The Latin American Revolutionary Movement. Proceedings of the First Latin American Communist Conference, June 1929

Marc Becker

Author: Marc Becker

This volume collects the proceedings of the First Latin American Communist Conference, organized in Buenos Aires, Argentina in June 1929 by the South American Secretariat of the Moscow-based Communist International (Comintern). The Conference was the first and in some ways only opportunity that communists in Latin America had to engage in a broad discussion of the most important problems and challenges that they faced. The topics that the assembled delegates addressed – including militarism, anti-imperialism, trade union issues, and racial discrimination – were all central to the question of how to organise a strong revolutionary movement.

This major documentary collection of the Latin American Communist movement, newly translated into English and with a substantial introduction, remains surprisingly relevant to our world today.

With an introduction by Victor Jeifets and Lazar Jeifets.

Biographical Note

Marc Becker teaches Latin American history at Truman State University. Among other works, he is the co-editor of Transnational Communism across the Americas, University of Illinois Press, 2023, and author of Contemporary Latin American Revolutions, Rowman and Littlefield, 2022; The CIA in Ecuador, Duke University Pres, 2020; and The FBI in Latin America, Duke University Press, 2017.

Readership

Academic libraries, specialists, post-graduate students, and political activists with an interest in Latin America and revolutions.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Biographies of Conference Participants

Introduction: The Outcomes of Ten Years of Latin American Communism
Victor Jeifets and Lazar Jeifets

Part 1 Descriptions of the Conference

Introduction to Part 1

The First Latin American Communist Conference

First Latin American Communist Conference

Issues Addressed at the First Latin American Communist Conference

Towards the Latin American Communist Conference

Bibliography for the First Latin American Communist Conference

Parties Represented at the First Latin American Communist Conference

The Latin American Revolutionary Movement

Part 2 Background Documents

Introduction to Part 2

The First Session of the South American Secretariat of the Communist International

Questions of the Latin American Countries

Draft Theses on the Revolutionary Movement in Latin America

Report from the SP of the EC of the PSRC to the ECCI

Letter from the CI to the Revolutionary Socialist Party of Colombia

Colombia, 27 May 1929, Morning Session

Meeting with the Colombian Delegate

Mexico

Conversation with the Peruvian Delegates

10 The Importance of the First Latin American Communist Conference

Part 3 Proceedings and Resolutions

Introduction to Part 3

Foreword

Conference Opening (1 June 1929)

The International Situation in Latin America and the Threat of War
Second Session, 2 June 1929
Third Session, 2 June 1929
Fourth Session, 2 June 1929

Resolution on the International Situation in Latin America and the Threat of War

The Anti-Imperialist Struggle and Tactical Issues Facing Communist Parties in Latin America
Fifth and Sixth Sessions, 3 June 1929
Seventh Session, 4 June 1929
Eighth Session, 4 June 1929
Ninth Session, 4 June 1929
Tenth Session, 5 June 1929
Eleventh Session, 5 June 1929

Resolution on the Tactics of the Communist Parties of Latin America

Trade Union Issues
Twelfth Session, 6 June 1929

Resolution on the Tasks of the Communist Parties in the Latin American Trade Union Movement

Agrarian Issues

10 Peasant Issues
Thirteenth Session, 7 June 1929
Fourteenth Session, 7 June 1929
Fifteenth Session, 7 June 1929

11 Resolution on Peasant Issues in Latin America

12 Racial Problems in Latin America
Sixteenth Session, 8 June 1929
Seventeenth Session, 8 June 1929

13 Resolution on Racial Problems in Latin America

14 Racial Problems

15 Work of the Anti-Imperialist League
Eighteenth Session, 10 June 1929

16 Resolution on the Work of the Anti-Imperialist Leagues

17 The Youth Movement and the Tasks of Communist Parties
Nineteenth Session, 10 June 1929

18 Draft Thesis on the Tasks of the Party in the Youth Movement

19 Organisational Matters

20 Resolution on Organisational Matters of the Communist Parties in Latin America

21 Work of the South American Secretariat
Twentieth Session, 12 June 1929

22 Report on the Solution to the Crisis in the Communist Party of Argentina

23 Resolution on the Solution to the Crisis of the Communist Party of Argentina

24 Theses on Women’s Issues

25 Communists and the International Red Aid

Part 4 Conversations After the Conference

Introduction to Part 4

Conversation with the Delegates from Mexico

Conversation with the Delegations from Guatemala and El Salvador

Conversation with the Colombian Delegation

Second Conversation with the Colombian Delegation

Conversation with the Peruvian Delegates

Conversation with the Delegation of Peru

South American Secretariat

Bibliography
Index