Editing Third Period (section)

==Political and theoretic basis==
Although the term "Third Period" is closely associated with Stalin, it was first coined by [[Bukharin]] in 1926, at the Seventh Plenum of the [[Executive Committee of the Communist International|ECCI]] to describe the conditions for further revolutions outside Russia. The view of the [[Comintern]] was that after the "First Period" of revolutionary upsurge in 1917 and the following years, a "Second Period" had followed in which capitalism stabilised itself and the international [[proletariat]] was pushed onto the defensive.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Worley |first1=Matthew |title=Left Turn: A Reassessment of the Communist Party of Great Britain in the Third Period, 1928-33 |journal=Twentieth Century British History |date=2000 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=353–378 |doi=10.1093/tcbh/11.4.353 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/31340729}}</ref> In foreseeing a "Third Period", Bukharin sketched out the weaknesses inherent in capitalism which would lead to renewed class conflict. Principal among these, he argued, was a struggle for markets which would lead to intense pressures to reduce costs of production. These reductions would involve [[Taylorism]] as well as longer shifts and wage-cuts, driving wages down and unemployment up. The consequent lowering of living standards amongst the working class would lead to the intensification of class struggles and greater support for communism.<ref name="K&W">{{cite journal |last1=Kozlov |first1=Nicholas N. |last2=Weitz |first2=Eric D. |title=Reflections on the Origins of the 'Third Period': Bukharin, the Comintern, and the Political Economy of Weimar Germany |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=387–410 |jstor=260667 |year=1989 |doi=10.1177/002200948902400301 |s2cid=144906375 }}</ref>{{rp|395–6}}

These periodic distinctions were important to the Comintern's work because they entailed different tactics on the part of communist parties outside the USSR. The "Second Period" was characterised by the "[[united front]]" policy (1923–28) within which communist parties strove to work together with  [[Social democracy|social democratic]] parties to defend the wages, jobs and rights of working-class people and build the political basis for the future [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stalin |first1=J.V. |title=The International Situation and the Tasks of the Communist Parties |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1925/03/22.htm |website=marxists.org |publisher=Pravda |access-date=24 March 2019}}</ref> The Third Period, in contrast, saw a sharp turn against these tactics in favour of "class against class" (1928–34);<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Petersson |first1=F. |title=Imperialism and the Communist International |journal=Journal of Labor and Society |date=2017 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=23–42 |url=https://oru.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1175374/FULLTEXT01.pdf |access-date=24 March 2019|doi=10.1111/wusa.12277 }}</ref> here communist parties actively rejected collaboration with social democrats, attacking them as "social fascists"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haro |first1=Lea |title=Entering a Theoretical Void: The Theory of Social Fascism and Stalinism in the German Communist Party |journal=Journal of Socialist Theory |date=2011 |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=563–582 |doi=10.1080/03017605.2011.621248 |s2cid=146848013 }}</ref> or, in Stalin's own formulation, "the moderate wing of fascism".<ref name="K&W"/>{{rp|402}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stalin |first1=J.V. |title=Concerning the International Situation |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/09/20.htm |website=marxists.org |publisher=Bolshevik |access-date=24 March 2019}}</ref>