United front

A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/or military struggle carried out by revolutionaries, especially in revolutionary socialism, communism, or anarchism. The basic theory of the united front tactic among socialists was first developed by the Communist International, an international communist organization created by communists in the wake of the October Revolution. According to the thesis of the 1922 4th World Congress of the Communist International: The united front tactic is simply an initiative whereby the communists propose to join with all workers belonging to other parties and groups and all unaligned workers in a common struggle to defend the immediate, basic interests of the working class against the bourgeoisie. According to Russian communist Leon Trotsky, the roots of the united front go back to the practice of the Bolshevik Party during the 1917 Russian Revolution. The Communist International generalized that experience among the fledgling communist parties that were established or grew significantly during the years after 1917. The theory of the united front was elaborated at the 3rd and the 4th Congresses of the Communist International, held from November 5 to December 5, 1922. Revolutionary socialists represented a minority in the working class, and the united front offered a method of working with large numbers of non-revolutionary workers and simultaneously winning them to revolutionary politics. The strategy was used by leaders after the initial revolutionary tide since 1917 began to ebb. According to the leaders of the Communist International, the shift from offensive to defensive struggles by workers strengthened the desire for united action within the working class. The leaders hoped that the united front would allow the revolutionaries to win a majority inside the class: The task of the Communist Party is to lead the proletarian revolution.