https://iclfi.org/pubs/slus/2026-uf
The Spartacist League is launching a class series titled “United Fronts Yes, Popular Fronts No!” Anyone who is politically sober should recognize that today the right wing has the wind in its sails while the left is weak and splintered. In the context of imperialist aggression and renewed attacks on the living standards of the working class, state reprisals against leftist activists and fascist provocations, communists must champion the united front. The goal of the united front is to unite the broadest forces possible in the struggle to advance the interests of the working class.
A major problem today is the sectarian sickness that infects much of the left. Many left groups simply will not bloc with non-revolutionary forces or, in fact, with anyone who disagrees with them—leaving the oppressed divided in the face of attack. But a united front can be concluded with any forces—from union bureaucrats to bourgeois politicians—as long as it serves a specific cause in the interests of the workers and oppressed: from repelling a fascist attack or campaigning to free imprisoned activists to defending a strike. This includes uniting with nationalist and resistance forces against a specific imperialist aggression—the anti-imperialist united front. The crucial point of a united front is that it gives communists an opportunity to demonstrate in action the superiority of the revolutionary strategy as against the liberal and legalistic strategies of bourgeois and non-revolutionary elements.
On the other side, many on the left justify opportunist lash-ups in the name of the “united front.” These are popular fronts, not united fronts. The classic example is the false strategy of seeking to “fight the right” by uniting with liberal “progressives”, whether it be through support for coalition governments of workers and capitalist parties, or by supporting DSA’s pop-front alliance with the Democrats in the U.S. These popular fronts do not stop the right; rather, they enable it to grow. A good example today is Germany, where working-class disgust with the austerity that successive liberal and popular-front governments have dished out has strengthened the AfD and the far right. If communists do not work to break the popular front, insisting on the class independence of the proletariat, it will leave the working class and the oppressed in the hands of the class enemy.
This class series will delve into history. The great October Revolution of 1917 was able to achieve victory precisely because the Bolsheviks never made political concessions to the popular front alliance of the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries with the liberal bourgeois Cadet party. On the other hand, the Spanish Revolution suffered a brutal defeat at the hands of Franco because the Spanish popular front government suppressed the revolutionary strivings of the workers and peasants. The refusal of the German Communists to engage the social democrats in united front defense against the Nazi stormtroopers enabled Hitler to take power without having to fire a shot. These lessons are crucial for the left to assimilate today if it is to go forward and advance the interests of the proletariat.
Class Schedule
