THE ORIGIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED AID

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-01226R000100040011-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 3, 2008
• Sequence Number: 11
• Content Type: REPORT

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SOURCE: INTERNATI0NAL4P~ESS
CORRESPONDENCE, English
Edition, Vol. 8,No.13,
March 7, 1928, Special Number,
Page 262.
ILLEGIB
THE ORIGIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED AID.
In August 1922 there appeared in the "Communist Tribune"
the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
Poland, an appeal dated 23rd August, calling upon the Polish
communists and non-party sympathisers to collect money in aid
of the victims of the relentless Terror being practised by the
Polish bourgeoisie. This appeal was signed by 42 well known
Polish Communists, including Comrades Dzierzinsky, Dolecki,
Ganecki, Cohn, Marchlevsky, Pestkovsky, Unschlicht, Hibner
(executed later in Poland), and others. It described the horrors
of the prisons, and proposed the establishment of a fund in
aid of the political prisoners in Poland, Shortly afterwards a
committee was formed for the collection of contributions, with
Comrade Marchlevsky as chairman.
Contributions and gifts flowed in an unceasing stream from
every part of the country. The growth of the fund could be
followed in the columns of the "Tribune". The movement shot far
beyond its original goal, and was soon much more than a relief
action confined to the one country. It became evident that the
need of help for the rroletariat fighting against capitalism
was not restricted to communist and non-Party Poles, and that
the desire to help the fighters was awakening among the broadest
strata of the working people in Russia, White Russia, and the
Ukraine.
Comrade 'archlevsky resolved to call upon the Society of
old Bolsheviki for assistance. On 13th September 1922, he gave
a report at a session of the Presidium of this Society. Basing
his proposals on the experiences gained by the committee or-
ganised in Poland for thezelief of political prisoners, and
upon the fact that contributions were being received not only
from Poland, but from the workers of Russia, Ukraine, White
Russia
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Russia, and other countries, Comrade Marchlevsky proposed the
founding of a special organisation in aid of political prison-
ers in all the countries of the capitalist world. The Pre-
sidium of the Society of old Bolsheviki took up the proposition
energetically, and resolved at once upon a campaign for the
establishment of such an organisation. Marchlevsky, Lepes-
chinsky, etc., were among the comrades forming the commission.
Meanwhile the relief organisation aiding the political
prisoners in Poland continued its work. By November, 1922, it Yn,d
reached not only Moscow and Minsk, but the Ukraine and other
Soviet Republics.
In this same month the organisation was given its final
form, that of the "International Association for the Support
of the Cnampions of Revolution." T11is took place at the IV
Congress of the Comintern, on 30th November 1922. The reso-
lution passed by this Congress called upon all Communist
Parties to form organisations in support of the I.R.A.
The organisatory work now began. About 2 months later,
on 28th January 1923, the "PRAVDA" published the first circular
in which the C.C. of the C.P.R. dealt with the question of the
I.R.A. The Party organisations were called upon to take all
necessary and possible measures in sup>>ort of the I.R.A. This
circular was issued simultaneously with the first appeal of the
I.R.A. to the workers of the Soviet Union.
In March 1923, the I.R.A. set to work. On 2nd March the
C.C. of the I.R.A. was formed.Chairman Comrade Marchlevsky;
Vice chairman Comrade Lepeschinsky; members: Comrades Kolarov,
Fischer, Mitzkevitsch Kapsukas, Kramarov, Budich; Secretary
Comrade Tyomkin.
In February 1924 the I.R.A. underwent certain organisatory
changes. It was found necessary to found a special section
for the Soviet Union. At the same time it was resolved to
carry
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carry the appeal of the I.R.A. to countries in which there are
comparatively few victims of the revolutionary struggle, for
instance America, Australia, and Scandinavia, in order to
induce these to assist the victims of the White Terror in
other countries
From these beginnings the I.R.A. has developed into one of
the greatest organisations of the international proletariat.
The slogan under whose auspices the I.R.A. commenced its
activities: "Workers of the world, unite", is advancing to
realisation in our revolutionary times, and this longed for
goal, the unification of the world proletariat, is being
served by the International Red Aid.
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NOTE
Comrade Munzenberg delivered a report on Famine
Relief before the Fourth Congress of the Communist Inter-
national, November - December, 1922 (Fourth Congress of
the Communist International:Aibridged Report of Meetings
held at Petrograd and Moscow, November 7 - December 3,
1922: Published for the Communist International by the
Communist Party of Great Britain, 16 King Street, Covent
Garden, W. C. 2, p. 224).
In International Press Correspondence, Vol. II, No.
116, December 22, 1922, there appears a lengthy "Report
on Workers Relief by Munzenberg" which presumably sets
forth the report above referred to. From the report as
printed in International Press Correspondence, this
paragraph is quoted:
"In America there is the Friends of Soviet
Russia, which is closely connected with the Communist
International, . .
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