League against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression

The League against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression (French: Ligue contre l'impérialisme et l'oppression coloniale; German: Liga gegen Kolonialgreuel und Unterdrückung^[1]) was a transnational anti-imperialist organization in the interwar period. It has been referenced as in many texts^[2]^[3] as World Anti-Imperialist League or simply and confusingly under the misnomer Anti-Imperialist League.

It was established in the Egmont Palace in Brussels, Belgium, on February 10, 1927, in presence of 175 delegates from around the world. It was significant because it brought together representatives and organizations from the communist world and anti-colonial organizations and activists from the colonized world. 107 out of 175 delegates came from 37 countries under colonial rule. The Congress aimed at creating a "mass anti-imperialist movement" at a world scale. The organization was founded with the support of the Comintern.^[4] Since 1924, the Comintern advocated support of colonial and semi-colonial countries and tried, with difficulties, to find convergences with the left-wing of the Labour and Socialist International and with bourgeois anti-colonial nationalist parties from the colonized world. Another stimulus to create a cross-political cooperation was the revolutionary surge in China since 1923 in which the nationalist Kuomintang was in a united front with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).^[5]

According to Indian Marxist historian Vijay Prashad, the inclusion of the word 'league' in the organization's name was a direct attack on the League of Nations, which perpetuated colonialism through the mandate system.^[6]

At the 1955 Bandung Conference, Sukarno credited the League as the start of an eventually successful worldwide movement against colonialism.^[7]

^ John D. Hargreaves, "The Comintern and Anti-Colonialism: New Research Opportunities", African Affairs, 92, 367 (1993): 255–61.
^ Sandino, Augusto C. (July 14, 2014). Sandino: The Testimony of a Nicaraguan Patriot, 1921-1934. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400861149 – via Google Books.
^ Hen-Tov, Jacob (1974). Communism and Zionism in Palestine: The Comintern and the Political Unrest in the 1920s. Transaction Publishers. p. 47. ISBN 9781412819978. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
^ Jani, Disha Karnad (2022). "The league against imperialism, national liberation, and the economic question". Journal of Global History. 17 (2): 210–232. doi:10.1017/S1740022822000079. ISSN 1740-0228. S2CID 248445034.
^ Fredrik Petersson, We are Neither Visionaries, nor Utopian Dreamers: Willi Münzenberg, the League against Imperialism and the Comintern, 1925–1933. PhD diss. Abo Akademi University Turku, 2013.
^ Vijay Prashad, "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World", p. 21.
^ Hatherley, Owen (4 February 2021). "The Marxist Rupert Murdoch". Tribune. Retrieved 19 February 2021.

[1] John D. Hargreaves, "The Comintern and Anti-Colonialism: New Research Opportunities", African Affairs, 92, 367 (1993): 255–61.

[2] Sandino, Augusto C. (July 14, 2014). Sandino: The Testimony of a Nicaraguan Patriot, 1921-1934. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400861149 – via Google Books.

[3] Hen-Tov, Jacob (1974). Communism and Zionism in Palestine: The Comintern and the Political Unrest in the 1920s. Transaction Publishers. p. 47. ISBN 9781412819978. Retrieved 3 March 2019.

[4] Jani, Disha Karnad (2022). "The league against imperialism, national liberation, and the economic question". Journal of Global History. 17 (2): 210–232. doi:10.1017/S1740022822000079. ISSN 1740-0228. S2CID 248445034.

[5] Fredrik Petersson, We are Neither Visionaries, nor Utopian Dreamers: Willi Münzenberg, the League against Imperialism and the Comintern, 1925–1933. PhD diss. Abo Akademi University Turku, 2013.

[6] Vijay Prashad, "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World", p. 21.

[7] Hatherley, Owen (4 February 2021). "The Marxist Rupert Murdoch". Tribune. Retrieved 19 February 2021.

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