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Bolshevization of the Communist International has at least two meanings. First it meant to independently change the way of working of new communist parties, such as that in the UK in the early 1920s. Secondly was the process from 1924 by which the pluralistic
Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...
(Comintern) and its constituent communist parties were increasingly subject to pressure by the
Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...
in Moscow. With the development of
Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
in the Soviet Union, this latter so called "Bolshevization" became more clearly Stalinization. The autonomy of national communist parties was downplayed and the Comintern became a tool of
Soviet foreign policy After the Russian Revolution, in which the Bolsheviks took over parts of the collapsing Russian Empire in 1918, they faced enormous odds against the German Empire and eventually negotiated terms to pull out of World War I. They then went to war ...
. Prior to 1924 Bolshevization included that parties affiliated to the Communist International were based on the principles of
democratic centralism Democratic centralism is the organisational principle of most communist parties, in which decisions are made by a process of vigorous and open debate amongst party membership, and are subsequently binding upon all members of the party. The co ...
. This means that political decisions reached by voting in national parties were binding upon all members and that all democratic decisions of the Communist International, and of its elected Executive Committee, were binding on member parties. Bolshevization also included a transformation of the organisation of, for example, the British Communist Party from 1922. Early parties that had merged to form it had more informal control by individuals, rather than a democratic centralist structure. The party also wanted to change to ensure that it would not be one where “as a rule very few members do the work while others are inactive and apathetic” but rather one where “every member would have to be a working member”. During the Fifth Congress of the Comintern in 1924 "A new policy of "Bolshevization" was adopted, which dragooned the Communist Parties toward stricter bureaucratic centralism. This flattened out the earlier diversity of radicalisms, welding them into a single approved model of Communist organization. ...Respect for Bolshevik achievements and defense of the Russian Revolution now transmuted into dependency on Moscow and belief in Soviet infallibility. Depressing cycles of "internal rectification" began, disgracing and expelling successive leaderships, so that by the later 1920s many founding Communists had gone. This process of coordination, in a hard-faced drive for uniformity, was finalized at the next Congress of the Third International in 1928. Over time, along with the development of
Stalinism Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, this 1924 style so called "Bolshevization" became more clearly Stalinization. One view on this process can be seen by utilizing “insights from Sovietologists to argue that Stalinism constituted a politics and practice connected with but distinct from Bolshevism. Reviewing Comintern and party history, it proposes a specific periodization. State Bolshevism, 1919–1923, saw subjugation of the American and British parties to Russian imperatives. Incipient Stalinism, 1924–1928, witnessed restructuring of the politics of subordination. From 1929, Stalinization accomplished a distinctive subordination." The Sixth Congress of the Communist International in 1928 took a radical turn as the Comintern decided that
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
was reaching its final stages. There was less support for
wars of national liberation Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...
in colonial regions, especially after the collapse of the Comintern in China. In the
Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...
,
Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , ; ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosophy, Marxist philosopher, Linguistics, linguist, journalist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, Political philosophy, political the ...
took the lead in promoting Bolshevization. In Prague, it was
Klement Gottwald Klement Gottwald (; 23 November 1896 – 14 March 1953) was a Czech communist politician, who was the leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1929 until his death in 1953 – titled as general secretary until 1945 and as chairman f ...
who came to power in the
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
by taking charge of Bolshevization. A number of senior KPD (German Communist Party) leaders, in exile in the Soviet Union, were caught up in
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
's
Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...
of 1937–1938 and executed.


Other meanings of the term Bolshevize

In Great Britain, the Communists were defeated in their efforts to Bolshevize and take over the Labour Party. In Finland, the Communists failed to Bolshevize the main socialist movement.Tauno Saarela, "Finnish Communism, Bolshevization and Stalinization." in ''Bolshevism, Stalinism and the Comintern: Perspectives on Stalinization, 1917–53'' (2008): 188-205.


See also

*
Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...


Notes

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Further reading

* Babadjanov, Bakhtiyar. "From Colonization to Bolshevization: Some Political and Legislative Aspects of Molding a 'Soviet Islam' in Central Asia." in ''Central Asian Law: An Historical Overview. A Festschrift for the Ninetieth Birthday of Herbert Franke'' (Lawrence, KS: Society for Asian Legal History, 2004). * Bates, Thomas R. "Antonio Gramsci and the Bolshevization of the PCI." ''Journal of Contemporary History'' 11.2 (1976): 115-131. * David-Fox, Michael. "Symbiosis to Synthesis: the Communist Academy and the bolshevization of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1918-1929." ''Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas'' vol. 2 (1998): 219-243. * Degras, J. ed. '' The Communist International 1919-1943, Documents: Volume I, 1919-1922; Volume II, 1923-1928; Volume III, 1929-1943'' especially volume 2 (1971) * Drachkovitch, Milorad M. "The Third International" In ''The Revolutionary Internationals, 1864-1943'' (Stanford University Press, 1966) , pp. 159–202. * Gabrič, Aleš. "The Bolshevization of Slovenia." ''Slovene Studies: Journal of the Society of Slovene Studies'' (2006): 79-94. * Goldner, Loren. "Max Eastman: One American Radical's View of the ‘Bolshevization’ of American Radicalism and a Forgotten, and Unforgettable, Portrait of Trotsky." ''Critique'' 35.1 (2007): 119-139. * James, Winston. "In the nest of extreme radicalism: radical networks and the Bolshevization of Claude McKay in London." ''Comparative American Studies'' 15.3-4 (2017): 174-203
online
* Krasucki, Eryk. "Polish Research on the History of the Comintern: An Overview of Existing Literature and an Outline of Future Perspectives." ''Acta Poloniae Historica'' 123 (2021): 261-287
online
* LaPorte, Norman, Kevin Morgan, and Matthew Worley, eds. ''Bolshevism, Stalinism and the Comintern: perspectives on Stalinization, 1917-53'' (Springer, 2008
online
* Morgan, Kevin. "Bolshevization, Stalinization, and Party Ritual: The Congresses of the Communist Party of Great Britain, 1920–1943." ''Labour History Review'' (2022). * Suzdaltsev, Ilya. "Modern English Historiography of the Communist International: A General Overview." ''Novaia i noveishaia istoriia'' 4 (2021): 18-30
online
* Waller, Michael, Stéphane Courtois, and Marc Lazar, eds. ''Comrades and brothers: communism and trade unions in Europe'' (Psychology Press, 1991). * Zumoff, Jacob A. ''The Communist International and U.S. Communism, 1919-1929'' (Brill Publishers, 2014).


External links

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at
Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Enge ...
. Comintern Far-left politics Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Stalinism