Third Period
제3기 노선
The Third Period was a strategic and theoretical line adopted by the Comintern at its Sixth World Congress in 1928. Expecting a new crisis of capitalism and intensified class struggle, it defined social democracy as “social fascism” and promoted a “class against class” tactic until the turn to the Popular Front.
In depth
The Comintern described the postwar revolutionary upsurge and its defeat as the First Period, capitalist stabilisation in the mid-1920s as the Second, and the period after 1928 as a Third Period of capitalist crisis and revolutionary opportunity. This analysis led communist parties to favour independent radical unions and reject political cooperation with social-democratic parties. The line’s limitations became stark after the Nazi seizure of power in Germany, and the Comintern formalised the Popular Front tactic at its Seventh World Congress in 1935.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) (supports the Comintern concept, its 1928 adoption, class-against-class tactics, social-fascism line, and 1935 Popular Front reversal)
- Wikipedia (RU) (supports the Sixth Comintern Congress decisions in 1928 and the Seventh Congress turn in 1935)
- Marxists Internet Archive (Comintern document archive supporting the primary-source context and chronology of the period)