Black nationalism entered Comintern policy only after Black communists embraced it

Evidence

N. Nasanov (Bob Katz), a Russian representative of the Young Communist League, having spent some time in the United States, was already convinced that American Blacks constituted a national question. Katayama was as well, and suggested to Haywood that Lenin had supported the idea. But they, and similarly minded Soviet Communists, had found difficulty in locating any American Blacks to support their position. Nasanov heard Haywood’s arguments and promptly requested his collaboration. From the moment Haywood voiced his commitment to Black nationalism, the momentum was established for the self-determination line that would become the Comintern’s official policy after the Congress. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1056

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that Soviet communists already held the national-question view but lacked US Black support suggests the line’s authorship debate — was it Soviet or American in origin? Worth chasing further.