The Bolsheviks and the World War: The Origins of the Third International

Abstract

THE PURPOSE of this book is to make available in English a collection of documents on the origin of the Third or Commtlnist International. During the decade before 1914 the groups which cOlnposed the Russian Social Democratic Labor party were in a turn10il of dissen- sion caused mainly by conflicting theories of organization and tactics. These disputes greatly distressed the leaders of the Second International, and they tried, vvithout success, to persuade the Bolsheviks to accept the kind of con1promise by which other socialist parties maintained the fornlal unity required by the International. Lenin and his friends viewed with no less disapproval what they considered to be the op- portunism of the socialist leaders. Certain documents are given which relate to these matters, to Lenin's defense of the Bolshevik viewpoint and his attempts to organize the Lefts within the International.