ABSTRACT
Before 1933 a United Front of any kind had been largely fictitious. The United Front was openly being used to gain converts to Communism from the ILP and the Labour Party and, if possible, to split these organizations. The labour movement in Britain had not paid much attention to the revolutionary propaganda of the Communists. ‘Unity against the capitalist offensive’ had remained an empty phrase, while the agitation for ‘immediate demands’ was conducted almost solely among the unemployed. The victory of the German Nazi Party in the 1933 elections changed all this. Despite the recriminations surrounding the collapse of German socialism, the British Left became increasingly willing to work together against fascism; the willingness increased when the British Union of Fascists emerged in 1934.
