Logan Williams analyses the history and applications of the united front strategy, showing why it is essential for socialist organising

The united front is central to discussions of strategy among socialists. It has been used in a wide range of contexts. Leon Trotsky viewed the united front as encompassing a huge range of forms from trade unions to workers’ councils: ‘the Soviet is the highest form of the united front under the conditions in which the proletariat enters the epoch of fighting for power.’¹

The united front must seek to unite both revolutionary and non-revolutionary workers into a common struggle. It must represent a set of demands which will be acceptable to both revolutionary and non-revolutionary workers. At the same time, it must also allow all forces within it to remain independent, so that they may articulate their own political ideas.

The formulation of the united front has often been associated with Trotsky’s case for opposing Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. The united front, however, has much broader roots, with lessons for socialists today.

Historical foundations

The first formulation of the united front can be found within the foundational text of the global socialist and communist movements – the Communist Manifesto. Marx and Engels argued that Marxists must:

‘not form a separate party opposed to other working-class parties. They have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat as a whole … The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class … [they] ally themselves with the Social-Democrats … But they never cease for a single instant to instil into the working class the clearest possible recognition of the hostile antagonism between bourgeoise and proletariat.’²

These passages demonstrate the task faced by Marxists within the labour movement. Marxists must both work to advance the interests of the working class more broadly, alongside reformists in mass organisations, but must also ensure that their organisation represents the most advanced section of that class. 

We can next see the utilisation of the united front in the writings of Vladimir Lenin following the Russian Revolution of 1905. That movement’s figurehead, Father Gapon, called for ‘all socialist parties of Russia to enter immediately into an agreement among themselves and to proceed to the armed uprising against tsarism.’³

Gapon’s call sought to unite both the Bolshevik and Menshevik wings of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) which advocated the need to win democracy through mass working-class action to ultimately win the revolutionary transformation of Russia. As well as both wings of the RSDLP, Gapon also called for the inclusion of the Socialist Revolutionaries who emphasised the traditional communal aspects of Russia’s peasantry as the basis of the socialist transformation of Russian society.

Lenin would answer Gapon’s call by declaring the agreement between socialist parties as being ‘possible, useful and essential’ but only ‘through the preservation of complete independence by each separate party on points of principle’ to maintain a fighting unity whilst creating the conditions necessary for revolution.⁴

Lenin also called for the inclusion of ‘the revolutionary as well as the socialist parties … and we must not confound or allow anyone ever to confound the immediate democratic aims with our ultimate aims of socialist revolution.’ It is clear that the purpose of this ‘agreement’ of both revolutionary and socialist parties was to win immediate and necessary reforms for the Russian working class whilst preparing the Russian revolutionary movement for its later battles in creating socialist transformation.

The united-front tactic was once again utilised in a rudimentary form following the February 1917 revolution where the provisional government faced a threat from a counter-revolutionary General, Lavr Kornilov. In face of this threat from tsarist forces, the Bolsheviks, despite their opposition to the Provisional Government under Kerensky, ‘did not hesitate to conclude a practical alliance to fight against Kornilov with its jailers … Everywhere committees for revolutionary defence were organised, into which the Bolsheviks entered as a minority.’ 

However, Trotsky would continue by arguing that ‘this did not hinder the Bolsheviks from assuming the leading role … The Bolsheviks were in the front ranks; they smashed down the barriers blocking them from the Menshevik workers and especially the Socialist Revolutionary soldiers and carried them in their wake.’⁶ Trotsky would later argue that it was these activities that enabled the Bolsheviks to gain mass support from the general mass of workers, which would in turn enable the Bolsheviks to work alongside these broader social forces to complete the October Revolution.

Following their experiences of the success of the united front in enabling the revolution in Russia, the Communist Party in the new Russian revolutionary state sought to implement this policy as the bedrock of the Communist International at its fourth congress in 1922. Trotsky would argue at this conference that ‘the reformists dread the revolutionary potential of the mass movement; their beloved arena is the parliamentary tribune, the trade union offices… [We are] interested in dragging the

reformists from their asylums and placing them alongside ourselves before the eyes of the struggling masses.’ 

He would go onto argue that ‘any sort of organisational agreement which restricts our freedom of criticism and agitation is absolutely unacceptable to us. We participate in a united front but do not for a single moment become dissolved in it. We function in the united front as an independent detachment. It is precisely in the course of struggle that broad masses must learn from experience that we fight better than the others.’⁷

Ultimately, the Communist International would place the formulation of a ‘united workers front’ to be the bedrock of activity by its member parties across the world: ‘the united workers’ front must mean the unity of all workers willing to fight against capitalism – including those workers who still follow the anarchists, syndicalists, etc.’ 

However, they would demand that the united front could not ‘mean so-called electoral alliances at the leadership level, in pursuit of one or another parliamentary goal.’ Instead it ‘must defend the most basic vital interests of the working class against the bourgeoisie.’⁸

The united front against fascism

The united-front formulation was integral to the writings of Trotsky on the struggles of the German working class against the rise of fascism. The Stalinist regime had turned away from the united front. Instead of seeking to win support for the Communist movement from the masses of the working class, the Communist International argued that: ‘The Social Democratic Party [in Germany] has become a wing of fascism’, and declared, ‘The fascists are the right hand and the Social Democrats the left hand of the bourgeoisie.’⁹ The Communist International turned away from Lenin and Trotsky’s policies to those of the bureaucratic bloc around Stalin, despite the best efforts of figures like Clara Zetkin who strongly opposed the move. 

The emergence of this ultra-leftist turn marked a shift by the Stalinist bureaucracy following the collapse of the New Economic Policy in the USSR and would ultimately lead to extreme attacks against Social-Democratic parties and their supporters, including expelling members of such parties from Communist-controlled working-class organisations. Many Party members were instructed to leave mass trade unions in favour of forming so-called ‘Red Unions’ in preparation for a perceived international class conflict. These predictions from the executive committee of the Communist International would fail to materialise and would see Communist Parties across the globe becoming increasingly isolated from their respective workers’ movements.

The failure of this policy and the failure of international events to turn into a class conflict would see the Communist International (to adapt Lenin’s phrase) bend the

stick too far in correction to the previous ultra-leftist turn, to the point of a rapid swing to the right in the generation of its Popular Front policy.  This policy would seek to destroy the ‘united front of workers organisations’ in favour of an all-encompassing alliance with the ‘progressive wing of the bourgeoisie’ in an attempt to later win reforms for the working class.

In essence, the implementation of the Popular Front policy would result in the subordination of the workers’ movement to the political establishment through the rapid de-escalation of the labour movement. These policies would ultimately fail in their attempt to form a solidly anti-fascist bloc – most significantly in Germany – and would allow the rapid rise of fascist parties.

The failures of the Communist International to prepare and build mass resistance to the threat of the Nazi party were dealt with at length by Trotsky in his pieces What Next? Vital Questions for the German Proletariat and For a Workers’ United Front Against Fascism. In the latter piece Trotsky noted that the KPD led by Ernst Thalmann believed the rise of Hitler to be inevitable, so he argued that the KPD would seek to destroy the Social Democratic movement prior to turning its guns on Hitler.

Trotsky instead argued, ‘It is necessary, without any delay, finally to elaborate a practical system of measures – not with the aim of merely “exposing” the Social Democracy, but with the aim of actual struggle against fascism.’ This included the formation of factory defence councils, the strengthening of workers’ organisations and institutions and the formation of working-class strongholds which would effectively galvanise the German working class into mass action alongside their revolutionary counterparts against the existential threat of fascism. Within these aims, Trotsky recognised that the revolutionary movement must remain independent and continue its criticisms of the limitations of the Social Democratic movement, but he argued that these criticisms must be ‘presented at the proper time, just as the Russian Bolsheviks finally presented a general reckoning to the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries for the baiting, calumny, imprisonment and murder of workers, soldiers, and peasants.’¹⁰ This highlighted the key element of independence between members of the united front to enable each organisation its ability to criticise whilst working towards a concrete goal, namely the defeat of fascism.

Alongside contemporary criticisms of the failure of leadership both from the Communist International and its loyal supporters in Germany, Trotsky sought to highlight similarities between Mussolini’s rise to power in Italy and Hitler’s rise in Germany. Trotsky would argue in both cases that the ‘Social Democracy was concerned with only one thing: to withdraw the workers from under the fire … to restore the public opinion of the bourgeoisie against the fascists’, in the case of Italy going so far as to call for the monarch, Victor Emmanuel, to intervene on the working class’s behalf.

Trotsky would continue his exploration of the similarities of the Communist Parties in the two countries which he would describe as being ‘full of all the infantile diseases’, as previously examined by Lenin, due to their disregard for the use of the united front. Trotsky would end this pamphlet by arguing ‘should the Communist Party be compelled to apply the policy of the united front; this will almost certainly make it possible to beat off the fascist attack. In its own turn, a serious victory over fascism will clear the road for the dictatorship of the proletariat”.¹¹

Modern ramifications

Marxists within the contemporary labour movement recognise that we are currently living through a global economic, social, and political crisis. In Britain we have seen the neoliberal policies pursued by the Conservative Party create and actively worsen the cost-of-living crisis. Despite Keir Starmer’s promises of change, it is clear from the suspension of seven rebel MPs – over the key issue of ending the draconian two-child benefit cap – that the Labour government will not pursue the policies necessary to reverse the impact of Tory austerity. 

Despite the growing ‘poly-crisis’ faced by both the British and global working class, we have seen some resurgence of the working-class movement. The strike wave in Britain saw over 2.4 million days lost to strike action between June and December 2022 – with 323 separate strikes taking place in November 2022 alone – followed by further high levels for much of 2023. In key unions like NEU, PCS and RMT, this movement was built from the shopfloor and led by left-wing cadre in the labour movement. There was recognition that only industrial action on a mass scale was capable of winning the concessions necessary from capital to alleviate some of the pressure on the working class. 

We can trace the vital role of the united front as the bedrock of the struggles waged against fascism and imperialism. We have seen the Marxist left in Britain form the core in the Anti-Nazi League and successor anti-fascist coalitions to oppose the emerging fascist threat. Marxists have been central in organising and strengthening the Stop the War Coalition, which has successfully engaged wide layers of people in demanding an end to the British establishment’s disastrous addiction to war, and in creating and maintaining the People’s Assembly Against Austerity. In the last year, we have seen the mass movement in solidarity with Palestine mobilise hundreds of thousands against the genocide in Gaza. 

We must recognise that the united front is an essential strategy for a range of movements of resistance. This is of the utmost importance for Marxists within the labour movement and central to any project for achieving socialism in the twenty-first century.

¹ Leon Trotsky, What Next? Vital Questions for the German Proletariat (Pioneer Publishers, 1932), p.4.
² Karl Marx and Friederich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin, 2014), p.21
³ Vladimir Lenin. ‘A Militant Agreement for the Uprising’ in Lenin Collected Works (Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1962), vol. 8, p.163.
⁴ ibid. p.163.
⁵ ibid. p.164.
⁶ Leon Trotsky, What Next? Vital Questions for the German Proletariat (Pioneer Publishers, 1932), p.121-122
⁷ Leon Trotsky, The First Five Years of the Communist International, Volume 2 (Pathfinder Press, 1972), p.91
⁸ On the Tactics of the Comintern’ in John Riddell, ed., Toward the United Front: Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 1922 (Haymarket Books, 2017), p.1155.
⁹ Protokoll Fünfter Kongress der Kommunistischen Internationale (Carl Hoym Nachf., 1924), pp.66–7.
¹⁰ Leon Trotsky, ‘For a Workers’ United Front Against Fascism’ in The Militant Vol. V, No. 2. (1932), p.4.
¹¹ Leon Trotsky, What Next? Vital Questions facing the German Proletariat (Pioneer Publishers, 1932), p.185.