The Tactics and Strategy of the Modern United Front in the US

There has been much talk amongst Leftists of various organizations, and even organizations discussing it as a program of action, to establish a United Front struggle against the rise of fascism in the west, and the threat of western imperialism throughout the world. It goes beyond saying that the US in particular is facing a succession of economic and political crises; an ever-growing working-class struggle, and a rise of reactionary rhetoric and violence. From the 2008 recession to today, from Iraq to MAGA fascism, clearly, a collective struggle is needed to combat these issues. 

What is a United Front, what can we learn from history, and what can we do now to raise revolutionary potential in the working class struggle?

What is the United Front? 

The United Front was a strategy fully developed by Communists under the leadership of the Communist International (Comintern) in the 1920s-30s to combat the rise of fascism in Europe, but it also has its roots in Lenin’s era, and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) both before and after the failed 1905 Russian Revolution. Comintern General Secretary, future Bulgarian Prime Minister, and pre-imminent theoretician of the United Front, Georgi Dimitrov wrote: 

“Comrades, millions of workers and working people of the capitalist countries are asking the question: How can fascism be prevented from coming to power and how can fascism be overthrown after it has attained power? To this the Communist International replies: The first thing that must be done, the thing with which to begin, is to form a united front, to establish unity of action of the workers in every factory, in every district, in every region, in every country, all over the world. Unity of action of the proletariat on a national and international scale is the mighty weapon which renders the working class capable not only of successful defense but also of successful counterattack against fascism, against the class enemy.” 

He continued: 

“We must strive to establish the widest united front with the aid of joint action by workers' organizations of different trends for the defense of the vital interests of the laboring masses. This means:

• First, joint struggle really to shift the burden of the consequences of the crisis onto the shoulders of the ruling classes, the shoulders of the capitalists and landlords -- in a word, onto the shoulders of the rich.

• Second, joint struggle against all forms of the fascist offensive, in defense of the gains and the rights of the working people, against the abolition of bourgeois-democratic liberties.
  
  

• Third, joint struggle against the approaching danger of an imperialist war, a struggle that will make the preparation of such a war more difficult.

We must tirelessly prepare the working class for a rapid change in forms and methods of struggle when there is a change in the situation. As the movement grows and the unity of the working class strengthens, we must go further, and prepare the transition from the defensive to the offensive against capital, steering towards the organization of a mass political strike.” 

In his foundational 1902 work What is to be Done?, Vladimir Lenin wrote:

“Only those who are not sure of themselves can fear to enter into temporary alliances even with unreliable people; not a single political party could exist without such alliances. The combination with the legal Marxists was in its way the first really political alliance entered into by Russian Social-Democrats. Thanks to this alliance, an astonishingly rapid victory was obtained over Narodism, and Marxist ideas (even though in a vulgarised form) became very widespread. Moreover, the alliance was not concluded altogether without ‘conditions’.” 

Today as well, the need to build a united, collective, working-class power to push back against the rise of fascism and to undermine imperial hegemony is the task of the revolutionary working class within the imperial core. 

Josef Stalin and Georgi Dimitrov

What the United Front Looks Like Today 

To quickly summarize the issues of rising fascism and combating imperialist hegemony, it’s important to understand the primary class contradictions and struggles revolutionaries are facing, and to work out how a United Front strategy is vital. First, there has been a rapid increase in occurrences of reactionary and chauvinistic violence in the US. While commonly viewed as a progressive and liberal state, California has been home to a surge of hate crimes since 9/11—violence based on sexual orientation has risen by 48%+, violence against African Americans by 12.5%+, against Latinos by 30%+, against Asians by 567%+, and so on. Fascism, defined by Dimitrov and the Comintern as “the open, terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinist and most imperialist elements of finance capital,” has been on the rise with the MAGA base, Proud Boys, Atomwaffen Division, Three-Percenters, Patriot Front, etc., as well as being reflected in international imperialist military actions, from Western-backed coups in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, to military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Haiti, and more. Untold devastation has been unleashed on the global south since the fall of the Soviet Union at an escalating rate. These issues—fascism, and imperialism—are the primary contradictions of the current era. What must be done now to reverse course, and build a movement for social revolution? 

If the United Front has been successful in the past to face those issues as they appeared with the rise of fascism the previous century, then it must be seriously considered for application in the current situation. For the sake of understanding the current landscape of socialist organizations in the US, it is easiest to separate them into two categories, which shall be referred to here as the Big Four and Minor Groups. The Big Four are: the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). All four are explicitly socialist, with the latter three being explicitly Communist, and CPUSA and FRSO both being explicitly Marxist-Leninist—DSA contains significant Communist factions within it, however. These organizations represent the most rapidly growing and influential groups in the general American Leftist movement. The Minor Groups include the Peace and Freedom Party (PFP), All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP), Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), Socialist Workers Party (SWP), Green Party (GP), Socialist Party USA (SPUSA), Socialist Alternative (SA), etc. This grouping is not monolithic in any way, and highly eclectic in terms of ideology. However, all represent minor groups of the Left with their own niches of influence. It is also necessary to account for the rise of the labor movement in recent years, sporadic uprisings and working-class unrest, and the massive Bernie Sanders campaigns, all of which have presented as factors in this growth of the general American Left. 

What steps can these organizations and parties take to build that broad working-class United Front to defensively stop the rise of fascism and then offensively disrupt and undermine the imperial hegemony of the US? It’s important to break down this United Front in two other categories as well: Formal Alliances and Informal Alliances. The former, being created after a convention or congress, would necessitate many or some of these groups devising and agreeing to a plan of action against fascism and imperialism. The latter consists of those “temporary alliances” made with groups on common-ground issues on a temporary, immediate basis. 

Such a Formal Alliance must necessarily be formed through the creation of cooperative mechanisms—forums, joint-committees, conferences, and so on—between these groups in order to pursue a common goal and strategy—a program, or ideological center—around which these organizations may be willingly bound together. Such a draft program may include:

• All organizations agree to be united on anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and working-class policies. 

• Uniting against anti-communist propaganda and redbaiting campaigns designed to divide the working class movement. 

• Dependence on the balance of forces and the concrete material conditions between fascism and liberalism will determine the “temporary alliances” formed with progressive liberal organizations—where fascism is strong and rising, temporary alliances to broaden the mass base for class struggle are imperative. Where fascism is weak, and neoliberal imperialism is the primary antagonism, the coalition will push for the offensive and form independent working-class political power (dual power). The battles against fascism and capitalism will happen on an uneven geographical basis, giving rise to uneven development, which will require “evening out” in the future. 

• All forms of bigotry, racism, transphobia, xenophobia, etc. will be fought against, as such indignities only serve to divide the working class, sowing oppression, and exploitation on behalf of the ruling class. 

• Colonialism and neocolonialism remain massive sources of exploitation and oppression, especially against indigenous nations within the US imperial system. These evils of settler capitalism must be struggled against by any means necessary. Connections must be made between the broad working-class movement and the movement for indigenous sovereignty. 

• All organizations must battle for the increase and protection of political rights and liberties for the collective working class. Any steps to erode the political rights of the working class are an expression of class warfare. 

• All organizations must materially support the growing spontaneous and organized struggles of the working class: strikes, labor organizing, social and economic reforms to improve the quality of life for workers, uprisings against the most extreme forms of oppression, etc. The more such an alliance of revolutionaries are involved in these struggles, the faster the rise of working-class consciousness and revolutionary potential. 

• Solidarity with oppressed and exploited peoples and nations under US and Western imperialist hegemony and support for the emergence of a more equal, multipolar world through mutually beneficial international cooperation. 

• Internal Leftist political disputes within imperially oppressed countries must be left to those respective organizations for their own consideration, and respected as a matter of self-determination. It is not the place of Leftists in the imperial core to negatively judge or issue demands of the Global South. 

• All organizations agree to a general policy of camaraderie, recognizing that niche ideological divisions fall secondary to the contradictions and crises presented by fascism and neoliberal imperialism. 

The draft presented here is merely a draft, and not an official statement or call to action by the author, the editorial board, or the Marxist-Leninist Reading Hub. The author and editors encourage others to add or respond critically. Such a convention would necessarily include the Big Four, as well as many of the Minor Groups—forming a real United Socialist Front to add to the growing and ever-more conscious working class in the US. It must be understood and appreciated that many of these groups have conflicting views, histories, and egos. However, is the threat of fascism and imperialism—of a new Cold War or World War—not enough to unite these organizations beyond those conflicts? The struggle against fascism, and the struggle against imperialism, are the most important struggles facing humanity in this era; all other struggles stem from these two. If the working class and socialist parties and organizations can unite to effectively combat these two rising issues, the foundation will be set to go to the next phase of class struggle. Until then, the highest imperative is to destroy fascism and completely disintegrate the imperial system holding humanity back from true progress.