Formulation and early usage after 1917 According to Russian communist
Leon Trotsky, the roots of the united front go back to the practice of the
Bolshevik Party during the 1917
Russian Revolution. The Communist International generalized that experience among the fledgling communist parties that were established or grew significantly during the years after 1917. The theory of the united front was elaborated at the 3rd and the 4th Congresses of the Communist International, held from November 5 to December 5, 1922. Revolutionary socialists represented a minority in the working class, and the united front offered a method of working with large numbers of non-revolutionary workers and simultaneously winning them to revolutionary politics. The strategy was used by leaders after the initial revolutionary tide since 1917 began to ebb. According to the leaders of the Communist International, the shift from offensive to defensive struggles by workers strengthened the desire for united action within the working class. The leaders hoped that the united front would allow the revolutionaries to win a majority inside the class: The task of the Communist Party is to lead the proletarian revolution. In order to summon the proletariat for the direct conquest of power and to achieve it the Communist Party must base itself on the overwhelming majority of the working class.... So long as it does not hold this majority, the party must fight to win it. The revolutionaries were told to maintain independence: The existence of independent Communist Parties and their complete freedom of action in relation to the bourgeoisie and counter-revolutionary social democracy.... In the same way the united front tactic has nothing to do with the so-called 'electoral combinations' of leaders in pursuit of one or another parliamentary aim. The united front tactic is simply an initiative whereby the communists propose to join with all workers belonging to other parties and groups and all unaligned workers in a common struggle to defend the immediate, basic interests of the working class against the bourgeoisie.
Stalinist alternatives As
Stalinism came to dominate the Communist International, the strategy was dropped. In the Communist International's
Third Period from 1928, the period preceding
Adolf Hitler's victories in German elections, the Communist International argued that the social democrats were "
social fascists" and represented an equal danger to the
Nazis. After Hitler's 1933 victory, the Communist International argued for
popular fronts drawing in forces far beyond the working-class movement. Trotsky, now exiled from the Soviet Union, argued that the first conclusion was disastrous because it prevented unity against the far right, and that the second was disastrous because the terms of the struggle would be dictated by mainstream liberal parties. He feared that the communists would have to subordinate their politics within the alliance. Trotsky continued to argue for a workers' united front against fascism. Trotsky argued that the united front strategy would have great appeal to workers who wished to fight fascism: The programme of action must be strictly practical, strictly objective, to the point, without any of those artificial 'claims', without any reservations, so that every average Social Democratic worker can say to himself: what the Communists propose is completely indispensable for the struggle against fascism. On this basis we must pull the Social Democratic workers along with us by our example, and criticize their leaders who will inevitably serve as a check and a brake. Marxist theorist and economist
Hillel Ticktin argued that Trotsky's united front strategy and approach to fascism, including the emphasis on an organisational bloc between the
German Communist Party and
Social-Democratic party, during the interwar period would very likely have prevented
Adolf Hitler from ascending to political power.
United fronts in Asia China In
Chinese history, during the
First United Front (1924–1927), the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) worked closely with the nationalist
Kuomintang. The Chinese organized a
Second United Front (1937–1943) to fight the Japanese during
World War II. Currently, the
United Front Work Department gathers intelligence on, manages relations with, and attempts to gain
influence over elite individuals and organizations inside and outside
mainland China, including in
Hong Kong,
Taiwan, and in other countries.
Vietnam In Vietnam, the
Viet Cong organized the National Liberation Front (1960–1977) to gather widespread support against the United States during the
Vietnam War. Trotsky and Trotskyists, such as
Harold Isaacs in his
The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution, would argue that they were popular fronts, not united fronts, that were based upon the model used by the Bolsheviks in 1917 and later.
Bangladesh In 1954, the
United Front was a coalition of Awami League, Ganatantri Dal, Krishak Sramik Party, and the
Nizam-e-Islam Party in East Pakistan. It won the majority of the seats in the 1954 provincial elections and formed a short lived provincial government.
India In
West Bengal, India, a United Front (
Bengali: যুক্তফ্রণ্ট) was formed shortly after the 1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. It was conceived on 25 February 1967, through the joining together of the
United Left Front and the
People's United Left Front, along with other parties. The front comprised the
Communist Party of India (Marxist), the
Samyukta Socialist Party, the
Socialist Unity Centre of India, the
Marxist Forward Bloc, the
Revolutionary Communist Party of India, the
Workers Party of India,
Revolutionary Socialist Party,
Communist Party of India, the
Bangla Congress, the
All India Forward Bloc and the
Bolshevik Party of India. Soon after its formation, a massive rally was held in
Calcutta, at which an 18-point programme of the Front was presented.
Ajoy Mukherjee, leader of the Bangla Congress, was the head of the
United Front. It dislodged the
Indian National Congress in the state of West Bengal for the first time. ==See also==