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v... m 8HANGHAI. NOVEMBER IMJ No.6

THE RED ROAD By KLAUS MEHNERT

TAe preHN World War ~ Bol6AetM",'. laM Gnd ~ c.limIce f() IJtM'J'fIIM Reooluti

IN THB PALAOE 01' NOBLllIS Eastem Europe. To the left of the Chairman, starting from the front: the NEXPECTEDLY and unannounced, United States, Latin America, the British • probably out of consideration for Dominions, the colonies, and . U the police forces of Europe. the last World Congress of the Comintem met in Communist leaders from all over the on July 25, 1935, at half past world sat on the presiding committee seven in the evening. For almost a full of the Congress. Among them were

month. until late in the evening of two women, a Spaniard and a NegreBB f August 20. the "General Staff of the Among the representatives of the Soviet World ," as it was called. sat Union was Stalin. There were roars of in the clasaical Hall of Columns of the applaU8e when he was elected Chairman. former Pa1aoe of Nobles. Over the plat­ Although he did not make a single speech form on which the presiding oommittee and was often absent during the Be88ions, of the Congreea was enthroned. hung four· he dominated the Congress. There was huge portraits: Marx, Engels, Lenin. and hardly a speaker who failed to extol him Stalin. In the auditorium sat 510 dele­ as the "Leader of the World ." gatee repreeenting 65 national groupe. or as the "Leader of the World Revoluj oalled eeotions. of the Comintem. In tion." Since I,.enin's death, this was th~ front, on the presiding committee's first Congress at which one and the same right, were the Communists of Asia; man participated unequivocally as the further back, those of Western leader of the as well as the Europe; and behind them. those of leader of the Comintem. And the fact' '.

THE XXt.b CENTURY

that the famous Bulgarian revolutionary toward the same goal, i.e., World Revo­ Dimitroff W&8 later made only Secretary lution, officially they have nothing to do General of the new Executive Com­ with one another and go out of their way mittee of the Comintern (EKKI) and not to demonstrate their independence of Presideni (which had been the former each other. Actually, the central title), W&8 doubtle88 intended to indicate management of the Soviet Union as well that only Stalin was entitled to the office &8 of the Comintem are in the same of President; since, for obvious reasons, hands. For, just as the Communist he could not a88ume this office, the only Party predominates in the Soviet Union, title that remained for Dimitroff W&8 that so the of the Soviet of Secretary General. Union holds the leading position in The Communist Parties of the world the Comintem. This W&8 even offioially represented at the Congress were divided laid down in the first statutes of the into two "ruling" parties (Soviet Union Comintem, which were accepted by its and Soviet ), fifteen legal ones Congress in 1920. Para­ (Great Britain, Ireland, France, the USA, graph 8 of these statutes •reads: "The Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Nor­ main share of the work of the EKKI is way, Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, South to be borne by the Party of that country Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Costa in which the EKKl flhall have its Rica), and five semilegal ones, with the seat according to the decision of the remainder all being illegal. The total World Congress." From the very number of members of the Communist beginning, this country W&8 the Soviet Parties including the Soviet Union was Union. given as 3.1 million (1928: 1.7 million); Incidentally, there were still 80me dele­ of these, however, there were only 760,000 gates at that second Congre88 who had (1928: 450,000) outside of the Soviet the courage to oppose the subjection of Union. the Comintern to the will of Moscow. A Dutch delegate, for instance, said: "While TWOFOLD CAPITAL it would seem that an international The aim of as it has been EKKI is being formed, actually an cn­ clearly expre88Cd in the teachings of larged RU8sian executive committee is Marx, Lenin, and Stalin is to organize a being created .... But then this should and then to establish be openly said, and it should not be at­ a World Soviet Union after the pattern tempted to create the impression that we • of the present Soviet Union. At present, are going to have an international Bolshevism has at its disposal two weapons EKKI," Now for a long time no one for attaining this goal: a state-the has dared to complain and, although that Soviet Union, and a world organization­ Paragraph 8 has, for tactical reuoDI, the Comintern. The Comintern, the or­ long disappeared into oblivion, there can ganization of all Communist Parties in be even leas doubt of the leading position the world, is al80 known by the name of of the Soviet Union in the Comintem the "Third International." This name today than at a time when this candid serves to distinguish it from other in­ paragraph atill existed. ternational revolutionary organizations such &8 the short-lived "First Interna­ TOO JU.lfY SB0BJft'8t tional" of Karl Marx, the "Second In­ The reader might ask: What sense is ternational" of the Social-Democr-atio there in studying these questions and in Parties, which is today practically non­ citing protocols and statutes when all uiatent, and the "" available documents and statements are created by Trotsky. obviously designed to throw dust iJl the Moacow is the capital of the Soviet eye8 of the world and to distract its at­ Union &8 well &8 of the Comintern. But, tention from the decisive events! We although both of these are working do not share this opinion. Of course, THE RED ROAD there'is enough that is only of declamatory COUNTING ON SOVIET EUBOPB significance as, for instance, the oft­ (FInt Period) repeated· contention that the Soviet The leading role of the Soviet Union Union has nothing to do with the Comin­ in the Comintern and the latter's de­ tern. But all this can eaBily be eliminated pendence on Moscow have resulted in the if one knows how to read. And the rest interests and demands of the Soviet is to be taken seriously. Union having the strongest possible in­ fluence on the tactical attitude of the . Those who have studied Marxism­ Comintem. Hence each of the variol,18 know that its leaders do not periods in the development of the Soviet believe in intuition or instinct but make Union (with which we dealt in the article a.n decisions dependent on tedious "analy­ "Bolshevism and Its Pedigree," in our ses," on cumbersome "theses, anti-, and issue of October 1941) also left its mark syntheses" and arrive at them usually only on the Comintem. after endless "discussions." Even Stalin, with all his brutal use of force and During the first period, which lasted ceaseless "purges" within the Party, from the founding of the Comintem in believes, like all materialists, that, by March 1919 up to March 1921, the minds applying Marxist methods, the course of of the men in the Kremlin were dominated the world and its individual phases can be by two ideas. First, the Communist calculated scientifically. Revolution in the most important Euro­ pean states seemed, in those years, to be This is equally true of th~ Comintern, within reach, in fad, a question of weeks. whose congresses and resolutions are, so Zinovyev, at that time the President of to say, the primers of all Communist the Comintem, wrote in the first number functionaries. EspeciaUy their detailed of the magazine : tactical inStructions are meant very "At the moment of writing these lines, seJ,io1'18ly. These, as well as the speeches the 'Third International' has already and ~lutions made at the congresses three Soviet repnblics as its foundation and me~tings, may have been touched stones-in , Hungary, and Bavaria. up for publication; but the actual But no one would be surprised if, at the speeches can hardly have been any moment when these lines appear in'print, more frank than their printed versions. we . have not three but six or more The wealth of printed material available Soviet republics .... The vict.ory of contains more than the imagination of in Gel many is inevitable .... even the bitterest enemies of the Comin­ In another year we shall already begin to tern could have concocted. Outlines and forget that there was a battle for Com­ methods, strategy and tactics of the mUIllim raging in Europe, for in a year Comintern, lie clearly before anyone who all Europe will be Communist." Even takes the trouble to read attentively the in 1920, when the second World Congress p:ublished stenographic reports and met without the hopes of the first one resolutions. having been realized, Zinovyev would . The most important material is the only admit that he had slightly mis­ stenographic reports of the World Con­ calculated the tempo and that "actually gresses. But it is also possible to follow not one year but two or three years are the development of the Comintem during necessary before all of Europe is a Soviet the long 'pauses between them. The Europe." EKKI, which is responsible for managing Secondly, the could not, the Comintem during the years between gravely threatened as they were byenemies World Congresses, holds plenary sessions within and without, imagine that the during this time, and there is copious Russian Revolution would be able to p~ted material in RU88ian and partly in succeed alone and without the support other languages available on the results of in other important Euro­ of these eeesions. pean ·states. Even Lenin, who regarded THE XXtb OENTURY

the situation more soberly than any of of the Comintem: "The funtlameftltd the others, said at that time: "It is an principies of the Third International.re­ abeolute truth that we shall perish main unshaken, but their practical ap­ without the GermlLll revolution." They plication must be made to aocord with were still entirely under the in6.uence of the new conditions." the ideas of Karl Marx's Oommuni8t Manifesto, according to which the Rev­ The Soviet Union, which now saw the possibility of continuing to exist even as olution W88 to break out 8imultaneo'U8ly in 8everal advanud counlnu. And Rus­ the sole Soviet republio, was no longer dependent to the same extent as during sia W88 not only alone but also the most backward of all the European powers. the first period on the European revolution. At this third Congress it was stated for the Under the infiuence of these two ideas, first time by a German delegate that, in no one in Moscow, in that first period of these circumstances, the interests of the "Storm and Stress," 88 Zinovyev later Soviet Union might confiict with those called it, thought of anything else except of the proletarians of the rest of the the struggle against the capitalist world world. and of the imminent World Revolution. At that time, the Soviet Union and the In the autumn of 1924 a conflict began Comintern were one and the same thing, which W88 to be decisive for the further without even the slighte8t inner con­ development of the Soviet Union and tradiction. consequently for its role in the Comin­ tern: the confiiot between Stalin with his STALIN VB. TROTSKY slogan of " in one country" and (8«clad Period) Trotsky, the prophet of the "Permanent The second period (1921/28) was under Revolution." At the fifteenth party the sign of the gradual stabilization within meeting of the Communist Party. of the both world camps. Moscow had to dis­ Soviet Union (winter 1927/28), the battle cover to its surprise that the revolutionary was decided in Stalin's favor, Trotsky, wave had come to a standstill in Europe, who from that time on accused Stalin indeed, that it W88 even rolling back of being a "Fasoist," W88 exiled. Stalin , again; furthermore, that the Bolshevist had won, and with him the theory regime in Soviet Russia was beginning to that it was possible to build up socialism consolidate after its victory over the in one country without first carrying out Anglo-American intervention and the the Revolution in other oountries (as counterrevolution of the Whites, in spite Trotsky had been demanding). of no help ha.ving been forthcoming through European revolutions. This real­ "SOOIALISM IN ONE OOUNTBY" ization caused the Soviet Government to ('l'bIrd Pertod) establish normal relations with the outer The practioal consequences of this world, beginning with the at that time change beoame apparent in the third sensational trade agreement with England period (1928/29 to 1933). The Soviet Union in the spring of 1921. The Bolsheviks had entered upon the policy of the Five Year to adjust themselves to the idea that Plans, the carrying out of which swal­ things would take longer than they had lowed up huge quantities of energy imagined. and money, which were in that way with­ This tum of events was a.lso evident'in drawn from directly furthering the World the policy of the Comintem. The most Revolution, although, of course, the de­ important task of the third World Con­ sire for a revolution in the rest of the gress, which met in the summer of 1921, world remained unchanged. For it goes was to bring the new situation in world without saying that both for. Stalin's politics into harmony with the principles "Sooialism in one oountry" and for of the Comintem. Trotsky pronounced Trotsky's "Permanent Revolution" the what was from then on to be a leitmotiv World Revolution was the final.aim. It THE RED ROAD was only in the means to reach it that Union's polioy of alliance with France they disagreed. and Czech08lovakia and the Comintern's What makes this third period peculiar efforts at undermining those same two is that, on the one hand, the interests of countries. He said: "The identioal theSoviet Union demanded the continua­ nature of their [Le., the Soviet Union's tion of the Five Year Plan policy, which and the Comintem's] goals does not had purely domestio aims, and the on any &OCOunt mean that there consolidation of peaceful relations with must, at every given moment, in ,aU the outer world (the peak of Soviet actions and all questions, be complete foreign trade was reached in this period), agreement between the tactics of the while on the other hand, as a consequence Communist Parties which are still fight­ of the world economio crisis, good oppor­ ing for power [Le., in France and Czecho~ tunities for revolution in the rest of the slovakia] and the concrete tactioal world were offered to the Comintem. measures of the Communist Party of The question arose: Which will gain the the Soviet Union, which has already upper hand in this situation, the concrete established its power in the Soviet interest of the Soviet UnioD in domestic Union." It could not have been said reconstruotion and pacification of a coun­ more clearly that Moscow was at that try convulsed by agrioultural collectiviza­ time not yet interested in the outbreak of tion, or the desire of the Comintem to European revolutions. The price paid by make use of its opportunities for revolu­ Moscow for its much-needed peaoe was tion in Europe? the bloodless seizure of power of National­ Socialism in Germany sL'( months later, The twelfth plenary mceting of the EKKI took place in the summer of 1932. an event which oould never be made up for by the Communist world movement. At this meeting it became amazingly apparent that the egoistic demands of "ANTI-FASCISM" the Soviet Union, whose development was (Fourth Period) beginning to follow its own laws, had That was the beginning of the fo~ won the day against those of the Comin­ period. At first sight it seems to re­ tem. The quintessenoe of the whole semble the second. Again we can o:bserve meeting was that, in spite of the rev­ a stabilization of the Soviet Union and olutionary situation throughout the restabilization of the rest of the wor1c;i world, it was not yet a question of begin­ through having overcome the lowest ning the fight for revolution there but point of the world economio crisis anc;i only of carefully preparing it. Indeed, through the growth of a strong Ger,. the German Communist leader Thalmann many. Hence we should expect the even tumed violently against the "Trot­ same picture as in the second period: skyist theory," according to which the the desire of the Soviet Union for un­ Red Army was to assist the German disturbed development and the decreased Communist Party, and he called this possibility for European revolutions in theory a "counterrevolutiona.ry provoca­ the face of the growing economio strengt,h tion." This attitude did not meet with of the capitalist world should both a4d sympathy on the part of all delegates, up to a comparatively passive attitude and Manuilsky, at that time the nominal toward the problem of World Revolution. leader of the Comintem, had even to Actually the opposite was the case. defend himself against the accusation The seventh Congress, .whioh ga,ve ex­ that it meant a renunciation of World pression to this period, was a signal for Revolutionary ideas. attack, an attack which-as we shall see­ Ercoli, anItalian and one of the smartest assumed a different shape from hitherto brains of the Comintem, expressed it very but nevertheless an attack whioh was clearly at the seventh World Congress, inoomp&rably more violent and deter­ when he spoke about the contradiotion mined than ever since the very firs~ existing at that time between the Soviet years. ---1

296 THE XXth CENTURY

The' decisive event which deeply in­ • 'J/ 1 fluenced the entire policy of the Comin­ As long as the Comintem was fighting tern and, which brought about this mainly Jor the Communist Revolution, it change was the seizure of power by was difficult to recruit possible alli~ National-Socialism in Germany. For the under one standard. At that time, the firet time in many years, Bolshevism felt Communist Parties in the rest of the itself to be on the defensive. Neither world were frankly intolerant-"sectar~ nor democracy had been bul­ ian," as they contemptuously say today warks against Bol"hevism, let alone weap­ -and wanted only unconditionally de~ ons of attack. National-Socialism was voted supporters. Butfrom the moment something different. Since the summer when the main battle was directed of 1933, the sharp contrast between again8t Fascism, the gaining of aiIres National-Socialist Gel many and the Bol­ became much easier, since people have shevist Soviet Union had been growing always agreed more readily in opposition, more apparent every day. The collapse Moreover, developments had clearly shown of the Communist Party in Germany, what possibilities were offered National­ which had first only been regarded as a Socialism, because, instead of limiting "loss in tempo," was gradually recognized itself in "sectarian" fashion to certain in its full significance. The fear of classes of the population, it had appealed "Fascism," as National-Socialism was to the entire nation. This had made a. called ,in Moscow in order not to use the deep impression on Moscow, and word "Socialism," and the hate of Dimitroff said cynically that one should Adolf Bitler's Germany, are the new, not mind learning from the enemy if one distinguishing marks of the fourth could tW1St"hiS neck better by such means. period. All the old catchwords gave way to the central motto of "Anti­ So the tactics of the United Front Fascism." Thus it came about that became the chief weapon of the anti­ Moscow as the capital of the Soviet Fascist fight. Its idea is not new, for Union began in its foreign policy to it appeared as early as 1922. At that assemble all the anti-German powers time, however, they were only interested (France, Czechoslovakia, the Little En­ in a. United Front Jrom below, in alliance tente, etc.), while at the samc time with the individual social-democratio Moscow as the capital of the Comintem workers, since in au organized union mobilized all anti-Fascist energies within from ab01;e, that is, with the Social­ , the various states of the world-a two­ Democratic Parties themselves, who were edged policy which was to have very then at the height of their power, the grave consequences. Communists would have always beeri In 'addition to this, the policy of worst off. After the collapse of the "Sociali~m in one country" was beginning Social-Democratic Parties in Germany to bear" fruit. For the first time, the and Austria and the general weakening Soviet Union felt more or less secure, of Social-Democracy, this obstacle had domestically as well as from a military disappeared, and thus the United Front point of view. It believed itself to have from above was also demanded now. advanced beyond the stage at which, be­ cause of its inner weakness, it had to keep THE TROJAN HORSE outward peace at any price. The develop­ When the Communists speak of 0. ment of its economics and its army, as United Front, they mean a collaboration well as its alliance with France and of the workers of a oountry. In this OLechoslovakia, permitted Moscow to con­ fourth period, however, this was not con­ sider the pOssibility of a war more calmly. sidered enough, and the "Anti-Fascist It was hoped that, if war came, it would " was proclaimed, in other not· be a war of the Soviet Union alone words, a collaboration of workers with against Germany but a general world other classes' Buch ~ farmers, the conflagration. middle classes, intellectu8Js, etc. nIE RED ROAD Itl

, ·In order to create this popular front, In this ekillful maneuvering,: MoeoQw .two methods were recommended. The finally faced the favorable constel1&tion,in first was that of the Trojan Horse. which France, of all nations the one most .,Dimitroff, the new myseee, expounded threatened internally by the Comintern, this method in his report at the seventh waa allied with the Soviet Union in her World Congress, when he said, concerning foreign polioy and, as a result, was crippled the non-COmmunist maaa organizations: in her power of resistance against the ''They can and must be our legal and eemi· Comintern threat. Nevertheless. it re­ legal field of activity, where we contact the mained an irreconcilable contrad.4ltion. maaees. In order fully to utilize theee in spite of all Ercoli's dialectics, that the poeeibilitiee, the Communiate must, once and Soviet Union was striving for a strength­ tor aU, rid themeelvea of the prejudice that ening of the military power· of ite aueh activity is not fitting for a revolutionary allies France and ~hoelovakia while worker or that it is unworthy of him. You the Comintem was PUl'8uing the goal. of will recall the old legend of the capture of ~eoho:" Troy. Troy had protected itself against the strengthening the Frenoh and attacking army by an insuperable waU, and slovakian Communist Parties, which were the attacking army, which had had heavy undermining the military power of Franoe 108888, could not gain victory-until it suc­ and Czechoslovakia. ceeded, with the aid of the Trojan Horae, The better this shortsighted policy in penetrating into the city, into the very with its double bottom was functioning, heart of the enemy. We revolutionary the faster did it hurtle toward its bank­ workers must not be ashamed of employing the ll&Dle tactics against our Fascist enemy." ruptcy. The catastrophe developed simul-' taneously in Spain and France. The second method was that of "partial demands." According to the belief that In Spain, the formation of a Popular he who offers much, offers something Front Government led to the outbreak to many, the individual strata or groups of the in the summer within each people were to be baited of 1936. Constant inner friction within and won over through concessions to a the camp of the Popular Front, largely part of their demands. such as democracy. a result of the claims to leadership on the religious freedom. prevention of war, etc. part of the Communist Party and the By these means, all forces that were anti­ interference of Soviet adviaers in Spanish Fascist, no matter for what reason. were affairs, led to the outbreak of a civil war to be co-ordinated and brought under the within the Popular Front and contributed systematic, uniform will of the Com­ to General Franco's victory in 1939. munists. In France, the Popular Front ruled­ with interruptions-from the formation THE SLOGAN OF OPPORTUNISM of the first Blum Cabinet on June 5, 1936, These two methods represent the most until Daladier's break with the Com­ extreme opportwlism of tacijcs imagi­ munists on October 4, 1938. This period, nable. Ercoli found what ClUl be caUed so disastrous for France, resulted in total a classic formula for it in his speech at disorganization. Strikes, social strife, the .the last World Congress: "If it is neces­ introduction of the 40-hour week, and sary, in order to reach the people, to numerous other measures, weakened l'peak a new language, discard bare France 'to such a degree that she was formulas, destroy old plans, change the plunged into a catastrophe in 19.0. methods of work, reshape the forms of organization-well then, we shall do 80 1939 TO 1942 without the least hesitation." cWth UI4 8lxth 1'eriodI) This policy reached its climax barely The fifth period in the development of one year later in the formation of the the Comintem came when the Soviet Popular Front Government in France Government, alarmed by the strengthen­ (June 5, 1936) and in the Spanish Civil ing of the Rome-Berlin Axis as a result War (outbreak: July 18. 1936). of Franco's victory and the weakening -~------,-,..------

298 THE XXth CENTURY

of France, signed a pact with Germany Front," except that the emphasis of the on August 23,1939. A few days later, the Bolshevist activity is directed at Grea~ ·war broke out between Germany and the Britain and the USA instead of at France western democracies. From this moment and Czeohoelovakia, and that the Sovie~ on, it was the design of the Bolshevist Union, as the ally of the former two leaders to keep the Soviet Union out of powers, poeeesses far greater possibilities the war for the time being, in order to for subversive activities than ever before. be able later on to lead the intact Red Army against a Europe weakened through • • • fratricidal warfare and through the sub­ This issue will reach our readers on versive activities of the Comintem. the twenty-fifth anniversary of one of This was a time of great difficulty for the strangest, bloodiest, and most fateful the Comintem. After years of Popular events in history-that of the Bolsheviks' Front propaganda, the Communists in the accession to power in Russia. Shortly democratio countries had the thankless afterwards the Comintem was founded. task of explaining the sudden desertion Thus the two fists of Bolshevism, Soviet of the Soviet Union from the democratio Russia and the Comintem, have been camp, the brutal attack upon Finland, working for a quArter of a century, some­ and the procedure against Poland and times side by side and sometimes on the Baltic States. This strain was too separate roads, towards their one goal­ much for the Popular Front. It lost face the Bolshevization of the world. and power everywhere. The countless During the last sixteen months, the sympathizers deserted again. Only armies of Europe have swept Bolshevism thoee who were ready unconditionally from its richest possessions in European to carry out any gyrations ordered by Russia, and its hold over the rest has Moscow could be kept in line. been seriously shaken. But in watching The development of the war progressed the spectacular successes of Europe much faster than Moscow had hoped. against the USSR, the world, especially Instead of the European powers slowly the so-called democratic countries in­ wearing each other out in long-drawnout 'cluding India and Chungking, should struggles, the German Army and its not forget that Bolshevism has one more allies quickly overran the entire Euro­ weapon, the Comintern, which. is doing pean continent, being aided in this by its utmost to find compensation for every the disintegration of its enemies through inch of ground lost in Europe by gains the Comintern. After the completion of in Asia or Amerioa. the Balkan campaign, only England re­ For true Bolsheviks, Russia is only a mained. The Soviet Union had to hurry name. One day they may call the last if it did not want to see its last possible twenty-five years "the Russian episode ally in Europe against Germany disappear. of Bolshevism." For them, the death On June 22, 1941, Germany forestalled of millions of Russians is not to be Moscow in its plans. regretted if it means that they can shift And thus began the sixth, the present the Red Flag from the Kremlin to period in the development of the Comin­ Bombay or Pittsburgh, and if the Don tern. In many ways, it resembles the and the Volga are replaced by the Thames, fourth period, that of the "Popular the Ganges, and the Hudson.