59-405: A popular front is a term for a political coalition which is commonly made up of parties ranging ideologically from liberalism to communism , historically for the purpose of opposing the rise of fascism or far-right politics in general. In Post-Soviet states , the word has a different meaning, instead connoting a liberal intellectual organization formed to support self-determination for
118-735: A defensive alliance , and in August 1935, the 7th World Congress of the Comintern officially endorsed the Popular Front strategy. In the elections of May 1936 , the Popular Front won a majority of parliamentary seats (378 deputies against 220), and Blum formed a government. In Fascist Italy , the Comintern advised an alliance between the Italian Communist Party and the Italian Socialist Party , but
177-554: A facade "used to mask" the identity/true character/activity of "the actual controlling agent", (examples being the World Federation of Democratic Youth , International Union of Students , World Federation of Trade Unions , Women's International Democratic Federation , and the World Peace Council ). Communist front was a label frequently applied to political organizations opposed by anti-communists during
236-902: A voluntary association of sovereign states as a global alliance , or a world government as a single worldwide state. A series of internationals have proposed world communism as a primary goal, including the First International , the Second International , the Third International (the Communist International or Comintern), the Fourth International , the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement , Maoist Internationalist Movement ,
295-511: A book written in 1977, the eurocommunist leader Santiago Carrillo offered a positive assessment of the Popular Front. He argued that in Spain, despite the excesses attributable to the passions of civil war, the period of coalition government in Republican areas "contained in embryo the conception of an advance to socialism with democracy, with a multi-party system, parliament, and liberty for
354-482: A condition of their continued existence. For example, East Germany was ruled by a "National Front" of all parties and movements within Parliament ( Socialist Unity Party of Germany , Liberal Party , Farmers' Party , Youth Movement , Trade Union Federation etc.). At legislative elections, voters were presented with a single list of candidates from all parties. The People's Republic of China 's United Front
413-666: A joint Socialist-Communist ticket with Norman Thomas 's Socialist Party of America in the 1936 presidential election , but the Socialists rejected the overture. The communists also then offered support to Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal . The Popular Front saw the Communist Party taking a very patriotic and populist line, later called Browderism. The Popular Front has been summarized by historian Kermit McKenzie as: ...An imaginative, flexible program of strategy and tactics, in which Communists were permitted to exploit
472-421: A national or a continental scale, it had become Imperialist and sought out the global exploitation of markets by colonization and subsequent wealth extraction, and workers by the rampant exploitation of labour . This drive for profit as the sole motivating force of the capitalist class compels class solidarity among the now international capitalist class of the world against any attempt to unify in solidarity by
531-485: A result, the Communist International , or Comintern, expected national communist parties to base their political style on the German example. That approach, known as the "class against class" strategy, or the " Third Period ", expected that the economic crisis and the trauma of war would increasingly radicalise public opinion and that if the communists remained aloof from mainstream democratic politics, they would benefit from
590-520: Is a text of the Friedrich Engels , from his Anti-Dühring . It is often cited as "The state is not 'abolished,' it withers away". This is from the pioneer work of historical materialism , a formulation of Marx's idea of a materialist conception of history . The withering away of the state is a graphic formulation, that has passed into cliché. The translation (Engels was writing in German)
649-508: Is also given as: "The state is not 'abolished'. It dies out". Reference to the whole passage shows that this happens only after the proletariat has seized the means of production . The schematic is therefore revolution, transitional period, ultimate period. Although the ultimate period sounds like a utopia , Marx and Engels did not consider themselves utopian socialists , but rather scientific socialists . They considered violence necessary for resistance of wage slavery . Whereas for Engels
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#1732776018208708-664: Is necessary for the setting up of world communism, but not as an immediate or clearly sufficient event. During the first period of the Stalinist era, the idea of socialism in one country, which many internationalists considered unworkable, became part of the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as Stalin and his supporters concluded that the transitional period would indeed be very long and complicated. Advocates of socialism in one country had not abandoned
767-418: Is nonsense". Despite retaining the earlier Bolshevik terminology equating imperialism with capitalism and thus decrying empire , the Soviet Union instead pursued a de facto empire of satellite states , similar in ways to the czarist Russian Empire although Soviet ideology could not admit that, to counter the influence of capitalist countries. It also supported revolutionary socialism around
826-724: Is perhaps the best known example of a communist-run popular front in modern times. It is nominally a coalition of the Chinese Communist Party and eight minor parties. Though all parties had origins in independent parties prior to the Chinese Civil War , noncommunists eventually splintered out to join the Nationalists, and the parties remaining in Mainland China allied with either Communist Party sympathizers or, in some cases, actual members. In
885-940: The People's Republic of China , and the countries of Central , and Eastern Europe , it was common to do so at the head of a "front" (such as the United Front and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in China, the National Front in Czechoslovakia , the Front of National Unity in Poland , the Democratic Bloc in East Germany , etc.) containing several ostensibly-noncommunist parties. While it
944-593: The April 9 tragedy had radicalised society and so it was unable to play the compromise role of similar movements. In the other republics, such organisations existed but never posed a meaningful threat to the incumbent party and economic elites. The French Front populaire and the Spanish Frente Popular popular fronts of the 1930s are the most notable ones. These are non-socialist parties unless indicated otherwise. These were established after
1003-513: The Cold War . The strategy of creating or taking over organizations that would then claim to be expressions of popular will, and not manipulation by the Soviet Union or communist movement, was first suggested by Vladimir Lenin . These would not be political coalitions seeking power in opposition to fascist movements, but groups designed to spread the Marxist–Leninist message in places where
1062-776: The Popular Front of India have used the term, and not all leftist or anti-fascist coalitions use the term "popular front". The term was first used in the mid-1930s in Europe by communists concerned over the rapid growth of fascist movements in Italy and Germany, which they sought to combat by coalescing with non-communist political groupings they had previously attacked as enemies. Temporarily successful popular front governments were formed in France , Spain, and Chile in 1936. When communist parties came to power after World War II in
1121-511: The Russian Communist Party in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution , went through a number of ideological strategies to advance proletarian revolution. Its 1922 congress called for a " United Front " (the "Second Period") after it became clear proletarian revolution would not sweep aside capitalism in the rest of the world, whereby the minority of workers who supported communist revolution would join forces against
1180-552: The World Socialist Movement , and variant offshoots. The methods and political theories of each International remain distinct in their pursuit of the global communist society. During the early years of the Stalinist era (1924-1953), the novel theory of socialism in one country flew in the face of the generally accepted practice of Marxism at the time, and became part of the ideology of the Communist Party of
1239-484: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991: World communism World communism , also known as global communism or international communism , is a form of communism placing emphasis on an international scope rather than being individual communist states. The long-term goal of world communism is an unlimited worldwide communist society that is classless , moneyless, stateless , and nonviolent, which may be achieved through an intermediate-term goal of either
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#17327760182081298-484: The republics of the Soviet Union , between around 1988 and 1992 (when the USSR had dissolved , and the republics were all independent), the term "Popular Front" had quite a different meaning. It referred to movements led by members of the liberal-minded intelligentsia (usually themselves members of the local Communist Party), in some republics small and peripheral but in others broad-based and influential. Officially, their aim
1357-421: The (future) history of communism would likewise be replaced by world communism, defined by world peace . Theorists have differed on whether world communism may be achieved peacefully despite evidently ongoing class conflict. Those who believe the capitalist class would not put down their property rights to become workers again believe the transition to world communism must be more contentious. World communism as
1416-472: The Communist party was either illegal or distrusted by many of the people the party wanted to reach. It was used from the 1920s through the 1950s, and accelerated during the popular front period of the 1930s. Eventually there were large numbers of front organizations. The international communism , in the form of the Communist International (Comintern), the international communist organization created by
1475-665: The Labour Party, which was seething with anger over communist efforts to take over union locals. In addition, the incompatibility of liberal and socialist approaches also caused many Liberals to be hostile. The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) had been quite hostile to the New Deal until 1935, but it suddenly reversed positions and tried to form a popular front with the New Dealers. It sought
1534-527: The Nazi triumph would be brief and that it would be a case of "after Hitler – our turn"; however, as the brutality of the Nazi government became clear and there was no sign of its collapse, communists began to sense that there was a need for a radical alteration of their stance, especially as Adolf Hitler had made it clear that he regarded the Soviet Union as an enemy state. In several countries over
1593-619: The Nazis with his defence against charges of involvement in the Reichstag fire became the general secretary of the Comintern, and its officials became more receptive to the approach. Official acceptance of the new policy was first signalled in a Pravda article of May 1934, which commented favourably on socialist-communist collaboration. The reorientation was formalised at the Comintern's Seventh Congress in July 1935 and reached its apotheosis with
1652-410: The Popular Front had existed, such as in the (later-renamed) World Committee Against War and Imperialism , but they sought not to co-operate with other parties as equals but instead to draw potential sympathisers into the orbit of the communist movement, which caused them to be denounced by the leaders of other left-wing associations. It was thus not until 1934 when Georgi Dimitrov , who had humiliated
1711-589: The Soviet Union and the Communist party line reversed yet again) was not a fight against Nazi aggression, but "the Second Imperialist War". Many party members quit the party in disgust at the agreement between Hitler and Stalin, but many communists in France and other countries refused to enlist in their countries' forces until June 1941 since until then, Stalin was not at war with Hitler. Leon Trotsky and his far-left supporters roundly criticised
1770-533: The Soviet Union . Justifying the innovation, Joseph Stalin and his supporters concluded that it was naive to think that world revolution was imminent in the 1920s–1930s after Germany's Bavarian Soviet Republic failed to produce the anticipated socialist vanguard state to lead the world in revolution; instead descending into fascism and the murder of Rosa Luxemburg . This caused great disillusionment among many socialists worldwide, who agreed with Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin 's analysis that an international scope
1829-590: The Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany in August 1939, dividing Central and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, and leading to the Soviet takeover of the Baltic Republics and Finland . Comintern parties then turned from a policy of anti-fascism to one of advocating peace with Germany, maintaining that World War II (until Germany invaded
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1888-592: The Workers' International (SFIO) signed a pact of united action with the French Communist Party . By October, the Communist Party had begun to suggest that the republican parties that had not sided with the nationalist government might also be included, and it accepted the offer the next July after the French government tilted even further to the right . In May 1935, France and the Soviet Union signed
1947-596: The bourgeoisie with workers outside the communist parties. This was followed by the " Third Period " starting in mid-1928, which posited that capitalism was collapsing and militant policies should by rigidly maintained, As the Nazi Party came to power in 1933 in Germany , and annihilated one of the more successful communist movements in that country, it became clear fascism was both on the rise and saw Communism as an enemy to be destroyed, and that opposition to fascism
2006-472: The collapse of a leftist government coalition of social-democrats and left-liberal republicans , followed by the far-right riots , which brought to power an autocratic right-wing government , changed the equation. To resist a slippery slope of encroachment towards authoritarianism , socialists were now more inclined to operate in the street and communists to co-operate with other antifascists in Parliament. In June 1934, Léon Blum 's socialist French Section of
2065-422: The end of continuous subjugation via divide and rule by the comparatively few capitalists who seek to stop the development of class consciousness in their workers lest they too form trade unions to counter the capitalists monopolies ; (thus the rallying cry of socialists, " Workers of the world, unite! "). In this view, after a transitional period of international socialism, the terminal stage of development of
2124-456: The fall of communism in the Stalinist mold. Nevertheless, the international communist tendencies remain among Maoists , Trotskyists , left communists , and some present-day Russian communists among others seeking to further refine and revise the theory of dialectical materialism . Marxist philosophers had observed in the turn of the century that because capitalism had begun to exhaust the low hanging fruit of domestic exploitation whether on
2183-542: The goal of ultimate world communism, but they considered it naive to think world revolution was imminent. Thus the Soviet Union dissolved the Third International during World War II. However, Stalin did not intend to implement isolationism despite this one-country approach. In a 1936 interview with journalist Roy W. Howard , Stalin articulated his rejection of world revolution and stated that "We never had such plans and intentions" and that "The export of revolution
2242-530: The initiative from the more radical dissident organisations established earlier by moving their republics towards greater autonomy and then independence. They also became the main challengers to the communist parties' hegemony in Byelorussia , Moldavia , Ukraine , Armenia and Azerbaijan . A Popular Front was established in Georgia but remained marginal, compared to the dominant dissident-led groups, since
2301-804: The latter rejected the idea. There were attempts in Great Britain to found a popular front, against the National Government 's appeasement of Nazi Germany , between the Labour Party , the Liberal Party , the Independent Labour Party , the Communist Party and even rebellious elements of the Conservative Party under Winston Churchill , but they failed mainly because of opposition from within
2360-444: The now also international workers of the world, with the capitalist class' goal being to maintain profitability and thus their class' dominance as the engine and reason for the class conflict . Recognition by people of the pain of this exploitation by capitalists inexorably unites the proletariat of the world and necessitates international cooperation to halt the suffering of humankind. This proletarian internationalism has as its aim
2419-529: The opposition". Carrillo, however criticised the Communist International for not taking the Popular Front strategy far enough, especially since French communists were restricted to supporting Blum's government from without, rather than becoming full coalition partners. After World War II , most Central and Eastern European countries were ruled by coalitions between several different political parties that voluntarily chose to work together. By
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2478-610: The overthrow of capitalism through revolution remaining unchanged. Cultural historian Michael Denning has challenged the Communist Party-centric view of the US popular front, saying that the "fellow travelers" in the US actually composed the majority of the movement. In his view, Communist party membership was only one (optional) element of leftist US culture at the time. The period suddenly came to an end with another abrupt reversal of Soviet or communist policy, where
2537-575: The populist mood and be swept to power. As such, non-communist socialist parties were denounced as " social fascist ". After a series of financial crises in 1926 , 1929 and 1931, public opinion in Europe was certainly radicalising but not to the benefit of left-wing anticapitalist parties. In the weeks that followed Hitler's rise to power in February 1933, the German Communist Party and the Comintern clung rigidly to their view that
2596-691: The previous years, a sense had grown within elements of the Communist Parties that the German model of "class against class" was not the most appropriate way to succeed in their national political contexts and that it was necessary to build some alliance to prevent the greater threat of autocratic nationalist governments; however, figures such as Henri Barbé and Pierre Célor in France and José Bullejos and Adama in Spain, who advocated greater flexibility by co-operating loyally with social-democratic parties and possibly even left-wing capitalist parties, were removed from positions of power. Predecessors to
2655-461: The proclamation of a new policy: "The People's Front Against Fascism and War". Communist parties were now instructed to form broad alliances with all antifascist parties with the aim of securing social advance at home as well as a military alliance with the Soviet Union to isolate the fascist dictatorships. The "popular fronts" thus formed proved to be successful politically in forming governments in France, Spain and China but not elsewhere. In France,
2714-441: The state becomes irrelevant to organizing human activity and the people agree to the abolition of the state , or the now useless state undergoes what Marx and Engels call the withering away of the state . When governance no longer requires state institutions or state power no one would desire it nor wield it. In other words, the people of a utopian communist society would be self-governing via direct democracy so direct that
2773-459: The state would not even exist. Abolition of the state is not in itself a distinctively Marxist doctrine . It was sometime it was happened by any of the country held by various socialist and anarchist thinkers of the nineteenth century as well as some present-day anarchists ( libertarians are anti-statist typically in a subtly different sense, in that they support small government although not absence of government or state ). The crux here
2832-544: The strategy. Trotsky believed that only united fronts could ultimately be progressive and that popular fronts were useless because they included bourgeois forces such as liberals. Trotsky also argued that in popular fronts, working-class demands are reduced to their bare minimum, and the ability of the working class to put forward its own independent set of politics is compromised. That view is now common to most Trotskyist groups. Left communist groups also oppose popular fronts, but they came to oppose united fronts as well. In
2891-419: The symbols of patriotism, to assume the role of defenders of national independence, to attack fascism without demanding an end to capitalism as the only remedy, and, most important, to enter upon alliances with other parties, on the basis of fronts or on the basis of a government in which Communists might participate. McKenzie asserted that to be a mere tactical expedient, with the broad goals of communists for
2950-454: The territory in which it operated. Popular Front may refer to: Popular front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition especially of leftist political parties against a common opponent". However, other alliances such as
3009-463: The time that the countries in what became the Eastern Bloc had developed into Marxist–Leninist states, the non-communist parties had pushed out those members not willing to do the communists' bidding and were taken over by fellow travellers . As a result, the front had turned into a tool of the communists. The non-communist parties were required to accept the communist party's " leading role " as
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#17327760182083068-410: The transitional period was reduced to a single act, for Lenin thirty to forty years later it had become extended and "obviously lengthy". In the same place, he argues strongly that Marx's conception of communist society is not utopian, but takes into account the heritage of what came before. This gives at least roughly the position on world communism as the Comintern was set up in 1919: world revolution
3127-579: The utopian final goal of the class conflict can only be achieved by world revolution as " injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" in the words of noted one time socialist, Martin Luther King Jr. As such, World communism is ultimately incompatible with the permanent existence of the nation state formation as a means of organizing people and property. To be a socialist is to believe that people are people everywhere, even within nations and they must unite to end their own exploitation by
3186-898: The world to continue to work toward world communism, however distant it might be. Thus it backed the 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution , the North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War and the MPLA in the Angolan Civil War . The domino theory of the Cold War was driven by this intent as anti-communists feared that isolationism by capitalist countries would lead to the collapse of their self-defense . Socialism survived in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba, after severe internal crises. In 1989-1991
3245-411: The would be elitists of capitalism. Whether the people unite in a supranational unions of sovereign states or a world government to progress through the socialist phase of human development is guided by the desire to end this capitalist exploitation of humankind. This transitional period of Socialism is considered to then continue to develop the productive forces and alleviate drudgery until either
3304-446: Was disorganized and divided. A new, less extreme policy was called for whereby Communists would form political coalitions with non-Communist socialists and even democratic non-socialists – "liberals, moderates, and even conservatives" – in "popular fronts" against fascism. Until early 1933, the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) was regarded as the world's most successful communist party in terms of membership and electoral results. As
3363-477: Was the communist party—not the fronts—that held power in these countries, the alleged coalitions gave the Party the ability to maintain that it did not have a monopoly on power in that country. Another use of the word "front" in connection with communist activity was " Communist front ". This phrase used "front" not in the sense of a political movement "linking divergent elements to achieve common objectives", but as
3422-462: Was to defend perestroika against reactionary elements within the state bureaucracy, but over time, they began to question the legitimacy of their republics' membership of the Soviet Union. It was their initially cautious tone that gave them considerable freedom to organise and to gain access to the mass media. In the Baltic republics , they soon became the dominant political force and gradually gained
3481-470: Was vital to communist success but could not at the time explain the fascist deviation in world affairs. Currents of national communism , especially after World War II , broke the prewar hegemonic popularity of internationalist communism in view of standing nations in the Stalinist mold. The end of the Cold War , with the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union , is often called
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