Gate of Smolny, Comintern Congress, Petrograd, 19 July 1920

1Although the Bolsheviks used prewar practices from earlier socialist conferences, such as sightseeing in host cities, they were doing so in a public space they themselves controlled.

2From the station, most delegates went to the Smolny building, seat of the first Soviet government before the move to Moscow in early 1918. The delegates took a streetcar from the station, and at the controls="true" was Mikhail Kalinin, formerly a leader of the streetcar workers’ union but now the official Soviet head of state (a largely ceremonial office).

3This photograph shows the revolutionary decorations of the approach to the building. Over the archway is a sign “Long live the III Communist International.” The lettering on the arch itself spells out “Proletarians of all countries, unite!” In smaller letters on each side, the slogan is found in German and French. France, and especially Germany dominated the Second International and served as model parties to other members. Thus the archway asserts that a new model party was now dominant. The decorative motifs – sun and flowers – recall the actual season as well as symbolic hopes for the Comintern.