Authors
Yevhenii Monastyrskyi1; 1 Yale University, United States Discussion
International Red Aid was one of many Comintern organizations. The purpose of this organization, founded in 1921, was to support communist movements and organizations outside of the Bolsheviks' direct control. In reality of course, this organization provided institutional, organizational, and financial support not only to revolutionary movements, but also to organizations whose activities fostered and manifested communist ideals. Thus, International Red Aid was in some sense a development organization. It was led by well-known Communist leaders and "old Bolsheviks," had branches in 15 to 20 countries at various times, and was in charge of a special boarding school for the children of Communist leaders in the vicinity of Moscow since 1933. This article examines examples of the operation of International Red Aid in Weimar Germany and the United States during the 1920s and 1930s, focusing on the organizational structure and missions of its branches in these nations. In examining these issues, I contend that International Red Aid is a functional component of the Soviet proxy war against the "capitalist world." I argue that prior to the emergence of the "Popular Front" in 1935, International Red Aid directly constructed an organizational grid for the purpose of advancing potential revolutions, and that after the already Stalinist Soviet Union abandoned the concept of "World Revolution," the organization shifted to preserving the viability of national movem 
