Social Fascism
사회파시즘
A theory adopted by the Comintern at its Sixth Congress in 1928 that defined social democracy as the 'moderate wing of fascism' and the main enemy of the working class. A core doctrine of the 'Third Period' line, it held that the collapse of capitalism and proletarian revolution were imminent, and that social democracy was the principal force blocking that revolution. The doctrine made cooperation between the German Communist Party (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) impossible, facilitating the Nazi seizure of power; it was abandoned after Hitler's victory in 1933 and the Comintern's Seventh Congress (1935), in favor of the Popular Front strategy.
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- Wikipedia (EN) overview of the theory, its adoption at the 6th Comintern Congress (1928), Third Period context, Stalin's 'twin brothers' formulation, and its abandonment at the 7th Congress (1935)
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian article: Zinoviev's first usage, Stalin's 1924 speech, application to Trotskyism as 'Trotskyist-Zinovievite variety of fascism', and Dimitrov's role in the 1935 reversal
- Marxists Internet Archive Stalin's 'Concerning the International Situation' (September 1924): 'Social-Democracy is objectively the moderate wing of fascism... These organisations do not negate, but supplement each other. They are not antipodes, they are twins' — the doctrinal foundation
- de.wikipedia.org German article: detailed account of the thesis's origins in Zinoviev (January 1924), Kuusinen's central role, the KPD's adoption at its 12th Party Congress (June 1929), Blutmai as 'proof,' and the 1931 Prussian referendum where KPD and Nazis voted together against the SPD government