Third Period
Encyclopedia
The Third Period is a ideological concept
adopted by the Communist International (Comintern) at its 6th World Congress, held in Moscow
in the summer of 1928.
The Comintern's theory was based on its economic and political analysis of world capitalism, which posited the division of recent history into three periods. These included a "First Period" that followed World War I
and saw the revolutionary upsurge and defeat of the working class, as well as a "Second Period" of capitalist consolidation for most of the decade of the 1920s. According to the Comintern's analysis, the current phase of world economy from 1928 onward, the so-called "Third Period," was to be a time of widespread economic collapse and mass working class
radicalization. This economic and political discord would again make the time ripe for proletarian revolution
if militant policies were rigidly maintained by the Communist vanguard party
, the Comintern believed.
Communist policies during the Third Period were marked by extreme hostility to political reformism
and political organizations espousing it as an impediment to the movement's revolutionary objectives. In the field of trade unions, a move was made during the Third Period towards the establishment of radical dual unions under Communist control rather than continuation of the previous policy of attempting to radicalize existing unions by "boring from within."
The rise of Adolf Hitler
to power in Germany
in 1933 and the annihilation of the organized Communist movement there shocked the Comintern into reassessing the tactics of the Third Period. From 1934, new alliances began to be formed under the aegis of the so-called "Popular Front
." The Popular Front policy was formalized as the official policy of the world communist movement by the 7th World Congress of the Comintern in 1935.
held its Fifteenth Party Congress
; prior to this Congress, the faction of the Party led by Stalin had supported the continuation of the New Economic Policy. However, in the cities, industry had become undercapitalized, and prices were rising. In the countryside, moreover, the NEP had resulted in an enrichment of certain privileged sections of the Russia
n and Ukrainian
peasant
ry (the Kulaks) because of deregulation
of prices for grain. An embryonic new bourgeoisie
was meanwhile growing up on the basis of the market
relations introduced under the NEP and gaining increasing influence both within the Party and in the state apparatus.
These events were leading to growing economic and political instability. The towns were being threatened with a "chronic danger of famine" in 1928-1929. The Left Opposition
had opposed the continued marketization of agriculture through the NEP policy, and, since 1924, had repeatedly called for investment in industry, some collectivization in agriculture and democratization of the Party. Threatened by the growing power and revolt from the countryside led by the Kulaks and the strengthening bourgeoisie, the Fifteenth Congress of the CPSU passed resolutions that supported for some of the planks of the Opposition’s platform, and on paper, the Congress’ views appeared very left, politically. However, the Left Opposition was expelled.
The new policies of industrialization and collectivization
now adopted were given the slogan "socialist accumulation
". The Communist party had publicly proposed collectivization to be voluntary; however, lower level officials occasionally disregarded official policy, and motivated the peasants into joining the communes by use of threats and false promises. In what Issac Deutscher calls "the great change", the new policies of industrialization and collectivization now adopted were carried out in a ruthless and brutal way, via the use of the security and military forces, without the direct involvement of the working class and peasantry itself and without seeming regard for the social consequences. According to figures given by Deutscher, the peasants opposed forced collectivisation by slaughtering 18 million horses, 30 million cattle, about 45 per cent of the total, and 100 million sheep and goats, about two thirds of the total. Kulaks who engaged in these behaviours were dealt with harshly; in December 1929, Stalin issued a call to "liquidate the kulaks as a class" - emphasis on as a class is needed, because it was not a call to eliminate the individuals themselves. Policies included their deportation to remote lands in Siberia
and to labour camps. There is debate amongst historians as to whether the actions of the Kulaks and their supporters helped lead to famine, or whether the policy of collectivization itself was responsible. (See Collectivisation in the USSR
, Holodomor
.)
In the West, the crisis of capitalism was coming to a head with the beginning of the Great Depression
in 1929, and the Communist International's Sixth Congress viewed capitalism as entering a final death agony, its "third period of existence" where the first had been capitalism during its rise prior to World War I
, and the second was the short period after the crushing of the post-WWI revolution
s when capitalism seemed again to have stabilized.
The formal institution of the Third Period occurred at the 9th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (E.C.C.I.) in February 1928. This helped in dovetailing the "Left" of the Russian Communist Party with that of the Comintern itself.
To the Comintern, a decisive and final revolution
ary upheaval was afoot and all its sections had to prepare for the immediate advent of world revolution
. As part of this theory, because the Comintern felt that conditions were strong enough, it demanded that its political positions within the workers’ movement be consolidated and that all "reactionary
" elements be purged. Accordingly, attacks and expulsions were launched against social democrats and moderate socialists within labor unions where the local CP had majority support, as well as Trotskyists and united front
proponents. The CPSU also encouraged armed rebellion in China
, Germany
, and elsewhere.
Although shortcomings and crippling ideological vacillations brought this Period to an end, the tone of the "Third Period" resonated powerfully with the mood of many militant workers of the time, especially following the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the ensuing crises of the 1930s. In many countries, including the United States
, local Communist Parties' membership and influence grew as a result of the "Third Period" policies.
. Another distinguishing feature of this policy was that Communists fought against their rivals on the left as vehemently as their opponents on the right of the political spectrum, with special viciousness directed at real or imaginary followers of Leon Trotsky
. Social Democrats
were targeted by Communist polemics, in which they were dubbed "social fascists
."
Trotskyists have blamed Stalin's line for the rise of Nazism
because it precluded unity between the German communists with the German Social Democrats. Hitler's rise to power, consequently, was also a reason for the abandonment of the policy in favor of the Popular Front strategy because Germany became the biggest security threat to the Soviet Union. On the other hand, the Social Democrats' relentless appeasement of Hitler has been pointed out by proponents of the Comintern's actions during this period as the real reason for the rise of Hitler, since they were the main force on the left. Similarly, they have felt that Trotsky's caricature of the Soviet Union as the biggest threat to the working class in an era of rising Fascism as ample justification for their vilification.
during the Third Period. Some authors like Robin D. G. Kelley and John Manley have penned local histories that portray Communist Party members as effective activists, heroic in many cases because their revolutionary zeal helped them confront extremely adverse circumstances. Despite the shadow of Stalinism
, in this perspective, the important positive contributions Communist organizers made in working class history should not be discounted.
Critics of this new revisionism argue that these histories gloss over or ignore both the horrors of Stalinism and also the devastating consequences of the Third Period inasmuch as it facilitated the rise of Hitler
and alienated the working class writ large from the left because of its sectarianism and adventurism.
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
adopted by the Communist International (Comintern) at its 6th World Congress, held in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
in the summer of 1928.
The Comintern's theory was based on its economic and political analysis of world capitalism, which posited the division of recent history into three periods. These included a "First Period" that followed World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and saw the revolutionary upsurge and defeat of the working class, as well as a "Second Period" of capitalist consolidation for most of the decade of the 1920s. According to the Comintern's analysis, the current phase of world economy from 1928 onward, the so-called "Third Period," was to be a time of widespread economic collapse and mass working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
radicalization. This economic and political discord would again make the time ripe for proletarian revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
if militant policies were rigidly maintained by the Communist vanguard party
Vanguard party
A vanguard party is a political party at the forefront of a mass action, movement, or revolution. The idea of a vanguard party has its origins in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...
, the Comintern believed.
Communist policies during the Third Period were marked by extreme hostility to political reformism
Reformism
Reformism is the belief that gradual democratic changes in a society can ultimately change a society's fundamental economic relations and political structures...
and political organizations espousing it as an impediment to the movement's revolutionary objectives. In the field of trade unions, a move was made during the Third Period towards the establishment of radical dual unions under Communist control rather than continuation of the previous policy of attempting to radicalize existing unions by "boring from within."
The rise of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
to power in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1933 and the annihilation of the organized Communist movement there shocked the Comintern into reassessing the tactics of the Third Period. From 1934, new alliances began to be formed under the aegis of the so-called "Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
." The Popular Front policy was formalized as the official policy of the world communist movement by the 7th World Congress of the Comintern in 1935.
Development and causes of the Third Period
In December 1927, the Russian Communist PartyCommunist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
held its Fifteenth Party Congress
Party Congress
A party congress is a general conference of a political party. The congress is attended by delegates who represent the party membership. In most parties the party congress is the highest decision making body of the organisation and elects the party's leadership bodies such as the National Executive...
; prior to this Congress, the faction of the Party led by Stalin had supported the continuation of the New Economic Policy. However, in the cities, industry had become undercapitalized, and prices were rising. In the countryside, moreover, the NEP had resulted in an enrichment of certain privileged sections of the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n and Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
ry (the Kulaks) because of deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of prices for grain. An embryonic new bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
was meanwhile growing up on the basis of the market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
relations introduced under the NEP and gaining increasing influence both within the Party and in the state apparatus.
These events were leading to growing economic and political instability. The towns were being threatened with a "chronic danger of famine" in 1928-1929. The Left Opposition
Left Opposition
The Left Opposition was a faction within the Bolshevik Party from 1923 to 1927, headed de facto by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin's illness and intensified with his death in January...
had opposed the continued marketization of agriculture through the NEP policy, and, since 1924, had repeatedly called for investment in industry, some collectivization in agriculture and democratization of the Party. Threatened by the growing power and revolt from the countryside led by the Kulaks and the strengthening bourgeoisie, the Fifteenth Congress of the CPSU passed resolutions that supported for some of the planks of the Opposition’s platform, and on paper, the Congress’ views appeared very left, politically. However, the Left Opposition was expelled.
The new policies of industrialization and collectivization
Collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms...
now adopted were given the slogan "socialist accumulation
Socialist accumulation
Socialist accumulation was a concept put forth in the early Soviet Union as a counterpart of the concept of primitive accumulation of capital that took place in previous capitalist economys...
". The Communist party had publicly proposed collectivization to be voluntary; however, lower level officials occasionally disregarded official policy, and motivated the peasants into joining the communes by use of threats and false promises. In what Issac Deutscher calls "the great change", the new policies of industrialization and collectivization now adopted were carried out in a ruthless and brutal way, via the use of the security and military forces, without the direct involvement of the working class and peasantry itself and without seeming regard for the social consequences. According to figures given by Deutscher, the peasants opposed forced collectivisation by slaughtering 18 million horses, 30 million cattle, about 45 per cent of the total, and 100 million sheep and goats, about two thirds of the total. Kulaks who engaged in these behaviours were dealt with harshly; in December 1929, Stalin issued a call to "liquidate the kulaks as a class" - emphasis on as a class is needed, because it was not a call to eliminate the individuals themselves. Policies included their deportation to remote lands in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and to labour camps. There is debate amongst historians as to whether the actions of the Kulaks and their supporters helped lead to famine, or whether the policy of collectivization itself was responsible. (See Collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivisation in the USSR
Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Stalin between 1928 and 1940. The goal of this policy was to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms...
, Holodomor
Holodomor
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...
.)
In the West, the crisis of capitalism was coming to a head with the beginning of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
in 1929, and the Communist International's Sixth Congress viewed capitalism as entering a final death agony, its "third period of existence" where the first had been capitalism during its rise prior to World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and the second was the short period after the crushing of the post-WWI revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
s when capitalism seemed again to have stabilized.
The formal institution of the Third Period occurred at the 9th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (E.C.C.I.) in February 1928. This helped in dovetailing the "Left" of the Russian Communist Party with that of the Comintern itself.
To the Comintern, a decisive and final revolution
Revolution
A revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:...
ary upheaval was afoot and all its sections had to prepare for the immediate advent of world revolution
World revolution
World revolution is the Marxist concept of overthrowing capitalism in all countries through the conscious revolutionary action of the organized working class...
. As part of this theory, because the Comintern felt that conditions were strong enough, it demanded that its political positions within the workers’ movement be consolidated and that all "reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
" elements be purged. Accordingly, attacks and expulsions were launched against social democrats and moderate socialists within labor unions where the local CP had majority support, as well as Trotskyists and united front
United front
The united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
proponents. The CPSU also encouraged armed rebellion in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Germany
Spartacist League
The Spartacus League was a left-wing Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. The League was named after Spartacus, leader of the largest slave rebellion of the Roman Republic...
, and elsewhere.
Although shortcomings and crippling ideological vacillations brought this Period to an end, the tone of the "Third Period" resonated powerfully with the mood of many militant workers of the time, especially following the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the ensuing crises of the 1930s. In many countries, including the United States
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
, local Communist Parties' membership and influence grew as a result of the "Third Period" policies.
"Social fascism"
One notable development in this period was that Communists organized the unemployed into a political force, despite their distance from the means of productionMeans of production
Means of production refers to physical, non-human inputs used in production—the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth — along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital. This includes the classical factors of production minus financial capital and minus human capital...
. Another distinguishing feature of this policy was that Communists fought against their rivals on the left as vehemently as their opponents on the right of the political spectrum, with special viciousness directed at real or imaginary followers of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. Social Democrats
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
were targeted by Communist polemics, in which they were dubbed "social fascists
Social fascism
Social fascism was a theory supported by the Communist International during the early 1930s, which believed that social democracy was a variant of fascism because, in addition to a shared corporatist economic model, it stood in the way of a complete and final transition to communism...
."
Trotskyists have blamed Stalin's line for the rise of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
because it precluded unity between the German communists with the German Social Democrats. Hitler's rise to power, consequently, was also a reason for the abandonment of the policy in favor of the Popular Front strategy because Germany became the biggest security threat to the Soviet Union. On the other hand, the Social Democrats' relentless appeasement of Hitler has been pointed out by proponents of the Comintern's actions during this period as the real reason for the rise of Hitler, since they were the main force on the left. Similarly, they have felt that Trotsky's caricature of the Soviet Union as the biggest threat to the working class in an era of rising Fascism as ample justification for their vilification.
North America
Historians of the left have debated the contribution made by Communist activism in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
during the Third Period. Some authors like Robin D. G. Kelley and John Manley have penned local histories that portray Communist Party members as effective activists, heroic in many cases because their revolutionary zeal helped them confront extremely adverse circumstances. Despite the shadow of Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, in this perspective, the important positive contributions Communist organizers made in working class history should not be discounted.
Critics of this new revisionism argue that these histories gloss over or ignore both the horrors of Stalinism and also the devastating consequences of the Third Period inasmuch as it facilitated the rise of Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and alienated the working class writ large from the left because of its sectarianism and adventurism.
Further reading
- Nicholas N. Kozlov, Eric D. Weitz "Reflections on the Origins of the 'Third Period': Bukharin, the Comintern, and the Political Economy of Weimar Germany" Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Jul., 1989), pp. 387–410 JSTOR
- Matthew Worley (ed.), In Search of Revolution: International Communist Parties in the Third Period. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2004.
See also
- Workers' Unity LeagueWorkers' Unity LeagueThe Workers' Unity League was created in 1929 as a labour central operated by the Communist Party of Canada on the instructions of the Communist International....
(Canada) - Trade Union Unity LeagueTrade Union Unity LeagueThe Trade Union Unity League was an industrial union umbrella organization of the Communist Party of the United States between 1929 and 1935...
(United States)