Between September 1 and September 7, 1920, The Congress of the Peoples of the East called by the Communist International (Comintern) was held in Baku.
"The Congress of the Peoples of the East held in Baku in September, 1920 holds a special place in the history of the Communist movement. It was the first attempt to appeal to the exploited and oppressed peoples in the colonial and semi-colonial countries to carry forward their revolutionary struggles under the banner of Marxism and with the support of the workers in Russia and the advanced countries of the world...
The summons to Baku was issued by the Second Congress of the Communist International, which met in July and August in Moscow. In making this call, the Second Congress made a conscious break with the neglect of the national and colonial question by the Second International, based as it was almost exclusively on European parties. It recognized both that it was a prime duty of working class revolutionaries to support the struggle of their colonial brothers and that the colonial revolution could be a valuable ally in the overthrow of imperialism in its strongholds. Further, in 1920 the whole colonial and semi-colonial world was aflame, especially in the countries bordering the Soviet republic, so that these movements could be of direct assistance in warding off the offensive of the imperialists, notably the British, with the aim of establishing their power on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. This was the atmosphere in which the Congress met." - from the foreword to a 1977 publication of the proceedings of the Congress.
"The resolutions on the national and colonial questions adopted by the Second Congress of the Comintern were of great importance on the level of principle. Proceeding from the fact that in the new historical epoch the national liberation movement was becoming an integral part of the worldwide revolutionary process, the congress formulated as a task of the Comintern the fusion into a single anti-imperialist movement of the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat in the advanced countries with the national liberation struggle of the oppressed peoples. The rise of a socialist state and the leading role it played in the worldwide revolutionary movement opened up new possibilities for the peoples fighting for national independence and, above all, offered the prospect of a country’s transition to socialism bypassing the stage of capitalist development. In pointing to such a perspective, the congress’s resolution reflected Lenin’s idea of a close alliance between all national and colonial liberation movements and Soviet Russia. At the same time the congress indicated the need to combat petit bourgeois nationalist prejudices." - from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1979
"Workers of Britain, America, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and other countries! Hear the representatives of millions of toilers of the East! Listen to the sorrowful voice that speaks to you from the enslaved countries of Asia and Africa, from Turkey, Persia, China, Egypt, Afghanistan, Bukhara and Khiva! We have been silent for many years, for many decades. You have not heard our voice and no-one had told you of us, how we live, how we suffer under the rule of those who were also your masters. Your masters, the European and American factory owners, merchants, generals and officials, broke into our peaceful villages and towns, plundered us for centuries, took from us what our labour had created and sent all this off to Europe, so as to embellish their lives, embellish their homes, with the work of our hands, of our ancient culture. They made slaves of us." - from the Appeal of the Congress of the Peoples of the East to the Workers of Europe, America and Japan:
"The Communist International wants to put an end not only to the power of the rich over the poor but also to the power of some peoples over others. For this purpose the workers of Europe and America must unite with the peasants and other working elements of the peoples of the East.
The Congress of representatives of the Peoples of the East calls on these peoples to realize such unity, which is needed for the liberation of all the oppressed and all the exploited." - from the Manifesto of the Congress to the Peoples of the East
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