Russia 1921

Synopsis

During 1919-1920 the inspiration of the Russian Revolution, combined with the conditions of economic and political crisis that accompanied the end of World War I, produced a wave of mass strikes and revolutionary struggle that swept across the world. The formation of the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU), or Profintern, was both a product of this dramatic situation and a response to it.

RILU was one of the most important of the subsidiary organizations that was established under the auspices of the Third (Communist) International. Communist leaders saw it as providing a focal point for the world's revolutionary trade unionists and anarcho-syndicalists that could rival the reformist-led International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU). The founding congress took place in Moscow on 3-19 July 1921 with 380 delegates from 41 countries.

Bitter political arguments with syndicalist delegates undermined the organization's potential...