Editing Henri Barbusse (section)

=== Political and cultural activities ===
In January 1918, he left France and moved to [[Moscow, Russia|Moscow]], where he married a Russian woman and joined the [[Bolshevik Party]]. His novel, ''Clarté'', is about an office worker who, while serving in the army, begins to realize that the imperialist war is a crime.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} [[Vladimir Lenin]] commented that this novel was censored in France.<ref>{{cite news|last=Goode|first=WT|title=An interview with Lenin|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/century/1910-1919/Story/0,,98448,00.html|access-date=19 October 2017}}</ref>

The [[Russian Revolution]] had a significant influence on Barbusse's life and work. He joined the [[French Communist Party]] in 1923 and later travelled back to the Soviet Union. His later works, ''Manifeste aux Intellectuels'' (''Elevations'') (1930) and others, show a more revolutionary standpoint. Of these, the 1921 ''Le Couteau entre les dents'' (''The Knife Between My Teeth'') marks Barbusse's siding with [[Bolshevism]] and the [[October Revolution]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Relinger|first=Jean|date=3 November 2010|title=Barbusse Henri [Adrien Gustave Henri ]|url=https://maitron.fr/?article97985|access-date=2020-10-19|website=maitron.fr}}</ref> Barbusse characterized the birth of Soviet Russia as "the greatest and most beautiful phenomenon in world history".<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gd1Aw0ZlEwC | isbn=9781906924270 | title=The End and the Beginning: The Book of My Life | date=2010 | publisher=Open Book Publishers }}</ref> The book ''Light from the Abyss'' (1919){{citation needed|date=July 2013}} and the collection of articles ''Words of a Fighting Man'' (1920){{citation needed|date=July 2013}} contain calls for the overthrow of capitalism. In 1925, Barbusse published ''Chains'', showing history as the unbroken chain of suffering of people and their struggle for freedom and justice.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} In the publicistic book ''The Butchers'', he exposes the White Terror in the [[Balkan countries]].{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}

In 1927, Barbusse participated in the Congress of Friends of the Soviet Union in Moscow. He led the World Congress Against Imperialist War (Amsterdam, 1932) and headed the [[World Committee Against War and Fascism]], founded in 1933. He also took part in the work of the International Youth Congress (Paris, 1933) and the International Congress of Writers in Defense of Culture. Additionally, in the 1920s and 1930s, he edited the periodicals ''[[Monde (review)|Monde]]'' (1928–1935)<ref name=":2" /> and ''Progrès Civique'', which published some of [[George Orwell]]'s first writings.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Barbusse|first=Henri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dbx9CgAAQBAJ&q=barbusse+progres+civique&pg=PT4|title=The Inferno|date=2015-11-04|publisher=Read Books Ltd|isbn=978-1-4733-7657-1|language=en}}</ref> He was also [[literary editor]] for the daily newspaper ''[[l'Humanité]]'' from 1926 to 1929.<ref name=":2" />

In 1934, Barbusse sent [[Egon Kisch]] to Australia to represent the International Movement Against War and Fascism as part of his work for the [[Comintern]]. The resulting unsuccessful [[Attempted exclusion of Egon Kisch from Australia|exclusion of Egon Kisch from Australia]] by the conservative Australian government succeeded in energizing Communism in Australia and resulted in Kisch's staying longer than Barbusse had intended.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}

An associate of [[Romain Rolland]]'s and editor of ''Clarté'', he attempted to define a "[[proletarian literature]]", akin to ''[[Proletkult]]'' and [[Socialist realism]].

Barbusse was an [[Esperantist]], and was honorary president of the first congress of the [[Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda]]. In 1921, he wrote an article titled "Esperantista Laboristo" ("Esperantist worker") for ''Esperanto'' journal.<ref>''[http://www.freeweb.hu/eventoj/steb/gxenerala_naturscienco/enciklopedio-1/encikl-b.htm Enciklopedio de Esperanto] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708174358/http://www.freeweb.hu/eventoj/steb/gxenerala_naturscienco/enciklopedio-1/encikl-b.htm |date=2007-07-08 }}''. 1933.</ref>