The article looks at the first period of Soviet African studies, when they were located within the framework of the Communist International. It is noted that the goal of the Comintern institutions and organizations associated with African countries was primarily to spread among them the idea of the coming world proletarian revolution — and that Africans should become its participants. This goal was the main one in the education system that was offered to Africans invited to study at the Moscow KUTVE — the Communist University of the Working People of the East or at the Comintern International Lenin School. Therefore, in the Comintern scientific and educational organizations, much attention was drawn to the changes in the social structures of African societies, especially to the growth of the proletariat and to the emergence of political and trade union associations.