Popular front
Encyclopedia
A popular front is a broad coalition
of different political groupings, often made up of leftists
and centrists
. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal
(or "bourgeois") forces as well as socialist
and communist
("working-class
") groups. Popular fronts are larger in scope than united front
s, which contain only working-class groups.
In addition to the general definition, the term "popular front" also has a specific meaning in the history of Europe
and the United States
during the 1930s, and in the history of Communism
and the Communist Party. During this time, the "popular front" referred to the alliance of political parties in France aimed at resisting Fascism. The term "national front", similar in name but describing a different form of ruling, using ostensibly non-Communist parties which were in fact controlled by and subservient to the Communist party as part of a "coalition", was used in Central
and Eastern Europe
during the Cold War
.
Not all coalitions who use the term "popular front" meet the definition for "popular fronts", and not all popular fronts use the term "popular front" in their name. The same applies to "united fronts".
in the 1930s, Communist parties that were members of the Comintern
(then largely under the control of Joseph Stalin
) adopted a policy of forming broad alliances with almost any political party willing to oppose the fascists. These were called "popular fronts". Some popular fronts won elections and formed governments, as in France
(Front Populaire
), the Second Spanish Republic
, and Chile
. Others never quite got off the ground. There were attempts in the United Kingdom
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 due to opposition from within the Labour Party but incompatibility of Liberal and socialist approaches also caused many Liberals to be hostile.
The Popular Front policy of the Comintern was introduced in 1934, succeeding its ultra-left "Third Period
" during which it condemned non-Communist socialist parties as "social fascist". The new policy was signalled in a Pravda
article of May 1934, which commented favourably on socialist-Communist collaboration. In June 1934, Léon Blum
's Socialist Party signed a pact of united action with the French Communist Party
, extended to the Radical Party in October. In May 1935, France and Russia signed a defensive alliance and in August 1935, the Comintern's Seventh Congress 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 Léon Blum formed a government.
In Italy, the Comintern advised an alliance between the Italian Communist Party
and the Italian Socialist Party
, but this was rejected by the Socialists. Similarly, in the United States, the CPUSA sought a joint Socialist-Communist ticket with Norman Thomas
's Socialist Party of America
in the 1936 presidential election but the Socialists rejected this overture. The CPUSA also offered critical support to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal
in this period. The Popular Front period in the USA saw the CP taking a very patriotic and populist
line, later called Browderism. According to some historians, Joseph Stalin
used the concept of the Popular Front to solidify control of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and to suppress criticism from those in the radical left after the Moscow show trials
and subsequent series of executions and assassinations.
The Popular Front period came to an end with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
between Nazi Germany and Russia, at which point Comintern parties turned from a policy of anti-fascism
to one of advocating peace.
and his supporters roundly criticised the Popular Front strategy. In the first place, Stalin had used the Popular Front as a tool to oppose Trotsky and other dissidents outside Stalin's immediate control. Additionally, Trotsky believed that only united front
s could ultimately be progressive, and that popular fronts were useless because they included non-working class 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. This 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 a book written in 1977, the Eurocommunist leader Santiago Carrillo
offered a positive assessment of the Popular Front. He argued that in Spain, despite 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 the opposition'. Carrillo however criticised the Communist International for not taking the Popular Front strategy far enough — specifically for the fact that the French Communists were restricted to supporting Leon Blum's government from without, rather than becoming full coalition partners.
, most Central and Eastern European countries became de facto one-party states, but in theory they were ruled by coalitions between several different political parties who voluntarily chose to work together. For example, East Germany was ruled by a "National Front" of all anti-fascist parties and movements within parliament (Socialist Unity Party of Germany
, Liberal Party
, Farmers' Party
, Youth Movement
, Trade Union Federation
, etc.). The People's Republic of China
's United Front
is perhaps the best known example of a communist-run popular front in modern times.
, between around 1988 and 1992 (by which time the USSR had dissolved and all were independent), the term "Popular Front" had quite a different meaning. It referred to movements led by members of the liberal intelligentsia, in some republics small and peripheral, in others broad-based and influential. Officially their aim 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 USSR. It was their initially cautious tone that gave them considerable freedom to organise and gain access to the mass media. In the Baltic republics
, they soon became the dominant political force and gradually gained the initiative from the more radical dissident organisations established earlier, moving their republics towards greater autonomy and later independence. They also became the main challengers to Communist Party hegemony in Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. A Popular Front was established in Georgia but remained marginal compared to the dominant dissident-led groups, because the April 9 tragedy had radicalised society and 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.
{|
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Republic
! Main ethnonationalist movement (foundation date)
|-
|-
||Russian SFSR
||Democratic Russia
(1990)
|-
||Ukrainian SSR||Rukh
(November 1988)
|-
||Belarusian SSR||Belarusian People's Front
(October 1988), Renewal (Andradzhen'ne) (June 1989)
|-
||Uzbek SSR||Unity (Birlik) (November 1988)
|-
||Kazakh SSR||Nevada Semipalatinsk Movement (February 1989)
|-
||Georgian SSR||Committee for National Salvation (October 1989)
|-
||Azerbaijan SSR||Azeri Popular Front (July 1988)
|-
||Lithuanian SSR||Sąjūdis
(June 1988)
|-
||Moldovan SSR||Popular Front of Moldova
(May 1989)
|-
||Latvian SSR||Popular Front of Latvia
(July 1988)
|-
||Kirghiz SSR
||Openness (Ashar) (July 1989)
|-
||Tajik SSR||Openness (Ashkara) (June 1989)
|-
||Armenian SSR||Karabakh Committee
(February 1988)
|-
||Turkmen SSR||Unity (Agzybirlik) (January 1990)
|-
||Estonian SSR
||Popular Front (Rahvarinne)
(April 1988)
|}
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
of different political groupings, often made up of leftists
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
and centrists
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
(or "bourgeois") forces as well as socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
and communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
("working-class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
") groups. Popular fronts are larger in scope than united front
United front
The united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
s, which contain only working-class groups.
In addition to the general definition, the term "popular front" also has a specific meaning in the history of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the 1930s, and in the history of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and the Communist Party. During this time, the "popular front" referred to the alliance of political parties in France aimed at resisting Fascism. The term "national front", similar in name but describing a different form of ruling, using ostensibly non-Communist parties which were in fact controlled by and subservient to the Communist party as part of a "coalition", was used in Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Not all coalitions who use the term "popular front" meet the definition for "popular fronts", and not all popular fronts use the term "popular front" in their name. The same applies to "united fronts".
The Comintern's Popular Front policy 1934–1939
In response to the growing threat of fascismFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in the 1930s, Communist parties that were members of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
(then largely under the control of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
) adopted a policy of forming broad alliances with almost any political party willing to oppose the fascists. These were called "popular fronts". Some popular fronts won elections and formed governments, as in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(Front Populaire
Front Populaire
Front Populaire can refer to:* Popular Front * People's Front...
), the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
, and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. Others never quite got off the ground. There were attempts in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to found a Popular Front against the National Government
UK National Government
In the United Kingdom the term National Government is an abstract concept referring to a coalition of some or all major political parties. In a historical sense it usually refers primarily to the governments of Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain which held office from 1931...
's appeasement of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, between the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
, the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
, and even rebellious elements of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
under Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, but they failed mainly due to opposition from within the Labour Party but incompatibility of Liberal and socialist approaches also caused many Liberals to be hostile.
The Popular Front policy of the Comintern was introduced in 1934, succeeding its ultra-left "Third Period
Third Period
The Third Period is a ideological concept adopted by the Communist International at its 6th World Congress, held in Moscow in the summer of 1928....
" during which it condemned non-Communist socialist parties as "social fascist". The new policy was signalled in a Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
article of May 1934, which commented favourably on socialist-Communist collaboration. In June 1934, Léon Blum
Léon Blum
André Léon Blum was a French politician, usually identified with the moderate left, and three times the Prime Minister of France.-First political experiences:...
's Socialist Party signed a pact of united action with the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
, extended to the Radical Party in October. In May 1935, France and Russia signed a defensive alliance and in August 1935, the Comintern's Seventh Congress 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 Léon Blum formed a government.
In Italy, the Comintern advised an alliance between the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
and the Italian Socialist Party
Italian Socialist Party
The Italian Socialist Party was a socialist and later social-democratic political party in Italy founded in Genoa in 1892.Once the dominant leftist party in Italy, it was eclipsed in status by the Italian Communist Party following World War II...
, but this was rejected by the Socialists. Similarly, in the United States, the CPUSA sought a joint Socialist-Communist ticket with Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
's Socialist Party of America
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
in the 1936 presidential election but the Socialists rejected this overture. The CPUSA also offered critical support to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
in this period. The Popular Front period in the USA saw the CP taking a very patriotic and populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
line, later called Browderism. According to some historians, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
used the concept of the Popular Front to solidify control of the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and to suppress criticism from those in the radical left after the Moscow show trials
Moscow Trials
The Moscow Trials were a series of show trials conducted in the Soviet Union and orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge of the 1930s. The victims included most of the surviving Old Bolsheviks, as well as the leadership of the Soviet secret police...
and subsequent series of executions and assassinations.
The Popular Front period came to an end with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
between Nazi Germany and Russia, at which point Comintern parties turned from a policy of anti-fascism
Anti-fascism
Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals, such as that of the resistance movements during World War II. The related term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism; it refers to individuals and groups on the left of the political...
to one of advocating peace.
Critics and defenders of the Popular Front policy
Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
and his supporters roundly criticised the Popular Front strategy. In the first place, Stalin had used the Popular Front as a tool to oppose Trotsky and other dissidents outside Stalin's immediate control. Additionally, Trotsky believed that only united front
United front
The united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
s could ultimately be progressive, and that popular fronts were useless because they included non-working class bourgeois forces such as liberals
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
. 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. This view is now common to most Trotskyist groups. Left communist
Left communism
Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the communist left, which criticizes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks at certain periods, from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the views of Leninism held by the Communist International...
groups also oppose popular fronts, but they came to oppose united fronts as well.
In a book written in 1977, the Eurocommunist leader Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo
Santiago Carrillo Solares is a Spanish politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Spain from 1960 to 1982.- Childhood and early youth :...
offered a positive assessment of the Popular Front. He argued that in Spain, despite 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 the opposition'. Carrillo however criticised the Communist International for not taking the Popular Front strategy far enough — specifically for the fact that the French Communists were restricted to supporting Leon Blum's government from without, rather than becoming full coalition partners.
Popular Fronts governments in the Soviet Bloc
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, most Central and Eastern European countries became de facto one-party states, but in theory they were ruled by coalitions between several different political parties who voluntarily chose to work together. For example, East Germany was ruled by a "National Front" of all anti-fascist parties and movements within parliament (Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
, Liberal Party
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany
The Liberal Democratic Party of Germany ) was a political party in East Germany. Like the other allied parties of the SED in the National Front it had 52 representatives in the Volkskammer.-Foundation:...
, Farmers' Party
Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany
The Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany ) was an East German political party. The DBD was founded in 1948. It had 52 representatives in the Volkskammer, as part of the National Front. The DBD participated in all GDR cabinets...
, Youth Movement
Free German Youth
The Free German Youth, also known as the FDJ , was the official socialist youth movement of the German Democratic Republic and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany....
, Trade Union Federation
Free German Trade Union Federation
The Free German Trade Union Federation, in German Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund , was the trade union federation in East Germany. It was part of the National Front and had representatives in the Volkskammer....
, etc.). The People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
's United Front
United Front (PRC)
The United Front in the People's Republic of China is a nominally popular front led by the Communist Party of China. It is managed by the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and besides the communist party it consists of eight minor parties and the...
is perhaps the best known example of a communist-run popular front in modern times.
In Soviet republics
In the Republics of the Soviet UnionRepublics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
, between around 1988 and 1992 (by which time the USSR had dissolved and all were independent), the term "Popular Front" had quite a different meaning. It referred to movements led by members of the liberal intelligentsia, in some republics small and peripheral, in others broad-based and influential. Officially their aim was to defend perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
against reactionary elements within the state bureaucracy, but over time they began to question the legitimacy of their republics' membership of the USSR. It was their initially cautious tone that gave them considerable freedom to organise and gain access to the mass media. In the Baltic republics
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, they soon became the dominant political force and gradually gained the initiative from the more radical dissident organisations established earlier, moving their republics towards greater autonomy and later independence. They also became the main challengers to Communist Party hegemony in Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. A Popular Front was established in Georgia but remained marginal compared to the dominant dissident-led groups, because the April 9 tragedy had radicalised society and 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.
{|
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Republic
! Main ethnonationalist movement (foundation date)
|-
|-
||Russian SFSR
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....
||Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia
Democratic Russia was generic name for several political entities that played a transformative role in Russia's transition from Communist rule:...
(1990)
|-
||Ukrainian SSR||Rukh
People's Movement of Ukraine
The People's Movement of Ukraine is a Ukrainian center-right political party...
(November 1988)
|-
||Belarusian SSR||Belarusian People's Front
Belarusian People's Front
The BPF Party is a political party in Belarus. It was founded as the social movement Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" or BPF during the perestroika times by members of the Belarusian intelligentsia,...
(October 1988), Renewal (Andradzhen'ne) (June 1989)
|-
||Uzbek SSR||Unity (Birlik) (November 1988)
|-
||Kazakh SSR||Nevada Semipalatinsk Movement (February 1989)
|-
||Georgian SSR||Committee for National Salvation (October 1989)
|-
||Azerbaijan SSR||Azeri Popular Front (July 1988)
|-
||Lithuanian SSR||Sąjūdis
Sajudis
Sąjūdis initially known as the Reform Movement of Lithuania, is the political organization which led the struggle for Lithuanian independence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was established on June 3, 1988 and was led by Vytautas Landsbergis...
(June 1988)
|-
||Moldovan SSR||Popular Front of Moldova
Popular Front of Moldova
The Popular Front of Moldova was a political movement in the Moldavian SSR, one of the 15 union republics of the former Soviet Union, and in the newly-independent Republic of Moldova. Formally, the Front existed from 1989 to 1992...
(May 1989)
|-
||Latvian SSR||Popular Front of Latvia
Popular Front of Latvia
The Popular Front of Latvia was a political organization in Latvia in late 1980s and early 1990s which led Latvia to its independence from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Front of Estonia and the Sąjūdis movement in Lithuania....
(July 1988)
|-
||Kirghiz SSR
Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic
The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Kirghiz SSR, the Kyrgyz SSR, or even Kirghizia, was one of republics that made up the Soviet Union...
||Openness (Ashar) (July 1989)
|-
||Tajik SSR||Openness (Ashkara) (June 1989)
|-
||Armenian SSR||Karabakh Committee
Karabakh Committee
Karabakh Committee was a group of Armenian intellectuals recognized by many Armenians as their de facto leaders in the late 1980s. The Committee was formed in 1988 with the stated objective of the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia...
(February 1988)
|-
||Turkmen SSR||Unity (Agzybirlik) (January 1990)
|-
||Estonian SSR
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic , often abbreviated as Estonian SSR or ESSR, was a republic of the Soviet Union, administered by and subordinated to the Government of the Soviet Union...
||Popular Front (Rahvarinne)
Rahvarinne
The Popular Front of Estonia - initially introduced to the public by Estonian politician Edgar Savisaar as the "Popular Front for the Support of Perestroika" - a name soon discarded - was a political organization in Estonia in late 1980s and early 1990s...
(April 1988)
|}
Popular fronts in Current Communist countries
- People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
- the United Front led by the Communist Party of ChinaCommunist Party of ChinaThe Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China... - Socialist Republic of Vietnam - the Fatherland FrontVietnamese Fatherland FrontThe Vietnamese Fatherland Front founded February 1977 , is an umbrella group of pro-government "mass movements" in Vietnam, and has close links to the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese...
led by the Communist Party of VietnamCommunist Party of VietnamThe Communist Party of Vietnam , formally established in 1930, is the governing party of the nation of Vietnam. It is today the only legal political party in that country. Describing itself as Marxist-Leninist, the CPV is the directing component of a broader group of organizations known as the... - Lao People's Democratic Republic - the Lao Front for National ConstructionLao Front for National ConstructionThe Lao Front for National Construction is a Laotian popular front founded in 1979 and led by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. Its task is to organize Laotian mass organizations and other socio-political organizations. In 1988 its tasks were expanded to include certain ethnic minority affairs...
led by the Lao People's Revolutionary PartyLao People's Revolutionary PartyThe Lao People's Revolutionary Party is a communist political party that has governed Laos since 1975. The policy-making organs are the politburo and the central committee. A party congress, which elects members to the politburo and central committee, is held every five years... - Democratic People's Republic of Korea - the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the FatherlandDemocratic Front for the Reunification of the FatherlandThe Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, formed on 22 July 1946, is a North Korean united front led by the Workers' Party of Korea. It was initially called the North Korean Fatherland United Democratic Front...
led by the Workers' Party of KoreaWorkers' Party of KoreaThe Workers' Party of Korea is the ruling Communist party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , commonly known as North Korea. It is also called the Korean Workers' Party...
Popular fronts in Former Communist countries
- People's Socialist Republic of AlbaniaPeople's Socialist Republic of AlbaniaThe People's Republic of Albania was the official name of Albania during the communist rule between 1946 and 1976. The 1976 Constitution changed the name into People's Socialist Republic of Albania , which was the official name of the country from 1976 until 1991.-Consolidation of power and...
- the Democratic FrontDemocratic Front (Albania)The Democratic Front was an Albanian political mass organization formed on August 5, 1945 to succeed the National Liberation Front as the leading political movement for recently liberated Albania under the leadership of Enver Hoxha. It was administered by the Party of Labour of Albania...
led by the Albanian Party of LabourAlbanian Party of LabourThe Party of Labour of Albania was the sole legal political party in Albania during communist rule... - Democratic Republic of AfghanistanDemocratic Republic of AfghanistanThe Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was a government of Afghanistan between 1978 and 1992. It was both ideologically close to and economically dependent on the Soviet Union, and was a major belligerent of the Afghan Civil War.- Saur Revolution :...
- the National FrontNational Front (Afghanistan)The National Front formerly known as the National Fatherland Front was an umbrella organization to the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan which ruled Afghanistan from 1978-1990. NFF was established to recruit more supporters for the communist regime in Afghanistan...
led by the People's Democratic Party of AfghanistanPeople's Democratic Party of AfghanistanThe People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan was a communist party established on the 1 January 1965. While a minority, the party helped former president of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, to overthrow his cousin, Mohammed Zahir Shah, and established Daoud's Republic of Afghanistan... - People's Republic of Bulgaria - the Fatherland FrontFatherland Front (Bulgaria)The Fatherland Front was originally a Bulgarian political resistance movement during World War II. The Zveno movement, the communist Bulgarian Workers Party, a wing of the Agrarian Union and the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers Party, were all part of the FF...
led by the Bulgarian Communist PartyBulgarian Communist PartyThe Bulgarian Communist Party was the communist and Marxist-Leninist ruling party of the People's Republic of Bulgaria from 1946 until 1990 when the country ceased to be a communist state... - Czechoslovak Socialist RepublicCzechoslovak Socialist RepublicThe Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was the official name of Czechoslovakia from 1960 until end of 1989 , a Soviet satellite state of the Eastern Bloc....
- the National FrontNational Front (Czechoslovakia)The National Front was the coalition of parties which headed the re-established Czechoslovakian government from 1945 to 1948. During the Communist era in Czechoslovakia it was the vehicle for control of all political and social activity by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia...
led by the Communist Party of CzechoslovakiaCommunist Party of CzechoslovakiaThe Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, in Czech and in Slovak: Komunistická strana Československa was a Communist and Marxist-Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992.... - German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
- the National FrontNational Front (East Germany)The National Front of the German Democratic Republic was an alliance of political parties and mass organisations in East Germany...
led by the Socialist Unity Party of GermanySocialist Unity Party of GermanyThe Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology... - People's Republic of KampucheaPeople's Republic of KampucheaThe People's Republic of Kampuchea , , was founded in Cambodia by the Salvation Front, a group of Cambodian leftists dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge, after the overthrow of Democratic Kampuchea, Pol Pot's government...
- the Kampuchean United Front for National SalvationKampuchean United Front for National SalvationThe Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation , often simply referred to as Salvation Front or by its French acronym FUNSK , was the nucleus of a new Cambodian regime, that would later establish the People's Republic of Kampuchea .Its foundation took place in 1978 in Vietnam by...
led by the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (renamed Kampuchean United Front for National Construction and Defence in 1981) - People's Republic of PolandPeople's Republic of PolandThe People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
- the Democratic Bloc led by the Polish United Workers' PartyPolish United Workers' PartyThe Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
(replaced by the Front of National Unity in 1952 and subsequently by the Patriotic Movement for National RebirthPatriotic Movement for National RebirthPatriotyczny Ruch Odrodzenia Narodowego was a Polish communist organization. It was created in the aftermath of the martial law in Poland...
in 1983) - Socialist Republic of Romania - the People's Democratic Front led by the Romanian Communist PartyRomanian Communist PartyThe Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
(replaced in 1968 by the Socialist Unity Front, later renamed the Socialist Democracy and Unity Front) - SFR YugoslaviaSocialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
- the National Front of YugoslaviaNational Front of YugoslaviaPeople's Front of Yugoslavia was an organization of antifascist and democratic masses of nations of Yugoslavia. The idea of its creation sprang up in the 1930s, especially during the May 5, 1935 parliamentary elections in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia....
led by the Communist Party of YugoslaviaLeague of Communists of YugoslaviaLeague of Communists of Yugoslavia , before 1952 the Communist Party of Yugoslavia League of Communists of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Savez komunista Jugoslavije/Савез комуниста Југославије, Slovene: Zveza komunistov Jugoslavije, Macedonian: Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na...
(replaced by the Socialist Alliance of Working People of YugoslaviaSocialist Alliance of Working People of YugoslaviaThe Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia or SSRNJ , formerly the People's Front , was the largest and most influential mass organization in SFR Yugoslavia from August 1945 through 1990. In 1990 its membership was thirteen million, including most of the adult population of the country...
in 1945) - People's Republic of HungaryPeople's Republic of HungaryThe People's Republic of Hungary or Hungarian People's Republic was the official state name of Hungary from 1949 to 1989 during its Communist period under the guidance of the Soviet Union. The state remained in existence until 1989 when opposition forces consolidated in forcing the regime to...
- the National Independence Front led by the Hungarian Communist PartyHungarian Communist PartyThe Communist Party of Hungary , renamed Hungarian Communist Party in 1945, was founded on November 24, 1918, and was in power in Hungary briefly from March to August 1919 under Béla Kun and the Hungarian Soviet Republic. The communist government was overthrown by the Romanian Army and driven...
(replaced in 1949 by the Independent People's Front led by the Hungarian Working People's Party, then replaced by the Patriotic People's Front in 1954, which after 1956 was led by the Hungarian Socialist Workers' PartyHungarian Socialist Workers' PartyThe Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party was the ruling Marxist–Leninist party of Hungary between 1956 and 1989. It was organised from elements of the Hungarian Working People's Party during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution...
)
Popular fronts in non-Communist countries
- Azerbaijan Popular Front PartyAzerbaijan Popular Front PartyThe Azerbaijani Popular Front Party is the main opposition political party in Azerbaijan, founded in 1992 by Abulfaz Elchibey. After Elchibey's death in 2000, the party split into two factions, the reform wing led by Ali Kerimli and the classical wing led by Mirmahmud Miralioglu.During 5 November...
- Belarusian People's FrontBelarusian People's FrontThe BPF Party is a political party in Belarus. It was founded as the social movement Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" or BPF during the perestroika times by members of the Belarusian intelligentsia,...
- Frente Popular (Philippines)
- Popular Democratic FrontPopular Democratic FrontThe Popular Democratic Front was a coalition of Italian political parties for the Parliamentary election of 1948. It consisted of:* Italian Communist Party - communist...
(Italy, 1948) - Popular Front (Chile)Popular Front (Chile)The Popular Front in Chile was an electoral and political left-wing coalition from 1937 to February 1941, during the Presidential Republic Era...
- Popular Front (France)Popular Front (France)The Popular Front was an alliance of left-wing movements, including the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Radical and Socialist Party, during the interwar period...
- Popular Front (Mauritania)
- Popular Front (Senegal)Popular Front (Senegal)Ahead of the 1936 elections to the French National Assembly, a Popular Front committee was formed in Senegal. It consisted of the local branch of French Section of the Workers' International , the Senegalese Socialist Party, the local Communist cell, Human Rights League and the local branch of the...
- Popular Front (Spain)Popular Front (Spain)The Popular Front in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organisations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election....
- Popular Front of IndiaPopular Front of IndiaThe Popular Front of India is a confederation of Muslim organizations in India, including National Development Front, Manitha Neethi Pasarai and Karnataka Forum for Dignity etc...
- Popular Front for the Liberation of BahrainPopular Front for the Liberation of BahrainThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain was an underground political party in Bahrain with origins in the Arab Nationalist Movement. Its members were inclined towards the leftist Marxist trend within the ANM...
- Popular Front for the Liberation of OmanPopular Front for the Liberation of OmanThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman was a Marxist and Arab nationalist revolutionary organisation in the Sultanate of Oman...
- Popular Front for the Liberation of PalestinePopular Front for the Liberation of PalestineThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
- Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General CommandPopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General CommandThe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command is a Palestinian nationalist organization, backed by Syria and Iran...
- Popular Unity (Chile)