Communist front
Encyclopedia
A Communist front organization is an organization identified to be a front organization
under the effective control of a Communist party
, the Communist International or other Communist organizations. 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
.
, under the leadership of Grigory Zinoviev
in the Kremlin, established fronts in many countries in the 1920s and after. To coordinate their activities the Comintern set up various international umbrella organizations (linking groups across national borders), such as the Young Communist International
(youth), Profintern
(trade unions), Krestintern (peasants), International Red Aid
(humanitarian aid), Sportintern (organized sports), 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.
According to Kennedy (1957), 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 World Federation of Trade Unions
(WFTU) 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 and Social Democratic and Christian labor unions, and front operations could no longer hide the sponsorship and they became less important.
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.
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 Japan Peace Committee." It was founded in 1949.
"depends largely on the existence of a wide range of interlocking front groups that supplement and draw upon the Communist-led mass organizations."
When nations turned toward the Soviet Union, they typically joined in numerous international front organizations, as Nicaragua
did under the Sandinistas in 1983.
The Association of the Victims of the Nazi Regime was set up to rally West Germans under the antifascist banner, but had to be dissolved when Moscow discovered it had been infiltrated by "Zionist agents".
, "Support for Communist front organizations increased." Examples include the Movement Against War and Fascism
and the Australian Writers' League.
British intelligence infiltrated several Communist fronts in Australia, looking for organized efforts to block Britain's Cold War policies.
the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) investigated and listed a number of suspected organizations. In 1955, SSIS published a list of what it described as the 82 most active and typical sponsors of communist fronts in the United States
; some of those named had literally dozens of affiliations with groups that had either been cited as Communist fronts or had been labelled "subversive" by either the subcommittee or the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Schrecker says that anti-Communist leaders believed that the Party used front groups to attract "fellow travelers," who were "unsuspecting liberals and well-meaning dupes drawn into the Communist orbit without realizing that the party was using them for its own purposes." Schrecker says that on the contrary, "most of these people knowingly collaborated with the party, believing it to be the most effective ally they could find." Theodore Draper
asks, "To what extent was it possible, at least in the nineteen-twenties, to belong to a Communist front without being a Communist sympathizer?" His answer is that, "Only the most naive could have belonged to a front for any considerable length of time without realizing its political coloration. The top leaders of the early fronts were not merely Communists; they were top-ranking Communists."
American Peace Mobilization
, a front group as an advocate of peace which opposed Lend Lease aid to Britain and picketed the White House. It rapidly switched positions after the German invasion in June 1941 and transmogrified itself into a patriotic organization supporting the war, American Peoples Mobilization.
in Moscow and the Communist Party USA
, but its advocacy of Soviet aesthetic ideas had a lasting impact on American theater.
to act. Truman's Attorney General Tom C. Clark
expanded the list, which was officially authorized by presidential Executive Order 9835
in 1947 and was administered by the new Loyalty Review Board. The Board became part of the Civil Service Commission. The list was used by federal agencies to screen appointments during the Truman Administration. The program investigated over 3 million government employees, of whom 300 were dismissed as security risks. Adverse decisions could be appealed to the Loyalty Review Board, a government agency set up by President Truman.
The Loyalty Review Board publicized the previously secret Attorney General's list in March 1948 as a "List of Communist classified organizations." The list gave the name and date founded, and (for active groups) the headquarters, and chief officers.
, Richard Felix Staar
alleged that Soviet intelligence has infiltrated many peace movements in the West, most importantly, the World Peace Council
. In addition to WPC, important communist front organizations included its affiliate the U.S. Peace Council
, the World Federation of Trade Unions
, the World Federation of Democratic Youth
, and the International Union of Students
. Staar asserted that somewhat less important front organizations included: Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization, Christian Peace Conference
, International Association of Democratic Lawyers
, International Federation of Resistance Movements, International Institute for Peace
, International Organization of Journalists
, Women's International Democratic Federation and World Federation of Scientific Workers. Numerous peace conferences, congresses and festivals have been staged with support of those organizations.
Front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...
under the effective control of a Communist party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
, the Communist International or other Communist organizations. 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
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
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
American Student Union
The American Student Union was a national left-wing organization of college students of the 1930s, best remembered for its protest activities against militarism. Founded by a 1935 merger of Communist and Socialist student organizations, the ASU was affiliated with the American Youth Congress...
. The term was especially used by anti-communists during the cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
International
As Service (2007) shows, the CominternComintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, under the leadership of Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Zinoviev
Grigory Yevseevich Zinoviev , born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich Radomyslsky Apfelbaum , was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a Soviet Communist politician...
in the Kremlin, established fronts in many countries in the 1920s and after. To coordinate their activities the Comintern set up various international umbrella organizations (linking groups across national borders), such as the Young Communist International
Young Communist International
The Young Communist International was the parallel international youth organization affiliated with the Communist International .-International socialist youth organization before World War I:...
(youth), Profintern
Profintern
The Red International of Labor Unions , commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Communist International with the aim of coordinating Communist activities within trade unions...
(trade unions), Krestintern (peasants), International Red Aid
International Red Aid
International Red Aid was an international social service organization established by the Communist International...
(humanitarian aid), Sportintern (organized sports), etc. In Europe, front organizations were especially influential in Italy and France, which in 1933 became the base for Communist front organizer Willi Münzenberg
Willi Münzenberg
Willi Münzenberg was a communist political activist. Münzenberg was the first head of the Young Communist International in 1919-20 and established the famine-relief and propaganda organization Workers International Relief in 1921...
. These organizations were dissolved the late 1930s or early 1940s.
According to Kennedy (1957), after the war, especially as the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
took effect around 1947, the Kremlin set up new international coordination bodies including the World Federation of Democratic Youth
World Federation of Democratic Youth
The World Federation of Democratic Youth is a progressive youth organization, recognized by the United Nations as an international youth non-governmental organization. WFDY describes itself as an "anti-imperialist, left-wing" organisation...
, International Union of Students
International Union of Students
The International Union of Students is a worldwide nonpartisan association of university student organizations.The IUS is the umbrella organization for 155 such student organizations across 112 countries and territories representing approximately 25 million students.-Aim and work areas:The aims of...
, World Federation of Trade Unions
World Federation of Trade Unions
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations...
, Women's International Democratic Federation and the World Peace Council
World Peace Council
The World Peace Council is an international organization that advocates universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass destruction and all forms of discrimination...
. 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 World Federation of Trade Unions
World Federation of Trade Unions
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations...
(WFTU) 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
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions , and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour to form the...
. The labor movement in Europe became so polarized between the Communists unions and the and Social Democratic and Christian labor unions, and front operations could no longer hide the sponsorship and they became less important.
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.
Asia
The Pan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat (PPTUS) was set up in 1927 by the Profintern (the Comintern's trade union arm) 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 (2009) 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
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, many oriented to students and youth.
In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in the labor union movement of the 1920s, according to one historian, "The Hyogikai
Hyōgikai
was a trade union centre in Japan which operated from 1920.Hyōgikai was founded at a conference in Kobe on May 24–27, 1925. As of late 1925, Hyōgikai had 59 affiliated trade unions and around 35,000 members. The organization was affiliated with the Pan Pacific Trade Union Secretariat...
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 Japan Peace Committee." It was founded in 1949.
Latin America
Poppino argued that the effectiveness of Communist propaganda in Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
"depends largely on the existence of a wide range of interlocking front groups that supplement and draw upon the Communist-led mass organizations."
When nations turned toward the Soviet Union, they typically joined in numerous international front organizations, as Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
did under the Sandinistas in 1983.
West Germany
West Germany (and West Berlin) were centers of East-West conflict during the Cold War, and numerous Communist fronts were established. For example the Society for German-Soviet Friendship (GfDSF) had 13,000 members in West Germany, but it was banned in 1953 by some Länder as a Communist front. The Democratic Cultural League of Germany started off as a series of genuinely pluralistic bodies, but in 1950–51 came under the control of Communists. By 1952 the U.S. Embassy counted 54 'infiltrated organizations', which started independently, as well as 155 'front organizations', which had been Communist inspired from their start.The Association of the Victims of the Nazi Regime was set up to rally West Germans under the antifascist banner, but had to be dissolved when Moscow discovered it had been infiltrated by "Zionist agents".
Australia
Davidson argues that in Australia with the onset of the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, "Support for Communist front organizations increased." Examples include the Movement Against War and Fascism
Movement Against War and Fascism
The Movement Against War and Fascism was a Communist front organisation founded in Australia in 1933. MAWF organised political ralies, meetings and issues to promote the cause of Communism, recruit members, supporters and activists and promote wider community support.The MAWF was instigated by...
and the Australian Writers' League.
British intelligence infiltrated several Communist fronts in Australia, looking for organized efforts to block Britain's Cold War policies.
United States
During the cold warCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) investigated and listed a number of suspected organizations. In 1955, SSIS published a list of what it described as the 82 most active and typical sponsors of communist fronts in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; some of those named had literally dozens of affiliations with groups that had either been cited as Communist fronts or had been labelled "subversive" by either the subcommittee or the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Schrecker says that anti-Communist leaders believed that the Party used front groups to attract "fellow travelers," who were "unsuspecting liberals and well-meaning dupes drawn into the Communist orbit without realizing that the party was using them for its own purposes." Schrecker says that on the contrary, "most of these people knowingly collaborated with the party, believing it to be the most effective ally they could find." Theodore Draper
Theodore Draper
Theodore H. "Ted" Draper was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books which he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the American Communist Party, the Cuban Revolution, and the Iran-Contra Affair...
asks, "To what extent was it possible, at least in the nineteen-twenties, to belong to a Communist front without being a Communist sympathizer?" His answer is that, "Only the most naive could have belonged to a front for any considerable length of time without realizing its political coloration. The top leaders of the early fronts were not merely Communists; they were top-ranking Communists."
American Peace Mobilization
After the Stalin-Hitler Pact was signed in 1939, the Communists established theAmerican Peace Mobilization
American Peace Mobilization
The American Peace Mobilization was a peace group, officially cited in 1947 by United States Attorney General Tom C. Clark on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations for 1948, as directed by President Harry S...
, a front group as an advocate of peace which opposed Lend Lease aid to Britain and picketed the White House. It rapidly switched positions after the German invasion in June 1941 and transmogrified itself into a patriotic organization supporting the war, American Peoples Mobilization.
New Theatre League
Mally shows how Soviet cultural values were transmitted to the United States by front organizations and how important Russian models were in shaping cultural activities in the 1930s. The American Workers' Theatre League (often called the "New Theatre League") was a conduit for new Russian ideas incorporating political positions on stage. The League became less militant by the mid-1930s, bringing it into conflict with both the CominternComintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
in Moscow and the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
, but its advocacy of Soviet aesthetic ideas had a lasting impact on American theater.
Hollywood
Radosh and Radosh explore the Communist Party's influence in Hollywood during the 1930s-1950s to stress the CPUSA policy of secret membership and control of front organizations that fostered an allegiance to Soviet communism in Hollywood. They argue that the Party had at its peak about 300 members, and thousands of sympathizers who were active in numerous front groups controlled by the Party.Attorney General list of alleged Communist fronts, 1948
Starting in 1939, Attorney General Biddle began compiling a list of Fascist and Communist front organizations. It was called "Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations" (AGLOSO), but was not at first made public. Political pressures from Congress forced President Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
to act. Truman's Attorney General Tom C. Clark
Tom C. Clark
Thomas Campbell Clark was United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States .- Early life and career :...
expanded the list, which was officially authorized by presidential Executive Order 9835
Executive Order 9835
President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government...
in 1947 and was administered by the new Loyalty Review Board. The Board became part of the Civil Service Commission. The list was used by federal agencies to screen appointments during the Truman Administration. The program investigated over 3 million government employees, of whom 300 were dismissed as security risks. Adverse decisions could be appealed to the Loyalty Review Board, a government agency set up by President Truman.
The Loyalty Review Board publicized the previously secret Attorney General's list in March 1948 as a "List of Communist classified organizations." The list gave the name and date founded, and (for active groups) the headquarters, and chief officers.
- World Federation
- Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists, and Technicians, CIOCongress of Industrial OrganizationsThe Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
, Chairman: L.A. Berne, Deputy Chairmen: Marcel E. Scherer; 1928 - International Workers OrderInternational Workers OrderThe International Workers Order was a Communist Party-affiliated insurance, mutual benefit and fraternal organization founded in 1930 and disbanded in 1954 as the result of legal action undertaken by the state of New York in 1951...
, 80 Fifth Avenue, New York; Chairman: W. Weiner, Attorney J. Brodsky; 1930 - International Jurist Association, 1931
- Methodist Federation for Social Service, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York; Bishop F.J. McConnell
- American League Against War and FascismAmerican League Against War and FascismThe American League Against War and Fascism was an organization formed in 1933 by the Communist Party USA and pacifists united by their concern as Nazism and Fascism rose in Europe...
, 1933; became the American League for Peace and Democracy, 1937 - Friends of the Soviet UnionFriends of the Soviet UnionFriends of the Soviet Union was an organization formed on the initiative of the Communist International in 1927, with the purpose of coordinating solidarity efforts with the Soviet Union around the world...
- International Labor DefenseInternational Labor DefenseThe International Labor Defense was a legal defense organization in the United States, headed by William L. Patterson. It was a US section of International Red Aid organisation, and associated with the Communist Party USA. It defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active in the civil rights and...
, 112 East Nineteenth Street, New York; Chairman: Vito MarcantonioVito MarcantonioVito Anthony Marcantonio was an American lawyer and democratic socialist politician. Originally a member of the Republican Party and a supporter of Fiorello LaGuardia, he switched to the American Labor Party.-Early life:...
, J. Brodsky - Young Communist LeagueYoung Communist League, USAThe Young Communist League USA is the fraternal youth organization of the Communist Party USA. Although the name of the group has changed a number of times over the years, it dates its lineage back to 1920, shortly after the establishment of the first communist parties in America.-Early years:The...
, USA (YCL-USA) , 464 Sixth Avenue, New York; Carl Ross, Celeste Srack, Angelo Herndon. - American Youth CongressAmerican Youth CongressAmerican Youth Congress was an early youth voice organization composed of youth from all across the country to discuss the problems facing youth as a whole in the 1930s. It met several years in a row - one year it notably met on the lawn of the White House. The delegates are known to have caused...
, 55 West Forty-second Street, New York (organized from the Young Communist LeagueYoung Communist LeagueThe Young Communist League was or is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX was generally taken by all sections of the Communist Youth International.Examples of YCLs:...
), chairmen: W. Hinckley, Joseph P. Lash; 1934 - League of American WritersLeague of American WritersThe League of American Writers was an association of American novelists, playwrights, poets, journalists, and literary critics launched by the Communist Party USA in 1935...
, 1935 - American Labor PartyAmerican Labor PartyThe American Labor Party was a political party in the United States established in 1936 which was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party who had established themselves as the Social Democratic...
, 1936 - National Negro CongressNational Negro CongressThe National Negro Congress is an organization which was put into place by the Communist Party of the United States of America in 1935 at Howard University. It was a popular front organization created with the goal of fighting for Black liberation and was the successor to the League of Struggle for...
*, 35 East Twelfth Street, New York; Chairman: A.P. Randolph, J.W. Ford, A. Herndon, J.P. Davis; 1936 - National Lawyers GuildNational Lawyers GuildThe National Lawyers Guild is an advocacy group in the United States "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system . ....
, 31 Union Square, New York; 1937 - International Coordinating Committee for Aid to Republican Spain
- North American Committee to Aid Spanish Dmeocracy
- Abraham Lincoln BrigadeAbraham Lincoln BrigadeThe Abraham Lincoln Brigade refers to volunteers from the United States who served in the Spanish Civil War in the International Brigades. They fought for Spanish Republican forces against Franco and the Spanish Nationalists....
, George Washington Battalion and other affiliates, 1937-38; - American Congress for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, 1939
- International Red AidInternational Red AidInternational Red Aid was an international social service organization established by the Communist International...
- International Federation for Constitutional Liberties
- American Peace MobilizationAmerican Peace MobilizationThe American Peace Mobilization was a peace group, officially cited in 1947 by United States Attorney General Tom C. Clark on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations for 1948, as directed by President Harry S...
, 1940; became the American People's Mobilization - Washington Bookshop
- National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
- Washington Committee for Democratic Action
- Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
- National Council for American-Soviet Friendship
- American Committee for Yugoslav Relief
- American Relief for Greek Democracy
- Russian War ReliefRussian War ReliefRussian War Relief was an alleged Communist front group, circa 1944. According to a 1943 FBI report, the group was “infiltrated with known Communists, Communist leaders, fellow travelers, and front organizations.” The chairman of Russian War Relief was Edward C...
- American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, 100 Fifth Ave., New York; Chairman: Rev. Hermann F. Reissig, Charles Right, Carol White King.
- Civil Rights CongressCivil Rights CongressThe Civil Rights Congress was a civil rights organization formed in 1946 by a merger of the International Labor Defense and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. It became known for involvement in civil rights cases such as the Trenton Six and justice for Isaiah Nixon. The CRC...
and its affiliated organizations including: Civil Rights Congress for Texas, Veterans Against Discriminations of Civil Rights Congress of New York - International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers
- Labor Research Association Inc.
- Labor Youth League
- International Workers Organization, its subdivisions, subsidiaries and affiliates
- Council on African AffairsCouncil on African AffairsThe Council on African Affairs , until 1941 called the International Committee on African Affairs , was a volunteer organization founded in 1937. It emerged as the leading voice of anti-colonialism and Pan-Africanism in the United States and internationally before Cold War anti-communism and...
; - Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy
- California Labor School Inc., 321 Dvisadero Street, San Francisco, California
- American Peace Crusade
- National Negro Labor CouncilNational Negro Labor CouncilThe National Negro Labor Council was a labor union dedicated to serving the needs and civil rights of black workers.In 1951, black workers formed the National Negro Labor Council , which was brought about to serving the needs and civil rights of black workers...
- United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America
- Congress of American-Soviet Friendship
- Washington Committee for Aid to China
- United China Relief
- American-Russian Institute
- Communist Political Association
- Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
- League of Women Shoppers, 220 Fifth Avenue, New York; E. Preston (Mrs. R.N. Baldwin), M. Forsyth
Attorney General's list issued in 1955
Attorney General's consolidated list November 1, 1955, includes also wartime German, Japanese, and Italian influenced organizations as well as white nationalist groups:- Abraham Lincoln Brigade
- Abraham Lincoln School, Chicago, 111.
- Action Committee To Free Spain Now
- Alabama People's Educational Association (See Communist Political Association.)
- American Association for Reconstruction in Yugoslavia, Inc.
- American Branch of the Federation of Greek Maritime Unions
- American Christian Nationalist Party
- American Committee for European Workers' Relief (See Socialist Workers Party.)
- American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born
- American Committee for Spanish Freedom
- American Committee for the Settlement of Jews in Birobidjan, Inc.
- American Committee for Yugoslav Relief, Inc.
- American Committee to Survey Labor Conditions in Europe
- American Council for a Democratic Greece, formerly known as the Greek American Council; Greek American Committee for National Unity
- American Council on Soviet Relations
- American Croatian Congress
- American Jewish Labor Council
- American League Against War and Fascism
- American League for Peace and Democracy
- American Lithuanian Workers Literary Association (Also known as Amerikos Lietuviu Darbininku Literatures Draugija.)
- American National Labor Party
- American National Socialist League
- American National Socialist Party
- American Nationalist Party
- American Patriots, Inc.
- American Peace Crusade
- American Peace Mobilization
- American Poles for Peace
- American Polish Labor Council
- American Polish League
- American Rescue Ship Mission (A project of the United American Spanish Aid Committee.)
- American-Russian Fraternal Society
- American Russian Institute, New York (Also known as the American Russian Institute for Cultural Relations with the Soviet Union.)
- American Russian Institute, Philadelphia
- American Russian Institute of San Francisco
- American Russian Institute of Southern California, Los Angeles
- American Slav Congress
- American Women for Peace
- American Youth Congress
- American Youth for Democracy
- Armenian Progressive League of America
- Associated Klans of America
- Association of Georgia Klans
- Association of German Nationals (Reichsdeutsche Vereinigung)
- Association of Lithuanian Workers (Also known as Lietuviu Darbininku Susivienijimas.)
- Ausland-Organization der NSDAP, Overseas Branch of Nazi Party
- Baltimore Forum
- Benjamin Davis Freedom Committee
- Black Dragon Society
- Boston School for Marxist Studies, Boston, Mass.
- Bridges-Robertson-Schmidt Defense Committee
- Bulgarian American People's League of the United States of America
- California Emergency Defense Committee
- California Labor School, Inc., 321 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, Calif.
- Carpatho-Russian People's Society
- Central Council of American Women of Croatian Descent (Also known as Central
- Council of American Croatian Women, National Council of Croatian Women)
- Central Japanese Association (Beikoku Chuo Nipponjin Kai)
- Central Japanese Association of Southern California
- Central Organization of the German-American National Alliance (Deutsche-Amerikanische Einheitsfront)
- Cervantes Fraternal Society
- China Welfare Appeal, Inc.
- Chopin Cultural Center
- Citizens Committee for Harry Bridges
- Citizens Committee of the Upper West Side (New York City)
- Citizens Committee to Free Earl Browder
- Citizens Emergency Defense Conference
- Citizens Protective League
- Civil Liberties Sponsoring Committee of Pittsburgh
- Civil Rights Congress and its affiliated organizations, including:
- Civil Rights Congress for Texas
- Veterans Against Discrimination of Civil Rights Congress of New York
- Civil Rights Congress for Texas (See Civil Rights Congress.)
- Columbians
- Comite Coordinador Pro Republica Espanola
- Comite Pro Derechos Civiles (See Puerto Rican Comite Pro Libertades Civiles.)
- Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy
- Committee for Constitutional and Political Freedom
- Committee for Nationalist Action
- Committee for Peace and Brotherhood Festival in Philadelphia
- Committee for the Defense of the Pittsburgh Six
- Committee for the Negro in the Arts
- Committee for the Protection of the Bill of Rights
- Committee for World Youth Friendship and Cultural Exchange
- Committee To Abolish Discrimination in Maryland (See Congress Against
- Discrimination; Maryland Congress Against Discrimination; Provisional
- Committee To Abolish Discrimination in the State of Maryland.)
- Committee To Aid the Fighting South
- Committee To Defend Marie Richardson
- Committee To Defend the Rights and Freedom of Pittsburgh's Political Prisoners
- Committee To Uphold the Bill of Rights
- Commonwealth College, Mena, Ark.
- Communist Party, United States of America, its subdivisions, subsidiaries, and affiliates
- Communist Political Association, its subdivisions, subsidiaries, and affiliates, including:
- Alabama People's Educational Association
- Florida Press and Educational League
- Oklahoma League for Political Education
- People's Educational and Press Association of Texas
- Virginia League for People's Education
- Congress Against Discrimination (See Committee To Abolish Discrimination in Maryland.)
- Congress of American Revolutionary Writers
- Congress of American Women
- Congress of the Unemployed
- Connecticut Committee "To Aid Victims of the Smith Act
- Connecticut State Youth Conference
- Council for Jobs, Relief, and Housing
- Council for Pan-American Democracy
- Council of Greek Americans
- Council on African Affairs
- Croatian Benevolent Fraternity
- Dai Nippon Butoku
- Daily Worker Press Club
- Daniels Defense Committee
- Dante Alighieri Society (between 1935 and 1940)
- Dennis Defense Committee
- Detroit Youth Assembly
- East Bay Peace Committee
- Elsinore Progressive League
- Emergency Conference To Save Spanish Refugees (founding body of the North
- Ameiican Spanish Aid Committee)
- Everybody's Committee To Outlaw War
- Families of the Baltimore Smith Act Victims
- Families of the Smith Act Victims
- Federation of Italian War Veterans in the U. S. A., Inc. (Associazione Nazionale
- Combattenti Italiani, Federazione degli Stati Uniti d'Americu)
- Plnnish-American Mutual Aid Society
- Florida Press and Education League (See Communist Political Association ) Frederick Douglass Educational Center
- Freedom Stage, Inc.
- Friends of the New Germany (Freunde des Neuen Deutschlands)
- Friends of the Soviet Union
- Garibaldi American Fraternal Society
- George Washington Carver School, New York City
- German-American Bund (Ameiikadeutscher Volksbund) German-American Republican League
- German-American Vocational League (Deutsche-Ameiikanische Berufsgemeinschaft)
- Guardian Club
- Harlem Trade Union Council
- Hawaii Civil Liberties Committee
- Heimusha Kai, also known as Nokubei Heieki Gimusha Kai, Zaibel Nihonjin. Heiyaku Gimusha Kai, and Zaibei Heimusha Kai (Japanese Residing' in America Military Conscripts Association)
- Hellenic-American Brotherhood
- Hinode Kai (Imperial Japanese Reservists)
- Hinomaru Kai (Rising Sun Flag Society—a group of Japanese war veterans) Hokubei Zaigo Shoke Dan (North American Reserve Ofhcers Association)
- Hollywood Writers Mobilization for Defense
- Hungarian-American Council for Democracy
- Hungarian Brotherhood
- Idaho Pension Union
- Independent Party (Seattle, Wash.). (See Independent People's Party)
- Independent People's Party. (See Independent Partv.)
- Independent Sociahst League
- Industrial Workers of the World
- International Labor Defense
- International Workers Order, its subdivisions, subsidiaries and affiliates
- Japanese Association of America
- Japanese Overseas Central Society (Kaigai Dobo Chuo Kai)
- Japanese Overseas Convention, Tokyo, Japan, 1940
- Japanese Protective Association (recruiting organization)
- Jefferson School of Social Science, New York City
- Jewish Culture Society
- Jewish People's Committee
- Jewish People's Fraternal Order
- Jikyoku linkai (The Committee for the Crisis)
- Johnson-Forest Group. (See Johnsonitcs.)
- Johnsonites (See Johnson-Forest Group.)
- Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee
- Joint Council of Progressive Itahan-Americans, Inc.
- Joseph Weydemeyer School of Social Science, St. Louis, Mo.
- Kibei Seinen Kai (Association of United States Citizens of who Japanese Ancestry have returned to America after studving in Japan) Knights of the White Camellia
- Ku Kiux Klan
- Kyffhaeuser, also known as Kyffhaeuser League (Kyffhaeuser Bund) Kyffhaeuser
- Fellowship (Kyffhaeuser Kameradschaft)
- Kyffhaeuser War Relief (Kyffhaeuser Kriegshilfswerk)
- Labor Council for Negro Rights
- Labor Research Association, Inc.
- Labor Youth League
- League for Common Sense
- League of American Writers
- Lictor Society (Itahan Black Shirts)
- Macedonian-American People's League
- Mario Morgantini Circle
- Maritime Labor Committee to Defend Al Lannon
- Maryland Congress Against Discrimination (See Committee to Abolish Discrimination in Maryland.)
- Massachusetts Committee for the Bill of Rights
- Massachusetts Minute Women for Peace (not connected with the Minute Women of the U. S. A., Inc.)
- Maurice Braverman Defense Committee.
- Michigan Civil Rights Federation
- Michigan Council for Peace
- Michigan School of Social Science
- Nanka Teikoku Gunyudan (Imperial Military Friends Group or Southern California War Veterans)
- National Association of Mexican Americans (Also known as Association Nacional Mexico- Americana.)
- National Blue Star Mothers of America (Not to be confused with the Blue Star
- Mothers of America organized in February 1942.)
- National Committee for Freedom of the Press
- National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners
- National Committee to Win Amnesty for Smith Act Victims
- National Committee to Win the Peace
- National Conference on American Policy in China and the Far East (a Conference called by the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy.)
- National Council of Americans of Croatian Descent
- National Council of American-Soviet Friendship
- National Federation for Constitutional Liberties
- National Labor Conference for Peace
- National Negro Congress
- National Negro Labor Council
- Nationalist Action League
- Nationalist Part}^ of Puerto Rico
- Nature Friends of America (since 1935)
- Negro Labor Victory Committee
- New Committee for Publications
- Nichibei Kogyo Kaisha (The Great Fujii Theatre)
- North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy
- North American Spanish Aid Committee
- North Philadelphia Forum
- Northwest Japanese Association
- Ohio School of Social Sciences
- Oklahoma Committee to Defend Polical Prisoners
- Oklahoma League for Political Education. (See Communist Political Association.)
- Original Southern Klans, Incorporated
- Pacific Northwest Labor School, Seattle, Washington
- Palo Alto Peace Club
- Partido del Pueblo of Panama (operating in the Canal Zone)
- Peace Information Center
- Peace Movement of Ethiopia
- People's Drama, Inc.
- People's Educational and Press Association of Texas. (See Communist Political Association.)
- People's Educational Association. (Incorporated under name Los Angeles Educational Association, Inc., also known as People's Educational Center, People's University, People's School.)
- People's Institute of Applied Religion
- Peoples Programs (Seattle, Wash,)
- People's Radio Foundation, Inc.
- People's Rights Party
- Philadelphia Labor Committee for Negro Rights
- Philadelphia School of Social Science and Art
- Photo League (New York City)
- Pittsburgh Arts Club
- Political Prisoners Welfare Committee
- Polonia Society of the IWO
- Progressive German-Americans (also known as Progressive German-Americans of Chicago)
- Proletarian Party of America
- Protestant War Veterans of the United States, Inc.
- Provisional Committee of Citizens for Peace, Southwest Area
- Provisional Committee on Latin American Affairs
- Provisional Committee to Abolish Discrimination in the State of Maryland. (See Committee to Abolish Discrimination in Maryland.)
- Puerto Rican Comite Pro Libertades Civiles (CLC) . (See Comite Pro Derechos Civilies.)
- Puertorriquenos Unidos (Puerto Ricans United)
- Quad City Committee for Peace
- Queensbridge Tenants League
- Revolutionary Workers League
- Romanian-American Fraternal Society
- Russian American Society, Inc.
- Sakura Kai (Patriotic Society, or Cherry Association—composed of veterans of Russo-Japanese War)
- Samuel Adams School, Boston, Mass.
- Santa Barbara Peace Forum
- Schappes Defense Committee
- Schneiderman-Darcy Defense Committee
- School of Jewish Studies, New York City
- Seattle Labor School, Seattle, Wash.
- Serbian-American Franternal Society
- Serbian Vidovdan Council
- Shinto Temples. (Limited to State Shinto abolished in 1945.)
- Silver Shirt Legion of America
- Slavic Council of Southern California
- Slovak Workers Society
- Slovenian-American National Council
- Socialist Workers Party, including American Committee for European Workers' Relief
- Socialist Youth League. (See Workers Party.)
- Sokoku Kai (Fatherland Society)
- Southern Negro Youth Congress
- Suiko Sha (Reserve Officers Association, Los Angeles)
- Svracuse Women for Peace
- Tom Paine School of Social Science, Philadelphia, Pa.
- Tom Paine School of Westchester, N. Y.
- Trade Union Committee for Peace. (See Trade Unionists for Peace.)
- Trade Unionists for Peace. (See Trade Union Committee for Peace.)
- Tri-State Negro Trade Union Council
- Ukrainian-American Fraternal Union
- Union of American Croatians
- Union of New York Veterans
- United American Spanish Aid Committee
- United Committee of Jewish Societies and Landsmanschaft Federations (also known as Coordination Committee of Jewish Landsmanschaften and Fraternal Organizations)
- United Committee of South Slavic Americans
- United Defense Council of Southern California 1
- United Harlem Tenants and Consumers Organization
- United May Day Committee
- United Negro and Allied Veterans of America
- Veterans Against Discrimination of Civil Rights Congress of New \ork. (See Civil Rights Congress.)
- Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
- Virginia League for People's Education. (See Communist Political Association.)
- Voice of Freedom Committee
- Walt Whitman School of Social Science, Newark, N. J.
- Washington Bookshop Association
- Washington Committee for Democratic Action
- Washington Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
- Washington Commonwealth Federation
- Washington Pension Union
- Wisconsin Conference on Social Legislation
- Workers Alliance (since April 1936)
- Workers Party, including Socialist Youth League
- Yiddisher Kultur Farband
- Young Communist League
- Yugoslav-American Cooperative Home, Inc.
- Yugoslav Seamen's Club, Inc.
Alleged CPUSA front organizations, circa 1980
By late Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Richard Felix Staar
Richard Felix Staar
Richard Felix Staar is an American political scientist and historian. He holds a position of senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His areas of specialization include Russia and East-Central Europe , military strategy, national security, arms control, and public diplomacy...
alleged that Soviet intelligence has infiltrated many peace movements in the West, most importantly, the World Peace Council
World Peace Council
The World Peace Council is an international organization that advocates universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass destruction and all forms of discrimination...
. In addition to WPC, important communist front organizations included its affiliate the U.S. Peace Council
U.S. Peace Council
The U.S. Peace Council was an activist organization founded in the late 1970's.NATO's decision to deploy a new generation of strategic nuclear warheads in Europe and U.S...
, the World Federation of Trade Unions
World Federation of Trade Unions
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations...
, the World Federation of Democratic Youth
World Federation of Democratic Youth
The World Federation of Democratic Youth is a progressive youth organization, recognized by the United Nations as an international youth non-governmental organization. WFDY describes itself as an "anti-imperialist, left-wing" organisation...
, and the International Union of Students
International Union of Students
The International Union of Students is a worldwide nonpartisan association of university student organizations.The IUS is the umbrella organization for 155 such student organizations across 112 countries and territories representing approximately 25 million students.-Aim and work areas:The aims of...
. Staar asserted that somewhat less important front organizations included: Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization, Christian Peace Conference
Christian Peace Conference
The Christian Peace Conference was a Czech organization founded in 1958 by Josef Hromádka, a pastor who had spent the war years in the USA and moved back to Czechoslovakia when the war ended. Hromádka was a member of the Bureau of the World Peace Council...
, International Association of Democratic Lawyers
International Association of Democratic Lawyers
International Association of Democratic Lawyers is an international organization of jurists' associations.-Subsidiaries and affiliated organizations:Local:* Bangladesh - Democratic Lawyers Association of Bangladesh...
, International Federation of Resistance Movements, International Institute for Peace
International Institute for Peace
The International Institute for Peace says that it was founded in Vienna in 1956 and re-organised in 1989. According to Dr Julian Lewis, a campaigner against the peace movement, it was "set up by the Kremlin after the WPC [World Peace Council] was thrown out of Austria for subversion." According to...
, International Organization of Journalists
International Organization of Journalists
International Organization of Journalists was a Soviet bloc front organization.It was initially portrayed as a place where Western and Eastern Bloc journalists can meet...
, Women's International Democratic Federation and World Federation of Scientific Workers. Numerous peace conferences, congresses and festivals have been staged with support of those organizations.
See also
- McCarthyismMcCarthyismMcCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
- Mass organization
- Fellow travellerFellow travellerFellow traveler or fellow traveller is a term referring to a person who sympathizes with the beliefs of an organization or cooperates in its activities without maintaining formal membership in that particular group...
- Attorney General's List of Subversive OrganizationsAttorney General's List of Subversive OrganizationsThe United States Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations was a list drawn up on April 3, 1947 at the request of the United States Attorney General. The list was intended to be a compilation of organizations seen as "subversive" by the United States government...
- Executive Order 9835Executive Order 9835President Harry S. Truman signed United States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as the "Loyalty Order", on March 21, 1947. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, designed to root out communist influence in the U.S. federal government...
- Popular FrontPopular frontA popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
- United FrontUnited frontThe united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
- English-language press of the Communist Party USAEnglish-language press of the Communist Party USADuring the nine decades since its establishment in 1919, the Communist Party USA produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in the English language....
- Non-English press of the Communist Party USANon-English press of the Communist Party USADuring the nine decades since its establishment in 1919, the Communist Party USA produced or inspired a vast array of newspapers and magazines in at least 25 different languages...
Further reading
- Chafee, Jr., Zechariah. "The Registration of 'Communist-Front' Organizations in the Mundt-Nixon Bill," Harvard Law ReviewVol. 63, No. 8 (Jun., 1950), pp. 1382-1390 in JSTOR
- Draper, Theodore. American Communism and Soviet Russia (2003)
- Heale, M. J. American anticommunism: combating the enemy within, 1830-1970 (1990)
- Klehr, Harvey. The Heyday of American Communism: The Depression Decade Basic Books, 1984.
- Klehr, Harvey and John Earl Haynes. The American Communist Movement: Storming Heaven Itself (Twayne, 1992).
- Klehr, Harvey, Kyrill M. Anderson, and John Earl Haynes. The Soviet World of American Communism (Yale University Press, 1998)
- McMeekin, Sean. The Red Millionaire: A Political Biography of Willi Münzenberg, Moscow's Secret Propaganda Tsar in the West, 1917-1940 (Yale University Press, 2004)
- Ottanelli, Fraser M., The Communist Party of the United States: From the Depression to World War II (Rutgers University Press, 1991)
- Rosswurm, Steve. "Records of the Subversion Activities Control Board, 1950-1972," Journal of American History, March 1991, Vol. 77 Issue 4, pp 1447-1448
- Schrecker, Ellen. Many Are the Crimes (1999)
- Schrecker, Ellen. Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History With Documents (2001)
- Service, Robert. Comrades!: a history of world communism (2007)
- Sherman, John W. A Communist Front at Mid-Century: The American Committee for Protection of Foreign Born, 1933-1959 (2001)