To See the Dawn: Baku, 1920—First Congress of the Peoples of the East

by John Riddell

A Pathfinder upgraded edition. How can peasants and workers in the colonial world throw off imperialist exploitation? How can they overcome national and religious divisions incited by their own ruling classes and fight for their common class interests? As the example of the October Revolution echoed around the world, these questions were addressed by 2,000 delegates to the 1920 Congress of the Peoples of the East. This book is part of a series, The Communist International in Lenin's Time. Introduction by John Riddell and Ma'mud Shirvani, 16-page photo section, maps, glossary, notes, index. Now with enlarged type.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia

390 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1993

Reviews

[Brenmlaws · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting and beautiful set of documents. It both shows the flexibility in strategy of the socialists of those revolutionary times and the amazing optimism still felt about changing the entire world. It's pretty amazing how many different directions were debated at this conference, and the primary documents give an idea of the internationalist dynamics of the Comintern playing out in areas overlooked by the west.

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you saw the film 'Reds,' with Warren Beatty as John Reed (and by Hollywood standards it's a good film) it may leave you thinking that Zinoviev intentionally mistranslated what John Reed said and turned it into his calling for holy war against imperialism, But we know what Reed said, and it was Zinoviev, in his own name and without demagogy, who called for a holy war against imperialism.

You can't make a US movie about John Reed, a founder of the US Communist Party without putting in some anti-communist propaganda. But this meeting was more important than that. While some communists dubbed this "Zinoviev's circus," it as an important meeting of toilers of the East, both communist and not, and while there was a whole range of nationalities there, many came from Islamic backgrounds (there is a chart of delegates by nationality).

This had previously been published, but this edition adds appendices, which are quite important. There's a debate on Zionism between different Jewish groups, including what's called the "Jewish Sections of the Communist Party of Russia." What this means is the Yiddish-speaking Jewish sections of the Communist Party, much of which had previously belonged to the "Jewish Bund."

Another appendix is "Correcting abuses of Soviet power in Asia," when there was still democratic debate and discussion.

Filled with a wonderful collection of photos from the Baku Conference! I also recommend the 2-vol.
set Workers of the World and Oppressed Peoples,Unite.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are the proceedings of the Baku conference of 1920. If you've seen the movie Reds you probably remember the scene where John Reed (Warren Beatty) delivers a speech to a crowd of middle-eastern looking folks. Later the film reveals that the translator was delivering a different speech composed by Zinoviev (Jerzy Kosinsky). How accurate that account is I am uncertain and this book contains only one version of the speech in question. That whole scene seems more than a little orientalist and anti-communist. It could be argued that this conference represented the germination of what was later to bloom in the decolonization movements of the post-war era. It was on that basis that it was recommended to me. Not exactly a spellbinder though.