The Communist international, the Communist Party of Great Britain, and the'Third period', 1928-1932

This article offers a reassessment of the relationship between the British Communist Party and the Communist International in the period 1928-32. Whil e these years have generally been portrayed as disastrous for the British P arty-in which the dictates of Moscow forced the CPGB to follow a sectarian policy of 'class against class' -a closer reading of the period suggests a far more complex and variegated history. As such, the formulation of the 'n ew line' and its relevance to developments in Britain are here reassessed, with particular attention to the evolutionary and undulating nature of inte rnational, and British, communist policy. Moreover, the article outlines va riations in both British and Comintern interpretations of 'class against cl ass,' suggesting that the 'traditional' caricature of the communist movemen t as a Stalinist monolith negates evident nuances in communist practice at an international, national and local level.