SEVENTY FIVE years ago the Communist International oublished the first Inprekorr in Berlin, with English and French editions following one and two weeks ater.
Inprekorr (International Press Correspondence) was a mouth. piece for international solidarity and the struggle for a world wide revolutionary soclalist alternative.
Initially Inprekorr mainly published short reports of actual events or brief contributions to debates by well known authors. Thus it complemented the theoretical magazine Kommunistische review of the Fourth International, the world socialist =a - and reland only.
prehensive analyses of up to 20 sides or more. The aim of the Communist International in producing Inprekorr was to promote discussion and provide information on events in different countries and to promote the cooperation of communist parties in different countries. Inprekorr was aimed mainly at the editorial boards of newspaners providing information and analysis they could use, but the de. mand went well beyond that. The initial run in each language was about 1000 and it appeared 2 or 3 times a week. gar sation. Send your cheque for f30 payable to 'Outlook ma: oral, DO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. Offer available in For a time a weekly edition appeared foo a wider public. Occa. sional issues appeared in Spanish, Czech, Hungarian, Italian and Swedish. Correspondents were appointed in every country rather than everything being written centrally.
Although they did not domi. nate, Inprekorr had many famous contributors: Lenin, Zinovier, Radek and Trotsky. Victor Serge edited the French edition for a time. Stalin's name did not appear at all in the first three years but then this changed dramatically in 1924 with the beginning of heavy handed attacks on Trotsky.
Even so Inprekorr remained for a long time a lively mirror of the international class struggle. In 1943 it was closed down by Stalin together with the Communist International.
In 1971 the Fourth International relaunched Inprekorr and pledged itself to revive the tradition in which it had stood. To. day's monthly magazine of news and analysis had fewer big names to promote the cause of world wide revolutionary socialism but it is still an invaluable tool for internationalists. Subscribe today!
Socialist Outlook 107 • September 7 1996 Socialist Outlook's politics
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