ABSTRACT
The roots of the Comintern's involvement in the Palestine Riots of 1929 may be traced to the Comintern's traumatic experience in China in 1927. At stake in China during 1927 was the degree of influence that the Communists could exert on a national liberation movement, their ultimate goal being that of domination. The Chinese debacle transcends the rather narrow, obscure, and confining doctrinal formulations into which it was thrown. It reflects rather a general historical truth, namely, that the developments in China were too remote for effective control from Moscow, and that, from a cultural point of view, "China was a different world and not readily intelligible." Stalin's failure in China posed a serious challenge to his rule and leadership in the C.P.S.U. and in the Comintern. Thus the China problem, as Brandt expresses it, "assumed for the Soviets a purely Russian dimension reaching deep down into their affairs as a major domestic issue.".
