Authors

Discussion

This paper examines Soviet experiments in international law and self-determination through the lens of the Rif War (1921-1926). This campaign proved challenging on two fronts. Firstly, Soviet influence was primarily exerted through activists from the nascent French Communist Party (PCF). Given their disparate perspectives on the role of international law, the repression of French activists and ambivalent attitudes to France’s colonial projects, this event challenged the idea that the PCF was directed from Moscow by the mid-1920s. The emerging Secours Rouge International, an international legal organisation for the defence of communist activists, struggled to bridge this gap. Secondly, the colonial struggle waged across northern Morocco did not meet Soviet expectations of the revolutionary potential of decolonisation. Far from being led from below, the Rif War was directed by members of the tribal elites. This paper contrasts the reception of the war in the Soviet context with solidarity actions in France and Morocco through theoretical legal works and multilingual agitational pamphlets. This comparison is then analysed to reveal how the Communist movement understood the potential for revolutionary movements outside Europe and how international law could be a tool in the process. Though unsuccessful, this incident would reshape the international legal order of Europe and North Africa and anti-imperialist action in the following decade.