The establishment of the Communist International and the installation of Soviet power contributed to a new understanding of the colonial question, as revealed in the deliberations of the Comintern Congresses. The setback of the European revolutions largely contributed to the recognition of the crucial importance of the colonial question by the Comintern, ideologically and organisationally. But the relations between the communist parties in the colonies and the metropolitan countries, together with the growing “Russification” of the Comintern, blocked many of its possibilities.
