Peasant International

(Krestintern; International Peasant Council [MKS]), an international peasant revolutionary organization that existed between 1922 and 1933. The Peasant International was founded at a congress of the representatives of peasant organizations that met in Moscow from Oct. 10 to Oct. 16, 1923. Among the countries that sent delegates were the USSR, Poland, Germany, France, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, the USA, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Indochina, and Japan.

The goal of the Peasant International was to defend the interests of the toiling peasantry and to draw it into revolutionary struggle. Its slogan was “Peasants and workers of all countries unite!” The Peasant International was headed by the Council, which was made up of representatives from the peasant organizations of member countries. The International Peasant Council elected a permanent body, the Presidium, which was headed by a secretary-general.

The journals Krest’ianskii internatsional (Peasant International) and Mezhdunarodnyi krest’ianskii biulleten’ (International Peasant Bulletin), which examined the peasant movement in various countries, were published by the International Peasant Council. In 1926 the Peasant International organized the Inter-national Agrarian Institute, which was to do theoretical studies of the agrarian question and the peasant movement.