John Riddell: Toward the United Front -- the Fourth Congress of the Communist International (audio)

June 28, 2012 – A talk presented by John Riddell to the US International Socialist Organization's Socialism 2012 gathering in Chicago, on June 28, 2012. The recording is also available at Wearemany.org, where it first appeared.

Click HERE for more articles on the history of the Communist International.

Read more articles by John Riddell HERE.

Toward the United Front: Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 1922, edited by John Riddell available in paperback in November 2012

The above talk is based on the extensive research that Riddell has undertaken of the Communist International in Lenin's time (to 1924). Haymarket Books has announced that a popularly priced paperback edition will be available in November 2012.

The Chicago-based socialist publisher is accepting pre-publication orders of Toward the United Front: Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 1922, edited by John Riddell, for US$50, a 10% reduction.

During the six months since the library edition of the 1310-page book was printed by Brill Academic Publishers, it has won wide attention as a rich source of documents and analysis of the early Communist International (Comintern).

‘Magnificent volume’

“This magnificent volume offers one very fruitful route to consider again the correct strategy for the left to take in today’s own era of crisis and potential transition”, comments Alexander Marshall of Glasgow University in Marx and Philosophy Review of Books.

In addition to the complete text of congress debates and resolutions, the volume offers an extensive analytic introduction, 500 capsule biographies, a glossary, a chronology and an index.

The congress discussions focus on the task of unifying workers’ organisations, with all their diverse outlooks, in a common struggle that will enhance the prospects for socialist revolution. Debates range over the birth of Fascism, decay of the Versailles Treaty system, the rise of colonial revolution, and women’s emancipation.

To take advantage of Haymarket’s pre-publication offer, go to Toward the United Front, order the book, go to “check-out”, and enter RIDDELL2012 in the “coupon code” field.

To recommend the Brill hardcover edition to your library, go to Brill Academic Publishers and click on “recommend”.