Workers' Front (Croatia)

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Workers' Front
Radnička fronta
AbbreviationRF
LeaderCollective leadership
Founded9 May 2014 (2014-05-09)
Registered20 March 2015 (2015-03-20)
IdeologyDemocratic socialism
Social progressivism
Labour rights
Socialist feminism
Anti-fascism
Anti-clericalism[1]
Eco-socialism
Left-wing populism[2][3]
Antimilitarism
Political positionLeft-wing[4][5] to far-left[6][7]
National affiliationGreen–Left Coalition (2017–2020)
European affiliationParty of the European Left
Colours  Red and   white
Sabor
0 / 151
European Parliament
0 / 12
County Prefects
0 / 21
Mayors
0 / 128
Website
radnickafronta.hr

The Workers' Front (Croatian: Radnička fronta, RF) is a democratic socialist and progressive political party in Croatia.[8] Formed in May 2014[9] as a political initiative of workers, trade unionists, unemployed, and students in Croatia, it supports anti-clericalism,[1] anti-fascism, antimilitarism, eco-socialism, labour rights, progressivism, and socialist feminism.[10] Some left-libertarian and Trotskyist (International Socialist Alternative) critics characterize it as left-wing populist in the mold of Podemos and SYRIZA.[2][3]

The RF is a full member of the Party of the European Left.[11] It also cooperates closely with other left-wing political parties and organizations in the countries of former Yugoslavia, such as The Left in Slovenia[12][13] and The Left in North Macedonia.[14][15][16]

Objectives and ideology[edit]

The Workers' Front has been compared to Spanish Podemos and Greek SYRIZA by the local and regional media.[17][18][19][20]

The party summarizes the basis of its political programme, Democratic socialism for the 21st century (Demokratski socijalizam 21. stoljeća), as a socialist triangle of social ownership, social production and the focus of production on the needs of all. Its programme takes heavy inspiration from the resurgence of democratic socialism in mainstream politics in the West (see millennial socialism).

The party came under critique for lacking a clearly defined ideology — apart from the general idea of creating a "broad left-wing front". Various public statements by the party members, such as that in support of both the Nordic model and the socialism of the 21st century as established in Venezuela, contributed to ambiguousness of its ideological orientation.[21] For example, a party candidate running in the 8th electoral unit, Ljiljana Nikolovska, described her view on democratic socialism in an interview with a local news site Glas Istre as follows:

I don't espouse socialism, but rather the modern democratic socialism of the Scandinavian or New Zealand type, which we can observe in all developed countries in combination with regulated private capital and social democracy, where the health of society, that is, the majority, is given priority.

— Workers' Front candidate Ljiljana Nikolovska, Glas Istre[22]

Social, civil and environmental issues[edit]

The party considers modern-day Croatia to not be a fully independent country, describing the country as a quasi-colony due to what it opines is the unfavorable economic relationship of Croatia with Western Europe, while at the same time praising SR Croatia for having a higher level of independence. It blames Franjo Tuđman for this described loss of independence.[23] At the same time it has stated that while the League of Communists of Croatia had "positive elements", the RF was critical of the party, as they consider it only represented an "enlightened elite" as opposed to the mass of party members as a whole in a "democratic" way.[24]

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.[25][26][17]

While the party has expressed the opinion that nationalism is not inherently a bad influence, it is critical of what it deems to be the "revisionist nationalism" of Croatia's leaders, which it links to the "genocidal extremes" during World War 2.[27][28]

Economic policy[edit]

The party categorically rejects the privatization carried out in Croatia during the 1990s, as it considers the process both incompatible with Croatian laws at the time, as well as a social injustice. It has declared a goal to undo all privatizations in which there were "irregularities".[29][30][27] It is also opposed to capitalism, with the party statute describing the party as one “that gathers workers, activists, trade unionists, unemployed, students and pensioners with the aim of building a broad anti-capitalist front, dedicated to the radical change of political and economic relations in the benefit of all the oppressed and those who live from their work.”[31]

The Workers' Front demands the return of quotas for foreign workers in Croatia which were abolished in 2021. The party's representative in the 10th Sabor, Katarina Peović, asserted that the abolishment of quotas enabled the lowering of the price of labor and thus ensured "slave-like working and living conditions". She opposed the ruling government's narrative that there is a 'lack of workers' and added that "17.6 percent of the working population has emigrated from this country".[32]

Foreign policy[edit]

The party has stated that while it does not oppose the idea of a "united Europe", it opposes the European Union on the grounds that it believes the organization enforces a neoliberal economic policy in Europe, which it deems is a cause for both economic inequality within the member states themselves, as well as between member states.[33]

The RF opposes Croatian membership in NATO, which it deems to be linked to American imperialism.[33][27]

It supports cooperation with the countries of the former Yugoslavia and has explicitly condemned the HDZ's involvement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it describes as "clientelism".[33] It has come out in opposition to the rivalry and separation between Serbs and Croats, which it blames on the right-wing.[34][24]

Immigration[edit]

The RF blames the immigration pressure under which Croatia is under on unequal national development caused by capitalism. It opposes military measures taken against immigration, as it believes doing so only makes Croatia a "military province" dedicated to protecting EU borders at the cost of the nation's own independence.[23]

History[edit]

Billboard poster set up by the Workers' Front for 2015 Croatian parliamentary elections

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.[35][36] However, Workers' Front remained an officially registered party[37] and went on with its activities, issuing a statement that its web site was taken over by a group trying to disband the party.[38] 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.[39]

Following this episode, Workers' Front participated in an anticlerical protest in Zagreb,[40] tried to place, but was denied a billboard featuring Ivica Todorić[41] (the richest person in Croatia) and successfully registered for 2015 parliamentary election in three electoral districts.[42]

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.[43] 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.[44]

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.[45][46][47][48][49][50]

In March 2017, Workers' Front announced their coalition with New Left for the then-upcoming local elections in Split and Zagreb.[51] 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 belonged to the 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 the City of 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 signatories agree on and gather around. The Workers' Front, however, had implemented an article in the document which was signed only by themselves as the other parties found it unappealing for their programmes; it reads as follows:

Radical change demands the dismantling of the irreconcilable opposites between the two basic classes - the capitalists (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 workers (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[52]

On 18 December 2018, the Workers' Front announced Katarina Peović's bid for the president of Croatia in the upcoming 2019–20 elections.[53] Official presentation of the candidate and her program happened on 21 January 2019. She ran under the slogan "Za narodnu većinu, a ne bogatu manjinu!" (transl. "For the popular majority, not the rich minority!").[54]

In May 2020, the Workers' Front joined the Green–Left Coalition in the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election in which they together won 7 seats in the Croatian Parliament (Sabor), with Katarina Peović elected after leading the list in the VIIIth electoral district. In December 2020, Workers' Front was expelled from the Green–Left Coalition over conflicts with other parties, including the refusal of other coalition parties to stand behind Peović's candidature for the Mayor of Rijeka in the upcoming 2021 local elections, which Tomislav Tomašević of the largest coalition party We Can! perceived as an ultimatum put forward by the Workers' Front.[55]

The Workers' Front was one of the 11 left-wing and liberal opposition parties that organized the 2024 Zagreb protest. In March 2024, the party briefly became part of the Rivers of Justice coalition but dropped out of it within the same month.[56] Workers' Front failed to achieve the 5% electoral threshold in the 2024 Croatian parliamentary election, leaving the party without a representative in the Croatian Parliament.[57]

Electoral performance[edit]

Parliament of Croatia[edit]

Year Popular vote
(coalition) 		% of popular vote Overall seats won Seat change Coalition Government
2015 6,194 0.41%
0 / 151
 New — no seats
2020 116,480 6.99%
1 / 151
 Increase 1 Green–Left opposition
2024 16,869 0.80%
0 / 151
 Decrease 0 — no seats

Zagreb City Assembly[edit]

Year Popular vote
(coalition) 		% of popular vote Overall seats won Seat change Coalition Government
2017 24,706 7.64%
1 / 51
 Increase 1 Green–Left opposition
2021 1,385 0.43%
0 / 47
 Decrease 1 — no seats

European Parliament[edit]

Year Popular vote
(coalition) 		% of popular vote Overall seats won Seat change Coalition Affiliation(s)
2019 2,622 0.24%
0 / 12
 New With SRP EACL/EL

President of Croatia[edit]

Election Candidate Rank 1st round votes % of votes Rank 2nd round votes % of votes
2019–20 Katarina Peović 8th 21,387 1.14% — — —

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Klerikalizacija hrvatske vojske i policije, Radnička fronta
  2. ^ a b "A Socialist Approach to the Elections". International Socialist Alternative. 29 June 2020.
  3. ^ a b "How the Workers' Front abandoned socialism / Kako je Radnička fronta odustala od socijalizma". Libertarijanska ljevica. 3 July 2020. Radnička fronta
  4. ^ "Croatian Parliament Dissolved Ahead of Summer Elections". Balkan Insight. 2020-05-18. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
  5. ^ "Conservatives Win Croatia Election, First Results Show". Balkan Insight. 2020-07-05. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
  6. ^ "No Sunshine for Seasonal Workers on Croatia's Coast". Balkan Insight. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  7. ^ FitzGibbon, John; Leruth, Benjamin; Startin, Nick (2016). Euroscepticism as a Transnational and Pan-European Phenomenon: The Emergence of a New Sphere of Opposition. Routledge. p. 132. ISBN 9781317422501.
  8. ^ "Radnička fronta i službeno registrirana kao politička stranka" (in Croatian).
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  12. ^ "Levica & Radnička fronta: Proti ugrabitvi Jadranskega morja za nacionalistično politiko" [The Left & the Workers' Front: Against the Hijacking of the Adriatic Sea for Nationalist Politics]. levica.si (in Slovenian). Levica. 7 January 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  13. ^ "IZBORI U SLOVENIJI Radnička fronta čestitala Levici" [ELECTIONS IN SLOVENIA The Workers' Front congratulates The Left]. dalmatinskiportal.hr. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  14. ^ "Četiri stranke ljevice iz regije objavile Deklaraciju o regionalnoj solidarnosti: Pandemija će se okončati, ali naša društva više neće biti ista". slobodnadalmacija.hr (in Croatian). Slobodna Dalmacija. 19 July 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
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  22. ^ Glas Istre, Ljiljana Nikolovska, kandidatkinja na listi Zeleno-lijeve koalicije u istarsko-riječkoj jedinici: "Pete i ja imamo puno rodbine u Rijeci, Puli i Bakru", 22. 06. 2020. [1], accessed 25. 06. 2020.
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  24. ^ a b "KATARINA PEOVIĆ O NASILJU U ZEMLJI: 'Srbi danas u Hrvatskoj igraju ulogu Židova. Zašto radimo na takvom odvajanju Srba i Hrvata?'". Net.hr (in Croatian). 2019-09-04. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
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  26. ^ "Workers Front – About".
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  28. ^ "Kapitalizam, nacionalizam i religija". Radnička fronta (in Croatian). Retrieved 2019-12-24.
  29. ^ "Društvena imovina - Radnička fronta". radnickafronta.hr. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
  30. ^ "DRŽAVA TREBA PREUZETI UPRAVLJANJE ULJANIKOM? Radnička fronta smatra da se ni u kojem slučaju ne smije ponoviti situacija s privatizacijom banaka". Net.hr (in Croatian). 2018-09-23. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
  31. ^ Statut Radničke fronte
  32. ^ "Peović traži vraćanje kvota za strane radnike: 'Poslodavcima se omogućilo da uvoze roblje'" [Peović demands the return of quotas for foreign workers: 'Employers were enabled to import slaves']. Jutarnji list. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  33. ^ a b c "Vanjska politika i međunarodni odnosi - Radnička fronta". radnickafronta.hr. Retrieved 2019-12-24.
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  35. ^ "Priopćenje o raspuštanju Radničke fronte". 3 October 2015.
  36. ^ "Radnička fronta više ne postoji". 3 October 2015.
  37. ^ "Registar političkih stranaka u Republici Hrvatskoj" (in Croatian).
  38. ^ "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. 10 February 2016.
  39. ^ "U Radničkoj fronti došlo je do čistke, stiže nova stranka" (in Croatian).
  40. ^ "Stotinjak građana prosvjedovalo protiv Vatikanskih ugovora" (in Croatian). 10 October 2015.
  41. ^ "Radnička fronta: Cenzuriran nam je plakat s Todorićem!" (in Croatian).
  42. ^ "IZBORI ZA ZASTUPNIKE U HRVATSKI SABOR 2015. – KANDIDATURA" [CROATIAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION, 2015 – CANDIDACY] (in Croatian).
  43. ^ "RADNIČKA FRONTA: Održan prosvjed zbog misa zadušnica za Pavelića" [WORKERS' FRONT: Protest held over the memorial service for Pavelić]. Nacional (in Croatian). 30 June 2023.
  44. ^ "Croatian & Slovenian Activists Met to Cut Border Fence".
  45. ^ "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. February 2016.
  46. ^ ""Traitors" protest held in downtown Zagreb". EBL News.
  47. ^ "Croatian "Traitors" Organize a Protest Against New Government". total-croatia-news.com. 2 February 2016.
  48. ^ "Croatian 'Traitors' Defy New War Veterans Minister". Balkan Insight. 26 January 2016.
  49. ^ "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.
  50. ^ "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.
  51. ^ "Radnička fronta i Nova ljevica zajedno na izborima u Zagrebu" (in Croatian).
  52. ^ "The Workers' Front signed the Šibenik Declaration" (in Croatian)
  53. ^ "Radnička fronta kandidirat će Katarinu Peović za predsjednicu" [Workers' Front will nominate Katarina Peović as a presidential candidate]. Večernji list (in Croatian). 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  54. ^ "Predsjednička kandidatkinja Radničke fronte predstavila program" [The presidential candidate of the Workers' Front presented the program]. Večernji list (in Croatian). 21 January 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  55. ^ Zebić, Enis (9 December 2020). "Uspon pa pad Zeleno-lijeve koalicije u Hrvatskoj" [The rise and fall of the Green-Left Coalition in Croatia] (in Serbo-Croatian). Radio Slobodna Evropa. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  56. ^ "Grbin potvrdio. Radnička fronta neće biti dio SDP-ove koalicije" [Grbin confirmed. The Workers' Front will not be part of the SDP coalition]. Novi list. 17 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
  57. ^ "Potop Radničke fronte: Katarina Peović nije prešla izborni prag" [Descent of the Workers' Front: Katarina Peović did not cross the electoral threshold]. Večernji list. 17 April 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
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