Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten | |
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| Leader | Otto Strasser |
| Founders | Otto Strasser Hermann Ehrhardt[1] |
| Founded | 4 July 1930 (1930-7-4) |
| Banned | 15 February 1933 (1933-2-15)[2] |
| Split from | Nazi Party |
| Succeeded by | German Social Union (not legal successor) |
| Headquarters | Berlin |
| Newspaper | The German Revolution |
| Ideology | Strasserism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| Colours | Black Red |
| Anthem | "Volk, zu den Waffen!" ("Folk to Arms!") |
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TheCombat League of Revolutionary National Socialists (German:Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten,KGRNS), more commonly known as theBlack Front (German:Schwarze Front), was a political group formed byOtto Strasser in 1930 after he resigned from theNazi Party (NSDAP) to avoid being expelled.[3][4]
Strasser formed the Black Front to continue what he saw as the originalanti-capitalist stance of the Nazi Party, embodied in several items of its25-point Program of 1920 that was in large part ignored byAdolf Hitler, which Strasser saw as a betrayal. The group reflected Strasser's political views, such asrevolutionary nationalism, and itscriticism of capitalism was expressed ineconomic antisemitic terms rather thansocialism. The Black Front was composed of radical former Nazis who intended to cause a split in the party, and adopted the crossed hammer and sword symbol that is still used by several Strasserite groups. The group published a newspaper entitledThe German Revolution.[3]
The Black Front, which never had more than a couple of thousand members,[4] was unable to effectively oppose the Nazis. Hitler's rise to power asChancellor of Germany proved to be the final straw. The remaining anti-capitalist elements of the Nazis were eradicated in 1934 during theNight of the Long Knives, in whichGregor Strasser, Otto's older brother, was killed. Gregor Strasser had previously broken with his brother over Otto's proclivity to act on his own.[4] Otto Strasser spent the years of theThird Reich in exile, first inCzechoslovakia (then theFirst Czechoslovak Republic) and later inCanada, before returning toWest Germany in 1953.[5]
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