Source: International Press Correspondence, Vol. 23 No. 49, 12 July 1923, p. 508.
On-line Publication: Zinoviev Internet Archive, October 2021.
Transcription/Mark-up: Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
June 22, 1923
Although Comrade Falk’s last speech makes it difficult for me to make this proposal, I nevertheless suggest that in order to obtain a closer bond with the Scandinavian parties, another Scandinavian comrade be elected to the Presidium. The two Scandinavian representatives will share a vote between them. I would suggest that the Swedish and the Norwegian Parties should alternately send a comrade whose task should be to keep the Executive informed of the actual state of affairs in the Scandinavian parties. I hope that this proposal will be adopted in spite of the provocative speech of Comrade Falk.
The discussion has shown that Comrade Falk stands absolutely alone in his point of view in the Communist International. If he deliberately set out to emphasise his isolation, he has succeeded brilliantly. As to the threat of a split, I must repeat what I had already said more than once in the Commission. We know Comrade Tranmael to be a comrade who has fought for many years in the labour movement and who will remain faithful to the labour movement. Of Comrade Falk we know nothing. But we know from frequent experience that intellectual left-radicals like him end up on the side of the bourgeoisie. I do not know whether Comrade Falk is entitled to make the threat of a split in the name of the Norwegian Party. But we are not so easily intimidated. Many a man who started out to make a similar split is now a political corpse. (Applause). If he is determined to pursue this path, then let us assure him that he may be able to play a part amongst the Social democrats, but not with us. The Norwegian workers will not give him the opportunity to play with the fate of the Party. Long live the unity of the Norwegian Party. (Loud and prolonged applause. The delegates spontaneously strike up the International.)
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