the First World War. Trotsky argues that capitalism's post-war stabilisation was temporary and illusory, and that the task of communists is to win the majority of the working class through patient preparatory work, the united front tactic, and the conquest of leadership in the trade unions. The German defeat of 1923, the Italian disaster of September 1920, and the French party's protracted internal crisis are all presented as evidence that revolution requires not merely objective conditions but a party capable of utilising them—a lesson the Stalinist bureaucracy later suppressed by falsifying Trotsky's role and substituting bureaucratic command for revolutionary strategy.

Overview¶

The volume opens with a foreword situating the Comintern's early years within capitalism's most severe systemic crisis, arguing that no resolution is possible without the abolition of capitalism itself. The introduction by Fred Weston establishes Trotsky's indispensable role in shaping the first four congresses, a role later obscured by Stalinist mythology that falsely inflated Stalin's marginal position in 1920. Trotsky's own 1924 introduction provides a strategic autopsy of the Comintern's first five years, insisting that the revolutionary wave broke against subjective failures of leadership, not objective economic limits.

The book proceeds chronologically through the Comintern's founding and development. The First Congress (March 1919) is presented as a vanguard nucleus assembled under siege conditions, with fifty-one delegates from seventeen countries. The founding manifesto proclaims the Comintern the direct heir to Marx and Engels' programme, denouncing bourgeois democracy as a sham and insisting that the proletariat must create its own apparatus—the workers' Soviets—as the instrument for conquering state power. Trotsky's report on the Red Army defends its class character against both German Social Democratic fears and Karl Kautsky's theoretical objections, arguing that a revolutionary army must be a proletarian instrument forged through compulsory service restricted to workers and peasants.

The Second Congress (July–August 1920) marks the high point of revolutionary optimism, with 218 delegates from thirty-seven countries. The twenty-one conditions for admission are designed to purge opportunist elements, requiring a complete break with reformism and the establishment of democratic centralism. Trotsky's speech on the role of the party defends its necessity against both reformist betrayal and syndicalist hostility, arguing that the revolutionary syndicalists who reject the party form already function in practice as a party in embryo. The Congress's manifesto declares that the Versailles settlement has shattered the old European balance and that only social revolution can restore productivity.

The interval between the Second and Third Congresses (August 1920 to June 1921) marks a decisive turning point. The revolutionary wave suffers two decisive setbacks: the Italian factory occupations of September 1920, betrayed by the Socialist Party leadership, and the German March action of 1921, an ill-timed insurrectionary adventure ending in disaster. The first signs of temporary capitalist stabilisation become manifest, forcing an abrupt change of tactics. The Third Congress (June–July 1921), with 509 delegates from forty-eight countries, becomes the arena where Lenin and Trotsky defeat the ultra-leftist "Left Communists" who advocated sectarian adventurism. Trotsky's report on the world economic crisis argues that capitalist equilibrium has not been restored and that the current crisis is not a normal cyclical fluctuation but retribution for war devastation. The Congress rejects the "theory of the offensive" and insists that communists must win the majority of the working class through patient, flexible work within existing mass organisations.

The Fourth Congress (November–December 1922), with 408 delegates from sixty-one countries, is presented as the terminal point of authentic Leninist leadership. Trotsky's report confirms a sober strategic assessment: the missing element for revolution is a sufficiently organised and conscious revolutionary party. The Congress forces the French Communist Party to confront its internal divisions, demanding a complete break with bourgeois institutions and that nine-tenths of electoral candidates be workers and peasants. The united front tactic is sharpened, and the slogan of a workers' government is confirmed as central. The volume concludes with articles from 1923 analysing the Ruhr crisis, the slogan of the United States of Europe, and the question of whether revolution can be made on schedule, insisting that the party must exercise direct political, organisational, and military-technical leadership rather than waiting passively for events to unfold.

Chapter Guide¶

Foreword — The republication situates the Comintern's early years as a living heritage against Stalinist falsification.
Introduction: The rise of the Comintern and the role of Leon Trotsky — Trotsky's central role in shaping the first four congresses was systematically obscured by Stalinist mythology.
Author's 1924 Introduction — The revolutionary wave broke against subjective failures of party leadership, not objective economic limits.
May Day and the International — May Day was transformed from a revolutionary instrument into its opposite by the Second International's national focus.
To the Spartacus League of Germany and the Communist Party of German Austria — The German revolution is being strangled by social-democratic leaders safeguarding capitalist order.
Order out of Chaos — Three contending forces—imperialism, nationalism, and communism—are locked in mortal struggle.
Editor's note — The First Congress was a vanguard nucleus assembled under siege conditions.
Invitation to the First World Congress — The collapse of world capitalism demands the immediate creation of a unified revolutionary International.
Manifesto of the Communist International to the Workers of the World — The Comintern is the direct heir to Marx and Engels' programme, demanding the overthrow of bourgeois order.
Report on the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Red Army — A revolutionary army must be a proletarian instrument, not a neutral people's militia.
Order of the Day Number Eighty-Three to the Red Army and Navy — The Red Army is the armed vanguard of the world proletariat.
Editor's Note — The interval between the First and Second Congresses was simultaneously the decisive phase of the Russian Civil War and the peak of post-war revolutionary ferment.
To Comrades of the Spartacus League — The Russian Revolution has vindicated Bolshevik strategy against Kautsky's schoolmasterly formalism.
A Creeping Revolution — The German revolution's "creeping" character is the necessary form of struggle given Germany's specific historical conditions.
Great Days — The founding congress of the Third International is the culminating expression of a world-historical rupture.
En Route: Thoughts on the Progress of the Proletarian Revolution — The proletarian revolution unfolds from East to West, the reverse of capitalist development.
A Letter to Our French Comrades — The French working class must break decisively with all shades of reformism.
French Socialism on the Eve of Revolution — Parliamentarianism stands exposed as an obsolete instrument of bourgeois rule.
Jean Longuet — Longuet's method of merging irreconcilable opposites embodies the degeneration of French socialism.
On the Coming Congress of the Comintern — The Third International is a unified organisation demanding subordination to common leadership.
Editor's Note — The Second Congress drew 218 delegates from thirty-seven countries despite the Allied blockade.
Speech on Comrade Zinoviev's Report on the Role of the Party — The revolutionary party is necessary against both reformist betrayal and syndicalist hostility.
Manifesto of the Second World Congress — The Versailles settlement shattered the old European balance, and capitalism is in terminal decline.
Editor's Note — The interval between the Second and Third Congresses marks a decisive turning point with the first signs of capitalist stabilisation.
A Letter to a French Syndicalist about the Communist Party — The supposed independence of French syndicalism is a fiction; it is already in the tow of reformist politics.
On the Policy of the KAPD — Gorter's criticisms rest on geographical narrow-mindedness and idealistic formalism.
Vergeat, Lepetit and Lefebvre — Three French revolutionaries symbolise the convergence of different revolutionary currents into a unified communist movement.
The March Movement in Germany — The most backward, semi-feudal layers of the proletariat become the most explosive revolutionary force.
The March Revolutionary Movement in Germany (Personal Notes) — The March action, despite defeat, marks a turning point in the communist struggle.
May Day Manifesto of the ECCI — The apparent capitalist consolidation is illusory; the world revolution is advancing.
The Unemployed and the Trade Unions — The bourgeoisie is deliberately setting the unemployed against organised trade unionists.
Speech Delivered at the Second World Conference of Communist Women — Women proletarians, as the most oppressed section of labour, can become the most active force in the coming upheaval.
Letter to Comrade Monatte — French revolutionary syndicalism stands at a decisive crossroads requiring fusion with the Communist Party.
Letter to Comrades Cachin and Frossard — The March 1921 German events were not provoked by Moscow; the French party must conquer the syndicates from within.
On l'Humanité, the Central Organ of the French Party — The newspaper fails utterly in its revolutionary duty, lacking clarity and a consistently Marxist class line.
Editor's Note — The Third Congress defeated the ultra-leftist "Left Communists" who threatened to isolate the movement.
The Red Army to the General Staff of the Revolution — The Red Army's military struggle is the indispensable material precondition for the world revolution.
Report on the World Economic Crisis and the New Tasks of the Communist International — Capitalist equilibrium has not been restored; the current crisis is retribution for war devastation.
Summary Speech — Military organisation and statistical calculation are complementary, not contradictory.
Theses on the International Situation and the Tasks of the Comintern — Capitalism has entered a period of irreversible decay, making proletarian revolution historically necessary.
Speech on the Italian Question — The Italian Socialist Party's revolutionary rhetoric was a hollow shell contradicted by its paralysis during the factory occupations.
Speech on Comrade Radek's Report on 'Tactics of the Comintern' — The Congress must reject the "philosophy of the offensive" that treats passivity as requiring a forced breakthrough.
Speech on Comrade Lenin's Report: 'Tactics of the Russian Communist Party' — Soviet Russia must utilise capitalist technology and concessions to survive.
The Main Lesson of the Third Congress — The automatic collapse of capitalism does not guarantee the automatic victory of the proletariat.
Report on 'The Balance Sheet' of the Third Congress — The Third Congress represents the highest school of revolutionary strategy.
Summary Speech — The Comintern must win over the mass of workers still following centrist and reformist leaders.
A School of Revolutionary Strategy — The revolutionary struggle for power has its own laws, tactics, and strategy that must be mastered.
From the ECCI to the Central Committee of the French Communist Party — The French party's parliamentary fraction, press, and internal structures remain permeated by bourgeois habits.
From the ECCI to the Marseilles Convention of the French Communist Party — The party must move beyond organisational consolidation toward genuine communist transformation.
Speech on Comrade Zinoviev's Report 'The Tactics of the Communist International' — The bourgeoisie, having regained political self-confidence, is manoeuvring on multiple fronts.
Summary Speech at the Eleventh Party Conference — A genuine if uneven economic revival is beginning, but it does not constitute stable capitalist equilibrium.
Flood-Tide — The coming economic revival, not the crisis, may lead to proletarian victory.
Paul Levi and Some 'Lefts' — Levi's political trajectory was determined by egocentric inability to accept party discipline.
On the United Front — The united front arises from the imperative to secure a unified working-class front against capitalism.
Resolution of the ECCI on the French Communist Party — The PCF is undergoing a necessary but dangerous process of internal cleansing.
The Communists and the Peasantry in France — The united front must first unify the proletariat itself before it can lead the peasantry.
The Lessons of May Day — The May Day demonstrations refuted slanders of the working class's pessimism and hostility to Soviet power.
From the ECCI to the Central Committee of the French Communist Party — The PCF's leadership is charged with systematic passivity and failure to enforce Comintern discipline.
French Communism and the Position of Comrade Rappoport — The objective conditions for revolution in France are ripe, but subjective preparation is dangerously lagging.
To Comrade Ker — The party's lack of ideological clarity originates from the leadership, not the working-class base.
Resolution of the ECCI on the French Communist Party — The French party must be forcibly remoulded through a new programme, centralised discipline, and a purge of hostile elements.
A Letter to Comrade Treint — Factional conflict within the PCF is a necessary and healthy process of revolutionary consolidation.
From the ECCI to the Seine Federation of the French Communist Party — Federalist organisational principles are fundamentally incompatible with a revolutionary communist party.
From the ECCI to the Paris Convention of the French Communist Party — The party's deep crisis traces its roots to the flawed transformation at Tours.
From the ECCI to the Paris Convention of the French Communist Party — The Comintern demands a special roll-call vote on the twenty-one conditions and announces expulsions

Chapters¶

79 chapters