Between global aspirations and local realities: the global dimensions of interwar communism

This article explores the global dimension of communism during the interwar period. It criticizes a literature that either depicts communist parties as small ‘red armies’ obeying any order from Moscow, or focuses exclusively on the local level and ignores any international aspects. The article first...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of global history 2012-11, Vol.7 (3), p.415-437
Main Author: Häberlen, Joachim C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communism
Communist parties
European history
Globalization
Internationalism
Interwar years
Political history
Political leadership
Russian Federation
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Summary:This article explores the global dimension of communism during the interwar period. It criticizes a literature that either depicts communist parties as small ‘red armies’ obeying any order from Moscow, or focuses exclusively on the local level and ignores any international aspects. The article first discusses attempts of communist leaders to create a ‘world party’ based in Moscow. It next analyses the conflicts between a globally acting communist leadership and rank-and-file members concerned about their local circumstances. Finally, it highlights the role that internationalism played on the local level. Such an approach – which locates ‘the global’ on the local level, both in terms of how internationalist ideas informed people's behaviour in local contexts and in terms of how they resisted forms of globalism – might provide a means for bridging the gap between global and local histories.
ISSN:1740-0228
1740-0236
DOI:10.1017/S1740022812000265