Cominform
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2014) |
Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties Информационное бюро коммунистических и рабочих партий | |
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Founder | Romania (1948–1956) |
Newspaper | For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy! |
Ideology | |
Political position | Far-left |
Colours | Red |
Eastern Bloc |
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The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (
Overview
Establishment and purpose
The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties was unofficially founded at a conference of
Cominform was officially established on 5 October 1947 with the intended purpose of coordinating actions between European communist parties under the direction of the Soviet Union. Cominform was not intended to be a replacement or successor to the
Expulsion of Yugoslavia
Cominform was initially located in
Dissolution
From 1950, Cominform became rapidly irrelevant after the victory of the
Meetings
There are four recorded meetings of the Cominform, before 1956.
Founding meeting
This founding meeting took place on 22–23 September 1947 in
Second meeting
The second meeting occurred in Belgrade on 1 February 1948. During this meeting, a permanent editorial board was chosen for the newspaper "
Third meeting
A third meeting occurred in Romania on 28 June 1948. This resulted in the expulsion of the Yugoslav Communist Party. It also led to the relocation of the Cominform's headquarters to Bucharest and initiated the great campaign of transforming the programs and cadres of the Eastern European communist parties. In a unanimous resolution, the eight communist parties agreed that the Yugoslavian communist party had "pursued an incorrect line on the main questions of home and foreign policy, a line appropriate only to nationalism, and which represented a departure from Marxism-Leninism". They approved the actions of the Russian communist party and condemned Yugoslavia's agricultural policy, which sidelined the class differentiation, "regarding the individual peasantry as a single entity and even asserting that the peasantry was the most stable foundation of their state" - a role meant for the proletariat. Since Yugoslavia refused to abide by the Cominform's discipline and ignored its criticism, they had receded from the "family of fraternal communist parties". Anything that Tito could have "infected" was meant to be eliminated. The decisive action against him had been agreed upon by the end of June. At the beginning of July, two of the communist parties, namely the Polish and the Bulgarian one, were summoned to reconsider their ideology. Gomułka, Kostov, Rajk, Markos and Xoxe immediately aroused suspicion. On 6 July 1948, a meeting of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Polish Workers' Party was set up to carry out a discussion about the considerable deviations of Gomułka. Zadawski and Zamborovski presented a "clear Marxist-Leninist analysis". The Plenum met again on 31 August – 3 September. Gomułka agreed to his wrongdoings and was replaced by Minc. Gomułka was arrested, set free then re-incarcerated. On 12–13 July 1948 the Central Committee of the Bulgarian communist party "unanimously declared that the leadership of our party has never doubted the leading role played by the Russian communist party and the Soviet Union in the democratic camp". They realised that they had not been vigilant enough towards the Yugoslav communist party. The month of June saw a new wave of retaliation against perceived supporters of Tito. On 10 June Koçi Xoxe was hanged in Albania and on 15 June, Rajk was arrested in Hungary. Another wave of attacks was carried out in the autumn of the same year, during which Rajk was hanged, Gomułka was arrested and Kostov's indictment was published. These attacks seem to have originated from the conflict between Tito and the Russians.
Fourth meeting
Lastly, the fourth meeting was held in Hungary on 27 November 1949. Two reports were presented, which led to three resolutions. The Soviet delegate, Suslov, announced a report "on the Defence of Peace and the fight against warmongers", which urged the people of the Western countries to hinder any imperialist measures which were taken by the governments of said countries against the Eastern Bloc. Furthermore, Togliatti presented a report about the Working class and the tasks of the Communist and Workers parties. This resolution pinpointed the "particular attention which should be devoted to the mass of Catholic workers". Finally, the Romanian delegate, Gheorghiu-Dej, concluded that, as Tito's establishment had not been dealt with, it was the duty of the communist parties to strengthen the fight against it by making more noticeable the net of economic and diplomatic pressure and by urging Tito's opposition within Yugoslavia to start secret activity.[7][17][18]
Press organ
The fortnightly journal For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy! was published by the Cominform in Russian, French and English.[19]
Member parties
- Party of Labour of Albania
- Bulgarian Communist Party
- Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
- French Communist Party
- Socialist Unity Party of Germany
- Hungarian Communist Party, then Hungarian Working People's Party
- Italian Communist Party
- Communist Party of the Netherlands
- Polish Workers' Party, then Polish United Workers' Party
- Romanian Workers' Party
- Communist Party of the Soviet Union
- Communist Party of Yugoslavia, until its expulsion in 1948.
- Communist Party of the Free Territory of Trieste, until Yugoslavia's expulsion of 1948.
See also
- Comintern
- Comecon
- Danube Commission
- Warsaw Pact
- World Marxist Review
Footnotes
- ^ "Адибеков Г.М. * Почему Тольятти не стал генеральным секретарем Коминформа * Статья | РАБКРИН". 2021-01-28. Archived from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- .
- JSTOR 25142942.
- ISBN 9780199371020.
- JSTOR 27516037.
- ^ a b "Cominform". Britannica Academic. 3 February 2017.
- ^ S2CID 154539580.
- ^ S2CID 57569203– via JSTOR.
- ISBN 9780804721158.
- ^ "Arms aid, Cominform, Manchuria SOVIET, CHINA SIGN SECRET PACT". Argus. 1950-01-30. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- . Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- S2CID 163152235.
- ^ Medvedev, I (1950). Tito clique in service of the instigator of a new war (PDF). People's Publishing House.
- ^ Zahariadis, Nikos (August 1, 1949). "Tito Clique's Stab in the Back to People's Democratic Greece" (PDF). For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy!. 15.
- ^ G.I. (May 1950). "The Evolution of the Cominform 1947-1950". The World Today. 6, 5: 213–228.
- JSTOR 40392323.
- S2CID 163152235.
- JSTOR 3018651.
Further reading
- G. Procacci (ed.), The Cominform. Minutes of the Three Conferences (1947-1949). Milan, Italy: Feltrinelli, 1994.