Communists and Popular Fronts

Report Outline
New Red Drive for Cooperation in Politics
Popular Fronts in Soviet Foreign Policy
Foreign Response to Present Soviet Appeal

New Red Drive for Cooperation in Politics

World communism has embarked on a full-scale campaign to revive the popular front movement which it utilized in years past to serve the interests of Soviet foreign policy. Red leaders hope thereby to open a promising avenue for fresh attempts at political penetration of the democracies—attempts which are implicit in pursuit of the new policy of competitive coexistence.

The Communist Party congress, held in Moscow last February, endorsed a program which is designed to bring about re-entry of Communists into coalition governments in independent and neutral countries of the free world. Armed with ideological weapons forged at the Moscow meeting, Soviet propagandists and Red leaders in other countries are intensifying efforts to induce labor and liberal parties to accept domestic Communists as political collaborators.

Immediate Targets of Popular Front Campaign

Immediate targets of the current popular front campaign appear to be those countries of Western Europe and Asia where Socialist parties exercise strong political influence. Socialist premiers head the governments of France, Norway and Sweden, and Socialists constitute the major opposition parties in Great Britain and West Germany. In many countries Socialists or Social Democrats command the mass support which Communist? have not been able to capture, but which they would like to align behind Moscow's world objectives.