S/H/43. The year 1934 was the most dramatic in the CominternŒs history. Discuss with reference to France

The paper considers how events in France in 1934 contributed to the shift in Comintern tactics towards the popular front. It examines the roles and influence of the PCF, Dmitrov and Stalin in the demise of the moribund third period tactic of social fascism. The paper covers the period between the Thirteenth Plenum of the ECCI in December 1933 and the Seventh Comintern Congress in the summer of 1935 but focuses in particular on the February 6 riots and their aftermath together with Dmitrov's rise with the International and the free rein he was given by Stalin from the spring of 1934.