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The Communist International in Lenin’s Time

January 1, 2011

Documentary volumes, edited by John Riddell

The six volumes of this important series, published between 1984 and 1993 by Pathfinder Press, include hundreds of newly translated documents, speeches and resolutions, most of them unavailable in English anywhere else. All volumes are still in print.

The six Pathfinder books document the left-wing’s fight for revolutionary policies in the Second International before World War I, the events and debates leading up to the creation of the Third (Communist) International in 1919, and the debates at the new International’s first two Congresses in 1919 and 1920. The final volume covers the First Congress of the Peoples of the East, the meeting that for the first time united Marxists from Europe with revolutionary peasant and nationalist movements in Asia.

All six volumes include extensive introductions, annotations and biographical data, prepared by the series editor, John Riddell, a leading figure in the Marxist left in Canada, the United States and Europe for fifty years.

An indispensable contribution

  • “An indispensable contribution to our understanding of the century’s hopes, illusions, and achievements.” –E.J. Hobsbawm
  • “A valuable collection of documents, which will be very useful to students.” –Christopher Hill
  • “Reflects good judgment and relative even-handedness. Leading participants … speak for themselves.” Slavic Review
  • “Rich scholarly raw material excellently presented for use…. Offers fascinating insights.” –Russian History/Histoire Russe
  • “The book is carefully edited, the translations read smoothly, and the work as a whole hanags together extremely well…. Immensely useful for teaching purposes.” Journal of Communist Studies
  • “An invaluable assembly of revealing key documents, many of them unavailable elsewhere in English.” Labour/Le Travail
  • “The definitive version [of the Second Congress proceedings]…. Interesting photographs, a glossary … sketches of various organizations, and an index further add to the usefulness of these volumes. Anyone interested in 20th Century political history is in the debt of those who made them possible.” Choice

This first six volumes of this series can be purchased directly from the publisher, Pathfinder Press, or from major online booksellers such as Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary International
Documents, 1907-1916 The Preparatory Years.
841 pages. ISBN: 978-0-87348-928-7

The German Revolution and the Debate on Soviet Power
Documents, 1918-1919: Preparing the Founding Congress
687 pages. ISBN: 978-0-87348-917-1

Founding the Communist International
Proceedings and Documents of the First Congress, March 1919
503 pages. ISBN: 978-0-87348-943-0

Workers of the World and Oppressed Peoples, Unite! (Volume 1)
Proceedings and Documents of the Second Congress of the Communist International, 1920
632 pages. ISBN: 978-0-87348-940-9

Workers of the World and Oppressed Peoples, Unite! (Volume 2)
Proceedings and Documents of the Second Congress of the Communist International, 1920
592 pages. ISBN: 978-0-87348-941-6

To See the Dawn!
Baku, 1920 First Congress of the Peoples of the East
368 pages ISBN: 978-0-87348-769-6

First published in Reading from the Left.

One Comment
  1. Johan Nilsson permalink

    Hello John!

    I have two questions:

    1) Why has Pathfinder Press only printed the first two Comintern congresses, and not the third and fourth?

    2) To find the list of delegates of each country is easy obtained on the internet for the first two congresses, but seems impossible to find for the third and fourth congresses. I was curious if you happen to know who the swedish delegates were on the third and fourth congresses?

    Thank you!

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