Page:Grigory Zinoviev - Report of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (1921).pdf/8

 plain of than during the previous year. The possibilities of journeying to Russia were much more favourable, and a number of parties took ample advantage of these possibilities. What was the political substance of our work during the past year? Of course, this political work was determined by the decision of the Second Congress. What was, in general, the work accomplished by the Second Congress? We already said that the Second Congress was as a matter of fact the First Congress, the constituent Congress of the Communist International. For the Congress which we usually refer to as the first was merely a meeting of very small number of representatives of various groups. For that reason the Second Congress was the actual constituent Congress. It drew up for the first time the statutes of the Communist International. It adopted the basic resolutions concerning the roles of the parties, and in general outlines defined the policies of the Communist International. In what directions did the Second Congress operate? There was a struggle in two directions at that Congress. On the one hand, we had to combat the ideas of some of our comrades, such as some of the English, Italian, and American delegates, who considered themselves as a "left" opposition to us. For example, the question of the participation of the English comrades in the Labour Party. The Second Congress had to discuss this matter for two days.

Our English comrades were practically unanimous in their objection to such participation. They considered such a policy as opportunistic. Our American comrades, the late John Reed and his friends, supported them in this matter. We opposed them on this point. We were of the opinion that especially in England, a country in which the mass movement was growing so splendidly, but in which the influence of the Communist Party was increasing only very gradually, that in such a country it was our un-