The search for the "Third Way" in the international left movement in the early 1920's.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21847/1728-9343.2018.1(153).125454Keywords:
bolshevism, social democracy, international relations, internationalAbstract
In this general paper the situation of the international left movement in the new geopolitical conditions that emerged after the end of the First World War is discussed. Subject matter related to ideological differences between ideological currents in the Second International as well as to practical steps of its participants in the direction of gaining power in the states is considered.
It is shown that military action in Europe intensified the split in the Second International, which existed in the form of a series of revisionist movements and movements in the middle of the unification before the First World War. The practical steps taken by the participants of the international labor movement in the direction of the restoration of the work of the Second International, which during 1914-1918 actually stopped its activities, are considered. Attention is drawn to the fact that mutual accusations of betrayal of the ideological principles of socialism, participation in the war on the side of the governments of the states of the Entente and the Fourth Alliance and the unresolved post-war problems have prevented the realization of this idea. That was the reason for the restoration of the Second International (Bern), the Vienna International (Vienna Community) and the Third (Communist) International. Specific examples show the differences in the ideological principles of the existence of the Communist International and other members of the international labor movement.
Particular attention is paid to the process of uniting the participants of the Bern International and the Vienna Community into the Socialist Workers' International. It was investigated that an important precondition for the unification was the elaboration of a general socialist-reformist platform, around which all the directions of the international labor movement would be consolidated. Separately, the position of the members of the Comintern is shown, as well as the factors considered include as Bolshevik authorities in Russia and the unstable international situation in post-war Europe.
It is concluded that the diversity of views on tactics and methods of constructing a socialist state, against the backdrop of changing the political map of the world (the collapse of empires), prevented the unification of participants in the international socialist movement and caused their final split in the first half of the 1920's.References
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