Front of National Unity
Political party in Poland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Front of National Unity or National Unity Front (Polish: Front Jedności Narodu, FJN) was a popular front supervising elections in the Polish People's Republic which also acted as a coalition for the dominant communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and its allies.[1] It was founded in 1952 as National Front (Front Narodowy) and renamed to Front of National Unity in 1956.[1] It was the heir of the Democratic Bloc (Blok Demokratyczny) which ran in the elections of 1947 before the merger between communists and socialists.
National Unity Front Front Jedności Narodu | |
---|---|
First leader | Bolesław Bierut |
Last leader | Henryk Jabłoński |
Founded | 1947 (as Democratic Bloc) |
Dissolved | 1983 |
Succeeded by | Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth |
Ideology |
|
Political position | Far-left |
Colors | Red |
The Front was created by and was subordinate to the PZPR.[2] Its membership included all three legal Polish political parties (the PZPR, Democratic Party, and United People's Party) and many organizations (such as trade unions).[2] During elections it had a near monopoly (varied depending on particular time) on registering candidates who had the right to participate in the elections.[1][2] As was the case with other popular fronts in the Soviet bloc, the member parties of the Front were largely subservient to the PZPR; they had to accept the PZPR's "leading role" as a condition of their existence.
In 1983 it was disbanded,[1] to be replaced by the Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth (Patriotyczny Ruch Odrodzenia Narodowego, PRON).