Modern English Historiography of the Communist International: A General Overview

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the 21st-century English-language historiography of the Communist International. Contemporary historians are showing increasing interest in the study of this international organization. Three available conceptual approaches to this topic (“traditionalist”, “revisionist”, and “post-revisionist”) are considered and characterized, the works of historians from Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand are analyzed. The article demonstrates an increase in research interest in the Communist International. In a fairly large volume of studies, there are monographs and articles devoted to the organization both directly (the historiography of the Comintern, the activities of its sections around the world, etc.) and indirectly, i.e., to related issues such as the history of communism, in particular, and the left forces, in general, international relations of Soviet Russia, the communist movement in individual countries, etc. These studies touch on the period of the Comintern's activity from 1920 to the end of the 1930s, including several controversial issues: the impact on the policy of the national communist parties of the “The Twenty-one Conditions”, united front tactics, Bolshevization, Stalinization, and the Popular Front. The author believes that most of the studies (especially those published in the first decade of the 21st century) are based on studies published long before the 2000s, however, archival materials are being used in increasing volumes, which makes modern research more objective. This gives grounds for a conclusion about the revision of the historiographic tradition of the Comintern that existed in the 20th century: new approaches (“revisionist” and “post-revisionist”) entailed a change in emphasis and a revision of some established points of view. Authors adhering to these approaches rely mainly on modern literature (including Russian) and a wide source base represented by materials from both national archives and the Russian State Archives of Social-Political History.