Thesis on the International Situation and the Tasks of the Communist International. July 4, 1921

I. The Root of the Problem

1. The revolutionary movement at the close of the imperialist war and during the succeeding period has been marked by unprecedented intensity. The month of March, 1917, witnessed the overthrow of Tsarism. In May, 1917, a vehement strike movement broke out in England. In November, 1917, the Russian proletariat seized the power of Government. The month of November, 1919, marked the downfall of the German and Austro-Hungarian monarchies. In the course of the succeeding year, a number of European countries were being swept by a powerful strike movement constantly gaining in scope and intensity. In March, 1919, a Soviet Republic was inaugurated in Hungary. At the close of that year the United States was convulsed by turbulent strikes involving the steel workers, miners and railroad workers. Following the January and March battles of 1919 the revolutionary movement in Germany reached its culminating point shortly after the Kapp uprising in March, 1920. The internal situation in France became most tense in the month of May, 1920. In Italy we witnessed the constant growth of unrest among the industrial and agrarian proletariat leading, in September, 1920, to the seizure of factories, mills and estates by the workers. In December, 1920, the Czech proletariat resorted to the weapon of the proletarian mass strike. March, 1921, marked the uprising of workers in Central Germany and the coal miners' strike in England.

Having reached its highest point in those countries which had been involved in the war, particularly in the defeated countries, the revolutionary movement spread to the neutral countries as well. In Asia and in Africa, the movement aroused and intensified the revolutionary spirit of the great masses of the colonial countries. But this powerful revolutionary wave did not succeed in sweeping away international capitalism, nor even the capitalist order of Europe itself.

2. A number of uprisings and revolutionary battles have taken place during the year that elapsed between the Second and Third Congress of the Communist International, which resulted in sectional defeats (the Red Army offensive new Warsaw in August, 1920, the movement of the Italian proletariat in September, 1920, and the uprising of the German workers in March. 1921).

Following the close of the war which has been characterized by the elemental nature of its onslaught by the considerable formlessness of its methods and aims, and the extreme panic of the ruling classes, the first period of the revolutionary movement may now be regarded as having reached its termination. The self-confidence of the bourgeoisie as a class, and the apparent stability of its government apparatus have undoubtedly become strengthened. The panic of Communism haunting the bourgeoisie, not having disappeared, has nevertheless somewhat relaxed. The leading spirits of the bourgeoisie are now even boasting of the might of their government apparatus, and have assumed the offensive against the laboring masses everywhere, on both the economic and the political fields.

3. This situation presents the following questions to the Communist International and to the entire working class:

To what extent does this transformation in the relations between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat correspond to the actual balance of the contending forces? Is it true that the bourgeoisie is about to restore the social balance which had been upset by the war? Is there any ground to suppose that the period of political upheaval and of class-wars is going to be superseded by a new epoch of restoration and capitalist development? Does not this necessitate revision of program or tactics of the Communist International?

II. The War, Artificial Business Stimulation

The Crisis and the Countries of Europe.

4. The high tide of capitalism was reached in the two decades preceding the war. The intervals of prosperity were superseded by periods of depression of comparatively shorter duration and intensity. The general trend was that of an upward curve: the capitalist countries were growing rich.

Having scoured the world market through their trusts, cartels, and consortiums, the masters of world-capitalism well realized that this mad growth of capitalism will finally strike a dead wall, confining the limits of the capacity of the market created by themselves. They therefore tried to get out of the difficulty by a surgical method. In place of a lengthy period of economic depression which was to follow and result in wholesale destruction of productive resources, the bloody crisis of the world war was ushered in to serve the same Purpose.

But the war proved not only extremely destructive in its methods, but also of an unexpectedly lengthy duration. Besides the economic destruction of the "surplus" productive resources, it also weakened, shattered. and undermined the fundamental apparatus of European production. At the same time it gave a powerful impetus to the capitalist development of the United States and quickened the aggrandizement of Japan. Thus the center of gravity of world industry was shifted from Europe to America.

5. The period following upon the termination of the four years' slaughter, the demobilization of the armies, the transition to a peaceful state of affairs, and the inevitable economic crisis coming as a result of the exhaustion and chaos caused by the war-all this was regarded by the bourgeoisie with the greatest anxiety as the approach of the most critical moment. As a matter of fact during the two years following the war, the countries involved became the arena of a mighty movement of the proletariat.

One of the chief causes which enabled the bourgeoisie to preserve its dominant position was furnished by the fact that the first months after the war, instead of bringing about the seemingly unavoidable crisis, were marked by economic prosperity. This lasted approximately for one year and a half. Nearly all the demobilized workers were absorbed in industry. As a general rule wages did not catch up with the cost of living, but they nevertheless kept rising, and that created the illusion of economic gains.

It was just this commercial and industrial revival of 1919 and 1920 which, to some extent, relieved the tension of the postwar period, that caused the bourgeoisie to assume an extremely self-confident air, and to proclaim the advent of a new era of organic capitalist development. But as a matter of fact, the industrial revival of 1919-20 was not in essence the beginning of the regeneration of capitalist industry, but a mere prolongation of the artificially stimulated state of industry and commerce, which was created by the war, and which undermined the economy of capitalism...

8. By means of a continuous derangement of the economic system, accumulation of inflated capital, depreciation of currency (speculation instead of economic restoration), the bourgeois governments in league with the banking combines and industrial trusts succeeded in putting off the beginning of the economic crisis till the moment when the political crisis consequent upon the demobilization and the first -squaring of accounts was somewhat allayed. Thus, having gained a considerable breathing space, the bourgeoisie imagined that the dreaded crisis had been removed for an indefinite time. Optimism reigned supreme. It appeared as if the needs of reconstruction had opened a new era of lasting expansion of industry, commerce and particularly speculation. But the year 1920 proved to have been a period of shattered hopes.

The crisis Financial, commercial and industrial, began in March, 1920. Japan saw the beginning of it in the month of April. In the United States, it opened by a slight fall of prices in January. Then it passed on to England, France and Italy (in April). It reached the neutral countries of Europe, then Germany and extended to all the countries involved in the capitalist sphere of influence during the second half of 1920.

9. Thus the crisis of 1920 is not a periodic stage of "normal" industrial cycle, but a profound reaction consequent upon the artificial stimulation that prevailed during the war and during the two years thereafter and was based upon ruination and exhaustion.

The upward curve of industrial development was marked by turn-, of good times followed by crises. During the last seven years, however, there was no rise in the productive forces of Europe but, on the contrary, they kept at a downward sweep. The crumbling of the very foundation of industry is only beginning and is going to proceed along the whole line. European economy is going to contract and expand during a number of years to come. The curve marking the productive forces is going to decline from the present fictitious level. The expansions are going to be only short lived and of a speculative nature to a considerable extent, while the crises arc going to be hard and lasting. The present European crisis is one of under-production. It is the form in which destitution reacts against the striving to produce trade, and resume life on the usual capitalist level...

III. The United States, Japan, Colonial Countries and Soviet Russia.

14. The development of the United States, during the war proceeded, in a certain sense, in an opposite direction to that of Europe. The part played by the United States in the war was chiefly that of a salesman. The destructive consequences of the war had no direct effect upon that country, and the damage caused to its transport, agriculture, etc., was only of an indirect nature and of a far smaller degree than that caused to England, not to speak of either France or Germany. At the same time, the United States, taking full advantage of the fact that European competition had either been removed entirely or had become extremely weak, succeeded in raising some of its most important industries (such as petroleum production, ship-building, automobile and coal industry) to such a height as it had never anticipated. Today most of the countries of Europe are dependent on America not only for their petroleum and grain, but also for their coal.

While America's export prior to the war consisted chiefly of agricultural products and raw materials (making up more than two-thirds of the entire export), her main export at the present time is made up of manufactured articles (60 per cent of her entire export). Having been in debt prior to the war, the United States is now the world's creditor, concentrating within her coffers about one-half of the world's gold reserve and continually augmenting her treasury. The dominating part played by the pound sterling has now been taken over by the American dollar.

15. This extraordinary expansion of American industry was caused by a special combination of circumstances, namely the withdrawal of European competition and, above all, the demands of the European war market. But, American capitalism today has also got out of balance. Since devastated Europe as a competitor of America is not in a position to regain its pre-war role on the world market, the American market as well can preserve only an insignificant part of its former position with Europe as a customer. At the same time America today is producing goods for export purposes to a much greater extent than prior to the war. The over-expansion of American industry during the war cannot find any outlet owing to the scarcity of world markets. As a consequence, many industries have become part time or seasonal industries, affording employment to the workers only part of the year. The crisis in the United States resulting from the decline of Europe signifies the beginning of a profound and lasting economic disorganization. This is the result of the fundamental disturbance of the world's Subdivision of labor.

16. Japan also took advantage of the war in order to extend her influence on the world market. Her development has been of a much more limited scope than that of the United States and some branches of Japanese industry have acquired the character of what might be termed "hothouse" production. Her productive forces were sufficiently strong to enable her to take hold of the market while there were no competitors. But they are utterly insufficient to retain that market in a competitive struggle with the more powerful capitalist countries. Hence the acute crisis which had its starting point particularly in Japan.

17. The Transatlantic countries and the colonies (such as South America, Canada, Australia, China, Egypt and others), which used to export raw materials in their turn, took advantage of the rupture in international relations for the development of their home industries. But the world crisis has now involved these countries as well, and their internal industrial development is going to be checked, thereby serving as an additional cause for trade handicaps to England and of the whole of Europe.

18. Thus, there is no ground whatsoever to speak of any restoration of lasting balance today either in the sphere of production, commerce or credit with reference to Europe or even with reference to the World as a whole. The economic decline of Europe is still going on and the decay of the foundation of European industry will manifest itself in the near future.

The exchange of goods on the world market is being greatly hindered by the devaluation of currency in Western European countries, reaching in some cases 99 per cent. The incessant rapid fluctuation of the rate of exchange has converted capitalist production into wild speculation.

The world market is in a state of disorganization. Europe wants American products for which, however, it can give nothing in return. While the body of Europe is suffering from anemia, that of America is affected with plethora. The gold standard has been destroyed and the world market has been deprived of its general exchange medium. The only way by which the restoration of the gold standard in Europe could be achieved would be by getting the export to exceed the import. But this is just what devastated Europe is not in a condition to do. America, on the other hand, is trying to check the influx of European goods by raising her tariff.

Thus, Europe has become a bedlam. Prohibitive measures concerning import and transit and increasing the protective tariff manifold have been passed by many a state. England has introduced prohibitive customs duties. The export as well as the entire economic life of Germany is at the mercy of the Allies and particularly by the French speculators. The former Austria-Hungary is now broken up into a number of provinces divided by custom borders. The net in which the Versailles Treaty has entangled the world is becoming more and more tightened. The elimination of Soviet Russia as a market for manufactured goods and as a supply of raw materials has contributed in a very high degree to the disturbing of the economic equilibrium of the world.

19. The reappearance of Russia on the world market is not going to produce any appreciable changes in it, Russia's means of production have been always completely dependent upon the industrial conditions of the rest of the world and this dependence particularly with regard to the Allied countries has become intensified during the war when her home industry was almost completely mobilized for war purposes. But the blockade cut off these vital connections between Russia and the other countries. There could be no question of setting up any new branches of industry which were needed to prevent the general decay caused by the wear and tear of machinery and equipment in a country completely exhausted during three years of incessant civil war. In addition to this, hundreds and thousands of our best proletarian elements, comprising a great number of skilled workers had to be recruited for the Red Army. Under these conditions, surrounded by the iron ring of the blockade, carrying on incessant wars and suffering from the heritage of an industrial collapse no other regime could have maintained the economic life of the country and create such conditions as would permit of centralized administration. There is no denying, however, that the struggle against world imperialism was carried on at the price of the progressive diminution of the productive resources of industry in various branches. Now, since the blockade has relaxed and the relations between town and country are becoming more regular, the Soviet power for the first time, has been enabled to gradually and steadily direct the country upon the road to economic prosperity in a centralized manner.

IV. Social Contradictions Intensified.

20. The unprecedented destruction of industrial resources brought about by the way did not check the process of social differentiation. Quite the contrary, the proletarization of the intermediary classes, including the new middle-groupings of employees, officials, etc., and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the small clique of trusts combines and so on, have, for the last ten years, made enormous strides in the more backward countries. The Stinnes combine is now the most important factor of the economic life of Germany. The soaring of prices on all commodities coincident with the catastrophic depreciation of currency in all countries involved in the war meant a redistribution of the national incomes to the disadvantage of the working class, officials, employees and small owners and all other persons with a more or less fixed income.

Thus we see that though Europe has been thrown back for a number of decades as to its material resources, the intensification of the social contradictions has not only not retrograded or been suspended but has, on the contrary, assumed a particular acuteness. This cardinal fact is, of itself, sufficient to dispel any illusions of the possibility of a lasting and peaceful development under a democratic form of Government. The social differentiation proceeding along the line of economic decline predetermines the most intense convulsive and cruel nature of the class struggle.

The present crisis is only a continuation of the destructive work done by the war and the post-bellum speculative boom.

21. The prices of agricultural products have risen, bringing about an apparent prosperity in the country and increasing in reality the income and the property of the rich peasantry... At the same time large numbers of the poorer peasantry have become proletarians and paupers, the village has become a breeding place of discontent, and the class-consciousness of the country proletariat has become sharpened. On the other hand, the general impoverishment of Europe, making it incapable of purchasing sufficient American grain, has caused a heavy crisis in the farm industry across the ocean. We are approaching a crisis of peasant and farming economy, not only in Europe, but also in the United States, Canada, Argentine, Australia and South Africa.

22. Owing to the fall of the purchasing power of money, the position of the State and private employees has, as a rule, become even worse than that of the proletarians. Having lost their usual stability the middle and lower officials are becoming factors of political unrest and undermine the Government apparatus which they are called upon to serve. This "new middle estate" which has been regarded by the Reformists as the bulwark of conservatism, can he utilized as a factor in the revolution in the present transitional period.

23. Capitalist Europe has completely lost its dominating position in the world economy. But it was just this domination that had lent some relative equilibrium between its social classes. All the efforts of the European countries (England and partly France) to restore former conditions only tend to intensify their instability and disorganization.

24. While the concentration of wealth going on in Europe has its foundations in the ruinous conditions of that Continent, in the United States the concentration of property and the extreme intensification of class distinctions are proceeding on the basis of the feverish growth of capitalist accumulation. The class struggle now being waged on American soil is assuming an extremely tense revolutionary character owing to the sharp vacillations produced by the general instability of the World market. The period of an unprecedented rise of capitalism is bound to be followed by an extraordinary rise of revolutionary struggle.

25. The emigration of workers and peasants across the ocean has always served as a safety-valve to the capitalist regime in Europe. It grew during prolonged periods of depression and after unsuccessful revolutionary outbreaks. At present, however, America and Australia are putting ever-growing obstacles in the way of emigration. Thus, this safety-valve, so necessary to the capitalist regime, has ceased to exist.

26. The vigorous development of capitalism in the East, particularly in India and in China, has created new -social foundations for the revolutionary struggle. The bourgeoisie of the Eastern countries has bound up its fate even more closely with foreign capital, and has thus become a very important weapon of capitalist domination. The contest between this bourgeoisie and foreign imperialism is the contest of a weaker competitor against his stronger rival, and is by it-, very nature only half-hearted and ineffective. The development of the native proletariat paralyzes the nationalistic-revolutionary tendencies of the capitalist bourgeoisie. At the same time the great masses of the peasants of the Oriental countries look upon the Communist vanguard as their real revolutionary leader. This is particularly true of the more progressive elements of these masses.

The combination of the military nationalistic oppression of foreign imperialism, of the capitalist exploitation by foreign and native bourgeoisie, and the survivals of feudalism are creating favorable conditions in which the young proletariat of the colonial countries must develop rapidly and take the lead in the revolutionary movement of the peasant masses. The revolutionary national movement in India and in other colonies is today an essential component part of the world revolution to the same extent as the uprising of the proletariat in the capitalist countries of the old and the new world.

V. International Relations.

27. The economic conditions of the world in general, and the decline of Europe in particular, presage a long period of hard times, disturbances, crises of both a general and partial character, and so forth. The international relations inaugurated by the war and the Versailles Treaty are rendering the situation more and more hopeless. The trend of the economic forces tending to sweep away national boundaries and convert Europe and the rest of the world into one economic territory gave birth to imperialism. But, on the other hand. the struggle between the contending forces of this imperialism led to the creation of a multiplicity of new national boundaries, new custom-barriers and new armies. In regard to State administration and economy, Europe has been thrown back to the Middle Ages.

The soil which has been exhausted and laid waste is now being called upon to feed an army one and a half times as large as, that of 1914, in the hey-day of "armed peace" ...

31. Both the original causes that called forth the recent great slaughter and the chief combatants that took part in it marked it as a European war, the crucial point of which was the antagonism between England and Germany. The intervention of the United States only widened the scope of the struggle, but it did not divert it from its original direction. The European conflict was being settled by world-wide means. The war, having settled the English-German and German-American quarrel in its own way, not only did not solve the problem of the relations between the United States and England but has, for the first time, put that problem prominently forward as one of the first order and the question of the American-Japanese as one of the second order. Thus, the last war was in reality only a prelude to a genuine world war which is to solve the problem of imperialist autocracy.

32. This, however, forms only one focus of international policy which has yet another focus located in the Russian Soviet Federated Republic and the Third International, brought about by the war. All the forces of the world revolution are arraying themselves against all the imperialist combinations. Whether the alliance between England and France is going to be maintained Or broken up, whether the Anglo-Japanese treaty is going to be renewed or not, whether the United States is going to join the League of Nations or not-all this is of little value as far as the interests of the proletariat or the securing of peace is concerned. The proletariat can see no guarantee for peace in the vacillating, predatory, and treacherous combinations of capitalist powers, whose policy turns to an every-increasing extent around the antagonism between England and America, fostering that antagonism and preparing for a new bloody outbreak.

The fact that some of the capitalist governments have concluded peace and commercial treaties with Soviet Russia does not mean that the bourgeoisie of the world has given up the idea of destroying the Soviet Republic. What we are witnessing now is nothing but a change, a temporary change perhaps, of the forms and methods of struggle. The uprising caused by the Japanese troops in the Far East may serve as an introduction to a new stage of armed intervention.

It is altogether obvious that the longer the revolutionary movement of the world proletariat will go on, the more inevitably will the bourgeoisie be impelled by the contradiction of the international economic and political situation to make another bloody denouement on a world-wide scale. If this should come to pass, the "restoration of capitalist equilibrium" consequent upon a new war would have to proceed under conditions of economic exhaustion and barbarity in comparison with which the present state of Europe might be regarded as the height of well-being.

33. In spite of the fact that the late war has furnished terrible evidence that wars are unprofitable-a truth lying at the bottom of bourgeois and socialist pacifism---the process of political, economic, ideological and technical preparation for a new war is going on at full speed all through the capitalist world. Humanitarian anti -revolutionary pacifism has become an auxiliary force to militarism. The social-democrats of every variety and the Amsterdam trade unionists, who are trying to make the workers of the world believe that they ought to adapt themselves to the economic and political conditions resulting from the war, are rendering the imperialist bourgeoisie most valuable services in the matter of preparing a new slaughter which threatens to completely annihilate civilization.

VI. The Working Class and the Post-Bellum Period.

34. The problem of capitalist reconstruction along the lines outlined above essentially puts forward the question as to whether the working class is willing to bear any more heavy sacrifices in order to perpetuate it, own slavery which is going to be even more heavy and more cruel than it was prior to the war. The industrial and economic reconstruction of Europe requires the setting up of new machinery to replace that destroyed during the war and the effective recreation of capital. This would be possible only if the proletariat were willing to work more under a far lower standard of living. The capitalists are insisting on this. and the treacherous leaders of the Yellow International urge the proletariat to assist in the reconstruction of capitalism in the first place, and then proceed fighting for the betterment of their own conditions. But, the European proletariat is not ready to make this sacrifice. It demands a higher standard of living, which is utterly incompatible with the present state of the capitalist system. Hence the everlasting strikes and uprisings; hence the impossibility of the economic reconstruction of Europe.

To restore the value of paper money means for a number of European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Balkans, etc.) first of all to throw off the burden of too heavy obligations, i.e., to declare themselves bankrupt; but this would be a strong impulse to the struggle of all classes for a new distribution of the national income. To restore the value of paper money means further reduction of state expenditures to the detriment of the masses (to forego the regulation of wages and of articles of prime necessity); to prevent the import of cheaper foreign manufactures and increase the amount of exported articles by lowering the cost of production which can be achieved, above all, by increasing the exploitation of labor.

Every real measure tending to restore capitalist equilibrium must by the very nature of the case tend to disturb class equilibrium to a still greater extent than heretofore, and lend additional impetus to the class war. Thus, the attempt at a revival of capitalism involves a contest of vital forces, of classes and parties. If one of the two contending classes, namely the proletariat, should decide to refrain from the revolutionary struggle, the bourgeoisie would undoubtedly establish some sort of a new capitalist equilibrium, an equilibrium based upon material and spiritual deterioration, leading to new wars, to the progressive impoverishment of entire countries, and to the continuous dying out of these millions of toiling masses. But the frame of mind of the world proletariat today furnishes no ground whatever for any such supposition.

35. The elements of stability, of conservatism, and of tradition have to a considerable extent lost their power over the minds of the laboring masses. It is true, that social democracy and the trade unions still exercise an influence over a considerable part of the proletariat, thanks to the apparatus of organizations that has come down to them from former times. But the nature of this influence as well as that of the proletariat itself has undergone considerable changes in no way consistent with the "step by step" methods of the pre-war period.

In the upper crust of the proletariat the labor bureaucracy, having grown out of proportion, being closely knit together, resorting to certain methods of domination that have become habitual, still preserves its usual position and is bound up by numerous ties with the institutions and organizations of the capitalist state. Then come those of the rank and file whose position is more favorable than that of the rest of the workers, who occupy or look forward to occupying some administrative post in the industry itself, and on whom the labor bureaucracy mainly relies for its support. The older generation of social-democrats and trade union men consisting in the main of skilled workers, have become attached to their organizations through decades of struggle and cannot make up their minds to sever connections with them, regardless of the treacherous nature of their activity. But, in many industries, unskilled workers, and female workers are entering the ranks in considerable numbers.

Millions of workers having gone through the experience of the war and having acquired the ability to use the rifle are now prepared to a large extent to turn the weapons against their class enemies, provided they be given the strong leadership and serious training which are essential for victory. Millions of working men and particularly women have been newly recruited for industrial pursuits during the war. These new workers brought with themselves their petty-bourgeois prejudices. But they also brought along their impatient claims for better conditions of life.

There are also millions of young working men and women who have grown up in the storm and stress of war and revolution, who are more susceptible to the Communist ideas and are anxious to act.

The ebb and flow of the gigantic army of unemployed, some of whom are unattached to any class while others possess only partial class attachments, form a striking illustration of the disintegration of capitalist production and represent a constant menace to the bourgeois order. All these proletarian elements, varying so much in origin and character, have been enlisting in the post-bellum revolutionary movement at various times and in varying degrees. This explains the vacillations, the ebbs and flows, the attacks and retreats, characterizing the revolutionary war. But the shattering of old illusions, the terrible uncertainty of existence, the arbitrary domination of the trusts and bloody methods of the militarized state-all these are rapidly welding the overwhelming majority of the proletarian masses together. The great masses are searching for a determined and definite leadership and for a closely welded and centralized Communist Party to take the lead.

36. During the war, the condition of the working class became perceptibly worse. It is true some groups of workers improved their condition, and in those cases where several members of a working man's family were in a position to hold their place near the loom, the workers succeeded in maintaining and even in raising their standard of life. But as a general rule wages did not keep up with the rise in prices. The proletariat of Central Europe has been doomed to ever-greater privations, ever since the war began. The lowering of the standard of life was not so noticeable in the allied countries till lately. In England, the proletariat succeeded in stopping the process of lowering the standard of life by means of an energetic struggle carried on during the last period of the war. In the United States, some strata of the workers succeeded in improving their conditions, others only retained their previous standard of living, while still others had their standard of living lowered. The economic crisis has come down upon the proletariat with terrific force. The failing of wages began to exceed the fall of prices. The number of unemployed and semi-employed has reached such dimensions as have never been equaled in capitalist history.

The ups and downs in the condition of existence not only have an unfavorable effect on productivity, but also prevent the restoration of class equilibrium in its most essential domain, that of production. The instability of the conditions of life reflecting nationally and internationally the general instability of economic conditions is to-day the most revolutionary factor of social development.

VII. The Perspective and Problems Involved

37. The war did not have as its immediate consequence a proletarian revolution, and the bourgeoisie has some ground to register this fact as a great victory for itself.

Only petty bourgeois dullards can imagine that the fact that the European proletariat did not succeed in overthrowing the bourgeoisie during the war or immediately after it, is an indication that the program of the Communist International failed. The Communist International is basing its policy on the proletarian revolution, but this by no means implies either dogmatically fixing any definite date for the revolution, or any pledge to bring it about mechanically at a set time. Revolution has always been, and is today, nothing else but a struggle of living forces carried on within given historic conditions. The war has destroyed capitalist equilibrium all over the world. It has thus created conditions favoring the proletariat, which is the fundamental force of the revolution. The Communist International has been exerting all its efforts to take full advantage of these conditions.

The distinction between the Communist International and Social-Democrats of all colors does not consist in the fact that we are trying to force the revolution and set a definite date for it while they are opposed to any utopian and immature uprisings. No, the distinction lies in the fact that Social-Democrats hinder the actual development of the revolution by rendering all possible assistance in the way of restoring the equilibrium of the bourgeois state while the Communists, on the other hand, are trying to take advantage of all means and methods for the purpose of overthrowing and destroying the capitalist government and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat.

But, during the two and a half years following the war, the proletarians of various countries have exhibited their self-sacrifice, energy, and readiness for the struggle to such an extent as would amply suffice to make the revolution triumphant, provided there had been a strongly centralized international Communist Party on the scene ready for action. But, during the war, and immediately thereafter, by force of historic circumstances, there was at the head of the European proletariat the organization of the Second International which has been and remains up to date, the invaluable political weapon in the hands of the bourgeoisie.

38. By the end of 1918 and the beginning of 1919, the power of the Government in Germany was practically in the hands of the working class, but the Social-Democracy, the Independents, and the unions used all their traditional influence and their whole apparatus for the purpose of returning the power into the hands of the bourgeoisie.

In Italy, the stormy revolutionary movement of the proletariat during one and a half years has been marked by powerful currents and it was only thanks to the petty bourgeois impotence of the Socialist Party, to the treacherous policy of the parliamentary factions, and to the cowardly opportunism of the trade union organizations, that the bourgeoisie got into a position to reconstruct its apparatus, to mobilize its white guards and to assume the offensive against the proletariat which has thus been temporarily discouraged by the bankruptcy of its leading organs.

The mighty strike movement in England was frustrated again and again during the last year, not so much by the government forces as by the conservative trade unions whose apparatus was most shamefully used to serve counter-revolutionary ends. Had the leaders of the trade unions remained faithful to the cause of the working class, the machinery of the trade unions could have been used for revolutionary battled despite their defects. The recent crisis of the Triple Alliance furnished the possibility of a break with the bourgeoisie, but this was frustrated by the conservatism, cowardice and treachery of the trade union leaders. Should the machinery of the English trade unions develop half the amount of energy in the interests of socialism which it had been using in the interests of capitalism, the English proletariat would conquer power and would start the reconstruction of the economic organization of the country with only an insignificant amount of sacrifice. The same refers to a greater or less extent to all other capital countries.

39. It is absolutely beyond dispute that in many countries the open revolutionary struggle of the proletariat for power has been temporarily delayed. But in the very nature of the case it was impossible to expect that the revolutionary offensive after the war not having resulted in an immediate victory, should go on developing incessantly along an upward curve. Political evolution proceeds in cycles and has its ups and downs. The enemy does not remain passive, but fights for his existence. If the offensive of the proletariat does not lead to direct victory, the bourgeoisie embraces the first opportunity for a counteroffensive. The proletariat in losing some of its positions which were too easily won usually experiences some temporary depression in its ranks. But it is an undoubted mark of our time that the curve of the capitalist evolution proceeds, through temporary rises, constantly downwards, while the curve of revolution proceeds through some vacillations constantly upwards.

Since the reconstruction of capitalism presupposes a great intensification of exploitation. the annihilation of millions of lives. the lowering of millions of other lives below the minimum of existence, the constant insecurity of the conditions of the proletariat, the working class will be forced to repeated revolts, to continuous strikes and riots. Under this pressure and in the course of these struggles the will of the masses to overthrow the capitalist order will grow in strength.

40. The fundamental task of the Communist Party in the current crisis is to conduct, extend, widen and unite the present defensive fight of the proletariat and sharpen it towards the final political struggle in accordance with the course of evolution. Should, however, the pace of development slacken and the present economic crisis be followed by a period of prosperity in a greater or lesser number of countries, this would by no means be an indication of the beginning of the "organic" epoch. So long as capitalism exists periodic vacillations are inevitable. These vacillations are going to accompany capitalism in its death agony as was the case during its youth and maturity. In case the proletariat should be forced to retreat under the onslaught of capitalism in the course of the present crisis, it will immediately resume the offensive, as soon as a more favorable combination of circumstances sets in. The offensive character of the economic struggle of the proletariat which would inevitably be carried on under the slogan of revenge for all the deceptions of the war period, and for all the plunder and abuses of the crisis, will tend to turn into an open civil war just as the present defensive stage of the struggle does.

41. Whether the revolutionary movement in the near future is going to proceed at a rapid or protracted rate, the Communist Party must, in either case, be the party of action. This Party stands at the head of the struggling masses. It must firmly and clearly formulate its slogans and must expose and sweep aside all equivocal slogans of the Social Democrats, which always tend toward compromise. Whatever the turns in the course of the struggle, the Communist Party should always strive to fortify the contested positions, to get the masses used to active maneuvering, to equip them with new methods calculated to lead to an open conflict with the enemy forces. Taking advantage of every breathing -pace offered in order to appreciate the experience of the preceding phase of the struggle, the Communist Party should strive to deepen and widen the class conflicts, to combine them nationally and internationally by unity of goal and practical activity, and in this way, at the head of the proletariat, shatter all resistance on the road to its dictatorship and the social revolution.

Source: Theses and Resolutions Adopted at the Third World Congress of the Communist International (New York: Contemporary Publishing, 1921), pp. 5-33.