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Assessments by modern English-speaking historians of the policy of the Comintern in Africa
 
PIIS086919080020061-4-1
DOI10.31857/S086919080020061-4
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Ilya Suzdaltsev 
Occupation: history teacher
Affiliation: GBOU School number 1381
Address: Korolev, 141071; Moscow region, Korolev, st. Sadovaya, 6a, apt. 14
Journal nameVostok. Afro-Aziatskie obshchestva: istoriia i sovremennost
EditionIssue 5
Pages217-226
Abstract

The article analyzes the modern English-language historiography of the policy of the Communist International towards the African region. The choice of English-speaking countries is due to the fact that a significant number of studies devoted both directly to the activities of the Comintern in relation to Africa and the activities of its African sections are published in the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa and India. The relevance of this topic is caused both by the opening of new funds of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), which, among other things, affect the activities of African communist parties, and the opportunity that arose in connection with this to rethink some issues, including those related to the policy of these communist parties: what was the influence of the Comintern on their tactics; what was the nature of this influence; what role in the policy of the Comintern was occupied by the national and colonial questions and what are the results of their implementation. It is stated that the traditionalist approach to the analysis of the activities of the Comintern and its national sections, which took shape before and during the Cold War, is still significantly represented in English-language historiography. However, the final approval of the new approach (“revisionist”) contributed to a certain revision of existing trends: the article contains assessments of both negative and positive influence of the Comintern on individual communist parties, on the political situation in a country or region. 

Keywords"traditionalists", "revisionists", Communist Party of South Africa, Communist Party of Algeria, Communist Party of Great Britain, Communist Party of France, International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers, League Against Imperialism.
Received23.10.2022
Publication date30.10.2022
Number of characters19724
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1 Коминтерн – международная организация, объединявшая коммунистические партии в 1919–1943 гг. В англоязычной историографии Коммунистического интернационала сложилось два концептуальных подхода к изучению его деятельности. Представители первого («традиционалистского») указывают на тотальный контроль за политикой Коминтерна и его зарубежных секций со стороны лидеров РКП(б)/ВКП(б) и Советского правительства, что способствовало его деятельности в русле внешнеполитических интересов последних; представители другого («ревизионистского») подхода рассматривают Коминтерн как объединение обладающих (в различные периоды в разной форме и степени) значительной независимостью в принятии внутренних ключевых политических решений коммунистических партий, также имеющих возможность участвовать в управлении этой международной организацией и отмечают положительный вклад Коминтерна в решение различных мировых политических вопросов (в том числе колониального и расового) в первой половине XX в. [Суздальцев, 2021, с. 18-30].
2 Рост публикаций, посвящённых изучаемой теме, в англоязычной историографии датирован 60-90-ми гг. XX в. Чаще всего историки отмечают либо отрицательные, либо положительные последствия вмешательства Коминтерна в африканский регион. Исследователи, критикующие политику III Интернационала в Африке, приходят к выводам о том, что Коминтерн использовал Рандское восстание 1922 г. (стачка белых шахтёров, переросшая в вооружённое выступление) в Южной Африке в качестве катализатора для критики коммунистической партии (КПЮА) за то, что она не боролась с расовыми предрассудкам, и не привлекала в свои ряды негритянских рабочих [Simons, Simons, 1969, p. 294-296; Davies, 1978, p. 80-108; Clingman, 1992, p. 120; Hirson, 1993, p. 63-94; Krikler, 1996, p. 349-372; Solomon, 1998, p. 164]; что Лига против империализма (созданная в 1927 г.) не добилась значительных результатов [Spitzer, LaRay, 1973, p. 418-419]; что официальные лица Коминтерна мало что знали о ситуации с южноафриканцами, что вкупе с интересами советской внешней политики сделало его деятельность в Африке неэффективной [Record, 1971, p. 84-86; Kaner, 1973, p. 86-122; Wilson, 1974, p. 260-261; Hargreaves, 1993, p. 257]; что КПЮА не смогла построить Народный фронт, преодолев расовую пропасть [Cooper, 1996, p. 73-107]; что не все африканские коммунисты и социал-демократы согласились с «21 условием» - часть членов покинула партию [Mantzaris, 1981, p. 164]; отмечаются катастрофические результаты политики «туземной республики», которая была навязана КПЮА на VI конгрессе Коминтерна в 1928 г. [Hirson, 1989, p. 51-65]. Однако, в достаточно большом количестве присутствуют публикации, в которых написано о стабилизирующем влиянии Коминтерна на Африку. Например, отмечается вклад III Интернационала в антиколониальную борьбу, а также в решение расовых вопросов (даже таким известным «традиционалистом, как Т. Дрейпер) [Degras, 1956, p. 398-401; Draper, 1960, p. 315-328]; историки пишут о том, что к концу 1920-х гг. КПЮА благодаря политике Коминтерна превратилась в многорасовую партию, базирующуюся в основном на африканском большинстве страны [Johns, 1965, p. 61-78; Simons, Simons, 1969, p. 620], что способствовало объединению широких масс негритянских рабочих на почве классовой борьбы [Johns, 1975, p. 200-234; Johns, 1995, p. 217]; что значительное количество чернокожих коммунистов, например сенегалец Ламин Сенгор активно участвовали в политической жизни своих стран, выступая за их независимость [Langley, 1973, p. 300-310]; что после VII конгресса Коминтерн не стремился ослабить колониальную освободительную борьбу, как минимум Коммунистическая партия Великобритании (КПВ) продолжала поддерживать антиколониальные движения [Branson, 1985, p. 123].

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