The Fourth Comintern Congress - Building the International

This final post on the decisions reached by the Fourth (1922) Congress of the Communist International, seeks to summarise - in brief - the key points from a range of resolutions looking at different aspects of strengthening its sections, specifically work amongst Trade Unions, Youth, Women, Black workers and on Education and Agitation.

Trade Unions

The Congress resolution on trade unions noted that, globally, unions had lost membership and strength thanks to the ferocity of the capitalist offensive - and the inability of the reformist trade union leaderships to resist it.

Rather than accept losing control of the leaderships of national federations, the leaders of the reformist 'Amsterdam' trade union international were resorting to expulsions and splits. Anarcho-syndicalist federations had also resorted to similar action against Communist trade unionists too. This was being done in the name of keeping unions 'neutral' from party politics - but, in practice, that meant allying themselves with the existing order, rather than a political struggle to change it.

In response, Communist workers had to organise firm caucuses within their unions, and seek to work in alliance with the most revolutionary workers in other currents, such as the syndicalists. Rather than allowing the reformists to retain their damaging control by driving the best forces out of the unions, the Communists must fight expulsions and oppose splits in the trade union movement, fighting for readmission where expulsions have been enforced. They should call for the fusion of parallel trade union confederations in countries such as Spain, France and Czechoslovakia. This should be done around a concrete programme of demands and action for each branch of industry.

Youth

The Congress resolution on youth referred back to the previous Congress resolutions seeking to build mass organisations of worker youth, based primarily on political struggle. 

In general, that work had not yet succeeded in building such a mass base. In part this was owing to the pressures of the capitalist offensive that particularly weighed down on young workers, and also from the lack of support for young workers by the trade union bureaucracy. The Communist parties needed to campaign for the workers' movement to take up the defence of young workers, including in opposition to the growing militarism. That should include working to build Communist youth groups within workplaces and trade union branches, and in schools as well. 

Within the Party itself, the education of youth needed careful and systematic attention, helping to organise schools and courses and making sure youth were writing for party publications, including features on the lives and struggles of worker youth.

Zetkin and other delegates at the International Women's Congress, 1921

Women

The Fourth Congress resolution focussed on the work being carried out by the International Communist Women’s Secretariat. Their work had helped to build international connections between Communist women in different sections and to set up women's organisations within them.

"In the countries still under bourgeois class rule, the first priority of systematic Communist work among women producers and proletarians has been the struggle to defend the bare essentials of life against capitalist exploitation, the struggle to overthrow the bourgeoisie and establish a proletarian dictatorship. In the Soviet states, by contrast, the main emphasis has been the effort to draw worker and peasant women into all arenas of the economy and social life for construction of the proletarian state, and their schooling to carry out the resulting tasks". 

Clara Zetkin, in charge of the Secretariat's work, spoke to emphasise that: "What we conventionally term the Communist Women’s Movement is not at all an independent movement of women and has nothing in common with any women’s rights currents. It signifies methodical Communist work among women for a double goal. First, with respect to women who already embrace the idea of communism, to integrate them ideologically and organisationally into the different national sections of the Communist International and to make them into active and conscious collaborators in and contributors to the entire life and work of these sections. In addition, with regard to women not yet imbued with Communist ideas, it involves winning them and drawing them into all the actions and struggles of the proletariat".

However, the Congress resolution again had to state its criticism of some sections for the lack of attention they had placed on this area of work and stressed the need for these omissions to be corrected. In her speech, Zetkin drew attention to some specific examples and pointed to how work could be improved.

Black Workers

The Fourth Congress resolution pointed to imperialism's attempts to fully colonise and exploit the continent of Africa. But the struggles against imperialism were awakening a 'racial consciousness' amongst millions of Black  people, not only in Africa but also in the United States: "The history of Blacks in the United States has prepared them to play an important role in the liberation struggle of the entire African race. Three hundred years ago, the American Blacks were torn from their native soil, transported on slave ships under the most indescribably cruel conditions, and sold into slavery ... The Blacks were not docile slaves. Their history tells of rebellions, revolts, and underground techniques of winning freedom. But all their struggles were savagely suppressed". 

The American Civil War, fought "to maintain the industrial supremacy of capitalism in the Northern states ... presented Blacks with the choice between slavery in the South and wage slavery in the North". The 'emancipated' Black workers were then recruited into the American army as supposed 'equals' but returned to the US to face "racial persecution, lynching, murder, deprival of the right to vote, and inequality." The anger against this persecution "combined with the impact of the Blacks’ integration into industry in the North ... assigns to American Blacks, especially in the North, a place in the vanguard of the struggle against oppression in Africa".

The resolution pointed to the common enemy of both Black and white workers  - capitalism and imperialism. It called for the international struggle for emancipation to be based on the struggle against them - linking together the workers of the US with the masses of Africa and Central America and the Caribbean. The Comintern had to promote that international organisation against Black oppression whilst also showing Black workers that workers and peasants from other peoples across the world faced the same outrageous attacks of racial oppression, inequality and exploitation.

The Congress resolved to support Black peoples' struggles against oppression, for equality of wages and political and social rights and for unions to recruit Black workers into their ranks.

Education and Agitation

The Congress resolution proposed that each section should develop an "Education Secretariat" to oversee the education of party members, including central and local Party schools, day and evening classes, with particular attention being paid to youth. It should be supported by an international education section which can assist in publishing materials, for example on understanding the ideas of Marxism. 

The resolution particularly stressed ensuring that "Party members are acquainted with at least the programme of their own Party, the twenty-one conditions for joining the Communist International, and any decisions of the Communist International that particularly concern their own Party" and that organisers are similarly "aware of every major tactical and organisational decision taken by the Congress."

Cadre development would also came from their practical activity, from taking part in agitation in the workplaces, unions, workers' clubs and, sometimes most effectively, in homes - but in fact anywhere where there are workers present. The agitation had to be understandable to workers - starting with the basic demands of workers - "there must be no attempts to force on those listening Communist principles and demands that are incomprehensible to them."

The Party leadership should issue practical advice to help with agitational work, especially when it came to specific campaigns "such as election campaigns, the campaign against high prices and for tax cuts, the movements for industrial soviets and for the unemployed, and other forms of Party activity". It also proposed that a survey be sent to all members to find out how often they carried out Party work and agitational activity.

Two key areas of work: youth and trade unions - decisions of the Third Congress

This final post reviewing the decisions made by the Third Congress of the Communist International in 1921, looks at two key areas of work for any genuinely revolutionary international - the youth and the trade unions.

The Youth

The youth resolution agreed by the Congress started by contrasting the approach of the Third International with that of the social-democratic Second International. It pointed out that the reformist parties of social democracy feared the self-organisation of young workers as a potential threat to the opportunist politics of their party leaderships. "They sought to place the movement under bureaucratic tutelage and destroy its independence, in order to oppress the movement, change its character, and bring it into line with their politics."

However, after the betrayal of the parties of the Second International at the outbreak of world war - when they had all sided with their respective capitalist governments' war efforts - the best of the socialist youth had split from their 'adult' parties and had tried to reform the Socialist Youth International on the basis of genuine internationalism. After the launching of the Third International, many of these forces then formed the Communist Youth International in 1919.

However, it's clear from the wording of the resolution, that a certain 'anti-leadership' tendency still existed amongst some of the youth, borne out of their experience in the Second International. It stresses the need for the youth organisations to take their political leadership from their respective Communist parties, and the International, rather than work as a politically independent organisation which would risk "the emergence of two Communist parties competing with each other, differing only in the age of their members". If there was a serious disagreement  between a Communist Party and its youth organisation, the Executive Committees of the Communist International and Communist Youth International would be called upon to try and resolve it.

A training ground for revolutionary youth

However, it added that, "in giving up its political independence, the youth organisation does not lose its organisational independence, which is indispensable for educational purposes". In other words, while political policy, programme and tactics were to be set by the party as a whole, the youth organisations must be able to develop their own independent internal life, in particular as training grounds for a new generation of revolutionary leaders. That educational side of the youth organisation was vital - but the resolution stressed that this training came as a combination of both 'theory' and 'practice': "the basis for Communist education in the Communist youth movement is active participation in all revolutionary struggles, which must be closely linked to Marxist training."

The resolution also stressed that "the time has passed in which a Communist youth organisation could limit itself to the work of a numerically small propaganda circle. In order to win the broad masses of young workers, the Communist youth organisation carries out tenacious agitation, conducted with new methods, and also initiates and leads economic struggles".

The resolution also stressed that at a national and international level, the party and its youth organisations should have 'reciprocal' relations where at every level of the party - leadership, regional, district, and local branches and workplace 'cells' - there are youth representatives at the full party meetings and vice versa. This should particularly apply at conferences and congresses too. "This will make it possible for the Communist Party constantly to influence the youth’s political line and activity and to support the youth, while the youth, for their part, will be able to exert an effective influence in the party".

The resolution also raised these further important points about youth work :

"Both their economic situation and their distinctive psychological profile make the worker youth more receptive to Communist ideas. They display greater enthusiasm in revolutionary struggle than the adult workers". 

"The Communist youth organisation must do all in its power to promote the movement’s rejuvenation ... passing on its older members to the Communist Party at a rapid pace".

"The Communist youth organisations conduct animated discussion of all political problems, collaborate in building Communist parties, and participate vigorously in revolutionary struggles and actions. This is the main and fundamental difference between them and the centrist and social-patriotic youth leagues".

The Trade Unions

The Congress discussion on trade union work took place at the same time as the launch of the Red International of Labour Unions (RILU or 'Profintern') - an attempt to set up an alternative, Communist-led, international trade union federation to seek to pull trade unions away from the existing Social-Democratic-led federation, the so-called 'Amsterdam International'. 

It's important to stress that, while the Comintern was seeking to build an alternative international trade union federation, its policy was not to split existing national trade unions themselves to form separate 'Red Unions', nor was it to take an ultra-left attitude that trade unions are inevitably permanently bureaucratised bodies and that revolutionaries should just turn their backs on them. No, the resolution spelt out that "the task of Communists is to explain to proletarians that nothing is to be gained by leaving the old trade unions and remaining unorganised. Rather the solution is to win the trade unions to revolution, rid them of the spirit of reformism and of the traitorous reformist leaders, and thus to transform the unions into genuine strongholds of the revolutionary proletariat".

Syndicalism

Some of the forces initially affiliated to the RILU had 'syndicalist' views, meaning that they advocated revolutionary trade union struggle alone and opposed supporting revolutionary political parties. The Congress debate therefore also had to discuss how to take up these syndicalist ideas. 

Syndicalist ideas had gained significant backing in the French trade unions and, in June 1921, Trotsky had written a letter on behalf of the Comintern Executive to the French CP raising concerns about its failure to take up the syndicalists' 'anti-party' attitude, saying: "A tacit agreement reigns by virtue of which all questions of the trade-union movement seem to have become something in the nature of an ideological monopoly of revolutionary syndicalism".

The trade union resolution agreed at the Congress stressed that the "concept that trade unions are neutral, apolitical, and non-partisan" reflected the influence of capitalist ideas that the "ruling classes have succeeded in implanting among the working masses". The bosses - and the trade-union bureaucrats - "preach trade-union neutrality" but, in reality, "no mass workers’ organisation can remain neutral in the struggle between capital and labour. It follows that the trade unions, too, cannot remain neutral with regard to the bourgeois parties and the party of the proletariat." Therefore, the French Communists in particular, must "in a friendly but firm manner ... point out what is erroneous in the positions of revolutionary syndicalism". 

The 1921 UK census records the miners strike in its records

The resolution posed the issue in the context of the three-month long miners' strike in Britain - that had started in April 1921 after the newly privatised owners had demanded wage cuts - which was just ending, but in defeat: "Can the Communist Party say that this is an exclusively trade-union question and is of no concern to the party? Millions of unemployed today face destitution and are reduced to the status of beggars. The question must be posed of requisitioning the dwellings of the bourgeoisie in order to ease the housing crisis of the proletariat. Broader and broader masses of workers are forced by the realities of life to consider the question of arming the proletariat. Workers in one country after another are organising the occupation of factories and industrial establishments. Under such conditions, the assertion that the unions should not get involved in political struggle, and should remain neutral toward all parties, amounts in practice to entering the service of the bourgeoisie".

But the resolution also pointed out that the experience of struggle was also having an effect on the consciousness of British workers: "the mass movement is developing, and the old trade-union leaders are quickly becoming discredited. The party must make every effort to win a foothold in the large unions, such as the miners. Every member of the party must be active in a union, winning support for communism through energetic, persistent organisational work. Nothing should be neglected in seeking closer ties with the masses".

Winning the best workers to the Party

The resolution also stressed that the trade unions are mass organisations "embracing larger masses than the party", including "not only convinced Communists but also intermediate and even quite backward layers of the proletariat, who approach communism only step by step, based on the lessons of life ... The main task of all Communists in the coming period consists of tenacious, vigorous, and stubborn effort to win the majority of workers in all trade unions. We must not be discouraged by current reactionary moods in the unions, but rather should take part actively in the unions’ daily struggles, despite every obstacle, and thus work to win them to communism".

The resolution also stressed that work inside the unions must be done in a perceptive way, not a patronising one: "The strength of every Communist Party can be best measured by the degree of influence that it really exerts on the masses of workers in the trade unions. The party must be able to exert its decisive influence in the trade unions without petty, patronising interference. Only the Communist cells in the union, not the union as such, are subordinated to the party. Only through consistent, devoted, and perceptive work by Communist trade-union cells can the party achieve a situation where the unions as a whole heed the advice of the party happily and willingly."

The resolution also discussed "three phases" of trade unionism. Firstly, under capitalism, organising "workers primarily on an economic basis to win such improvements as are possible before capitalism’s complete overthrow", whilst, at the same time, revolutionary trade unionists must also patiently explain the need for that overthrow. Secondly, during the revolution itself, "genuinely revolutionary trade unions work together with the party to organise the masses for an immediate assault against the capitalist strongholds and to undertake the basic work of organising the socialist revolution." Thirdly, in a workers' state, "the work of the trade unions shifts chiefly to the field of economic organisation. They devote their resources almost completely to organising the economy on a socialist basis. In this way, they become a practical school of socialism".

Trade Union Tactics

The resolution raised a number of tactical and strategic suggestions for strengthening trade union struggle. These included:

'One enterprise, one union’: "The starting point to exert workers’ full strength in struggle is to make the transition from unions organised by trades to unions based on branches of industry. ‘One enterprise, one union’ must be the slogan for building the movement. Related unions must be fused into a single federation in a revolutionary fashion by posing the question directly to union members in the factories and shops, and then to regional and national congresses".

'Factory councils': "The previous form of relationships with ordinary union members (treasurer, chair, stewards, and other posts) must be replaced by factory councils, elected by all workers of a given enterprise, regardless of their political persuasion. Members of the Red International of Labour Unions need to ensure that all workers of the enterprise in question take part in the election of the council that is to represent them. All attempts to restrict elections of factory councils to meetings of those sharing a common viewpoint, those supporting a given party, while excluding the broad mass of non-party workers from the elections, must be categorically rejected. Such a structure would be a cell, not a factory council. Through its cells, action committees, and individual members, the revolutionary sector of the workers must exert its influence on the general assembly and on the factory council it elects".

'Open the Books': "A struggle is ... needed against factory closures, in which workers demand to know the reason for the shutdown. Special control commissions should be formed for this purpose, assigned to check on raw materials, fuel, and orders. They should also conduct an inventory of the raw materials actually available for production and the money reserves deposited in banks. These specially elected control commissions must carefully investigate the financial relations between the enterprise in question and other enterprises. Among the workers’ immediate objectives should be abolition of business secrets".

'Strikes and Occupations': As well as strikes, unions should consider "workers’ occupation of the factory or workplace and the continuation of production against the employers’ will. Given the prevailing shortages, continuation of production is necessary, and workers should therefore not permit the deliberate shutdown of factories and workplaces. Depending on local conditions, the nature of production, the political situation, and the level of tension in social struggles, occupations can be supported by other methods of exerting pressure on the employer. When an enterprise is occupied, its management must be taken over by the factory or shop committee alongside a specially chosen representative of the union".

'International solidarity': "The trade unions must make practical preparations to organise international strikes embracing a given branch of production. Halting coal production or interrupting trade on an international level are important forms of struggle against reactionary attacks by the international bourgeoisie. The unions must follow the world economic situation attentively, in order to choose the best moment for an attack. They must not overlook the fact that an international action, whatever its form, will be possible only with the formation of truly international revolutionary trade unions, which have nothing in common with the yellow Amsterdam International".

'Stopping scabs and movement of goods': "It is not enough for workers to carefully prepare each important strike. When the strike breaks out, they must also establish special squads for struggle against strike-breakers and ... also take the initiative in halting shipments of goods intended for the factory in question, as well as its shipments of finished products to other factories and enterprises. In this regard, transport workers play a particularly important role. It is their responsibility to hold up goods in transit, which is only feasible with solid support from all the workers in that locality".