World Revolution, 19171936: The Rise and Fall of the Communist International
C. L. R. James (1901–1989), a Trinidadian historian, political activist, and writer, is the author of The Black Jacobins, an influential study of the Haitian Revolution. He is also the author of The Life of Captain Cipriani, Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History, and Beyond a Boundary, all also published by Duke University Press.
Christian Høgsbjerg is a historian and works for Leeds University Centre for African Studies. He is the author of C. L. R. James in Imperial Britain and the coeditor of The Black Jacobins Reader, both also published by Duke University Press.
C. L. R. James (1901–1989), a Trinidadian historian, political activist, and writer, is the author of The Black Jacobins, an influential study of the Haitian Revolution. He is also the author of The Life of Captain Cipriani, Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History, and Beyond a Boundary, all also published by Duke University Press.
Christian Høgsbjerg is a historian and works for Leeds University Centre for African Studies. He is the author of C. L. R. James in Imperial Britain and the coeditor of The Black Jacobins Reader, both also published by Duke University Press.
The Failure of the World Revolution and the Foundation of the International
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Published:July 2017
2017. "The Failure of the World Revolution and the Foundation of the International", World Revolution, 19171936: The Rise and Fall of the Communist International, C. L. R. James, Christian Høgsbjerg
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Here James explores the paradox about the founding of the Third Communist International in 1919 at a time of defeat. James discusses the German Revolution of 1918 and events in Austria and their stifling at the hands of Social Democratic governments. The isolation of German revolutionaries like Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht is contrasted to Lenin, who had built a revolutionary party in Russia before the revolution erupted. Lenin’s determination to found the Third Communist International in 1919 against the odds nonetheless for James was the right decision.
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