Issued irregularly, monthly, or semi-monthly depending upon the language and year, the magazine is regarded as a vital primary source for the study of the international Communist movement.
[5] The Communist International was hampered by the Allied blockade of Soviet Russia during its formative years, a situation which both restricted the receipt of timely news of the world revolutionary movement and which greatly constrained distribution of the printed publication.
[5] Owing to these circumstances, it was not effective as a transmission mechanism of timely news and information, a function fulfilled with greater success through the use of carefully focused radio-telegrams by the Comintern.
[7] Beginning in January 1934 parallel English-language editions of The Communist International were produced in London and New York City, initially with identical covers and pagination,[7] but eventually with slightly different form and content.
[8] The American version of the publication continued to be produced in New York through 1943, at which time the Comintern was abruptly dissolved as a wartime gesture by Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union towards his western allies in World War II and along with it the magazine by the same name.