Communist front
A communist front is a political organization identified as a front organization, allied with or under the effective control of a communist party, the Communist International or other communist organizations. It is a structure used by Communist and left-wing parties to intervene in broader political movements. They attracted politicized individuals who were not party members but who often followed the party line and were called fellow travellers.
Vladimir Lenin originated the idea in his manifesto of 1902, What Is to Be Done? Since the party was illegal in Russia, he proposed to reach the masses through "a large number of other organizations intended for wide membership and, which, therefore, can be as loose and as public as possible". Generally called "mass organizations" by the communists themselves, these groups were prevalent from the 1920s through the 1950s, with their use accelerating during the popular front period of the 1930s. The term has also been used to refer to organizations not originally communist-controlled which after a time became so such as the American Student Union. The term was especially used by anti-communists during the Cold War.
Mao Zedong broke bitterly with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. He set up a network of pro-Chinese, anti-Soviet parties and communist fronts that directly challenged the pro-Soviet organizations.
International
Under the leadership of Grigory Zinoviev in the Kremlin, established fronts in many countries in the 1920s and after. To coordinate their activities the Communist International set up various international umbrella organizations, such as the Young Communist International, Profintern, Krestintern, International Red Aid, Red Sport International, etc. In Europe, front organizations were especially influential in Italy and France, which in 1933 became the base for Communist front organizer Willi Münzenberg. These organizations were dissolved the late 1930s or early 1940s.Communist fronts typically attracted well-known and prestigious artists, intellectuals and other "fellow travelers" who were used to advance Party positions. Often they came to the USSR for closely controlled tours, then returned home to praise the future as revealed in the Soviet experiment.
According to Kennedy, after the war, especially as the Cold War took effect around 1947, the Kremlin set up new international coordination bodies including the World Federation of Democratic Youth, International Union of Students, World Federation of Trade Unions, Women's International Democratic Federation, and the World Peace Council. Kennedy says the, "Communist 'front' system included such international organizations as the WFTU, WFDY, IUS, WIDF and WPC, besides a host of lesser bodies bringing journalists, lawyers, scientists, doctors and others into the widespread net."
The International Federation of Resistance Fighters – Association of Anti-Fascists was designated by government agencies as a communist-influenced organization.
The World Federation of Scientific Workers is an international federation of scientific associations. It was a Cold War-era Communist front. The group was composed of scientists who supported communism. The federation opposed nuclear tests conducted by the United States.
The Union for repatriation of Russians abroad was Soviet front organization aimed at infiltration and control of the exiled community of White Russians.
The International Organization of Journalists was one of dozen front organizations launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was controlled in Prague by the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party and with many KGB agents on board was a "long hand" of Moscow.
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to unite trade union confederations across the world; it was based in Prague. While it had non-Communist unions it was largely dominated by the Soviets. In 1949 the British, American and other non-Communist unions broke away to form the rival International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The labor movement in Europe became so polarized between the Communists unions and the Social Democratic and Christian labor unions, and front operations could no longer hide the sponsorship and they became less important.
The then president, Ronald Reagan, in 1984, on the grounds of supposedly pro-Soviet trends, left the UNESCO.
With the end of the Cold War in 1989, and the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, funding and support systems collapsed and many front organizations shut down or were exposed. For example, post-Communist Moscow newspapers reported the World Peace Council, based in Helsinki, Finland, had received policy guidance and 90% of its funding from Moscow.
The, originally the Berlin Conference of Catholic Christians from European countries, was a conference held on the 17 and 18 November 1964 in East Berlin and organized with the support of the GDR government and the cooperation of the GDR state security. The historian Clemens Vollnhal arranges them as a Communist front organization.
Members of the Christian Peace Conference were churches from the socialist countries as well as church communities and individuals from other countries. In the face of their initiation with the help of socialist states, which Christians were difficult to discriminate against and partly pursue, and the proximity to Marxism, the Christian Peace Conference is regarded as controversial. Historians and the media classify CPC as a Communist front organization.
During the Cold War, Mondpaca Esperantista Movado was able to conduct official activities on behalf of Esperanto in East Bloc countries on the condition that it must support their Communist governments and the Soviet viewpoint.
The World Federation of Teachers Unions, the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America and the International Radio and Television Organisation were also front organisations.
Asia
The Pan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat was set up in 1927 by the Profintern with the mission of promoting Communist trade unions in China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and other nations in the western Pacific. Trapeznik says the PPTUS was a "Communist-front organization" and "engaged in overt and covert political agitation in addition to a number of clandestine activities."There were numerous Communist front organizations in Asia, many oriented to students and youth.
In Japan in the labor union movement of the 1920s, according to one historian, "The Hyogikai never called itself a communist front but in effect, this was what it was." He points out it was repressed by the government "along with other communist front groups." In the 1950s, Scalapino argues, "The primary Communist-front organization was the." It was founded in 1949.
Consentrasi Gerakan Mahasiswa Indonesia was an organization of university students in Indonesia, linked to the Communist Party of Indonesia. CGMI was founded in 1956, through the merger of communist-led university student groups in Bogor, Bandung and Yogyakarta. At the time of its founding, CGMI had a membership of around 1,180.
Fadjar Harapan was a short-lived Indonesian pioneer organization, linked to the Communist Party of Indonesia. Fadjar Harapan was founded in 1959, albeit that there already was an existing Scouting movement initiated by the Communist Party. However, the organization was officially not connected to any political party and was open to all children between the ages of six and thirteen. The initiative to found the new organization was taken by the party leader Aidit. Cadres of the Communist Party and Pemuda Rakjat were given the task to study how pioneer movements functioned in other countries, but adapting Fadjar Harapan to Indonesian conditions.
Gerwani's affiliation with the Communist Party of Indonesia eventually led to their demise after the events of Gerakan 30 September, G30S and the "attempted" coup. The arrest and imprisonment of Gerwani members was justified by the fabricated involvement of Gerwani in the killings of the six generals during G30S. The Lubang Buaya myth, as described as discussed by historians, claimed that Gerwani had performed sadistic, sexual crimes before and after killing the six generals during G30S. More seriously, Lubang Buaya was used to justify the mass killings of communists in the period immediately after the G30S – an incident that also led to the demise of Gerwani.
Peasants Front of Indonesia was a peasant mass organization connected to the Communist Party of Indonesia. BTI was founded November 25, 1945. The previous peasant organization of PKI had been the Peasants Union formed in 1945.
Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union literally 'Indian Land Workers Union' is a trade union of agricultural labourers in India. BKMU is politically tied to the Communist Party of India. BKMU is independent from both the main trade union central of CPI, the All India Trade Union Congress, as well as the farmers' organisation of CPI, the All India Kisan Sabha.
National Federation of Indian Women is a women's organisation. It was established in 1954 by several leaders from Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti including Aruna Asaf Ali.
The Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front is an underground South Korean organization that is called a socialist political party by North Korea and a pro-WPK spy group by South Korea. It is the only ostensibly South Korean organization to have a mission in Pyongyang. The party is banned in South Korea, under the National Security Law, but operates clandestinely. It is similar in organization to the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, the de jure popular front of North Korea. It has a mission in Pyongyang, North Korea and another in Japan.
The South Korean government petitioned the Constitutional Court of Korea to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party due to their alleged pro-North Korea views in November 2013, two months after UPP members allegedly involved in the 2013 South Korean sabotage plot were arrested. On 19 December 2014 the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled 8–1 in favour of the dissolution. The five UPP lawmakers were also deprived of their National Assembly seats. According to Amnesty International, the UPP's ban raised "serious questions as to the authorities' commitment to freedom of expression and association".
But in South Korea, communist activities are legal. there is now a legitimate Communist Party, the Socialist Revolutionary Workers' Party in South Korea. and there are legitimate organizations such as Workers' Solidarity and National Workers' Political Association.
During the Vietnam War, the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam was an armed communist organization opposed to the South Vietnamese and United States governments.