The united front aimed to win workers over by engaging reformist leaders
Evidence
As Lenin put it: “The purpose and sense of the tactics of the united front consist in drawing more and more masses of the workers into the struggle against capital, even if it means making repeated offers to the leaders of the II and II1/2 Internationals to wage this struggle together. When the majority of the workers have already established their class, i.e. their Soviet, and not ‘general national’ (i.e. in common with the bourgeoisie) representation, and have overthrown the political domination of the bourgeoisie, then the tactics of the united front, of course, cannot require co-operation with parties such as that of the Mensheviks and the S.R.s, for these have turned out to be opponents of Soviet power”; and again: “If there are still people at the enlarged meeting of the Executive who have not grasped the fact that the tactic of the united front will help us to overthrow the leaders of the II and II1/2 Internationals, these people should have an extra number of popular lectures and talks read to them” ( Collected Works , Vol. 42, pp. 411 and 401). — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 116
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: Lenin’s own formulation is the primary-source definition of the united front tactic.