United Front Research Articles

Pages from the History of the Democratic League of China in the Late Republican Period

This article concerns the origins, development and activities of one of the oldest Chinese democratic parties — the Democratic League of China from its inception to the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. New documents and materials discovered in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, in particular, the Bulletins of the Information Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on foreign policy issues, shed light on little-studied questions about the role and place of this democratic organization in the Chinese revolution. Under patriotic slogans, the Democratic League united in its ranks both non-partisan public figures and political parties and groups with various views, from nationalist to pro-communist. Despite the diverse political composition of small parties and groups, the league turned into a coalition trying to find a “third way” between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the ruling Kuomintang party. The growing authoritarianism of the Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek and the implementation of pro-Japanese policies by the Kuomintang members undermined the foundations of the national anti-Japanese united front and undermined the war of resistance. These circumstances repelled the country's patriotic forces from the Kuomintang. The Kuomintang's suppression of the democratic movement led to a reorientation of the Democratic League's policies. The League publicly announced cooperation with the CCP until the complete collapse of the reactionary Kuomintang government, for democracy, peace and independence of the country. The work of the Democratic League helped to unite the broad groups of the population into the patriotic movement for a new China. After the formation of the People's Republic of China, at the suggestion of Mao Zedong, the league was preserved, its leaders received posts in the government. Currently, members of the Democratic League are mainly engaged in cultural and educational work.

Instytucje ochrony międzynarodowej cudzoziemców w Polsce – rozwiązania polityczne i prawne

Institutions of international protection for foreigners in Poland – political and legal solutionsForced migration is a phenomenon affecting various parts of the world. Throughout history, people have been forced to leave their own country due to wars, conflicts, persecution and poverty in search of safety and livelihood. The events of recent years that Poland has been experiencing (including the COVID-19 pandemic, the Poland-Belarus border crisis, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the earlier migration crisis of 2015/2016) have led to changes in the pattern of migration, migration policy, as well as law in this regard. Poland is becoming a destination for an increasing number of refugees. Crises have put to the test Poland’s current migration and refugee policy. It has become apparent that the existing institutional and legal solutions are insufficient. In addition, it is not easy to cooperate and present a united front on the European Union forum in the face of potential threats resulting from successive migration waves. The purpose of this article is to present the institutions dealing with international protection of foreigners in Poland, describe their scope of competence, as well as discuss the need for new solutions. An aspect of particular importance is the ability to correctly identify a given situation and needs in order to grant (or refuse) a specific form of protection accordingly.

Non-Governmental Organizations in Contemporary China: political and legal aspect

The article is devoted to the study of general issues of the non-governmental public organizations in China. The current legislation regulating their legal status is being considered, including law-making acts adopted since the beginning of the "policy of reform and openness". In the Soviet type countries, to which the People's Republic of China belongs, the work of non-governmental organizations cannot conflict with the course of the ruling party. In the PRC, public organizations act as an integral part of a United Front led by the CPC and consisting of various political forces striving for a common goal — the "great revival of the Chinese nation." The activities of opposition public organizations in China are prohibited, and their registration is impossible. The Chinese authorities believe that the interests of the collective are above the interests of the individual, therefore, individuals that do not obey the "mass line" do not have the right to exist. Western experts believe that the absence of oppositional, state-independent public organizations in China does not allow them to be classified as non-governmental. However, Chinese specifics are overlooked, which leads to an incorrect transfer of Western concepts and institutions to Chinese soil and, consequently, allegations of an insufficient degree of democratization of China. The study provides up-to-date statistics on the number of non-governmental public organizations in China in recent years.

Tana between east and west in the 14th and 15th centuries

The paper examines the complex, multifaceted role that the settlement of Tana played for the Venetian and Genoese Republics, Byzantium, the Golden Horde, the Russian principalities, the Mendicant Orders, and long-distance trade in the Late Middle Ages. The author discusses some of the essential problems in the history of Tana, such as the relations between Venetian and Genoese settlers, between Venetian Tana and Genoese Caffa, and between the Western inhabitants of Tana and various groups of local population (Muslims, Greeks, Jews, Zich, and Circassians). It concludes that while the Venetians and the Genoese in Tana treated each other with a combination of rivalry and mistrust, they cooperated in trade to their mutual benefit and were usually able to form a united front in response to an external threat. In general, there was an intense confrontation between Venetian Tana and Genoese Caffa, but this does not seem to be the case between the Venetians and the Genoese within Tana. Other controversial issues raised in the paper include the so-called double suzerainty of the Italian settlements in Tana, the discrepancy between their economic and strategic significance and the size of the site, and the dating of the capture of Tana by the Ottomans.

1930년대 光華大學의 中國近現代史敎育과 ‘敎育의 中國化’

This article explains how the "Sinicization of education," which emerged as a hot issue in the educational community in the 1930s, was implemented in regular university curriculums. To do so, I analyze the modern parts from two history volumes by Lu Simian, a professor of history at Guanghua University. The first history book was published in 1923 and since the second volume, consisting of two volumes, was published in 1940 and 1944, I judged that analyzing the two volumes would reveal how the "Sinicization of education" issue was reflected in the history curriculum. The analysis results are as follows. First, the history department of Guanghua University grew with the active support by President Zhang Souyong from the mid-1930s when it began to implement the goal of "Sinicization of education." The number of professors and students increased and the educational environment improved. Under the leadership of Professor Lu Simian, the history department strengthened research and educational activities. Second, a remarkable achievement in educational activity was initiating the teaching of modern history in earnest. He aimed to promote national consciousness and patriotism through modern history education and systematically educate students about the nation''s future. When Professor Lu Simian began teaching modern history in earnest, his perspective on history changed. Until the 1920s, he thought the purpose of historical research was to explain the causal relationship of historical facts, but in the 1930s, he thought that the purpose of historical research was to present the meaning of historical events, explain the current society through this and even look out into the future. Third, he wrote modern history anew based on a changed view of history. The most significant change was to combine political history with cultural history. By doing so, he wanted to discover why China failed to accommodate Western culture and find cultural resources that could have transformed Chinese society, albeit belatedly. Another change in his writing of modern history was that his criticisms of Japan had become stronger. By doing so, he tried to reflect anti-Japanese nationalism, which emerged socially since the 1930s, to history writing and education. The last change is that he constructed the history after the 1911 Revolution focusing on the Guomindang. By excluding descriptions of the Chinese United Front or solidarity with the Soviet Union, he wanted to present the Guomindang as the player in solving China''s current nationalist challenges.

Will China invade Taiwan: War Game Strategy and Lessons for China from the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

The China-Taiwan crisis is witnessing a paradigm shift amid rising uncertainty due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Every act, smaller or larger in western capitals against Russia in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, is enlightening the Chinese policymakers, strategists, and leadership calculations over their futuristic war choices and possible invasion of Taiwan. There is a high chance of China invading Taiwan. What will be the future of Taiwan, the center for new American security has war gamed the situation and has revealed a possible conflict between China and Taiwan, dragging America to the center of the conflict. The game strategy has been used as a conceptual framework, to shed light on what planning, policymaking, and strategies will be required to deal with the hypothetical scenario. How will China react in the future, if Taiwan tries to become even closer to the western world, particularly America? The military blunders of the Russian army on the battlefield, the western united front against Russia on economic sanctions, the powerful strategy of information warfare in the digital world by the Zelensky government, and the response of the international community to Moscow’s invasion have sent shockwaves across China’s policy-making circles, but so far it hasn’t deterred the leadership morale in shaping its narrative of reunification. This study helps to analyze, the war gaming perspective of the China-Taiwan possible conflict, apart from war gaming scenarios, it also analyzes the actual situation, on how China would deal with the situation on economic, information, and diplomatic fronts. It also helps us to understand, why the conflict will be of tremendous importance, especially to America’s pacific and western allies.

“We are One People”: White Papers as a Tool to Promote National Unity in the PRC

This article studies the role of "white books" in the system of ethnic propaganda in the PRC, as well as their significance in the mechanism of indoctrination of the bureaucracy. This topic has been little studied in the domestic historiography, and few works have been published in the Western literature. China has established a ramified system of propaganda organs, both vertically subordinated and not directly subordinated to the central party-state organs. Ethno-ethnic propaganda organizations have been set up within the overall system, primarily the United Front Department and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, using both internal and external propaganda channels. “White papers” are an important link in external ethnic propaganda. These materials present the territories of non-Han nationalities as regions that have been part of the Chinese empire and later the modern PRC since ancient times. The Chinese state actively protects the rights of ethnic minorities, develops the institution of ethnic minorities’ regional autonomy and promotes social and economic development of ethnic areas. Only minor extremist groups and religious radicals, supported from abroad, seek to undermine inter-ethnic unity in order to divide China. Hence the need to strengthen the unity of the nationalities. Another purpose of publishing “white papers” is to indoctrinate the bureaucracy, which has lost its "fighting spirit" during the years of reform, especially in the 1990s and 2000s. With a certain pluralism of approaches to the assessment of PRC ethnopolitics and the institution of ethnic minorities’ regional autonomy in the academic environment, the confirmation of the invariability of the official party doctrine contributes to the mobilization of ethnic elites and ganbu.

A Sankarian Perspective on the IMF Loans to South Africa – ‘Debt as a Cleverly Organised Reconquest of Africa’

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic that continues to ravish the world economies and snatch lives of millions of people across the world has without a doubt exacerbated the already fragile over-indebtedness of many countries globally, more especially in Africa. South Africa was used as a case study to better understand the International Financial Institutions and debtor countries nexus through the prisms of Sankarian Thought and philosophy concerning debt and loans. This was because South Africa had not borrowed money from the twin IFIs, IMF and the World Bank, for many years until recently when the pandemic struck the world. It is useful to understand why the multilateral financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and others had to be the last resort in the fight against this pandemic by the South African government. The role of these two main predators that have since flag independence of Africa been the engineers and custodians of debt neo-enslavement of African countries is the common thread in this article. As Sankara argued and was eventually assassinated for, in part, lobbying African States to form a united front in repudiating illegitimate debt, the solution to the African development challenge does not lie in acquiring more aid and loans. It lies in harnessing their own resources and optimally using them to uplift the lives of their people ethically, and that is the only way Africa would eventually be able to call its soul its own. Amongst others, the paper found that a strong case can be made by many African countries for repudiation of odious debt, however, the same cannot be argued for South Africa.

An Examination of Muslim Albanian Politics during the Greek Revolution (1821-1825)

There are almost 50,000 archival documents related to the Greek Revolution in the Ottoman State Archives (OSA) in Istanbul, however, scholarly research based on these sources remains extremely limited. In all these documents, the Sublime Porte’s efforts to mobilize the Muslim Albanian provincial magnates-cum-warlords against the Greek insurgents stand out as a central theme. Having exhausted its pool of military manpower in its fight against the provincial magnates (the ayans) in the decade prior to the Greek Revolution, the Ottoman central state was literally at the mercy of Albanian warlords and mercenaries for the suppression of the Greek uprising until the advent of the Egyptian forces in 1825. Yet, the Albanians followed their own survival instincts and agendas, and their averseness to put on a united Muslim front against the Greeks proved to be another failure of the Sublime Porte’s already crumbling system of imperial allegiances. There are innumerable documents in which the Ottoman administrators assessed the Albanian counteraction as the chief impediment to the suppression of the Greek insurrection. Historians’ reluctance to grant the Albanians of the early 19th century the qualities of a people capable of pursuing its own interests – as opposed to being a mere agglomeration of mercenary tribes – has largely prevented a clear understanding of their key role in the Greek Revolution. The research explores the ways in which the actors of the post-Tepelenli order shaped the course of the Greek Revolution, putting special emphasis on the Muslim Albanian element. Making extensive use of severely understudied Ottoman archival material, the research follows the careers of the bewildered Albanian warlords endeavouring to find their place between the Greek revolutionaries fighting for independence and the agents of the Ottoman central state trying to reestablish imperial authority.

The bingyun strategy: How subverting armed forces aided the Chinese Communist Party’s rise to power

This article explores the evolution and application of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) bingyun strategy pre-1949. Developed by Chinese and Soviet thinkers, bingyun or “Soldier Movement” aimed to subvert opposing armed forces to either bring them under CCP command or cause them to self-destruct. The bingyun strategy was practiced throughout the revolutionary period with lasting legacy in present-day China. By examining cases from the First Kuomintang-CCP United Front, First Phase of the Chinese Civil War, Sino-Japanese War and the Second Phase of the Chinese Civil War, this article demonstrates how bingyun adapted to changing circumstances and its far-reaching consequences for CCP military success that realized its takeover of China in 1949.

Acting and Race in Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Acting and Race in <i>Night of the Living Dead</i> (1968)

HPR206 When It Comes to Incentives for Antimicrobial Development – Is a United Front Essential?

HPR206 When It Comes to Incentives for Antimicrobial Development – Is a United Front Essential?

1922 — the best year of the Comintern. Soviet Russia, German communists and the Genoa conference

The signing of the Declaration on the formation of the Soviet Union on December 30, 1922 marked a new stage in the history of international relations, and, at the same time, took stock of intense domestic and international political struggle unfolding in the previous years. The developments within the Communist International were of particular importance for both the outcomes of this struggle and the future of international labor movement. The author stresses that for the Comintern the year of 1922 was dominated by a struggle between the two opposing ideological and political trends: the inertia of the ‘storm and onslaught’ enthusiasm of the first post-revolutionary years and the rise of the ideas of peaceful coexistence. In this context, the paper assesses the role that the Bolshevik leaders envisaged for the Comintern during the preparation and conduct of the Genoa Conference and, particularly, for the policy of the united workers front. The author shows that the very idea of cooperation with socialists and social democrats received an extremely ambiguous reaction from representatives of Western communist parties. In this regard, the position of the German Communist Party (KPD) was of particular importance to the Bolshevik leaders. Indeed, the case of KPD was emblematic of those tendencies and contradictions that marked the development of the international communist movement in the period under review. The KPD leaders welcomed the Comintern’s turn towards a united workers front. However, the author notes that this support was based on a highly unstable compromise between multiple contradicting domestic and foreign policy imperatives, including opposition from the left-wing radicals within the party and continuous conflict with the government of the Weimar Republic, exacerbated by ideological and financial dependence on Moscow. As a result, the KPD’s actions were very often ad hoc and inconsistent, reflecting general issues typical to the international labor movement of that period. That became clear during the Fourth Congress of the Comintern, which took place at the end of 1922. It failed to outline a clear strategy for interaction between the Russian Bolsheviks and foreign communists. At the same time, the outcomes of the Fourth Congress were crucial for further evolution of the ideology and practical activities of the Comintern. The policy of the united workers front got a broader definition as the Communist International started to recognize the threat posed by fascism.

Rethinking the legacy of Tunisian pact-making in the post-July 2021 order

ABSTRACT Amid widespread anti-government protests, on July 25, 2021, the Tunisian President, Kais Saied, dismissed the Prime Minister and suspended parliamentary activities. Thereafter, political parties’ leaders and key civil actors assumed shifting and, lately, conflating positions in reaction to Saied’s move. Although they often called for the formation of a united front against Saied’s unilateral takeover of state institutions, their actions remained largely uncoordinated in avoiding the risks of authoritarian backsliding. Drawing on a political party perspective, this article seeks to understand why the Tunisian political forces failed to coordinate their actions against Saied’s presidential coup. The article contends that in post-July 2021, the Tunisian opposition failed to unite effectively because political forces were primarily driven by opportunism and their past ideological stance towards Ennahda. As a result, political parties opposing Saied’s move preferred to unite selectively. The article invites us to rethink the historical legacy of Tunisian pact-making and alliance politics by concluding that Saied’s actions set distinct rules from the dynamics of opposition coordination that distinguished the Collectif du 18 Octobre (2005) and the post-Uprisings period. Yet, these rules re-echo some old pact-making patterns that characterised the Tunisian opposition under Ben Ali’s One Party state.

Patriotyzm w myśli politycznej Jana Bobrzyńskiego

In the patriotism of Jan Bobrzyński, the political and economic currents can be distinguished. In 1927, he established the United Front Economic Front, which included the prevention of harmful political and economic phenomena in Poland, the prioritization of state objectives and the pragmatic approach to economic and social problems. The ZFG also advocated the propagation of the idea of a Polish superpower. In 1934, Jan Bobrzyński established the Association of Polish State Mines in order to fulfill his assumptions. He distinguished the patriotism of time of peace and war. The first is responsible, efficient and honest work and the elimination of threats caused by internal conflicts. Secondly, it should show the work of sacrifice and sacrifice to victims in defense of the homeland.

Machine learning based attribution mapping of climate related discussions on social media

A united front from all the stakeholders including public, administration and academia alike is required to counter the growing threat of climate change. The recent rise of social media as the new public address system, makes it an ideal source of information to assess public discussions and responses in real time. We mine c.1.7 m posts from 55 climate related subreddits on social media platform Reddit since its inception. Using USE, a state-of-the-art sentence encoder, and K-means clustering algorithm, we develop a machine learning based approach to identify, store, process and classify the posts automatically, and at a scale. In the broad and multifaceted theme of climate change, our approach narrows down the focus to 10 critical underlying themes comprising the public discussions on social media over time. Furthermore, we employ a full order partial correlation analysis to assess the relationship between the different identified themes. We show that in line with Paris Agreement, while the climate science community has been successful in influencing the discussions on both the causes and effects of climate change, the public administration has failed to appropriately communicate the causes of climate change and has been able to influence only the discussions on the effects of it. Hence, our study shows a clear gap in the public communication by the administration, wherein counter-intuitively less emphasis has been given on the drivers of climate change. This information can be particularly beneficial to policymakers and climate activists in decision making as they try to close the gap between public and academia.

Weaving Privacy and Power

We investigate the privacy practices of labor organizers in the computing technology industry and explore the changes in these practices as a response to remote work. Our study is situated at the intersection of two pivotal shifts in workplace dynamics: (a) the increase in online workplace communications due to remote work, and (b) the resurgence of the labor movement and an increase in collective action in workplaces-especially in the tech industry, where this phenomenon has been dubbed the tech worker movement. The shift of work-related communications to online digital platforms in response to an increase in remote work is creating new opportunities for and risks to the privacy of workers. These risks are especially significant for organizers of collective action, with several well-publicized instances of retaliation against labor organizers by companies. Through a series of qualitative interviews with 29 tech workers involved in collective action, we investigate how labor organizers assess and mitigate risks to privacy while engaging in these actions. Among the most common risks that organizers experienced are retaliation from their employer, lateral worker conflict, emotional burnout, and the possibility of information about the collective effort leaking to management. Depending on the nature and source of the risk, organizers use a blend of digital security practices and community-based mechanisms. We find that digital security practices are more relevant when the threat comes from management, while community management and moderation are central to protecting organizers from lateral worker conflict. Since labor organizing is a collective rather than individual project, individual privacy and collective privacy are intertwined, sometimes in conflict and often mutually constitutive. Notions of privacy that solely center individuals are often incompatible with the needs of organizers, who noted that safety in numbers could only be achieved when workers presented a united front to management. Based on our interviews, we identify key topics for future research, such as the growing prevalence of surveillance software and the needs of international and gig worker organizers.We conclude with design recommendations that can help create safer, more secure and more private tools to better address the risks that organizers face.

Rebel Child Soldiering and Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

AbstractWhy do some rebel groups perpetrate sexual violence in armed conflict while others do not? A growing literature explores factors impacting the occurrence of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). We contribute to this literature, arguing that the composition of rebel groups can provide insight into patterns of sexual violence. We contend rebel groups that use child soldiers, and especially those that rely heavily on coercive child recruitment practices, are more prone to engage in wartime sexual violence than groups who do not recruit minors. While children are rarely the ideal soldier, they have become a crucial resource for many rebel groups. Yet, their recruitment can impact internal group dynamics. Sexual violence can serve as a tool for conditioning children to violence, intragroup cohesion-building, and an instrument for combatting defection. We test this argument with data on 245 rebel groups active in armed conflicts between 1989 and 2011. We supplement the quantitative analyses with an illustrative case study on the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone. Our results suggest groups that recruit child soldiers are more likely to inflict CRSV. This effect is magnified when children are recruited forcibly.

Unitarians and revolutionaries. The trade unionism of the MC and the LCR in CCOO

ABSTRACT This article aims to analyse the trade union trajectory of the Movimiento Comunista (MC) and of the Liga Comunista Revolucionaria (LCR) within the Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), the main workers’ organisation during the Transition. Both, the MC and the RCL actively participated in its construction, seeing the CCOO as the materialisation of the workers’ United Front (FU). Both organisations maintained relations within the CCOO for many years. These relations went through moments of collaboration and sympathy, moments of distancing and later moments of stable alliance against the Partido Comunista de España (PCE) inside of CCOO. From this alliance came the Izquierda Sindical (IS), a trade union platform which for many years brought together trade unionists from the two organisations until its absolute dissolution at the end of 1991. The history of their trade union intervention can help to better understand the history of these organisations, which are still in the process of being re-discovered by the academy.

Time for a New Atlanticism: The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment and the International Order

ABSTRACT There has been no shortage of critiques of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) signed on 30 December 2020. Many have perceived the CAI as a snub in the face of the Biden administration, which has the potential to jeopardise one of the most important strategic goals of the transatlantic alliance: setting aside four years of Trump’s populist economic policy and working in close coordination with a view to developing a united front to contain China. While the CAI does indeed indicate that the EU considers itself a fully autonomous international economic player, however, such a display of autonomy need not be incompatible with a stronger transatlantic alliance. In fact, the CAI may be an opportunity for the transatlantic alliance to evolve into a partnership among equals that is necessary to successfully navigate the uncharted waters of the coming global (dis)order.