Difference between revisions of "Communist front"
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'''Communist front''' organizations are characterized by their common origin, the rigid conformity of these organizations to the [[Communist]] pattern, their interlocking personnel, and their methods of [[deception]]. | '''Communist front''' organizations are characterized by their common origin, the rigid conformity of these organizations to the [[Communist]] pattern, their interlocking personnel, and their methods of [[deception]]. | ||
| − | A front organization is operated in two ways: either the Communists infiltrate an organization, work inside it (in Marxist language, the revolutionary mole burrows beneath the surface to "bore from within")<ref>[http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12302/1/405 ''After Iowa, [[Frank Chapman]], | + | A front organization is operated in two ways: either the Communists infiltrate an organization, work inside it (in Marxist language, the revolutionary mole burrows beneath the surface to "bore from within")<ref>[http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/12302/1/405 ''After Iowa'', [[Frank Chapman]], [[People's Weekly World]] Letters, Jan. 12, 2008].</ref> and eventually capture it; or they form their own organization - and simply invite the gullible in. In either case, many unsuspecting people wind up working to further some specific Communist objective. |
Revision as of 21:03, September 2, 2009
Communist front organizations are characterized by their common origin, the rigid conformity of these organizations to the Communist pattern, their interlocking personnel, and their methods of deception.
A front organization is operated in two ways: either the Communists infiltrate an organization, work inside it (in Marxist language, the revolutionary mole burrows beneath the surface to "bore from within")[1] and eventually capture it; or they form their own organization - and simply invite the gullible in. In either case, many unsuspecting people wind up working to further some specific Communist objective.
Munzenberg on fronts
During the first few years of the Communist International, immediately after the October Revolution, its international appeal was stridently revolutionary. As world economic conditions improved following the First World War, the international revolutionary movement began to wane. The Hungarian and German Communist revolutions failed and the Communist International began to lose strength. Hence it was deemed necessary to moderate the earlier revolutionary appeal, to adopt middle-of-the-road slogans, and to build so-called united front organizations, as bridge and supporting organizations in the interest of the international Communist movement.
One of the leading organizers of these 'innocent' organizations on an international scale was Willi Munzenberg, a prominent German Communist, whose organizing ability won him the sobriquet of the 'Henry Ford of the Communist International.' Munzenberg was engagingly frank in describing the real purpose of these organizations:
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Stalin on fronts
| “ | We have fashioned a number of organization without which we could not wage war on capitalism: trade unions, cooperatives, workshop committees, labor parties, women's associations, a labor press, educational leagues, youth societies.
A often as not these are non-party organizations and only a certain proportion of them are linked with the party. But under special conditions, every one of these organizations is necessary; for, lacking them, it is impossible to consolidate the class positions of the workers in the various spheres of the struggle. There is a veritable ant heap of independent organizations, commissions, and committees comprising millions of non-party members. Who decides upon the direction that all these organizations take? Where is the central unit of organization that wields sufficient authority to keep them within prescribed lines in order to achieve unity of command and to avoid confusion? The central unit is the Communist party! [3] |
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Dimitrov on fronts
Georgi Dimitrov served as Secretary General of the Comintern from 1935 until 1943.
| “ | Comrades, you remember the ancient tale of the capture of Troy. Troy was inacessible to the armies attacking her, thanks to her impregnable walls. And the attacking army, after suffering many sacrifices, was unable to achieve victory until with the aid of the famous Trojan horse it managed to penetrate the very heart of the enemy's camp.
"We revolutionary workers, it appears to me, should not be shy about using the same tactics . . .[4][5] |
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See also
- Attorney General's List of Totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, Subversive, and Other Organizations
- Community organizing
References
- ↑ After Iowa, Frank Chapman, People's Weekly World Letters, Jan. 12, 2008.
- ↑ Speech before the Sixth Congress of the Communist International in Moscow, July 20, 1928. International Press Correspondence, vol. 8, No. £2, Aug. 1, 1928, pp. 751, 752.)
- ↑ From the Stalin archives of the National War College in Washington, D.C., as quoted in Coronet, vol. 29, no. 3 (January 1951), p. 23. [1]
- ↑ Georgi Dimitroff, The United Front (New York, International Publishers, 1938), p. 52, quoted from a report to the Seventh World Congress (August 1935).
- ↑ William A. Nolan, Communism Versus the Negro (Chicago, Henry Regnery Company, 1951), p. 115.