Introduction

This introductory essay firstly provides an overview of the history of the Comintern and its various projects around the globe. Significantly, it bridges Comintern history with mid-century anti-colonial movements, helping readers to better grasp the long arc of the Comintern’s influence on present-day social movements. Some aspects of the relationship between the Comintern and the Global South will be analysed in depth in order to provide a better understanding of the theoretical and ideological framework which led the Comintern action and its contradictory application attempts in specific historical contexts. The analysis focus on the role of national and colonial questions in the Comintern strategies; the relationship with Muslim masses in Central Asia; the action in some areas of Latin America: Mexico, Nicaragua, the Caribbean.