Comintern

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The Communist International, a federation of communist parties founded in Moscow in 1919 to spread revolutionary socialism worldwide under Soviet direction
2. An organization set up by Bolshevik leaders in 1919 to coordinate communist parties across many countries and encourageworldwide revolution
3. A Moscow-based alliance of communist movements, established in 1919 and dominated by the Soviet Union, that aimed to promote global communist revolution

Etymology: The Comintern was the Communist International, a body founded in Moscow in 1919 to coordinate revolutionary communist parties across the world. Its name in Russian, Коммунистический Интернационал (Kommunisticheskiy Internatsional), was shortened to "Komintern," a contraction that packs two Russian words into one: the adjective "kommunisticheskiy," meaning communist, and "Internatsional," meaning international. The word "Internationale" itself, borrowed into Russian from French, was the name of the revolutionary anthem, so the shortened form carried the same internationalist ring as the song. The short form is what stuck in common use. Because the organisation was a single, named institution, "Comintern" survives mainly as a proper name, used for this one Soviet-directed body rather than for communist movements in general. Its abbreviated form is also a useful reminder that Soviet political language favoured compressed names of this kind, which were easy to say in speeches and newspapers.