Historical Organization
Communist International
Communist International
Details
Organization Timeline
First Congress of the Communist International opens
đź“… 2 March 1919Delegates from socialist and communist organizations met in Moscow to establish the Communist International (Comintern). It presented anti-imperialist revolution and international worker solidarity as...
The Communist International meets in Moscow
đź“… 2 March 1919Delegates founded the Communist International to coordinate revolutionary parties across borders. Many delegates came from colonized or semi-colonized regions and treated anti-imperialism as...
Trotsky’s manifesto is adopted at the founding congress of the Comintern
đź“… 6 March 1919The First Congress of the Communist International adopted a manifesto drafted by Trotsky. It called workers across borders to oppose imperial war and colonial domination, presenting revolutions in...
Lenin sends a message of solidarity to the Indian Revolutionary Association
📅 10 May 1920Lenin’s broadcast answered a message from Indian revolutionaries meeting in Kabul and linked Soviet Russia’s struggle to India’s liberation. The exchange offers a direct record of anti-colonial...
Lenin circulates theses on national and colonial questions
📅 5 June 1920Lenin’s draft urged communists to distinguish oppressor and oppressed nations and to ally with anti-colonial movements while maintaining class analysis. The theses supported colonial liberation but...
Lenin’s pamphlet Left-Wing Communism reaches Comintern delegates
📅 8 June 1920Written in April–May, the pamphlet urged communist parties to participate in unions and elections where workers remained active. It was also a sharp intervention against European and British left...
Trotsky debates trade-union policy at the Second Comintern Congress
📅 1 July 1920The congress debated the relationship between unions, parties, and the state. Trotsky’s positions favored union integration into economic administration, prompting criticism from socialists who...
Second Comintern Congress debates national and colonial questions
📅 19 July 1920The Second Congress of the Communist International opened and debated the relationship between socialist revolution, national liberation and colonial movements. Lenin’s theses argued that communists...
Lenin addresses the Second Comintern Congress on strategy
đź“… 19 July 1920Lenin discussed party organization, colonial struggles, and alliances with national liberation movements. The congress formalized a global revolutionary program, but participation was unequal and...
Baku Congress brings Iranian delegates into a wider movement
đź“… 1 September 1920The Congress of the Peoples of the East opened in Baku. Iranian participation connected local struggles with a Comintern campaign against imperial rule.
Trotsky publishes Where Is Britain Going?
📅 1 September 1920The book analyzed British labor politics and argued for a revolutionary party strategy. Its comparison of a colonial empire’s metropole with Soviet Russia foregrounded class conflict, but its...
Lenin presents theses to the Third Comintern Congress
📅 22 June 1921Lenin urged communist parties to assess political conditions carefully after revolutionary hopes in Europe receded. The call for a united front reflected strategic adaptation, while the Comintern’s...
Trotsky reports to the Third Comintern Congress
📅 1 July 1921He urged communist parties to avoid premature insurrection and win a majority among workers, captured in the “To the Masses” turn. The strategy followed revolutionary defeats and sought to learn...
Trotsky argues for an international strategy after revolutionary setbacks
đź“… 1 November 1922At the Fourth Comintern Congress, Trotsky helped advance a united-front approach, seeking common action with workers who remained in reformist organizations. The tactic was an effort to engage mass...
Trotsky warns about the Chinese Communist Party’s subordination to the Kuomintang
📅 1 April 1926In debate over the Chinese revolution, Trotsky argued that communist independence from the nationalist Kuomintang was necessary for workers’ and peasants’ self-organization. This was a significant...
League Against Imperialism opens in Brussels
đź“… 10 February 1927Delegates from anti-colonial, nationalist and communist movements met at the League Against Imperialism congress. The Comintern and Soviet networks supported the initiative, which connected colonial...
League Against Imperialism concludes with a transnational anti-colonial platform
đź“… 15 February 1927The congress closed after adopting resolutions against colonial domination and racial hierarchy. It brought anti-colonial activists into contact with socialist organizations and publicized struggles...
Shanghai massacre shatters the first united-front strategy
đź“… 12 April 1927Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-shek attacked Communists and labor activists in Shanghai, ending the alliance that had structured the first united front. Soviet and Comintern policy had sought to...
Trotsky criticizes Comintern policy toward the Chinese revolution
đź“… 27 April 1927Trotsky argued that subordinating the Chinese Communist Party to the nationalist Kuomintang left workers and peasants exposed to repression, especially after the Shanghai massacre. His critique...
Nanchang Uprising launches an armed Communist revolt in China
đź“… 1 August 1927Chinese Communist forces launched an uprising in Nanchang after the collapse of the united front with the Kuomintang. The revolt marked a turn toward independent armed struggle, influenced by...
Chinese Communist Party adopts an insurrectionary line at the August 7 Conference
📅 7 August 1927At an emergency conference, Chinese Communist leaders repudiated the previous alliance strategy and adopted a line emphasizing armed struggle and agrarian revolution. The shift reflected the party’s...
Trotsky writes critiques of the Comintern’s Chinese policy from exile
📅 1 July 1928He argued that the Comintern’s direction had subordinated Chinese communists to the Kuomintang and contributed to catastrophic defeats. His analysis centered class independence, while decolonial...
Sixth Comintern Congress opens in Moscow
đź“… 17 July 1928The Sixth Congress of the Communist International opened and adopted a more confrontational analysis of capitalism and colonialism. Delegates debated the failures of the Chinese united-front...
Trotsky calls for a new international after Hitler’s victory
📅 15 July 1933He concluded that the German Communist Party’s failure to stop Hitler could not be corrected through its existing leadership and called for building new parties and an international. This marked a...
Seventh Congress of the Communist International opens
đź“… 25 July 1935Delegates debated a united front against fascism and adopted the Popular Front line. Communist parties were urged to cooperate with other anti-fascist forces, while the Comintern remained shaped by...
The Communist International votes to dissolve
đź“… 15 May 1943The Comintern announced its dissolution during the war, formally recognizing the distinct conditions facing communist parties in different countries. The move also reassured the Allied powers that...