United Fronts - Don’t Leave Your Socialism at the Door
by Cian Prendiville
Article originally published in Issue 8 of Rupture, Ireland’s eco-socialist quarterly, buy the print issue:
Socialist ideas are growing more and more popular, but the number of active socialists is far too small to really address the rapidly escalating crises capitalism is creating. Socialists, therefore, need to work with others who do not share our full socialist vision through common campaigns and coalitions if we are to build the kind of mass movements we need. Here Cian Prendiville looks at how socialists can engage in mass work in a principled way that actually grows and strengthens the socialist movement.
For the last two years, there has been a real lack of mass movements on the streets. The pandemic exposed the failures of the Irish government and the weaknesses of the Irish health service, but it also confined working-class people to their homes. Social media pages for the left did very well, online petitions and zoom meetings sprouted, but the usual mass public meetings, and street protests were largely ruled-out.
What we need now more than ever is a return to mass movements. We have seen from the water charges and Repeal movements, that when ordinary people mobilise in massive numbers, real victories can be won. People power is what turns popular desire for change into actual change. Without it, we can have all the opinion polls in the world showing support for radical action on housing, climate and the cost of living - the government and the bosses won’t care. We can achieve real results only by turning anger into action and moving from a mood to a movement.
To do that, we must mobilise not just those already convinced of socialist ideas. For every one socialist currently existing, there are dozens if not hundreds of others who agree with us on this or that key issue but are perhaps looking towards Sinn Féin or the unions for a lead, rather than ourselves. Broad coalitions and issue-specific campaigns, such as the Cost of Living Coalition, Raise the Roof, or the Irish Neutrality League, can help in mobilising those broader layers.
What a United Front isn’t
The phrase ‘united front’ is often used by socialists when talking about such joint campaigns. This term is a bit of a relic dating from debates of the 1920s when military analogies were all the rage, and people were perhaps more used to the concept of multiple armies striking together but marching separately under their own banners, with their own power structures and war aims.
““We should fight for united fronts to be arenas of debate and discussion.””
Today, however, the phrase is more likely to be misunderstood as a call to simply brush differences with others under the carpet, like parents hiding their parenting disagreements from their children in order to ‘present a united front’. But applied to mass movements, that kind of ‘united front’ would be disastrous for socialists. It would amount to self-censorship; silencing our critique of capitalism, burying the socialist alternatives, and ultimately weakening the movements. Imagine the water charges movement without the socialist wing promoting the boycott - it simply would not have succeeded. Or if we had self-censored within the environmental movements of the last decade and refused to criticise the Green Party and the opportunist path they were on - it would have simply made it easier for them to mislead people, and damaged the eco-socialist left by association.
Instead, we should fight for united fronts to be arenas of debate and discussion as well. We shouldn’t accept a “not in front of the kids” set-up where debate is confined to the pub or backroom negotiations.
Struggle changes everything
There can be a real temptation for socialists to refuse to engage in movements involving forces to our right. We see the two-facedness of those who promise they will address the problems of ordinary people, while they also keep the door open to coalition with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. We have seen this film before, with the Greens and Labour. Betrayal is inherent in reformism. This is even true for those who pose as more radical, but still, limit their horizons to what is possible within capitalism. When push comes to shove, they will side with staying within the confines of capitalism, and break whatever promises they made to working-class people.
However, if workers and young people are attempting to use reformist, left-populist or even left-liberal parties or campaigns as a tool to fight for their interests, what should socialists do? We cannot afford to simply stand aside in ‘splendid isolation’, and criticise from the sidelines. Instead, we should seek to mobilise these people into activity to fight for their interests, and intervene in these movements to highlight how socialist ideas better match their interests and the needs of the movement.
Rosa Luxembourg is often quoted as pointing out that “those who do not move, do not notice their chains”. Conversely, socialist ideas grow, and grow rapidly; when people do move, that is when they engage in mass movements and no longer leave politics to the politicians, but storm the stage and become active makers of history. We saw that in Ireland with the massive leftward shift during the water charges revolt and the Repeal movement. The existence of those movements changed people's attitudes. It shifted the dial rapidly to the left in general, but especially for those who got actively involved.
“The origins of the ‘United Front”
The phrase ‘United Front’ emerged and was defined in the debates among revolutionary socialists (then identifying as ‘communists’) in the early 1920s, as they attempted to learn the lessons from the successful Russian Revolution of 1917 and the challenges revolutionaries were facing trying to emulate it elsewhere, and in particular in Germany.
Lenin argued that united front methods were crucial to the Bolsheviks winning the support of the vast majority of the working class from the Mensheviks and other ‘right-wing socialists’. He cited, in particular, the events of August 1917, where the Kerensky government was facing a military coup by Kornilov, and the Bolsheviks led a united front of resistance to the coup but maintained their political criticisms of the government:
“Without diminishing our hostility to him even by one single note, without taking back one word from what we have said against him, without giving up the task of overthrowing Kerensky, we say: we must calculate the moment. We will not overthrow Kerensky at present. We approach the question of the struggle against him differently: by explaining the weaknesses and vacillations of Kerensky to the people (who are fighting against Kornilov).” [1]
In this battle, the Bolsheviks showed they were the best fighters against Kornilov, while Kerensky and the Mensheviks vacillated. Out of this experience, not only did they manage to defeat the threat of military dictatorship, they won huge support.
The debates about the United Front reached a peak in 1921 at the third world congress of the ‘Communist International’, which involved representatives of revolutionary parties from across the world. At that conference, Trotsky argued the same method as used in Russia would be important for revolutionaries to win majority support in other countries as well:
“The task of the Communist Party is to lead the proletarian revolution. In order to summon the proletariat for the direct conquest of power and to achieve it the Communist Party must base itself on the overwhelming majority of the working class. So long as it does not hold this majority, the party must fight to win it.” [2]
That congress agreed on a resolution emphasising the importance of the United Front, and summarising it succinctly:
“The tactic of the united front is nothing other than the proposal made by the Communists to all workers, whether they are members of other parties or groups or of none, to fight alongside them, to defend the elementary and vital interests of the working class against the bourgeoisie. Every action for even the smallest demand is a source of revolutionary education, because the experience of combat will convince the working people of the necessity of the revolution, and will demonstrate the meaning of Communism to them.” [3]”
Not reinventing the wheel - learning to use it
A small example of this sort of united front method was seen in the work of socialists within Extinction Rebellion. When XR emerged in 2019, it captured the imaginations of many and brought a whole new layer of people into activity. While some would have identified as left-wing, or even anti-capitalist, there were a lot of confused ideas. This resulted in some mistaken tactics which backfired on the movement, such as the time some XR activists blocked the Tube in London, or the protest in Penney’s here in Ireland, both of which were seen as targeting ordinary working-class people, not the big business polluters.
Some on the socialist left stayed outside the movement, preferring to criticise it as liberal or middle class from the outside. But others, in particular PBP and RISE members, actually got involved in XR, helping to organise a number of important actions and build XR. By participating in the movement, learning from it, contributing to it, participating in the debates and bringing proposals and suggestions, these socialists demonstrated in practice what an eco-socialist approach and strategy could be, developing ourselves and contributing to the movement as a whole.
A more dramatic example of this same approach was seen in the water charges revolt of 2014, and in particular in the 2014 Dublin South West by-election. Going into that by-election, the assumption of everyone was that Sinn Féin would walk it. But the water charges movement was beginning, and the Paul Murphy election campaign (then AAA) managed to mobilise on that issue, connecting with working-class people who would usually vote Sinn Féin, and showing the superiority of a socialist approach on this issue.
““By being genuine and energetic builders of the movement, Paul’s campaign was all the better positioned to then call on Sinn Féin to back the boycott.””
While socialists and Sinn Féin were both together in the Right to Water campaign against water charges and marched together at local protests and the like in Tallaght, Paul’s campaign took every opportunity to highlight the importance of boycotts to defeat the charges. By mobilising those working-class people looking towards Sinn Féin, the actual limits of Sinn Féin's strictly-parliamentarian approach could be highlighted, not as some abstract socialist principle, but as a real concrete question. By being genuine and energetic builders of the movement, Paul’s campaign was all the better positioned to then call on Sinn Féin to back the boycott. In leaflets and speeches, they explained how the movement could be even stronger if Sinn Féin used their vast resources to support non-payment. This hammered at the fault line between the desires of their voters and the actual politics of Sinn Féin and won over thousands of voters for Paul, who ultimately managed a massive upset by winning the by-election.
Don’t leave your socialism at the door
Only a principled united front approach could have managed to eat into Sinn Féin's vote like that. If the campaign had simply condemned Sinn Féin, it would not have been possible to really connect with their base. But if they had held back, and not taken every chance to call on Sinn Féin to support the boycott, there is no way they would have made the real inroads needed to win that campaign.
When engaging in united front work it is important to keep our eyes on the prize. There will be all sorts of pressure to water down our socialist ideas, to leave the debates to another day in the future, but ultimately that would be a mistake. You cannot be a ‘secret socialist’, acting like any other reformist or soft-left activist in the here and now in order to gain acceptance or organisational control, but planning to at some future time ‘reveal’ your socialist ideas. We must instead challenge ourselves to push beyond the lowest common denominator and to connect these day-to-day struggles and united front campaigns we are involved in with the bigger picture need for socialist change. Only by learning to connect those dots can we truly develop ourselves as socialist activists, and train others to do the same. That is how we can make real inroads for socialist ideas. It is, after all, socialist ideas that we are fundamentally trying to promote, not simply ourselves as individuals or election candidates.
Transitional demands can be important in this regard, where we can find and develop good ones. These are demands or slogans which connect directly with the immediate needs of working-class people, they flow from the struggle, but they also go against not just the short-term interests of the rich, but against the fundamental rules and logic of capitalism. For instance, the demand of nationalising the energy sector to run it democratically for need, not for greed, goes not only against the immediate interests of the rich. It breaks the very notion of energy as a market commodity and raises the idea of democratic planning instead. Not all demands must be transitional - for instance, fighting for a 10% pay increase is a crucial thing for socialists to raise now, but it would not fundamentally contradict the logic of capitalism. But raising transitional demands within united front movements can be very useful in building a bridge between the struggles of today and the fundamental need for socialist change to really achieve progress for working-class people.
Applying these lessons to the united fronts of today
United Front work will be more crucial than ever in the months and years ahead. The government has now lost its official Dail majority, and will likely grow weaker and weaker, with the demand to 'kick them out' growing. Within that, huge numbers will be looking towards Sinn Féin, in particular, to deliver for ordinary people, while unfortunately, the Sinn Féin leaders will be looking to shift further to the right, reassuring the establishment and seeking future coalitions with the right.The job of socialists now is to try to use united front methods to mobilise working-class people looking towards Sinn Féin, and to win them to socialist ideas.
The housing and cost of living crises present major opportunities for this. We must push Sinn Féin, the trade unions etc, to use their massive resources to really mobilise people. Within those movements, we have important demands as well. Price and rent controls are key immediate demands which also challenge the very idea of the market setting prices. As discussed above, public ownership and democratic control of energy, construction etc are good transitional demands as well. These can help us to draw out how it is capitalism and the market which is at the root of our problems, and the need for socialist solutions.
The question of a left government will also be more and more central, as people seek to drive out this right-wing government. While the vast majority of Sinn Féin voters want a left government, the party leadership are keeping the door open to Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. A government reliant on their votes would be unable to actually tackle any of the major problems we are facing, and would simply give Sinn Féin an excuse for not delivering. We should, therefore, consistently call for Sinn Féin to join us in ruling-out coalition with the right, and pledging to support a left government.
When we get more developed opportunities, we should go a step further and explain how a left government would need to be willing to implement the sort of transitional demands raised above if it is to be truly able to transform our society for the better. You cannot have it both ways - you cannot deliver for working-class people without confronting the rich and powerful. We will need to break the grip of the landlords and vultures, take on the billionaire tax exiles, and end the rule of the big business polluters if we are to really deliver for ordinary people. Therefore, within these united front movements, we should raise that what we need is a left government committed to socialist change.
We must learn to walk and chew gum - build mass movements, and intervene in them with socialist ideas. The united front method can help us with that.
NOTES
1. Letter from Lenin to the Bolshevik Central Committee in September 1917, quoted in Trotsky, ‘For a Workers’ United Front Against Fascism’
2. Trotsky ‘On the United Front’ 1922
3.Pierre Broue, ‘The German Revolution 1917-1923’, p. 670