Communist Groups Research Articles

Peter Quill : Multimedia, Anti-Communism, and Science Superhero

ABSTRACT This article assesses Peter Quill, a radio thriller drama that aired on WGN (1938–1940) and evinces the early multimedia interaction of newspaper-owned radio stations through a tie-up with the Chicago Tribune, its owner. The paper condensed each week’s program with a visual summary, while the program dramatically echoed and amplified the paper’s anticommunist stance and rightist ideology through another mode and medium. Peter Quill aided US authorities in stymieing the Red Circle, a fifth-column communist group that typically overwhelmed the capabilities of law enforcement and the military. Quill also provides a scientific genius superhero that anticipates the Cold War.

The Socialist Movement Strategy of Kim Yak-Su Group in the Early 1920s and Their Relationship with Other Communist Groups

The Socialist Movement Strategy of Kim Yak-Su Group in the Early 1920s and Their Relationship with Other Communist Groups

ON THE TRAINING OF CADRES FOR THE CHINESE REVOLUTION IN THE USSR (ON THE HISTORY OF THE YUANLI SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES)

The victory of the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 awakened the enthusiasm of advanced Chinese intellectuals to master the Russian revolutionary experience, and many young Chinese revolutionaries sought to study directly in the birthplace of October. In order to study Russian revolutionary theory and experience and achieve the goal of transforming the country, it was necessary to train a group of Russian-speaking cadres for the future revolution. The article deals with the history of the first cadre school of the Communist Party of China, the School of Foreign Languages in Yuyangli, a neighborhood of Shanghai. The research shows that, although it existed for only about a year, this school made an important contribution to the education of the first cadres of the CPC and to the development of the Chinese revolution. Its teachers and students vigorously propagated Marxism, actively participated in party construction, led the Chinese workers, peasants, youth, women’s movements and armed struggle. They played a special role in connecting Marxist theory with the practice of the Chinese revolution, developing and strengthening the Party’s organizational strength and expanding its political influence. Old Yuyangli and New Yuyangli are two neighboring streets. In 1920, it was here that a group of Chinese communists in Shanghai established the School of Foreign Languages, which actually became a school for training Chinese revolutionary cadres. The first group of young communists who studied here were sent to the USSR after only a few months of Russian language and political training. Upon returning home, most of the graduates of the School of Foreign Languages became prominent figures of the Chinese revolution. The spread of Marxism in China is closely connected with this group of young people who studied in the USSR. Yuyangli is not just a toponym and a place where the School of Foreign Languages was located, but it is a historical “witness” of the CPC’s more than century-long struggle for its ideals.

The Perception of Fascist and National Socialist Ideologies During the Second World War in Albania

The Albanian Communist Party was born as a Bolshevik-style party, endowed with a non-Bolshevik but social democratic program, such as popular democracy. To shed light on the factors that determined the arrival of the communist regime in Albania, it is necessary to start the analysis from its roots, that is, since the establishment of the communist regime in Albania. For his part, although the communist regime was established in Albania immediately after the end of World War II, the roots of the phenomenon must be sought from the beginning of the war, even a few months earlier when Albania was invaded on April 7, 1939, by fascist Italy. When Albania was invaded by fascist Italy, no one inside or outside the country predicted, nor could have predicted, that at the end of World War II, the Albanian Communist Party would take power into its own hands. There were subjective and objective reasons for this. First of all, when World War II broke out, Albania was the only country in the Balkans that did not have a Communist Party. However, the absence of the Communist Party was largely a subjective factor. The establishment of the communist regime in Albania was for objective reasons a completely paradoxical phenomenon. Albania, the youngest state in Europe, at the same time its most backward state, with a population of one million and forty thousand inhabitants, had no developed industry, ie no working class in the eyes of the proletariat, as conceived by Marxist doctrine. According to Marxist definitions, Albania was a micro-bourgeois country, that is, without capitalist owners and capitalist institutions, to the extent that they justified the socialist revolution. In addition, the Albanian population was overwhelmingly still illiterate. There were only a few isolated nuclei or communist groups with few members composed mainly of artisans and students, who were further characterized by ideological perversion and worse still by political rivalries between them. The question before historians is this: How can it be explained that despite all these disadvantages, the Albanian Communist Party, which was founded two and a half years after the occupation of the country by fascist Italy, on November 8, 1941, managed to face the war against the occupiers within three years. Nazi fascists and against internal nationalist factors, to take political power in Albania at the end of the Second World War? In addition, how is it that the Albanian Communist Party, unlike its Eastern European counterparts, seized political power on its own, without the presence of Soviet armies, which are not known to have invaded Albania? Albania's position during the Second World War and especially the National Liberation War must be judged by ourselves, regardless of who led it. We must judge it as we do in every historical event. The communist dictatorship that was established in Albania should not blind us to the judgment we give in the national liberation war. The communist regime is not a necessary offspring of the National Liberation War. In my opinion, the establishment of the communist regime is the result of mistakes made during the national liberation war, it is a consequence of the poverty of the political culture of the Albanian people, the lack of traditional political parties, the naivety of the Communist Party leaders, the illusions of united nationalists with the National Liberation Front, of myopia, of the leaders of the National Front, which were used by Enver Hoxha to realize under the umbrella of patriotic war his dictatorial ambitions. Received: 25 December 2023 / Accepted: 25 February 2024 / Published: 23 April 2024

First they came for the Young Communists: police facilitation and control at COP26, Glasgow

ABSTRACT The COP26 Climate Summit held in Glasgow in November 2021 was expected to attract mass protests. Given the climate crisis and the increase in direct action in the UK, the police anticipated huge numbers with the potential for significant disorder. Despite this, Police Scotland insisted that they were committed to facilitating peaceful protest. Drawing on ethnographic observation and interviews with both police and protestors, this paper offers analysis of a contentious event during the large set-piece demonstration on Saturday 6 November. It focuses on the containment of a small group of Young Communists to ask what this tells us about ‘facilitation’, crowd theory, and police-protestor relations. Whilst fairly insignificant in terms of numbers, we argue that the YCL containment offers valuable insights into protest policing and facilitation.

대통령의 국경일 연설문에 나타난 어휘 사용 양상

This study analyzes 76 commemorative speeches by South Korean presidents, focusing on Constitution Day, National Foundation Day, and Hangul Day. Among 28 Constitution Day speeches, key terms include “National Assembly, Republic of Korea,” “democracy, constitution,” and later, “unification, peace, autonomy.” Notable shifts occur, with “country's constitution” and “constitution establishment, constitution, North Korea” gaining prominence, followed by “democratic constitution,” “presidential election,” and “Republic of Korea.”
 National Foundation Day speeches (23 in total) highlight “Hongik Ingan, people, culture, history, authenticity,” transitioning to “unification, peace, North Korea, nation-building.” Early mentions of “North Korean Communist Group, national people, ethnic history, 60 million people” shift to focus on terms like “people, nation” later on.
 Hangul Day speeches (25 in total) feature evolving themes, from “scholar, culture, newspaper, national language, China” to emphasis on “King Sejong, cultural fi gure,” and eventually “culture, people, Hangul.” The 16th president's speeches uniquely emphasize “our language,” “King Sejong,” and “compatriots, Japanese colonial era Hangul, our language, Korean language.”
 The study extracts characteristic keywords using an algorithm, providing insights into presidential discourse on national holidays. However, interpreting their meaning solely based on data poses challenges. This research serves as a foundation, urging further studies for a clearer understanding of trends.

From Authoritarianism to Democracy in Poland Catholic church, the Union Movement Solidarity and the History of Democratic Change

The paper examines the complex process of transition from a non-democratic to a democratic regime and the consolidation of the government system in Poland. The specificity of the democratic transition in Poland, in relation to other transitions in Central and Eastern Europe, is reflected in the nature of the non-democratic regime, which was more authoritarian than (post)totalitarian. Hence, while the communist regime was in force, social pluralism managed to be preserved to the highest possible extent. Preserved social and even political pluralism later contributed to success in the transition process. The military-party regime in Poland, after Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, applied the strategy of getting out that took the form of negotiations between the political position and the political opposition at the Round Table. The compromise ended the negotiations and brought about semi-free elections, on one, and the controlled democratic transition in Poland, on the other hand. The event was accelerated when, in semi-free elections, the popular Solidarity movement defeated the then-ruling communist group. The provisions of the Agreement were fully respected by both sides. In the end, after the Second World War, it was Poland whose citizens were the first to overthrow at the regular elections. The Round Table Agreement established the function of a strong president, who was directly elected. That function was first used by Leh Valensa, the leader of Solidarity. The extreme proportional election method and the fragmentation of Solidarity, in terms of the creation of several political parties, resulted in the establishment of a multi-party semi-presidential system. The change in the electoral system and the inappropriate tactics of the political parties that emerged from Solidarity enabled the left-wing government to come to power and ensured the post of president to a post-communist candidate (Darmanovi?, 2002). The transfer of power from Solidarity to their former rivals, who fundamentally changed, managed to end peacefully and Poland slowly entered the phase of consolidation of the government system.

Cross-Movement Strike Actions: Works Council and Communist Groups at the Bremer Vulkan Shipyard in the 1970s

Abstract Beginning in the early 1970s, various communist groups decided to become active at the Bremer Vulkan shipyard. The article shows that they did not immediately go for confrontation to older trade union structures but were willing to change the movement from within. With the support of a wildcat strike at the shipyard in 1973, the New Left raised the question of alternatives. As a result, the Social Democratic works council chairman resigned because of a lack of support from his colleagues, and in 1974 some communists were elected to the works council. I argue that there was no division into old and new but rather a diverse field of actors: a disparate group of workers with different occupational status, and political approaches; works councils and shop stewards with close ties to Bremen’s Social Democracy; and various communist groups that pursued very different policies and goals, sometimes joined forces, but basically fought each other—especially in conflicts—rather than taking joint action.

권오설의 민족혁명운동론 수용과정과 민족해방운동 전술

Kwon Oh-seol, who participated in the national liberation movement led by the communist group in Colonial Joseon in the 1920s, participated in the enlightenment movement before accepting socialism. Previous studies have identified his activities as influenced by the national independence movement in the 1910s, but did not to elaborate on his acceptance of socialism and the development of the national liberation movement centered on the popular movement. this paper tried to clarify the relationship between his activities and the national liberation movement by specifically reviewing his growth background and acceptance of socialism, and the theory of national revolutionary movement. Kwon Oh-seol was able to forming an enlightened consciousness of life improvement and a revolutionary class consciousness and possible to participate in the national liberation movement based on the national revolutionary movement. he planned The 6·10 National Movement in 1926 and tried to embrace the Old faction of Cheondogyo and the student class while attempting to raise the public’s consciousness of national liberation. Kwon Oh-seol’s national liberation movement were formed based on the consciousness of life improvement and Comintern’s theory of the National Revolutionary Movement.

Sovietų Sąjungos penktoji kolona Anykščių krašte tarpukario Lietuvoje

The communist underground movement which emerged in the provinces of Lithuania during the years of independence used to be involved in anti-state subversive activities in favour of the foreign state, the USSR, already before the occupation, thus laying down the foundations of a collaborative system. The Lithuanian Communist Party was a strictly centralised organisation consisting of LCP groups, districts, regions, and units which were governed by the Central Committee of the LCP through instructors appointed by this institution of the LCP. In Anykščiai and in the adjacent Kavarskas parish the first communist groups were created by members of the Communist Party of the whole of Russia (VKP (b)); Edvardas Makštys, former secretary of the revolutionary committee of the Švenčionys district, a teacher, and Alfonsas Karosas, former commissar of the RA division and a pharmacist. The communist underground movement founded by the Lithuanian bolsheviks was expanding, and new underground communist groups started to appear both in the parish centres of Anykščiai and Kavarskas and in the villages of these parishes. Communists from Anykščiai and Kavarskas were active in cooperation, and for some time they belonged to the same LCP Anykščiai volost. The communist movement in the LCP Anykščiai-Kavarskas volost (from 1934 onwards) was small and very scarce archival data suggest that during the years of independence in Anykščiai there were only three Lithuanian and one Russian communist, all the others were Jews. In Kavarskas, only Jews were members of communist organisations. The situation in Anykščiai and Kavarskas was quite the opposite: members of Communist and Komsomol groups operating in the villages of Anykščiai and Kavarskas volosts were exclusively Lithuanians, as there were almost no Jews living in rural areas. In terms of the total number of members and supporters of communist organisations in Anykščiai (in the towns and villages) during the years of independence, the number of communists, members of the Komsomol and the international organisation for the support of the revolutionary struggle (in Russian – MOPR) was fewer than 80 persons, which was less than 1 per cent (0.58) of the population in the volost (in September 1939, a total population of the volost was 13,741 person). All in all, in 1940 there were 18 communists and about 30 members of the Komsomol and the MOPR in Anykščiai volost, and the same number (about 30) of their supporters (mostly acting as sureties for the detained communists). In 1936, 37 members of communist organisations lived in Anykščiai (some of them were serving prison sentences at the time), 33 of whom were Jews, which constituted 2.34 per cent of the Jewish community in Anykščiai (according to the data from September 1939, there were 1,405 Jews living in Anykščiai). The Lithuanian security police successfully controlled the activities of the communists, and the latter did not constitute a major source of concern for the state. Due to the low number of communists and the hostility of the majority of the population towards them, they had no means and no way of changing the government, either by election (the LCP was banned in Lithuania) or by force. The situation changed radically after the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviet Russia, when the former fifth column – members of communist organisations and their supporters, together with the representatives of the occupiers, took over almost all the most important government posts and workplaces, and set about destroying everything connected with the independent state of Lithuania and its autonomy.

Yaroslav Salat-Petrlik: Czech Communist internationalist and Soviet Party functionary

Based on the documents from Russian archives, the article considers Yaroslav Salat-Petrlik’s participation in the revolutionary events in Russia in 1917–1918, especially in the establishment of Soviet authority in Zadonsk in Voronezh province. Significant attention is paid to the activities of Salat in Moscow as a secretary of the Central Executive Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Group and as a chairman of the Central Czechoslovak Bureau of Agitation and Propaganda. The author also analyzes his underground revolutionary activities in 1919–1920 in Czechoslovakia and his work in the Comintern. The author points out the reasons that caused Czechoslovak communist leaders and Soviet diplomats in Prague to criticize Salat’s activities. As a result, he had to stay in the USSR at party work. In 1922–1936 he headed the Soviet party educational institutions in the North Caucasus, the Volga region and Central Asia. In these regions, Salat also led the agitation and propaganda work of the Communist Party. He always followed Stalin’s political line in everything, took an active part in the fight against Trotskyism and later the “Trotskyist-Zinoviev bloc”. However, it did not save him from the arrest in 1936.

Perceptions of the bolshevik danger at the western border of Romania in the interwar period

At the western border of Romania, the communist-Bolshevik ideology made its presence felt at the end of 1918 on the Hungarian chain, in the conditions of ideological turmoil of this type generated by the Bolshevik socialist group in Budapest formed around Kun Béla. In Oradea there was a socialist group even before the First World War. Its leader was Katz Béla in the fall of 1918. Bolshevik ideas were often spotted in the county in the immediate future, facilitating the formation of a fairly important communist group throughout the interwar period. At the end of 1919, the socialist leader Eugen Rozvany, recently returned from the front, a member of the Socialist Party of Transylvania and Banat, made his presence felt in Oradea. He joined the communist movement in 1920, where he held an important position until his departure to the USSR in 1932, placing himself at the head of the Bihor and even national communist movement. He was the one who seriously imprinted the communist movement in Bihor and beyond. Breiner Bela was added immediately. Along with them, new leaders were formed who turned to communism in a very short time, such as Sándkovitz Sándor (Alexandru Sencovici) and Mogyorós Sándor (Alexandru Moghioroş). Oradea and Bihor played an important role in the national communist movement. This is demonstrated by the fact that after the Second Congress of the Communist Party of Romania, held in 1922, the communist movement in the country was organized into eight regional secretariats. One of them was in Oradea. The Communist Party of Romania, the Bihor county organization, was a political structure overwhelmingly dominated in the interwar period, as can be seen, by members of the Hungarian and Jewish communities. They made the law in the organization, and if someone did not agree with its conduct, he was quickly shot dead. This is also the case of Eugen Rozvany, who, when he had a different position from the local communists on “the self-determination of the peoples of imperialist Romania”, he supported the idea of the Romanian national state, was unmasked, removed from the party, whose fate was sealed.

Razem przeciw bolszewikom. Niemieckie próby nawiązania współpracy z Armią Krajową w drugiej połowie 1944 roku na przykładzie Inspektoratu AK Miechów

Together against the Bolsheviks: German attempts to collaborate with the Home Army in the second half of 1944 as illustrated by the Miechów Home Army Inspectorate The tactics used by the German occupiers in the second half of 1944 to persuade the Home Army to join forces against the Soviets is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and still little-known episodes in the history of the Polish Underground State. These efforts, although clearly delayed and treated with great distrust by the majority of Home Army soldiers, were nevertheless a fairly common phenomenon. The German strategy, although inconsistent and full of contradictions, could in some situations be met with favorable attitudes of the underground army officers, especially if they were already involved in conflicts with the Soviet partisans and communist groups. The Home Army soldiers were undoubtedly tempted by the prospect of personal safety, limiting repressions against the civilian population or by the promise of weapon supplies. However, no one was under the illusion that the German proposals resulted from goodwill – it was understood that the only reason for seeking alliance with the Poles was the dramatic situation on the eastern front.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (1917) AND IT’S IMPACTS ON INDIAN SUBCONTINENT

Social movements are loosely structured but persistent campaigns that promote social objectives, usually the implementation or avoidance of a change in the structure or values of society. Marxism is a school of thought that was created in the middle of the 19th century by Karl Marx and, to a lesser degree, Friedrich Engels. An political and economic agenda, a philosophy of history, and three connected concepts made up its initial composition. Also included is Marxism as it was interpreted and used by the different socialist groups, notably prior to 1914. Then there is Soviet Marxism, which was developed by Vladimir Lenin and refined by Joseph Stalin. Dubbed Marxism-Leninism, this ideology became the guiding principle of the communist parties founded in the wake of the 1917 Russian Revolution. The article's first portion examines Marxist thought and how it has influenced communist groups across the globe. The second part of the paper discussed Lenin's worldview, the legacy of the Tsars, and the Russian Revolution. The third half of the paper discussed the communist and Marxist influences on the Indian Subcontinent. The paper's conclusion is given in the final section.

Agents Provocateurs: State Infiltration in BlacKkKlansman and the Greensboro Massacre

In 2018, director Boots Riley posted a short, but scathing critique of the film BlacKkKlansman to his Twitter. His criticism emanates mostly from the film’s portrayal of the real-life police detective Ron Stallworth as a hero and its numerous omissions regarding Stallworth’s infiltration of Leftist groups. Much of Riley’s commentary focuses on the film’s failure to account for the police as a foundational aspect of everyday white supremacy, but his essay also speak to the consistent use of white nationalist forces by the State to suppress Leftist and Black radical activism. This paper uses both the film and memoir BlacKkKlansman, as well as Riley’s critique, to frame an analysis of the Klan as a synergistic form of State, white nationalist, and anticommunist repression against a broad spectrum of Leftist activism. Beyond Stallworth, I focus on the Greensboro Massacre of 1979, in which Klansmen and Neo-Nazis murdered five Communist Worker’s Party organizers. The events in Greensboro prove a far more representative example of the true nature of police infiltration of radical groups than those presented in BlacKkKlansman. I argue that despite the popular belief that the Klan and Communist groups constitute the disavowed fringes of American society, the State has routinely provided a space for the Klan’s existence while it has simultaneously persecuted, villainized, and criminalized American Communists and Black radicals. This is borne out by the fact that there has rarely, if ever, been a point where the violence of the Klan has not been favored by law enforcement and government officials over the activism of the Klan’s radical adversaries.

“THE MARGINAL ENEMY”: THE IMAGE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF MALAYA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE THAI STATE, 1948–1989

The Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), also known colloquially among Thais as “the Chinese Communists” or “the Chinese Communist of Malaya,” was an anti-government paramilitary group that was active during the Cold War. In the context of the Cold War, successive Thai governments saw the CPM as an opposition group, but lesser in importance than the other threats it faced, such as the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) and the separatist movements operating in the same area of operation as the CPM. At the same time, the CPM was the last communist group to disband (around 1989), despite the Thai government’s policy of amnesty, which began in 1981 under Order 66/23. This article argues that the Thai authorities viewed the CPM as a “marginal enemy” in terms of its geographical remoteness on the Thai-Malaysian border and security priority. As a result of this lower security priority, the Thai government approached the CPM as a threat that could be dealt with through negotiations and political means rather than military suppression. It was arguably this different perspective that led to the divergent strategies between the central governments of Thailand and Malaysia vis-à vis the CPM threat.

A Historical Investigation on the Early Organization of the Communist Party of Guangzhou and the Construction of Marxist Discourse Power

As one of the earliest communist groups established in China before the founding of the Communist Party of China, the early organization of the Communist Party of Guangzhou assumed the political responsibility and historical mission of constructing the right to speak of Marxism, and played an important role in promoting the modernization and popularization of Marxism in China and the birth of the Communist Party of China.

Deserters of War, Soldiers of Revolution: Charles Francis Phillips and the Origins of Communism in the Americas, 1914–21

This article explores the origins of the global communist movement in the years 1914–21, with special emphasis on the Americas and Spain. It does so through the biography of Charles Phillips, a US army deserter who defected to revolutionary Mexico in 1918, where he intervened in the country’s stormy labor politics and plugged into dynamic transnational networks geared toward Soviet Russia. His contact with Soviet emissaries drove him to Moscow in 1920. He became a roving organizer for the Communist International in Europe and the Americas, helping set up communist groups in Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, and Spain. Phillips’ trajectory is representative of the generation of activists that helped transform communism into a global movement. Though far from consummate Marxists, these militants, whose radicalization was often shaped by the experience of the First World War, proved crucial organizers for the Communist International by dint of their mobility, their international networks, and their commitment to the cause.

French Prisoners of War in South of Soviet Russia in Spring and Summer of 1919

The article examines the plot about the stay of French servicemen in captivity in the south of Russia at the end of the intervention of the Entente countries (spring-summer 1919). The relevance of the study is due to the need to revise the point of view established in Russian historiography about the voluntary and massive transition of the French military to the side of the Bolsheviks. The author dwells on the circumstances of captivity and the period of detention of foreigners. Particular attention is paid to the attempt by the Bolsheviks to spread the ideas of the left movement and attract prisoners to the ranks of the Red Army. This activity was carried out through the creation of communist groups at the Foreign Collegium in Odessa. Using the example of the work of the French Communist Group employees, it was possible to identify agitation and propaganda methods of persuading the compatriots to the side of the Bolsheviks. The novelty of the study is seen in the fact that for the reconstruction of the methods of campaigning, the author involved materials from the archives of the French Ministry of Defense, which make it possible to determine the circle of agitators and concretize methods of recruiting foreigners. The author proved that there was no mass transition to the side of the Bolsheviks, the agitators managed to persuade only a few prisoners of the French and most of the servicemen remained faithful to this oath.

The Role of Khmer Court Dance and Music in the Construction of a Cambodian-American Identity

Cambodia gained national attention in the mid 1975 due to the mass genocide perpetrated during the communist group known as the Khmer Rouge. For many Cambodians born and raised in the United States, the primary cultural awareness passed down from their parents and elders revolves around experiences surrounding the Khmer Rouge. This paper explores the construction of cultural identity among second generation Cambodian youth and adults participating in Khmer classical dance and music classes at Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach, California. We found that there is a strong correlation between familial ties and participation in cultural activities, as is evident from interviews as well as family member attendance at Khmer Arts Academy. Our research delved into the struggle Khmer children born and raised in America face when pressured to assimilate into American culture. The societal need to “fit in” is difficult for most minority children, and it is difficult to find ways to affirm heritage identity. The students at the Khmer Arts Academy use Khmer classical dance and music to learn about the beauty and intricacies of their culture, something that they lacked prior to this experience. Using ethnographic techniques and methods, our preliminary findings suggest that participation in the Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach introduced students to and, in some cases increased, their connections with their cultural heritage. Our techniques include participant observations and interviews over the course of three months (September, 2019-November, 2019).