The Third International from the Great Marxism Dictionary ( 2018)

Also known as the “Communist International” (Comintern). The international joint alliance organization of the communist parties of all countries was founded under the leadership of Lenin, with its headquarters in Moscow. After the outbreak of the First World War, the Second International was split. Following the victory of the October Revolution, a wave of revolutions took place all over the world, and communist parties and communist groups were founded one after another. It was an urgent task at that time to unite these proletarian political parties and groups and organize a strong and unified revolutionary force worldwide.Then in January 1919, a meeting of representatives of the eight communist parties and groups and left-wing socialist parties was held in Moscow, and an invitation to convene the founding Congress of the Third International was issued by the endorsment of these eight parties.

And on March 2-6, 1919, the International Congress of Communists, the First Congress of the Third International, was held in Moscow with the participation of 52 delegates from 35 political parties and groups from 21 countries. The representatives of the proletariat from China, Korea and other Eastern countries were also present at the Congress as observers. At the Congress, Lenin made an outline and report on bourgeois democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat. The meeting adopted Lenin’s report and made it “The Political Programme of the Communist International”, and also passed “The Declaration of the Communist International” and “The Action Programme of the Communist International” drafted by Lenin. The Communist International was thus founded.

As the organizer and leader of the international communist movement, the Communist International played an important historical role in the establishment of communist parties in many countries, faciliated the spread of Marxism-Leninism and promoted  the cultivation of revolutionary cadres, in the cause of liberation of the proletariat and the oppressed people in various countries, and in the struggle of the people of the world against fascism. Certainly, for quite a long time, the Communist International overemphasized a centralized and unified leadership, which, to varying degrees, inhibited the creative spirit of the parties of various countries to solve their own practical problems independently;  ignored the national form and national characteristics of the revolutionary struggle of each country, dogmatized and sanctified the Soviet experience and the resolutions of the leadership of the Communist International, and made some decisions that did not conform to the specific national conditions of various countries. With the formation of the international anti-fascist united front, the internal situation of each country and the international situation as a whole became increasingly complicated, making it impossible to solve the problems of each country in the same way, and it was no longer possible, and often harmful, for the Communist International to lead and solve the problems encountered by the communist party of each country. Therefore, on June 10, 1943, the Communist International was officially dissolved.

After the establishment of the Communist Party of China, it became a branch of the Communist International, and many important meetings of the Communist International discussed the issue of the Chinese revolution and made corresponding resolutions. On the one hand, the Communist International played a significant and positive role in helping the establishment of the Communist Party of China, clarifying major theoretical issues such as the nature and significance of the Chinese revolution, helping and supporting China in the Northern Expeditionary War, the War of Agrarian Revolution, and the War of Resistance against Japan; on the other hand, mainly in the late 1920s and early 1930s, after Lenin’s death, the Communist International dogmatized Marxism, sanctified the Soviet experience, and it mistakenly guided the Chinese revolution, which caused great losses in the revolution. In addition, several major “left” and right opportunist lines within the Communist Party of China, especially Wang Ming’s opportunist line, were directly related to the Communist International.