Theses, resolutions and manifestos of the first four congresses of the Third International

Many of the documents in this volume have never been translated into English before, and many others have not been published since the 1920s when their translation was often not of the highest order. This, therefore, is the first modern translation of the complete set of documents actually approved by the Lenin era of the Third International: the period when debate within it was still possible if not always welcome – before being snuffed out by the monolithism of the Stalin period. By their emphases and lacunae they help us to understand the Comintern, its relations with the soviet government, the checks to its growth and the main questions it tried to resolve.