Third Period refers to the ultra-left policy adopted by the Comintern, following the end of the New Economic Policy in the Soviet Union in 1928 up to the adoption of the Popular Front policy in 1934.

In December of 1927, the Russian Communist Party held its Fifteenth Party Congress. Prior to this Congress, the Stalin faction of the Party had supported the continuation of the New Economic Policy. The NEP had resulted in an enrichment of certain privileged sections of the Russian and Ukrainian peasantry (the Kulaks), because of the deregulation of prices for grain. An embryonic new bourgeoisie was also growing up on the basis of the market relations introduced under the N.E.P., and gaining increasing influence both within the Party and in the state apparatus. Industry had become undercapitalized, and prices were rising, leading to growing political instability.

The Left Opposition, led by Leon Trotsky, had opposed the continued marketization of agriculture, and since 1924, had repeatedly called for investment in industry, some collectivization in agriculture and democratization of the Party.

The Fifteenth Congress passed resolutions that supported some of the planks of the Left Opposition’s platform, and on paper, the Congress’ views appeared quite left-wing. However, at the same time that the Congress adopted some of the ideas of the Left Opposition, the Left Opposition itself was purged from the Communist Party, thus putting an end to any remnant of workers’ democracy within the Party and consolidating Stalin's power.

Furthermore, the policies of industrialization and collectivization were not carried out as the Left Opposition had suggested. Stalin implemented them in a ruthless and brutal fashion, via the use of the security and military forces, without the direct involvement of the working class and the peasantry itself.

At the same time, the crisis of capitalism was coming to a head, with the beginning of the Great Depression. The Communist International, at its Sixth Congress, had also made a turn to the "Left". The Comintern viewed capitalism as entering a final death agony, its "third period of existence" (the first one being capitalism during its rise prior to World War I, and the second being the short period after the crushing of the post-war revolutions when it seemed to have stabilized).

This meant that a decisive and final revolutionary upheaval was also afoot and the sections of the Comintern had to prepare for the immediate advent of world revolution. As part of this theory, the Comintern demanded that its national sections carry out attacks on other groups within the workers’ movement that did not see the Comintern as leading the Revolution. This meant extreme polemical and even physical attacks against Social Democratic workers and others (who would be described as "social fascists"); and also the chastizing and expulsion of any Communist advocating a United Front with other working class parties. It meant expelling Socialist workers from unions and other working class organisations where the Communist Party had control, and pulling Communist Party members out of the mass trade unions to set up "Red Unions", thus splitting the workers' movement in two. The policy also meant initiating armed uprisings, regardless of the political standing of the Communist leadership in a country and their prospects of leading a successful uprising.

In China, the Cominern refused to recognize the Communist Party of China's defeat during the 1925-1927 revolution, and called for the immediate setting up of soviets and armed rebellion.

As part of the "Third Period" policy, all forces of ideological opposition (supporters of Leon Trotsky, for example) were to be expelled from within the ranks of the Communist Parties.

The formal institution of the Third Period occurred at the 9th Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (E.C.C.I.) in February of 1928. This helped in dovetailing the "Left" of the Russian Communist Party with that of the Comintern itself.

All the ill-prepared "Third Period" insurrections failed everywhere they took place, and the attempt to set up "Red Unions" only resulted in the isolation of Communists from the rest of the working class.

The ultra-left rhetoric of the "Third Period" nevertheless resonated with the mood of many militant workers, especially following the 1929 Wall Street Crash, which plunged millions of workers into unemployment and even starvation. In many countries, the Communist Parties grew as a result of the "Third Period" policies, but the splitting effect of the policy on the working class as a whole undermined any progress that may have resulted from the expansion of the Communist Parties.

The Third Period policy came to an abrupt end with the inauguration of the Popular Front policy in the period beginning in 1934. The adoption of the Popular Front policy was driven in large part by the application of the Third Period in Germany, which had allowed Hitler’s Nazis to come to power and smash all working class organisations. The sudden 180° turn in the policy of the Comintern caused considerable confusion among those workers who had been drawn in by the ultra-left rhetoric of the "Third Period".

Source

Adopted from a public domain article by David Walters for the Marxists Internet Archive's Encyclopedia of Marxism.