Workers' Front (Croatia)

Workers' Front
Radnička Fronta
Leader Collective leadership
Founded 9 May 2014 (2014-05-09)
Ideology Democratic socialism
Anti-fascism
Anti-clericalism
Socialist feminism
Direct democracy
Political position Far-left
Colours      Red
Zagreb Assembly
1 / 51
Sabor
0 / 151
European Parliament
0 / 11
Website
radnickafronta.hr

Workers' Front (Croatian: Radnička fronta or RF) is a far-left political party,[1] formed in May 2014[2] as a political initiative of workers, trade unionists, unemployed and students in Croatia.

Billboard poster of Workers' Front for 2015 Croatian parliamentary elections

Objectives and ideology

Workers' Front aims to become a broad progressive front, dedicated to radical change of political, economic and social relations, while fighting for the rights of working people and all the oppressed.

Workers' Front is trying to coordinate various "progressive struggles" – struggle for workers' rights and economic democracy, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, struggle for women's and LGBT rights, ecology etc.[3][4][5]

Workers' Front has been compared to Spanish Podemos and Greek SYRIZA by the local and regional media.[5][6][7][8]

History

On 3 October 2015 it was announced on the Workers' Front web site that the party has been disbanded after an attempted purge by a prominent member of the party.[9][10] However, Workers' Front remained an officially registered party[11] and went on with its activities, issuing a statement that its web site was taken over by a group trying to disband the party.[12] Two weeks later this version of events, namely that the party still exists and that the web site was in control of a group of dissidents, was confirmed by a member of the dissident group.[13]

Following this episode, Workers' Front participated in an anticlerical protest in Zagreb,[14] tried to place, but was denied a billboard featuring Ivica Todorić[15] (the richest person in Croatia) and successfully registered for 2015 parliamentary election in three electoral districts.[16]

In the following months, the party helped organize an antifascist demonstration against far-right groups celebrating the Nazi collaborator in Croatia, Ante Pavelić, during a church mass for Pavelić. The protest was assaulted by supporters of the Croatian far-right.[17] Soon after that, Workers' Front staged the first organized cutting of the razor wire planted along the Croatia-Slovenia border, together with Slovenian activists in a cross-border demonstration of solidarity. The action was widely reported by regional media.[18]

On 1 February 2016 the Workers' Front held a protest against the new government, particularly Minister of Culture Zlatko Hasanbegović, on St. Mark's Square, Zagreb with over 1000 participants.[19][20][21][22][23][24]

In March 2017, Workers' Front announced their coalition with New Left for the upcoming local elections in Split and Zagreb.[25] In Zagreb election Workers' Front ran in coalition with Zagreb is Ours, New Left, Sustainable Development of Croatia and For the City which won 7.64% votes and 4 seats in the Zagreb City Assembly, one of which belongs to Workers' Front. In Split election, the Workers' Front-New Left coalition won 4.36% of votes, failing to enter the city council.

On 8 September 2018, the Workers' Front signed a declaration of mutual cooperation with New Left, Sustainable Development of Croatia and the Socialist Labor Party of Croatia in Šibenik, Croatia. The Šibenik Declaration (Croatian: Šibenska deklaracija) contains various criticisms of Croatian society, as well as that of the current capitalist system in general, on which all the signing parties agree on and gather around. The Workers' Front, however, had implemented an article in the document which only it signed as the other parties found it unappealing for their programmes, it reads as follows:

Radical change demands the dismantling of the two opposing classes - the capitalist (those that hold a monopoly on the means of production - banks, corporations, factories, trade centers, hotels, etc. - and make their profit on the labor of others) and the working class (those that sell their labor to survive).

This policy takes it as necessary: reindustrialization in the interest of all; guarantee of workplaces; encouragement of industrial policy that puts in motion and connects the various industrial branches; monetary and fiscal policy in function of industry; the implementation of Workers' self-management and participation in their workplaces, no matter their ownership.

Democracy must stop being a phrase under which capital conceals its dictatorship and must become social reality under which the interests of the working peoples are realised. Hence, it is necessary to halt all privatisation of public services and goods, and to nationalize all the fundamental resources of public importance by placing the control of the services in the hands of the workers, the people.

— Workers' Front, The Šibenik Declaration[26]

References

  1. ↑ "Radnička fronta i službeno registrirana kao politička stranka" (in Croatian).
  2. ↑ "Osnovana inicijativa za stvaranje radničke partije" (in Croatian).
  3. ↑ "The left is rising again in Croatia: an interview with Demian Vokši". LeftEast.
  4. ↑ "Workers Front – About".
  5. 1 2 "The formation of the Workers' Front (Croatia): "Revolution, if necessary"". LeftEast.
  6. ↑ "I mi možemo!" [And we can!] (in Croatian). Novi List.
  7. ↑ "Radnička fronta – Radnička fronta – tko konta, konta" [Workers' front – who understands – understands] (in Croatian). Novi List.
  8. ↑ "Damir Pilić: SYRIZA, Podemos, Radnička fronta" (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija.
  9. ↑ "Priopćenje o raspuštanju Radničke fronte". 3 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Radnička fronta više ne postoji". 3 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "Registar političkih stranaka u Republici Hrvatskoj" (in Croatian).
  12. ↑ "Radnička fronta: Ne raspadamo se, hakirala su nas četvorica članova" [Workers' Front: We're not falling apart, we got hacked by four members] (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija.
  13. ↑ "U Radničkoj fronti došlo je do čistke, stiže nova stranka" (in Croatian).
  14. ↑ "Stotinjak građana prosvjedovalo protiv Vatikanskih ugovora" (in Croatian).
  15. ↑ "Radnička fronta: Cenzuriran nam je plakat s Todorićem!" (in Croatian).
  16. ↑ "IZBORI ZA ZASTUPNIKE U HRVATSKI SABOR 2015. – KANDIDATURA" [CROATIAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION, 2015 – CANDIDACY] (in Croatian).
  17. ↑ "RADNIČKA FRONTA: Održan prosvjed zbog misa zadušnica za Pavelića" [WORKERS' FRONT: Protest held over the memorial service for Pavelić] (in Croatian). Nacional.
  18. ↑ "Croatian & Slovenian Activists Met to Cut Border Fence".
  19. ↑ "Protivnici Vlade popunili Markov trg: "Ostavka! Ostavka!" pod Vladinim prozorom" [Anti-government protesters filled St. Mark's Square: "Resignation! Resignation!" under the Government's window] (in Croatian). Novi List.
  20. ↑ ""Traitors" protest held in downtown Zagreb". EBL News.
  21. ↑ "Croatian "Traitors" Organize a Protest Against New Government". total-croatia-news.com.
  22. ↑ "Croatian 'Traitors' Defy New War Veterans Minister". Balkan Insight.
  23. ↑ "Održan prosvjed "izdajnika" protiv retorike ministra kulture Zlatka Hasanbegovića" [The protest of "traitors" held against the rhetorics of Minister of Culture Zlatko Hasanbegović] (in Croatian). HRT.
  24. ↑ "Preko 1000 "izdajnika" okupiralo Markov trg, Vladi poručili: Ostavka! Ostavka!" [Over 1000 "traitors" occupied St. Mark's Square, message to the Government: Resignation! Resignation!] (in Croatian). Index.hr.
  25. ↑ "Radnička fronta i Nova ljevica zajedno na izborima u Zagrebu" (in Croatian).
  26. ↑ "The Workers' Front signed the Šibenik Declaration" (in Croatian)
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