Right Opposition
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The Right Opposition (
Emergence
The struggle for power in the Soviet Union after the death of Vladimir Lenin saw the development of three major tendencies within the Communist Party. These were described by Leon Trotsky as left, right and centre tendencies, each based on a specific class or caste. Trotsky argued that his tendency, the Left Opposition, represented the internationalist traditions of the working class. The tendency led by Joseph Stalin was described as being in the centre, based on the state and party bureaucracy, tending to shift alliances between the left and the right. The right tendency was identified with the supporters of Nikolai Bukharin and Rykov. It was asserted that they represented the influence of the peasantry and the danger of capitalist restoration.[citation needed] Their policy was closely identified with the New Economic Policy (NEP), with former left communist Bukharin slowly moving to the right of the Bolshevik Party and becoming a strong supporter of the NEP starting in 1921. Right Opposition policies encouraging kulaks and NEPmen to "get rich" were seen by Right Opposition supporters as encouraging kulaks and NEPmen to "grow into" socialism.[1]
Robert Alexander has questioned whether the various Right Oppositions could be described as a single international tendency, since they were usually concerned only with the issues relevant for their own countries and their own Communist Parties. Therefore, the Right Opposition was far more fragmented than the Left Opposition. Nevertheless, the various Right Opposition groups did come together to form an International Communist Opposition (ICO). Unlike the Left Opposition, they did not tend to form separate parties as they considered themselves loyal to the Comintern.[citation needed]
Fate of the Russian Right Opposition
Stalin and his "centre" faction were allied with Bukharin and the Right Opposition from late 1924, with Bukharin elaborating Stalin's theory of
One of the last attempts of the Rightists to resist Stalin was the Ryutin affair in 1932, where a manifesto against the soviet policy of collectivization and Stalin was circulated. It openly called for "The Liquidation of the dictatorship of Stalin and his clique".[2][page needed] Later, some rightists joined a secret bloc with Leon Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev in order to oppose Stalin. Historian Pierre Broué stated that it dissolved in early 1933.[3]
Bukharin was isolated from his allies abroad, and, in the face of increasing Stalinist repression, was unable to mount a sustained struggle against Stalin. Unlike Trotsky, who built an anti-Stalinist movement, Bukharin and his allies capitulated to Stalin and admitted their "ideological errors". They were temporarily rehabilitated, though they were allowed only minor posts and did not return to their former prominence. Bukharin and his allies were later executed during the Great Purge trials.[citation needed]
Foundation of the International Communist Opposition
The various right oppositional groups loosely aligned with Bukharin within the
In a few places, communist groups affiliated with the ICO achieved more success than the Comintern-affiliated organizations. For example, in Sweden, the
In Spain, the ICO-affiliated Bloque Obrero y Campesino (BOC), led by
In all, the ICO had member parties in fifteen countries during the 1930s. However, the ICO and its affiliates did not consider themselves a new international, but a "faction" that was involuntarily excluded from the Comintern and that was anxious to return to it if only the Comintern would change its policies and allow ICO members the freedom to advocate their positions.
Despite being identified with Bukharin, the ICO generally supported Stalin's economic policies (which Bukharin opposed), [
In addition, as the Moscow Trials entered their second phase and turned against Bukharin and his supporters, disputes broke out within the ICO regarding whether there was any point in continuing with the concept of being an opposition within the Communist movement rather than openly create a new international rival to the Comintern, as Trotsky did with his Fourth International.
End of the Right Opposition
The ICO began to disintegrate in 1933. With the coming to power of the Nazis, the German party had to go underground and establish an exile branch in Paris. Paris was also the new home of the international ICO headquarters, which became dominated by the Germans. The Norwegian and Swedish groups left later that year to join the new "centrist" International Buro for Revolutionary Socialist Unity (or London Bureau) established in Paris that August. The Czechoslovak affiliate was weakened by the defection of its Czech members in December, making the party a largely Sudeten German group at a time when that community was becoming increasingly attracted to the Nazis. The Austrian group had to go underground after the Dollfus putsch of March 1934, and the majority of the Alsatian section was expelled that summer for its pro-Nazi sympathies. The Swiss affiliate went over to the Social Democrats in 1936, and M.N. Roy took his Indian group out in 1937. Furthermore, the suppression of POUM in May 1937 and the execution of Bukharin and other "rights" in the Soviet Union had convinced many that the Communist International could not be reformed and the idea of being an "opposition" within it was untenable.[4]
At a conference in February 1938, the International Communist Opposition affiliated with the London Bureau. This led to some confusion as to whether affiliates of the ICO were also affiliates of the London Bureau as organizations themselves. To straighten out this overlapping another conference was held in Paris in April 1939 which dissolved both entities into a new organization, the International Revolutionary Marxist Centre, to be headquartered in Paris. Membership in the new group was quickly ratified by the ILLA, the KPO, POUM, PSOP, the ILP and the Archaio-Marxists. It ceased to exist after the fall of France.[5]
A few groups continue the tradition of this current today. The Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik in Germany is one such group.
Meetings
- The first gathering of the opposition Communists was held in Berlin March 17–19, 1930. It was attended by the oppositions of Germany, Czechoslovakia, Sweden and by M. N. Roy. The meeting decided to set up an information center in Berlin to co-ordinate international activities and publish a bulletin, International Information of the Communist Opposition, which had previously been published by the KPO.[6][verification needed]
- The first official conference of the ICO was held in Berlin in December 1930. It was attended by representatives from Germany, Alsace, Sweden, the United States, Switzerland, and Norway, with letters from sympathizers in Austria, Finland, Italy and Canada. Adopts the "Platform of the International Communist Opposition"[7]
- the second official congress was held in Berlin, July 2–5, 1932, attended by representatives from Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Spain and the US.[8]
- An "enlarged session of the Bureau" was held in July 1933 to discuss the Nazi triumph in Germany and the Paris conference of "centrist" groups. Attended by representatives from Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the US. The Norwegians and Swedes did not attend, as they favored participation in the Paris conference. The ICO itself declined invitation to the conference. ICO headquarters moved to Paris.[9]
Groups associated with the ICO
Germany
The Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik, founded by Heinrich Brandler, is effectively a successor organisation.
Austria
The Communist Opposition of Austria was established in late 1929 when the politburo of the official Communist Party of Austria expelled Willi Schlamm, A Reisinger, Joseph Klein and Richard Vovesny. They had their own periodical, Der Neue Mahnruf until the Dolfuss dictatorship came to power in 1934. Jay Lovestone happened to be in Austria at the time of the anchluss in early March 1938 at the invitation of a group called Der Funke and was able to arrange eight fake passports for eight leaders of the Austrian opposition. They left Vienna on March 14, the day before Hitler arrived in the city.[10] Schlamm later edited a paper for Austrian exiles in Prague, Weltbühne, then emigrated to the US.[11]
Czechoslovakia
Hungary
An Opposition group was established in Hungary in 1932. At that time the Hungarian Communist Party was already an underground movement, and the opposition claimed about 10% of its membership.[12]
Poland
While never a formal organization, there was a tendency within the Polish Communist Party usually known as the "three Ws" after the leaders:
Switzerland
In Switzerland, the official Communist Party's leader,
Italy
There was some resistance in the Italian Party to the new Third Period line. At first the two Italian ECCI members, Palmiro Togliatti and Angelo Tasca opposed the Cominterns actions with regard to the German party. However, at the Tenth Plenum in June 1929 Togliatti capitulated to Stalins wishes while Tasca was expelled. Later, at a May 1930 plenum of the Party, politburo members Pasquini and Santini were removed for opposing the Third Period and "organizational measures" were taken against lower cadres.[15]
Spain
Sweden
Finland
Norway
Denmark
A Danish Opposition group was founded in 1933. It lasted at least until February 1938 when its representative attended the ICO unity conference with the London Bureau.[16]
France
In France the initial purge of the Communist Party in 1929 took mayors or city councilors from
Alsace
A separate ICO party, the
United Kingdom
During most of its history the right Opposition in the United Kingdom was represented principally within the Independent Labour Party. Oppositionists joined the Revolutionary Policy Committee, part of which represented their line within the ILP. An independent Opposition group was formed in 1935, but had little influence. By 1938 the line of the ICO had turned towards the "centrist" position of the ILP leadership under Fenner Brockway and the work of independent factions within the party became less tenable.[20]
United States and Canada
India
 | This section possibly contains original research. (June 2010) |
The leading Indian Communist
Argentina
While never an official member of the ICO, a Right Oppositionist group split from the
Mexico
The Marxist Workers Bloc of Mexico was founded in early 1937. It issued a paper called La Batalla, after POUMs journal and announced its adherence to the ICO. It was never heard from again.[22]
See also
- Moscow Trials
- Capitalist roader
Further reading
There is little information available on the International Communist Opposition in English. The only book length study is Robert J Alexander's The Right Opposition; The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s (
Notes
- S2CID 164423869.
- ISBN 978-81-87492-28-3.
- ^ "Pierre Broué: The "Bloc" of the Oppositions against Stalin (January 1980)". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 2020-08-07.
- ^ Alexander, p. 287.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 290–293.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 278–277.
- ^ a b Alexander, p. 277.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 282–284.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 284–287.
- ISBN 978-0-679-44400-8.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 268–269.
- ^ Alexander, p. 269.
- ISBN 978-0-312-16277-1.
- ISBN 978-0-521-32581-3.
- ^ a b Alexander, pp. 163–165.
- ^ Alexander, p. 183.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 262–263.
- S2CID 153882413.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 264–268.
- ^ Alexander, pp. 259–262.
- ^ Alexander, p. 274.
- ^ Alexander, p. 275.
Works cited
- Alexander, Robert J. The Right Opposition: The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s. ISBN 0-313-22070-0.
External links
- For unity of the world Communist movement : a letter to the Independent Labor Party of Great Britain from the Communist Party USA (Opposition)
- A webpage devoted to the American branch of the Right Opposition
- What is the Communist Opposition? by Bertram Wolfe
- International Class Struggle Vol 1 #1 Summer 1936
- International Class Struggle Vol 1 #2 Winter 1936
- International Class Struggle Vol 1 #3 Spring 1937