About the Communist International publishing project

By John Riddell: The record of the Communist International (Comintern) during Lenin’s lifetime, 1919-23, is widely considered by Marxists to form the foundation of revolutionary socialist policy in the modern era. Nonetheless, many of the basic documents of this movement were long unavailable in English. Since 1983, I have worked with Mike Taber and a broad team of collaborators to publish major documents of the Communist International in English. Here are the volumes published so far:

• Lenin’s Struggle for a Revolutionary International
  Documents, 1907-1916 The Preparatory Years.
  New York: Pathfinder, 1984, 604 pages.
• The German Revolution and the Debate on Soviet Power
  Documents, 1918-1919: Preparing the Founding Congress
  New York: Pathfinder, 1986, 687 pages.
• Founding the Communist International
  Proceedings and Documents of the First Congress, March 1919
  New York: Pathfinder, 1987, 503 pages.
• Workers of the World and Oppressed Peoples, Unite! (Volume 1)
  Proceedings and Documents of the Second Congress of the Communist International, 1920
  New York: Pathfinder, 1991, 632 pages.
• Workers of the World and Oppressed Peoples, Unite! (Volume 2)
  Proceedings and Documents of the Second Congress of the Communist International, 1920
  New York: Pathfinder, 1991, 592 pages.
• To See the Dawn!
  Baku, 1920 First Congress of the Peoples of the East
  New York: Pathfinder, 1993, 368 pages.
• Toward the United Front
  Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 1922
  Leiden: Brill, 2012; Chicago: Haymarket, 2013, 1310 pages.
• To the Masses
  Proceedings of the Third Congress of the Communist Internatinal, 1921
  Leiden: Brill, 2015; Chicago: Haymarket, 2016, 1299 pages.
• The Communist Movement at a Crossroads
  Plenums of the Communist International’s Executive Committee, 1922-1923
  Leiden: Brill, 2017; Chicago: Haymarket, 2018. c. 700 pages.

The first eight volumes are edited and translated by John Riddell. The Communist Movement at a Crossroads is edited by Mike Taber and translated by John Riddell.

A Note on Project Publishers

Pathfinder Press

In 1983, Pathfinder Press in New York initiated a project to publish this documentary record, including important landmarks of the Comintern’s preparatory years, reaching back to 1907. The series was entitled The Communist International in Lenin’s Time. During the next ten years, six volumes were published under my editorship, including 3,623 pages of new translations and annotation covering the period 1907-1920.

Although publication was suspended in 1993, the Pathfinder volumes remain in print and are widely available in academic libraries. For a full description and book listing, see The Communist International in Lenin’s Time.

Historical Materialism Book Series / Haymarket Books

In 2008, I resumed translating and editing documentary volumes on the Comintern in collaboration with Historical Materialism Book Series, an imprint of Brill Academic Publishers that has a vigorous publishing program on Marxist history. These books also appear in a paperback edition published by Haymarket Books. Two volumes have been published, totaling 2609 pages; a third volume will appear this year. Other installments are in preparation.