"Imagine a hot, hot day. You’re trekking in the heat when suddenly an azure bay comes into view. Hurriedly you peel off and dive in to the fresh water. You feel refreshed, alert to the world around you. After plunging into To the Masses, I feel something the same."Chris Bambery, CounterfirePraise for Toward the United Front:"Riddell has here pulled off an immense and masterful editorial effort, comparing past publications of these proceedings in the four main languages of the Comintern English, French, German and Russian
The work involved in clarifying the differences between texts, providing more accurate annotation, and correcting the misspelling of names and providing relevant biographical details is immense, and should earn the gratitude of generations of scholars for many years to come."Alexander Marshall, Marx and Philosophy Review of Books"We should be very grateful to John Riddell and his team of collaborators for making available, for the first time in a full English version, the minutes of the Fourth Congress of the Comintern
[F]or anyone seeking to understand the history of the 20th century [Toward the United Front] will be an invaluable work of reference, and no library with pretensions to serious historical coverage should be without it
"Ian Birchall, International Socialism “A brief review cannot begin to do justice to a resource like this. It will justifiably demand the attention of generations of professional and amateur historians, socialist activists and curious general readers who want to deepen their understanding of the desperate struggle to internationalise the world’s first socialist revolution in Russia in October 1917.” –International Socialism Journal“This is a huge volume and there is much wealth in it. For instance, a brilliant passage from Lenin on the importance of the colonial revolution, whose sharpness complements its brevity. Despite its size, it is not difficult to read. John Riddell and the publishers have done a real service in making this available to an English speaking audience. The first four congresses of the Communist International were seen as schools for revolution, schools from which you could never graduate. We always need to learn, to adjust our strategic and tactical approach, and there is so much we can learn here.” –Chris Bambery, Counterfire
