The Communist Workers' International or Fourth International was a council communist international. It was founded around the Manifesto of the Fourth Communist International, published by the Communist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD) in 1921.

The organisation was founded in 1922, following a split in the KAPD, by members of the Essen

Essen

- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...

 Faction, including Herman Gorter

Herman Gorter

Herman Gorter was a Dutch poet and socialist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers, a highly influential group of Dutch writers who worked together in Amsterdam in the 1880s, centered around De Nieuwe Gids .Gorter's first book, a 4,000 verse epic poem called "Mei" , sealed his reputation...

 and Karl Schröder

Karl Schröder (KAPD)

Karl Schröder was a communist politician and writer.-Life:Karl Schröder was the son of a teacher. He went to Berlin where he studied philosophy, literature, history and art history. He gained his doctorate with a dissertation on art history. He then worked as a private tutor...

, the Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 Faction holding that the formation of an international was premature. It was joined by the Communist Workers' Party of the Netherlands, Sylvia Pankhurst

Sylvia Pankhurst

Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English campaigner for the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom. She was for a time a prominent left communist who then devoted herself to the cause of anti-fascism.-Early life:...

's Communist Workers' Party in Britain

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

, the Left Communists

Left communism

Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the communist left, which criticizes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks at certain periods, from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the views of Leninism held by the Communist International...

 in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 (who accordingly renamed themselves the Communist Workers' Party), the Communist Workers' Group in Russia and some left communists in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and Bulgaria.

The International was never able to organise joint activities and probably never reached 1,000 members. It was weakened by the dissolution of some of its members groups, and the departure of the Russian Communist Workers' Group, who disagreed with its opposition to a united front

United front

The united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...

 with the Third International. The KAI appears to have disbanded in the mid-1920s.