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Acommunist front (or amass organization in communist parlance) is apolitical organization identified as afront organization, allied with or under the effective control of acommunist party, theCommunist International or other communist organizations. It is a structure used by Communist and left-wing parties to intervene in broaderpolitical movements.[1][2] They attracted politicized individuals who were not party members but who often followed the party line and were calledfellow 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".[3] Generally called "mass organizations" by the communists themselves,[4] these groups were prevalent from the 1920s through the 1950s, with their use accelerating during thepopular 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 theAmerican Student Union. The term was especially used byanti-communists during theCold 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.[5]
Under the leadership ofGrigory Zinoviev in the Kremlin, established fronts in many countries in the 1920s and after.[6] To coordinate their activities theCommunist International (Comintern) set up various international umbrella organizations (linking groups across national borders), such as theYoung Communist International (youth),Profintern (trade unions),[7]Krestintern (peasants),International Red Aid (humanitarian aid),Red Sport International (organized sports), etc. In Europe, front organizations were especially influential in Italy[8] and France, which in 1933 became the base for Communist front organizerWilli Münzenberg.[9] 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.[10]
According to Kennedy (1957), after the war, especially as theCold War took effect around 1947, the Kremlin set up new international coordination bodies including theWorld Federation of Democratic Youth,International Union of Students,World Federation of Trade Unions,Women's International Democratic Federation, and theWorld 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."[11]
TheInternational Federation of Resistance Fighters – Association of Anti-Fascists (FIR) was designated by government agencies as a communist-influenced organization.[12]
TheWorld Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW) is an international federation of scientific associations. It was a Cold War-era Communist front.[13][14] The group was composed of scientists who supported communism.[13] The federation opposednuclear tests conducted by theUnited States.[15]
TheUnion for repatriation of Russians abroad was Sovietfront organization aimed at infiltration and control of the exiled community ofWhite Russians.[16]
TheInternational Organization of Journalists (IOJ) was one of dozen front organizations launched by the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s.[17][18] It was controlled in Prague by the Central Committee of theCzechoslovak Communist Party and with manyKGB agents on board was a "long hand" of Moscow.[19]
TheWorld 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 rivalInternational 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.[20]
The then president, Ronald Reagan, in 1984, on the grounds of supposedly pro-Soviet trends, left theUNESCO.[21][22]
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.[23]
TheBerlin Conference of European Catholics [de], originally the Berlin Conference ofCatholic 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.[24]
Members of theChristian 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.[25] Historians and the media classify CPC as a Communist front organization.[26][27][28][29][30][31]
During the Cold War,Mondpaca Esperantista Movado (MEM) was able to conduct official activities on behalf of Esperanto inEast Bloc countries on the condition that it must support their Communist governments and the Soviet viewpoint.[32]
TheWorld Federation of Teachers Unions (FISE), theOrganization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL) and theInternational Radio and Television Organisation (OIRT) were also front organisations.[33][34]
ThePan-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.[35] 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."[36]
There were numerous Communist front organizations inAsia, many oriented to students and youth.[37]
InJapan in the labor union movement of the 1920s, according to one historian, "TheHyogikai 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."[38] In the 1950s, Scalapino argues, "The primary Communist-front organization was theJapan Peace Committee [ja]." It was founded in 1949.[39]
Consentrasi Gerakan Mahasiswa Indonesia ('Unified Movement of Students of Indonesia', abbreviated CGMI) was an organization of university students inIndonesia, linked to theCommunist Party of Indonesia (PKI). CGMI was founded in 1956, through the merger of communist-led university student groups inBogor,Bandung andYogyakarta (which had emerged in the early 1950s). At the time of its founding, CGMI had a membership of around 1,180.[40]
Fadjar Harapan ('Dawn of Hope') was a short-lived Indonesianpioneer organization, linked to theCommunist Party of Indonesia.Fadjar Harapan was founded in 1959, albeit that there already was an existingScouting movement initiated by the Communist Party.[40] However, the organization was officially not connected to any political party (according to the constitution of the organization) 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 leaderAidit. Cadres of the Communist Party andPemuda Rakjat (the youth wing of the Communist Party) were given the task to study how pioneer movements functioned in other countries, but adaptingFadjar Harapan to Indonesian conditions.[41]
Gerwani's affiliation with the Communist Party of Indonesia eventually led to their demise after the events ofGerakan 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. TheLubang 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 (Indonesian:Barisan Tani 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 thePeasants Union (Serikat Tani) formed in 1945.
Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union literally 'Indian Land Workers Union' is atrade union of agricultural labourers inIndia. BKMU is politically tied to theCommunist Party of India (CPI). BKMU is independent from both the main trade union central of CPI, theAll India Trade Union Congress, as well as the farmers' organisation of CPI, theAll India Kisan Sabha.
National Federation of Indian Women is a women's organisation. It was established in 1954 by several leaders fromMahila Atma Raksha Samiti includingAruna Asaf Ali.[42][43]
TheAnti-Imperialist National Democratic Front is an undergroundSouth Korean organization that is called asocialist political party byNorth Korea and a pro-WPK spy group by South Korea. It is the only ostensibly South Korean organization to have a mission inPyongyang.[44] The party is banned in South Korea, under theNational Security Law, but operatesclandestinely. It is similar in organization to theDemocratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland, thede jurepopular front of North Korea. It has a mission in Pyongyang, North Korea and another in Japan.
The South Korean government petitioned theConstitutional Court of Korea to dissolve theUnified Progressive Party (UPP) due to their alleged pro-North Korea views in November 2013, two months after UPP members allegedly involved in the2013 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.[45][46] According toAmnesty International, the UPP's ban raised "serious questions as to the authorities' commitment to freedom of expression and association".[47][48][49]
But in South Korea, communist activities are legal. there is now a legitimate Communist Party, theSocialist Revolutionary Workers' Party in South Korea. and there are legitimate organizations such asWorkers' Solidarity and National Workers' Political Association.
During the Vietnam War, theNational Liberation Front of South Vietnam ("Viet Cong") was an armed communist organization opposed to theSouth Vietnamese and United States governments.
Poppino argued that the effectiveness of Communist propaganda inLatin America "depends largely on the existence of a wide range of interlocking front groups that supplement and draw upon the Communist-led mass organizations."[50]
When nations turned toward the Soviet Union, they typically joined in numerous international front organizations, asNicaragua did under theSandinistas (Socialists) in 1983.[51]
Mao Zedong broke bitterly with the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, accusingNikita Khrushchev especially of revisionism and betrayal of true Marxist–Leninist principles.[52] Mao set up a network of pro-Chinese, anti-Soviet parties and Communist fronts that directly challenged the pro-Soviet organizations in parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.[53][54] In Thailand, the pro-Chinese Communist fronts were organized with a violent revolutionary goal in mind, but they were based in local Chinese enclaves and failed to connect with the larger population.[55]
Despite deep ideological differences, the radical Islamists and the members of the Soviet-alignedPeople's Democratic Party of Afghanistan both rejectedRevolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) as a Maoist organization.[56] One reason was that its founderMeena Keshwar Kamal married theAfghanistan Liberation Organization (ALO) leaderFaiz Ahmad.[57]
West Germany and West Berlin were centers of east–west conflict during the Cold War, and numerous Communist fronts were established. For example, theSociety 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.[58] TheDemocratic 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.[59]
TheGerman Peace Union, DFU) theGerman Communist Party (DKP) was close and was also financed[60][61] by theSocialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which was however denied.[60]
TheBund der Deutschen (BdD) was founded in 1953.Joseph Wirth andWilhelm Elfes [de] led the party, but there was also a strong influence of communist forces.[62] The SED saw in the BdD a chance, similar to the concept of theNational Front in the GDR, bourgeois and "national-minded" forces as a coalition partner to win. The core program of the BdD was a neutrality policy, which turned against the rearmament and the Westintegration of Germany. In contrast to the Federal Government, an agreement was reached with the Soviet Union. With the founding of the German Peace Union in 1961, in which numerous BdD politicians were involved, the BdD no longer existed as an independent political force, but was essentially limited to the publication of the German Volkszeitung. He also ran no longer in elections but sent candidates to the list of the DFU. Double memberships in BdD and DFU were expressly permitted.[63] The constitutional protection of North Rhine-Westphalia, which observes the BdD, classified the BdD as a front-run cadre organization of the DFU in 1964. On 2 November 1968, the DKP, DFU, BdD and other left-wing groups decided to join theJoint Action Action for Democratic Progress [de] (ADF) on the1969 West German federal election. The membership stock, which Helmut Bausch had estimated to be around 12,000 for the years 1953 to 1955, according to a note to theUlbricht office in 1965, have amounted to only 2,000 to 3,000.
In the peak of the Cold War in 1960, the chairman of the German wing of theWomen's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) referred to theInternationale Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit (IFFF) (and hundreds of other members of the IFFF), headed by the CDU politicianRainer Barzel together withFranz Josef Strauss (CSU) and headed by Barzel, as "communist-controlled". On the other hand, the IFFF successfully filed a complaint and Barzel had to withdraw his allegation. However, numerous women left the organization, only local groups remained in West Berlin, Hamburg, Bremen, Munich and Duisburg.[64]
TheRepublikanischer Club [de] (RC) was put up, among others, by Hubertus Knabe in his bookDie Unterhanderte Republik, that the RC as a whole was influenced by the GDR or even controlled. Actually, however, the relationship between the RC and the GDR was rather disincentive, in particular one refused an approach to theSEW, the West Berlin offshoot of the SED. They and the GDR were seen as an obstacle to the new beginning of a left movement. Recent research on files from theStasi Records Agency as well as from the estates of prominent members confirms that state security was active in West Berlin and also in the RC. It did not, however, aim at countervailing assumptions, but on a moderation of the extra-parliamentary opposition in order to be able to control them in the form of a party formation under the influence of SEW. This strategy failed, however, and the attempts to influence remained unaffected.
TheSocial Democratic Action [de] (SDA), later Socialist Action, had been an opposition party in theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), controlled by the SED since 1948. The work of the SDA started first in the SPD, which was authorized by the Occupying Council to build the walls throughout the city. The SDA was active both in the east and in the west of the city. InEast Berlin, she temporarily appointed magistrates, mayors and other functionaries, and was even represented in theVolkskammer until 1954 with deputies. Since 1950, the organization also tried to gain a foothold in the Federal Republic of Germany, but remained a splinter group. Membership in it was declared incompatible with employment in the public service in 1950 by the Federal Government. In 1956, it was banned in the course of theKPD ban in the Federal Republic. After the erection of Berlin Wall in 1961 it also dissolved itself in the GDR.
In East Germany front operations were not directly controlled by Moscow. They were instead operated by TheGerman Communist Party (DKP), which was in power after 1945. It took political and financial[65] support from the SED and worked closely with theSocialist Unity Party of West Berlin (SEW), which was controlled[66] and financed by the SED.
After the ban of KPD a few parties ran as replacement for they like the "Voter Association against Nuclear Arming" in Bremen[67] or theUnabhängige Wählergemeinschaft in Ueberau. TheBetrieblich-Alternative Liste which ran in the1987 Bremen state election was founded by the DKP to appeal green voters.
On suspicion of being close to the DKP, members of theGerman Peace Society were temporarily observed in the Federal Republic of Germany by theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Some of them were denied access to public service professions as a result of the radical decree of the early 1970s.[68][69]
From 10 November 1959 to 8 April 1960 were the pastorJohannes Oberhof [de], the former KPD official and former pastorErwin Eckert, the interpreter Walter Diehl, the publisher Gerhard Wohlrath, the worker Gustav Tiefes, the insurance clerk Erich Kompalla and the former SPD CouncilorEdith Hoereth-Menge [de] accused by the Attorney General of their role in thePeace Committee of the Federal Republic of Germany [de] the ringleadership in an anti-constitutional organization. This was justified in particular by the fact that some of the defendants had belonged to the now banned KPD. Their activities are therefore camouflage for the assumed by the Attorney General real goal of "establishing a communist regime in the Federal Republic".
TheDemocratic Union [de] was accused by theÖVP andVdU financed by the Soviet Union, while someSPÖ parliamentarians the DU referred to as "Heimwehr fascists".[70]
At the1953 Austrian legislative election, the DU entered into an electoral coalition called the "People's Opposition" with theKPÖ and theSocialist Workers' Party [Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei (Österreich)] (SAP). In fact, this alliance was supported by the Soviet occupying forces, hoping to establish a nationalUnited front, with which Austria could be transformed into asocialist state. In this fantasy, the DU should replace the ÖVP in the medium term and the SAP the SPÖ. The KPÖ was also informed about these plans. In the occupation organsÖsterreichische Zeitung [de] andWelt-Illustrierte a press campaign was operated for the people's opposition.[70] Finally, the alliance could gain in the election 5.28 percent of the vote and thus four mandates, a – measured by the support – for the Soviet Union disappointing result.[71] Of the four mandates none went to Dobretsberger and the party lost more and more importance.
TheUnited Democratic Left (EDA) was founded the July 1951 by prominent center-left and leftist politicians, some of which were former members ofELAS. While initially EDA was meant to act as a substitute and political front of the bannedCommunist Party of Greece, it eventually acquired a voice of its own, rather pluralistic and moderate. This development was more clearly shown at the time of the 1968 split in the ranks of Communist Party of Greece, with almost all former members of EDA joining the faction withEuro-communist, moderate tendencies.
ThePeoples' Democratic Party (HDP) maintained talks withAbdullah Öcalan, from this talks Öcalan give a message to the congress stating that "We have never considered our movement apart from Turkey's revolutionary and socialist movements. We have always regarded ourselves as an integral part of this outcome" and "we have to consider the HDP as an integral part of the historical democratic dialogue and negotiation process. If socialism and an open democracy succeed in Turkey, it will be closely related to this democratic negotiation process.".[72] Öcalan's nieceDilek Öcalan and Öcalan's nephew Öcalan Urfa'dan were among the HDP parliamentary candidates.[73]
The relationship between the HDP and thePKK has been put forward by the governingJustice and Development Party (AKP) as a reason why it would be better for the HDP to not gain representation in Parliament, though government journalists alleged that this would result in greater violence by the PKK and attempts to establish a separate parliament inDiyarbakır.[74][75] In election posters and propaganda, the HDP has been accused of scaremongering and using the PKK to coerce voters into voting for them, stating that there would be more violence if the HDP failed to pass the election threshold.[76] In contrast, HDP politicians also accused the AKP of scaremongering when they claimed that their affiliation to the PKK made them unfit for parliamentary representation.[74][77] PKK militants have also been accused of raiding local shops and cafes in the south-east of Turkey and demanding votes for the HDP, with one civilian being wounded when a group of PKK youth militants raided a cafe inSilvan.[78][79]Selahattin Demirtaş has denied having an 'organic relationship' with the PKK and claimed that the allegations of PKK militants demanding votes for the HDP from voters was untrue.[80][81]
TheAssociation of United Ukrainian Canadians (AUUC) is a national cultural-educational non-profit organization established forUkrainians in Canada. With branches throughout Canada it sponsors such cultural activities asdance groups, orchestras, choirs and children's activities within the association. The organization was pro-communist.
TheCanadian Labour Defence League was a legal defence organization founded and led by ReverendA.E. Smith. The league was in 1925 as acivil rights organization dedicated to protecting striking workers from persecution. It was allied with theCommunist Party of Canada and functioned as a front for the party. The group was the Canadian affiliate ofInternational Red Aid.
TheCanadian League for Peace and Democracy, led byA. A. MacLeod, was founded in October 1934 as the Canadian League Against War and Fascism, was apopular front organization founded by the Communist Party to build support foranti-fascism. The group was the Canadian affiliate of theWorld Committee Against War and Fascism.
TheCanadian Peace Congress, founded in 1949 is the Canadian affiliate of theWorld Peace Council and was an important organization in thepeace movement in Canada.
TheDominion Communist–Labor Total War Committee was a front organization of the then-banned Communist Party of Canada.
TheFederation of Russian Canadians is a left-leaning cultural organization forRussian immigrants to Canada and their descendants. It is the successor of the Russian Farmer-Worker Clubs which were closed by the government at the beginning ofWorld War II as a suspectedsubversive organization due to its links with the Communist Party of Canada. In 1942, after theNazi invasion of the USSR, the organization reappeared as the Federation of Russian Canadians, known also by its Russian initials as the FRK.[82]
Finnish Organization of Canada (FOC,Finnish:Kanadan Suomalainen Järjestö) is aFinnish Canadian cultural organization. It was established in 1911 as the Finnish Socialist Organization of Canada (Kanadan Suomalainen Sosialistinen Järjestö). FOC is the oldest nationwide cultural organization for Finns in Canada.[83] It was first connected withSocial Democratic Party of Canada and later with Communist Party of Canada. Today FOC is no longer associated with politics. It has fewer than 200 members, who are mostly senior citizens in the areas ofToronto,Vancouver,Sudbury andThunder Bay.[84]
TheRelief Camp Workers' Union (RCWU) was the union into which the inmates of the Canadian government relief camps were organized in the early 1930s. It was affiliated with theWorkers' Unity League, the trade union umbrella of the Communist Party of Canada. The organization is best known for organizing theOn-to-Ottawa Trek during theGreat Depression.
TheUnited Jewish People's Order is a secular socialist Jewish cultural, political and educational fraternal organization in Canada. The UJPO traces its history to 1926 and the founding of the Jewish Labour League Mutual Benefit Society. It was for many years associated with theLabor-Progressive Party, as the Communist Party of Canada was known.
The general secretaryAlbert Fava of theGibraltar Confederation of Labour was deported by theGovernor on the grounds of being a member of the Communist Party.[85]
Davidson argues that in Australia with the onset of theGreat Depression, "Support for Communist front organizations increased."[86] Examples include theMovement 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.[87]
TheHollywood Anti-Nazi League was a communist front organization, run by the American popular front, it attracted broad support inHollywood from both members and nonmembers of theCommunist Party USA (CPUSA). Like many such communist front groups, it ceased all anti-Nazi activities immediately upon the signing of theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939.
Contemporary Historians Inc. was a 1937 active American film company, who financed a single film,The Spanish Earth byJoris Ivens, during their existence. Joris Ivens came from theNetherlands, alongside the Contemporary Historians, the United StatesJohn Dos Passos,Archibald MacLeish,Clifford Odets,Lillian Hellman,Herman Shumlin andErnest Hemingway, the latter largely independently, while all remaining in contact with the Communist Party USA or one of their communist front organizations. In 1931, during his time withMezhrabpomfilmOtto Katz, Ivens had become acquainted with theMachtergreifung in Hollywood through his lecturesAnti-fascist and theComintern took a footing there.
A report of theSpecial Committee on Un-American Activities of the United States House of Representatives published a four-pronged definition of a "Communist front" in March 1944. Frequently repeated in official government documents, this definition asserted that Communist fronts shared (1) a common origin; (2) organization upon a "Communist pattern"; (3) interlocking personnel; and (4) methods intended to deceive the public.[88]
Historian Bernard K. Johnpoll states:
Thousands of Americans joined Communist fronts during the 1930s. Few of them realized the true nature of the organizations they joined. The fronts paraded as independent, nonpartisan groups under the facade of non-Communist control. They were actually satellites of the Communist Party whose primary aim was to create the impression of mass support for an essential part of the party line. To maintain the illusion of non- Communist control, the formal leadership of these organizations was almost invariably composed of non-party members; the actual control was, however, in the hands of party activists.[89]
In the late 1940s, at the start of the Cold War, theHouse Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) and theSenate 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.[90]
Schrecker says thatanti-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."[91]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."[92]
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.[93] Political pressures from Congress forced PresidentHarry S. Truman to act.[94] Truman's Attorney GeneralTom C. Clark expanded the list, which was officially authorized by presidentialExecutive Order 9835 in 1947 and was administered by the new Loyalty Review Board. The Board became part of the Civil Service Commission.[95] 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.[96][97]
On March 20, 1948, the Loyalty Review Board published the previously secret Attorney General's "List of Communist classified organizations" inThe Federal Register. This list included the name and date founded, as well as headquarters address and names of chief officers for active groups.[98]The complete list included about 200 organizations.
Attorney General's consolidated list November 1, 1955, includes also wartime German, Japanese, and Italian influenced organizations as well as white nationalist groups:[99]
Late in the Cold War,Richard Felix Staar alleged that Soviet intelligence hadinfiltrated many peace movements in the West, most importantly, theWorld Peace Council.[100] In addition to WPC, important communist front organizations included its affiliate theU.S. Peace Council, theWorld Federation of Trade Unions, theWorld Federation of Democratic Youth, and theInternational Union of Students.[101] Staar asserted that somewhat less important front organizations included:Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation,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 andWorld Federation of Scientific Workers.[102] Numerous peace conferences, congresses and festivals have been staged with support of those organizations.[103]
