For years the Comintern had intended to develop a program concretizing the strategy and tactics of the world Communist movement, but it was not until the 6th World Congress (1928) that this long awaited program arrived. Written by Nikolai Bukharin, the leading theoretician of the Communist International, the document reflects a compromise between Bukharin and the “corridor congress” under Stalin’s influence which pushed through its proposals concerning such questions as the attitude to Social Democracy and fascism. These compromised reveal, in embryo, the rudiments of the ultra-left “Third Period” whose tragic results we will study next week.
In our previous studies of the world movement we have repeatedly emphasized the lack of theoretical practice found in these movements. In many respects our emphasis will now be directed to the results of this poverty as reflected in the other practices of the Communist movement.
1. Discuss the document’s perception of the inevitable collapse of capitalism and its relation to the breakdown theory. What were the repercussions of this perception in terms of the Communist Party’s relation to other parties in a crisis situation? How has this effected the sectarianism of the New Communist Movement?
2. What are the strategy and tactics of the Comintern for advanced capitalist countries? Does this approach signify an adequate understanding of the necessary political, economic, ideological and theoretical work preceding such a strategy?
3. How does the Comintern see the place of the USSR in the strategy for world revolution? What happens to the practice of a party when it e accepts such a subordinate position in relation to a world center and how does this reflect on flunkyism?
4. How does the Program deal with fascism and distinguish it from bourgeois democracy? How does it define the social forces giving rise to fascism? Where does Social Democracy fit into all this? Is any distinction made between the leaders of the Social Democratic parties and their mass of followers?
The Program of the Communist International