During the Russian Civil War, in April, 1920, Polish capitalism launched an offensive into Ukraine with other imperialist support to take territories and weaken the Soviets. The Second Congress of the Communist International met during the war and issued this statement. After pushing back the attack the Red Army went on the offensive to be defeated outside of Warsaw in August, 1920.

‘The Soviet-Polish War’ from Communist International. Vol. 1 No. 13. September, 1920.

19 July, 1920

Proletarian men and women of all countries!

The Second World Congress of the Communist International is meeting at a time when White Guard Poland, the stronghold of world capitalist reaction, is falling to the pressure of the powerful blows of the Red Army of the Russian workers and peasants. The event so passionately desired by revolutionary working men and women throughout the world has taken place.

The Russian workers and peasants have gone forward to fight the arrogant Polish White Guards with the same might that enabled them to crush the Russian counter-revolution, the troops of Yudenich, Kolchak and Denikin. The Polish capitalists and landowners rejected the honest peace proposals of Soviet Russia, hoping for assistance from world capital and thoroughly convinced that Soviet Russia had been drained of its strength in the struggle against counter-revolution. They flung their troops against Soviet Russia, and now find themselves on the brink of a shattering military defeat.

Their troops have retreated in panic from the Ukraine and White Russia, hotly pursued by the armies of Soviet Russia. Now the bandits of world capital, the Polish landowners and capitalists, are bemoaning the fact that Poland is in great danger.

They are appealing to the governments of the capitalist countries for immediate assistance, arguing that otherwise European culture will be destroyed by the barbarians of the Russian revolution. The British government armed the Poles for their criminal campaign against Soviet Russia and, along with its allies, refused to leave Poland when Soviet Russia proposed the opening of negotiations in London on 8 April; but now this same capitalist Britain is insolently threatening that unless Soviet Russia concludes an armistice with the Poles–who have invaded its territory–a fresh attack will be mounted by the Allies. The bosses of world capital, who treat peoples as pawns in their game, are now posing as the defenders of Polish independence. In 1917, the French government was prepared to leave Poland to the Tsarist government of Russia, provided the latter recognized the claims of French imperialism to the left bank of the Rhine. During the war the British government made repeated confidential declarations to the German government through its agents that Poland would be given to the Central Powers on condition that German imperialism left Belgium, where its presence was a threat to Britain. Now these traders in human flesh are wailing that Soviet Russia threatens the independence of Poland and are trying to use this slogan to prepare public opinion across the world for a new campaign against the Russian workers and peasants.

Working men and women of all countries!

We do not have to explain to you that Soviet Russia has no intention whatever of conquering the Polish people. At Brest-Litovsk it was Soviet Russia that insisted upon the independence of Poland in the face of opposition from the executioners of the Polish people and from Hoffmann and Beseler. Soviet Russia was prepared to conclude a peace even with the Polish capitalists and, in order to secure this peace, not only recognized the independence of Poland, but granted Poland large areas of border-land. Soviet Russia counts in its ranks thousands of the bravest Polish fighters. Soviet Russia has close links with the Polish working masses, forged in decades of common struggle. Soviet Russia holds the view that self-determination is the absolute inviolable right of the Polish people and that even if their country were not defended by a single soldier it would still belong to the Polish people and they would have the right freely to decide their destiny.

But so long as Poland is ruled by the clique of capitalist adventurers and landowners who have dragged the country into a criminal military adventure, so long as the Entente supplies Poland with weapons, Soviet Russia is fighting a war of defence. If today Soviet Russia were to give the Polish White Guards a breathing space and so allow them the opportunity to reorganize their shattered armies, to re-equip themselves with the help of the Entente, then tomorrow she would have to summon hundreds of thousands of her best sons from the plough and the work-bench and send them to the front to fight another war of defence.

Men and women workers! The capitalist rabble is shouting loudly about the threat to the independence of Poland in preparation for a new campaign against Russia. So you can be sure of one thing: your slave-owners are trembling with fear lest one of the pillars of their rule, their world system of reaction, exploitation and oppression, should fall; they are afraid that if White Guard Poland falls to the Red Army and the Polish workers seize power, then it will be easier for the German, Austrian, Italian and French workers to shake off their exploiters and for the workers of Britain and America to follow suit.

Men and women workers! If the capitalist rabble howls and rages about the danger threatening Polish independence, it does this out of the fear that your bondage and dependence may give way to liberation from the chains of capitalist slavery. The task of the proletarians of all countries is to do everything in their power to prevent the governments of Britain, France, America and Italy from providing any kind of assistance whatsoever to the Polish White Guards. Proletarians of the Entente countries! Your governments will try to deceive you as they have done before: they will continue to make assurances that no support is being given to Poland. Your duty is to keep a watch on all ports and frontiers so that not a single train or ship leaves with munitions or food supplies for Poland. Be vigilant! Do not let yourselves be deceived by the false statements about the destination of supplies–they can reach Poland by indirect routes. If governments and private capitalists do not respond to your protests, organize strikes, take decisive action and in no circumstances help the Polish landowners and capitalists to murder your Russian brothers.

Proletarians of Germany! When White Guard Poland falls, the capitalists of the Entente countries will be prepared to conclude a peace with the German generals and capitalists and will help them equip the numerous mercenary troops which will be used to crush the German proletariat. Germany will become a base for the struggle against Soviet Russia. The capitalists of the Entente countries will not hesitate to reduce Germany to a heap of ruins, making it the frontier-post of the struggle against Soviet Russia and Soviet Poland. German working men and working women! Now is the time to carry out the promises your magnificent demonstrations have made a thousand times–you must stand by your Russian brothers and fight with them for your liberation. Do not let any attempts be made within Germany to give help to White Guard Poland. Prevent further recruitment of mercenaries. Keep a strict watch on all trains going east–above all, follow closely events in Danzig–and do everything the situation demands. Not a single carriage or ship must reach Poland from Germany.

Proletarians of all other countries!

Remember:

White Guard Poland is now the enemy. Its destruction is the task of the hour.

Proletarians of all countries!

Remember:

Now, more than ever, you must not be taken in by the deceptive speeches of the treacherous or vacillating workers’ leaders, by the false promises of governments. Now is the time for action, now is the time to rally your forces to blockade Poland–mobilize yourselves to demonstrate the solidarity of the world proletariat with Soviet Russia.

Men and women workers! Your solidarity with Soviet Russia is also solidarity with the Polish proletarians. Under the leadership of the Communists, the Polish proletariat has waged a tireless struggle against the war with Soviet Russia. The Polish prisons are filled with our Polish brothers, the Communists of Poland. The defeat of the Polish White Guard is gladdening the hearts of the Polish workers. A wave of strikes is sweeping across Poland. The Polish workers are trying to use the opportunity presented by the defeat of their exploiters to deal the weakened class enemy the final blow, to unite with the Russian workers in the joint struggle for liberation.

The blockade of Poland directly helps the liberation struggle of the Polish workers; it is the path to the liberation of Poland from the chains which bind it to the chariot of the victorious capitalists of London and Paris, the road to the creation of an independent republic of the Polish workers and peasants.

The Second World Congress of the Communist International appeals to you to go out on to the streets and show your governments that you will neither allow aid to be sent to White Guard Poland, nor permit intervention against Soviet Russia. Stop all work, stop all transport if you see that the international capitalist clique is, despite your protests, preparing a new campaign against Soviet Russia. Do not allow a single train or ship to reach Poland. Show that proletarian solidarity exists not only in words, but in actions.

Long live Soviet Russia! Long live the Red Army of the Russian workers and peasants! Down with White Guard Poland! Down with Polish intervention! Long live Soviet Poland!

There are a number of journals with this name in the history of the movement. This The Communist was the main theoretical journal of the Communist Party from 1927 until 1944. Its origins lie with the folding of The Liberator, Soviet Russia Pictorial, and Labor Herald together into Workers Monthly as the new unified Communist Party’s official cultural and discussion magazine in November, 1924. Workers Monthly became The Communist in March ,1927 and was also published monthly. The Communist contains the most thorough archive of the Communist Party’s positions and thinking during its run. The New Masses became the main cultural vehicle for the CP and the Communist, though it began with with more vibrancy and discussion, became increasingly an organ of Comintern and CP program. Over its run the tagline went from “A Theoretical Magazine for the Discussion of Revolutionary Problems” to “A Magazine of the Theory and Practice of Marxism-Leninism” to “A Marxist Magazine Devoted to Advancement of Democratic Thought and Action.” The aesthetic of the journal also changed dramatically over its years. Editors included Earl Browder, Alex Bittelman, Max Bedacht, and Bertram D. Wolfe.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/ci/old_series/v01-n13-1920-CI-grn-goog-r1.pdf