The 3rd World Congress of the Communist International was held in Moscow between 22 June and 12 July 1921. The third official meeting of the Communist International included delegations from more than 50 different national structures and took place in the back-drop of two major events; the failure of the German revolution and the introduction of New Economic Policy in Soviet Russia.
The main language of the congress was German, with three further working languages: French, English and Russian (of the three, French being predominant).
Over 600 delegates were housed at Hotel Lux.
Agenda The agenda was circulated in several languages from March 1921: Report of the executive committee. The world economic crisis and the new role of the Communist International. Tactics of the Communist International during the revolution. The period of transition (partial actions and the final revolutionary struggle). The campaign against the Yellow Trade Union International of Amsterdam. The International Council of Red Trade Unions and the Communist International. The internal structure of the Communist Parties, their methods of action, and the essence of that action. The internal structure of the Communist International—and its relations with the affiliated parties. The Eastern question. The Italian Socialist Party and the Communist International. (Appeal of the Italian Socialist Party against the decision of the executive committee.) The K.A.P.D. and the Communist International. (Appeal of the V.K.P.D. against the decision of the executive committee.) The women's movement. The Young Communist movement. Election of the executive committee, and designation of its place of session. Miscellaneous.
Delegates There were delegates from the following countries. Country Party No.ArgentinaCommunist Party of Argentina2ArmeniaCommunist Party of Armenia8AzerbaijanCommunist Party of Azerbaijan6AustriaCommunist Party of Austria7Poalei Zion14AustraliaCommunist Party of Australia4BakuYoung Communist International1Eastern Bureau2Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicCommunist Party of Bashkiria2BelgiumSocialist Revolutionaries2Young Communist International1Communist Party of Belgium2BritainCommunist Party of Great Britain14Socialist Party1Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation1BukharaCommunist Party of Bukhara7BulgariaBulgarian Communist Party19Young Communist International1CanadaSocialist Party of Canada1ChinaChinese Communist Party1Young Communist International1ConstantinopleCommunist Party of Turkey1CzechoslovakiaCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia27Young Communist International2DenmarkCommunist Party of Denmark6EgyptCommunist Party of Egypt1EstoniaCommunist Party of Estonia5Estonian Independent Socialist Workers' Party2Young Communist International1Far Eastern RepublicRussian Communist Party (bolsheviks)1Young Communist International1FinlandCommunist Party of Finland30FranceCommunist Party of France8Syndicalists9Young Communist International3Syndicalist Minority11FünfkirchenSocialist Party3GeorgiaCommunist Party of Georgia11Young Communist International1GermanyCommunist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD)5United Communist Party of Germany25Young Communist International8women1United Communist Party of Germany (opposition)2GreeceCommunist Party of Greece3HungaryCommunist Party of Hungary12Young Communist International1India4Young Communist International1IranCommunist Party of Iran5IrelandCommunist Party of Ireland2ItalyCommunist Party of Italy21Young Communist International4Socialist Party of Italy4JavaCommunist Union of the Indies1KhivaYoung Communist International1KhirgiziaCommunist Party of Kirghizia1KoreaCommunist Party of Korea1LatviaCommunist Party of Latvia11Young Communist International1LithuaniaCommunist Party of Lithuania9Young Communist International2LuxemburgCommunist Party of Luxemburg4Socialist Party of Luxemburg1Young Communist International1MexicoCommunist Party of Mexico1Young Communist International1MongoliaMongolian People's Revolutionary Party1Near EastYoung Communist International1NetherlandsCommunist Party of the Netherlands5Young Communist International1NorwayNorwegian Labour Party11Young Communist International1Communist Party of Norway1PalestineCommunist Party of Palestine1Poale Zion1PolandCommunist Party of Poland20Bund3RomaniaCommunist Party of Romania10Young Communist International4RussiaCommunist Party of Russia (Bolshevik)72Young Communist International4South AfricaInternational Socialist League1SwedenCommunist Party of Sweden15Young Communist International3SwitzerlandCommunist Party of Switzerland13Young Communist International2SpainCommunist Party of Spain5Communist Workers Party of Spain4Syndicalists5Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist RepublicTatarstan Regional Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik)1TurkeyCommunist Party of Turkey4TurkestanCommunist Party of Russia (Bolshevik)4Revolutionary League4UkraineCommunist Party of Ukraine22United States of AmericaUnited Communist Party of America10Young Communist International2Japanese Communist Group1Byelorussian Soviet Socialist RepublicCommunist Party (bolsheviks) of Byelorussia2YugoslaviaCommunist Party of Yugoslavia10Young Communist International1
Armenia The Communist Party of Armenia delegation was led by Sarkis Kasyan. Other delegates included Sahak Ter-Gabrielyan and Avis Nurijanyan.
Azerbaijan The Communist Party of Azerbaijan delegation included Gazanfar Musabekov, and Mikheil Kakhiani.
Austria The Communist Party of Austria delegation included Franz Koritschoner, Joseph Frey,ISBN? Jacob RiehsMarxist Internet Archive. Comintern Glossary and Karl Steinhardt.
Australia By the time of the third Comintern congress the Australian Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Australia had not settled differences between the two parties. Both groups sent delegations to the congress, with Paul Freeman being sent by the ASP to represent the party. The CPA leader William Earsman travelled together with Jack Howie (Australian delegate to the RILU congress), reaching Great Britain and from there went to Moscow where they arrived on 13 June 1921. Upon arrival in Moscow the CPA delegates realised that they had beaten the ASP leader Paul Freeman in the quest to arrive first to the congress, but that another ASP member Alf Rees had already reached the city to attend the RILU congress. Rees had already acquired the Comintern congress credentials for the ASP delegation. Freeman arrived later whilst a third ASP delegate, Jim Quinton, was arrested in England whilst en route to Moscow.
Freeman died in the Aerowagon experimental monorail crash on 24 July 1921, along with his close friend Commissar Artem. Both were buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.Australian Dictionary of Biography. Freeman, Paul (1884–1921)
Argentina represented the Communist Party of Argentina at the congress. Ghiodi travelled to Russia on 29 May 1921, and attended the congress with a consultative vote. He carried a greeting from the Uruguayan communists to the congress. Zalman Yaselman, a former member of the Russian Communist Group in Argentina and a founder of the International Socialist Party (the earlier incarnation of the Communist Party), accommpanied Ghiodi in his travels to Moscow and attended the congress but without obtaining an official credential.
Mikhail Yaroshevsky arrived in Moscow on 1 June 1921, as a correspondent of Argentinian trade union and Communist Party newspapers, and assisted the congress.
Belgium Two delegations from Belgium attended the congress - the 'Left-Wing of the Belgian Labour Party' (a name assigned to the faction from Comintern side) and the 'Communist Party of Belgium'.Rapport présenté par les délégués de l’aile gauche du P.O.B. à l’Exécutif de l’I.C. − 1921 The former group, led by Joseph Jacquemotte, was the faction around the publication L'Exploité who had broken away from the Belgian Labour Party and reconstituted themselves under the name 'Communist Party of Belgium' in May 1921. The latter group, led by War Van Overstraeten, emerged in August 1920 as members of the Belgian Socialist Youth broke with the Belgian Labour Party and formed a communist organization with the newspaper L'Ouvrier communiste as their organ. Both groups had been invited by the Comintern to send two delegates each to the third Comintern congress, to ensure negotiations during the congress proceedings on a merger of the Belgian communists into a single Communist Party.
Jules Poulet accompanied Jaquemotte at the congress as the second member of the 'Left-Wing of the Belgian Labour Party' delegation. was the second member of the 'Communist Party of Belgium' delegation.Maitron. COENEN Félix
Posterior to the talks in Moscow at the Comintern congress, the two factions merged into the Communist Party of Belgium at a congress 3-4 September 1921.
Britain The delegation of the Communist Party of Great Britain was led by Tom Bell (politician). Other CPGB delegates included Norah Smyth, Tom Mann, F. L. Kerran, Thomas Quelch, Joseph J. Vaughan, J. T. Murphy, Harry Pollitt, Ellen Wilkinson and . During the congress Bell was pressured by the Comintern on the track record of performance of the CPGB.
The Socialist Labour Party sent James Clunie to attend the congress. Whilst the 1921 SLP party conference had voted against a merger with CPGB (17 votes against, 5 votes in favour) the party continued to identify itself with the Comintern. The party conference overwhelmingly voted in favour (21 votes to 1) to seek membership in Comintern and named Clunie as its delegate to the third Comintern congress. The Comintern credentials committee did not award delegate credentials to Clunie (as the SLP had refused to merge with CPGB) but awarded him guest status at the congress. Rose Witcop of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation travelled Moscow to (unsuccessfully) negotiate for 'associate membership' in Comintern for her faction at the congress.
Czechoslovakia In May 1921 the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia had been founded, in which the Czech Marxist Left and the Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine (which had amalgamated the Slovak left socialists and the International Socialist Party of Subcarpathian Rus'). But the merger of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (German Division) had not yet taken place. At the Third Congress, there were 27 party delegates and 2 youth delegates from Czechoslovakia.
The Czechoslovak delegation arrived in Moscow via Riga on 4 June 1921. The delegation had been stuck in Berlin for a week.
The largest contingent came from the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with 20 delegates. The erstwhile leader of the Czech Marxist Left and founder of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, Bohumír Šmeral, attended the congress but was not listed as a delegate of any specific party. The delegation included , , (Ružomberok), Miloš Vaněk, Jaroslav Handlíř (Prague), Josef Skalàk, Otto Rydlo (Třebíč), Jan Doležal (Brno), Václav Douša (Prague), Oldřich Formánek (Mladá Boleslav), Metoděj Galla (Brno), Rudolf Hájek (Prague), Jan Jaroš (Radvanice), Marie Knytlová (Brno), Anna Křenová (Prague), Zavadil (Prague), (Hodonín), František Koza (Hradec Králové), František Kučera (Kladno), František Melichar (Pardubice) and František Sailer (Louny) There were additionally a number of Magyar delegates from Slovakia in the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia delegation. Another four Communist Party of Czechoslovakia cadres had been named as delegates to the congress, but they had been denied passports and were thus unable to travel.
Burian was named as head of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia delegation, Kršiak was named deputy delegation leader, Handlíř as delegation secretary and Vaněk the delegation rapporteur. The delegation brought a memorandum to the congress, requesting affiliation to the Comintern.