From the Second to the Third International

• * required / • recommended reading

Recommended preliminary background reading

• J. P. Nettl, “The German Social Democratic Party 1890–1914 as a Political Model” (1965)

Week 1

Karl Kautsky, _The Class Struggle_ (1892)

Week 2

Kautsky, _The Road to Power_ (1909)

Week 3

The Organisational Structure of the Communist Parties, the Methods and Content of Their Work: Theses

The 21 Conditions of Admission into the Communist International

Leon Trotsky, The First Five Years of the Communist International (1924) 2 vols. [Volume I] [Volume II]

Recommended selections (*)

Volume I

* Author’s 1924 Introduction *

I. The First World Congress

• 1. Manifesto of the Communist International to the Workers of the World

1. Report on the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Red Army

2. Order of the Day Number 83 to the Red Army and Navy

II. From the First to the Second World Congress

• 1. To Comrades of the Spartacus League
• 1. A Creeping Revolution

1. Great Days

2. En Route: Thoughts on the Progress of the Proletarian Revolution

3. French Socialism on the Eve of Revolution

4. Jean Longuet

5. On the Coming Congress of the Comintern

III. The Second World Congress

• 1. Speech on Comrade Zinoviev’s Report on the Role of the Party
• 1. Manifesto of the Second World Congress Part I

Part II

IV. From the Second to the Third World Congress

1. On the Policy of the KAPD (Communist Workers Party of Germany)

2. Speech Delivered at the Second World Conference of Communist Women

3. Letter to Comrade Monatte

4. Letter to Comrades Cachin and Frossard

5. On L’Humanité, the Central Organ of the French Party

V. The Third World Congress

1. The Red Army to the General Staff of the Revolution

• 19. Report on the World Economic Crisis and the New Tasks of the Communist International Part I Part II

1. Summary Speech

• 21. Theses of the Third World Congress on the International Situation and the Tasks of the Comintern

1. Speech on the Italian Question at the Third Congress of the Communist International

2. Speech on Comrade Radek’s Report on “Tactics of the Comintern” at the Third Congress

3. Speech on Comrade Lenin’s Report: “Tactics of the Russian Communist Party”

VI. From the Third to the Fourth World Congress

1. The Main Lesson of the Third Congress

2. Report on “The Balance Sheet” of the Third Congress of the Communist International

3. Summary Speech

Appendix

Towards the First World Congress

1. May Day and the International

• 1. To the Spartacus League of Germany and the Communist Party of German Austria
• 1. Order Out of Chaos

The First World Congress

1. Invitation to the First World Congress

From the First to the Second World Congress

1. A Letter to Our French Comrades

From the Second to the Third World Congress

1. A Letter to a French Syndicalist About the Communist Party

2. Vergeat, Lepetit and Lefebvre

3. The March Movement in Germany

4. The March Revolutionary Movement in Germany (Personal Notes)

5. May Day Manifesto of the ECCI

• 11. The Unemployed and the Trade Unions

Volume II

From the Third to the Fourth World Congress

• 1. A School of Revolutionary Strategy (July 1921) Part I Part II

1. From the ECCI to the Central Committee of the French Communist Party (June 25, 1921)

2. From the ECCI to the Marseilles Convention of the French Communist Party (December 1921)

3. Speech on Comrade Zinoviev’s Report “The Tactics of the Comintern” at the Eleventh Party Conference (December 1921)

• 1. Summary Speech at the Eleventh Party Conference (December 1921)
• 1. Flood-tide (December 25, 1921)
• 1. Paul Levi and Some ‘Lefts’ (January 6, 1922)
• 1. On the United Front (March 2, 1922)

1. Resolution of the ECCI on the French Communist Party (March 2, 1922)

2. The Communists and the Peasantry in France (April 29, 1922)

3. The Lessons of May Day (May 10, 1922)

4. From the ECCI to the Central Committee of the French Communist Party (May 12, 1922)

5. French Communism and the Position of Comrade Rappoport (May 23, 1922)

6. To Comrade Ker (June 6, 1922)

7. Resolution of the ECCI on the French Communist Party (June 11, 1922)

8. To Comrade Treint (July 28, 1922)

9. From the ECCI to the Seine Federation of the French Communist Party (Summer 1922)

10. From the ECCI to the Paris Convention of the French Communist Party (September 13, 1922)

11. From the ECCI to the Paris Convention of the French Communist Party (October 6, 1922)

The Fourth World Congress

• 20. The Fifth Anniversary of the October Revolution and the Fourth World Congress of the Communist International (October 20, 1922)

1. Speech in Honour of the Communist International (November 7, 1922)

• 22. The New Economic Policy of Soviet Russia and the Perspectives of the World Revolution (November 14, 1922) Part I

Part II

• 23. The Economic Situation of Soviet Russia From the Standpoint of the Socialist Revolution (theses) (December 1, 1922)

1. Resolution on the French Question (December 2, 1922)

2. A Militant Labour Program for the French Communist Party(December 5, 1922)

3. Resolution of the French Commission (December 2, 1922)

After the Fourth Congress

• 27. Political Perspectives (November 1922)

1. Report on the Fourth World Congress (December 28, 1922)

2. Preface to The Communist Movement in France (March 25, 1923)

3. Is the Slogan of ‘The United States of Europe’ a Timely One? (June 30, 1923)

4. Can a Counter-Revolution or a Revolution be Made on Schedule? (September 23, 1923)