Why we still need a United Front in the Palestine Solidarity Movement in Germany

By Omnia Magdy

A united front is a strategy that has been used by revolutionary socialists for over a hundred years.

Origins of the United Front

The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky used the term in the 1920s and 1930s to demand that the German Communist Party work together with the Social Democrats to defeat fascism. Unfortunately, the German Communist Party advocated the Stalinist thesis of “social fascism,” according to which social democracy was just as bad as fascism. The result was that the Nazis crushed the divided Communists and Social Democrats.

However, the united front strategy is not just an approach that revolutionary socialists can and should use in the fight against fascism.

The united front strategy emphasizes that, due to their marginalization and relative weakness in the overall political fabric of society, socialists can cooperate with opposing political forces at a certain point. This is intended, on the one hand, to bring revolutionary socialist ideas to a broader circle of people who would otherwise have no contact with revolutionary socialist positions through the bourgeois media. On the other hand, it is intended to challenge and expose the positions of the reformist leadership of other alliance partners in practice, and to reach their base. Class consciousness develops in contradictory ways and it is our job to try to win over members for a revolutionary socialist consciousness where other groups fail to offer a clear stance. To expect that people will have a clear class consciousness from the get go is idealistic and leads to isolation and moralisation.

Freedom of propaganda

The freedom of revolutionary socialist propaganda plays a central role in the united front. In every united front, revolutionary socialists must be allowed to maintain their independence beyond the common ground of cooperation and convey content that goes beyond the common ground of the united front.

In the fight against fascism today, when revolutionary socialists form a united line with social democrats to prevent a Nazi march, that means that at the same time they must emphasize in their flyers, in their speeches and their propaganda in general, for example, that social democracy, by advocating the bombing of Afghanistan, by maintaining Fortress Europe and repressive border regimes such as the CEAS and by its policy of social cuts, is not acting in the interests of the working class, but is jointly responsible for war and death and is providing a breeding ground for the right.

A united front does not mean subordinating oneself to one’s allies—quite the opposite. Revolutionary socialists agree on a common denominator and, moreover, practice freedom of propaganda.

Palestine Solidarity Movement

Revolutionary socialists today must adopt the same attitude towards the united front in their work for Palestine solidarity.

The Israeli military has been bombing the Gaza Strip for a year and a half. Over 45,000 Palestinians were murdered in the genocide. Gaza’s hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, and churches have all been bombed and destroyed. Senior Israeli government officials have made it clear from day one that they want to raze Gaza to the ground, and that’s what they’ve done.

What is our content?

For over 76 years, the Palestinian people have been displaced and ethnically cleansed. The colonial violence of Zionist settler colonialism gives rise to anti-colonial counter-violence. The Algerian liberation struggle of the FLN, the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, the Viet Cong in Vietnam, and the uprisings of indigenous populations in the Americas show that the anti-colonial violence of the colonized is always a response to the massive violence of the colonial rulers. Our solidarity is due to all colonized peoples and their struggle for liberation. As revolutionary socialists, our position is that of a one-state solution in Palestine, where, under the condition of the right of return for Palestinian refugees, all people, regardless of their religion, can live without a system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, as currently exists under the Zionist state.

As revolutionary socialists, we stand unconditionally in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle in all its forms. Our unconditional solidarity means that we can simultaneously criticize the strategy of the leadership of a liberation movement. However, this criticism does not mean that we make our solidarity with their struggle for national self-determination and against settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing conditional on any conditions.

As internationalists, we see that the liberation of Palestine must be linked to the struggle of the masses of neighboring states against their regressive rulers. Thus, a revolutionary overthrow by the working class as a revolutionary force against the rule of Sisi in Egypt, of Abdullah II in Jordan, etc., is necessary.

As revolutionary socialists, we uphold the revolutionary impetus of 2011, which shook the ruling classes throughout the Middle East and North Africa and deeply regret that the counterrevolution gained the upper hand in most countries. The working class masses in the region are the force for revolutionary change that have the power to topple the status quo, both against their own capitalist ruling classes but also against Zionism and imperialism.

Anyone who has watched Germany’s bourgeois news in recent months knows that these revolutionary socialist positions are nowhere represented. Instead, the talk is that Israel must defend itself and, therefore, slaughter countless men, women, and children in Gaza. The racist dehumanization of Palestinians as “terrorists” by the bourgeois media in Germany, as well as the criminalization and repression of the Palestine solidarity movement, serves imperialist interests in the region.

Even within the broader Left, revolutionary socialist positions are marginal in relation to a variety of contradictory Stalinist, anarchist, social-democratic positions, be they for example on the one-station solution, on internationalism, socialism from below, or on supporting national liberation movements unconditionally. Most Stalinist organizations uphold a two state solution, for example or refuse to critique when socialists subjugate themselves to “progressive” bourgeois tendencies within national liberation movements. Anarchists reject seizing state power and mobilizing working class power organizationally. Social democrats reject unconditional support for national liberation movements and the vast majority of social democratic organizations in Germany specifically support German imperialism and the genocide in Gaza.

Objective and subjective factors that weaken the Palestine solidarity movement

In the past year and a half since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, the Palestine solidarity movement has been weakened by both objective and subjective factors. Objective factors include the criminalization and repression of the movement by the state and the mainstream media. This includes bans on demonstrations, bans on Palestinian organisations, the banning of the Palestine Congress in Berlin, cancelation of events, termination of employment contracts, doxxing via racist articles, surveillance by security authorities, house raids against activists, etc. All of these factors weaken the movement against the genocide and serve to sow fear, exhaustion, and mistrust.

At the same time, subjective factors also prevail, which can be divided into sectarian and opportunist positions.

A sectarian position

What would a sectarian position be? We could stand up and say that we will not cooperate with those who are not in favor of a one-state solution because, for example, they do not denounce the core of the injustice of the expulsion of the Palestinians and the Zionist settler-colonial project and de facto fail to recognize that the Israeli state never wanted a two-state solution through its settlement construction.

We could also say that we will not cooperate with groups who do not consistently oppose every repressive ruler in the region, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia to Jordan to Syria to Morocco to Sudan etc., because they fail to recognize that a ruler who oppresses his own people will not bring about the liberation of another. Depending on how narrowly or loosely one defines what constitutes a rejection of these repressive rulers, some groups even delegitimize the Palestinian resistance itself, as it has maintained certain ties with specific countries. We could push even further ultra leftist positions and isolate ourselves even further by saying that we do not work with any group who does not consistently publicly oppose the ruling classes in the West, be they Macron, Starmer, Scholz or Merz, Obama, Biden or Trump etc.

We could also say that we will not cooperate with those who withdraw their solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, condemn parts of it (e.g., by demanding that Palestinians defend themselves against ethnic cleansing only “nonviolently”), or impose conditions on it. We can say that we reject cooperation with those who deny Zionist violence as the cause of counter-violence by the oppressed and seek to moralize and dictate to the Palestinians how they should defend themselves against their own oppression.
In other words we could say that we do not work together with any organisations or groups who do not 100% agree with us on a revolutionary socialist position on a myriad of issues.

An opportunistic position

What would an opportunistic position be? At the same time, we could argue that our position of unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian resistance is not capable of gaining majority support among the German working class, as they are flooded with Zionist propaganda 24 hours a day. We could argue that we should, therefore, conceal our content so as not to scare off allies.

We could pander to NGOs in Germany and secure good careers and positions in foundations and political parties by saying that, fundamentally, we are all for peace in the Middle East without specifying in our leaflets, in our speeches, or in our events that we stand unconditionally behind the Palestinian resistance. If we hear allies, beyond shared goals, say that they label the Palestinian resistance as terrorism, we could remain silent and not challenge them.

A revolutionary socialist response

In the current situation in Germany, where all parties in parliament support or condone the genocide in Gaza, where the German government unconditionally supports the bombing of Israel, and where the freedom of assembly and expression of those in solidarity with Palestine are restricted and confronted with massive repression, the task at present is to behave neither in a sectarian nor opportunistic manner.

It would be sectarian to isolate ourselves and say that we will not work with groups if they do not 100% support our views, that we do not want to get involved in difficult discussions where we have to try to convince others. It would be opportunistic to say that we are hiding our content so as not to scare people away and thus be able to collaborate with more groups.

Since we as revolutionary socialists are marginalized, and our revolutionary propaganda reaches only a tiny number of people, unlike the war propaganda of bourgeois media outlets like Welt, BILD, and Tagesschau, it is our task to form united fronts in solidarity with Palestine. Our practice must not degenerate into sectarianism or opportunism. It is and remains our task, under the current circumstances, when the German federal government is politically, militarily, and ideologically supporting the genocide in Gaza, to form broad united fronts in solidarity with Palestine, based on common denominators that unite the movement. We must focus on common demands like stopping weapons deliveries from Germany and ending the genocide that unite the movement in a broad spectrum of organizations and groups with widely different positions beyond these common demands (be they on internationalism, state and revolution, queer rights, women’s rights, etc.). While focusing on forming a united front based on key common demands, must do this while constantly preserving our independence. This means beyond the common demands of stopping weapons deliveries or ending the genocide which formulate with others in a broad alliances, we take a revolutionary socialist position in our own speeches, leaflets or talks that encapsulates calling for a one state solution, solidarity with the resistance but also a stance against all forms of oppression (be they for example gender or race based) and exploitation (abolishing capitalism internationally).

Hence: We remain true to our revolutionary socialist content in our propaganda but do not make this a prerequisite for cooperation with other alliance partners, where broad common demands are the focus.

This means that we must also work with those who may not be in favor of a one-state solution, who may not take an internationalist position, who may not support other liberation movements, and who may not be in unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle.

This does not mean that we would conceal our views in a united front within the Palestine solidarity movement. Quite the opposite. It is our task to join broad united fronts for Palestine, where the demands for an end to the ongoing genocide, an end to Zionist settler colonialism, and an end to Germany’s economic, military, and other relations with Israel must be central. Our solidarity with the Palestinian resistance is unconditional. In other words, we do not make our solidarity with the Palestinian resistance against their oppression dependent on any conditions, be they moral or geopolitical. At the same time, unconditional solidarity does not mean uncritical solidarity: we can critique the tactics and even strategy of the leadership of the liberation struggle. Here we must keep in mind that our critique should not be abstract but concrete with the victory of the liberation struggle against zionist settler colonialism in mind.

We as Revolutionary Socialists represent this position in our content, but we do not make it a prerequisite or even a maximum demand in a united front.

The goal now must be to reach as many people as possible with pro-Palestinian content, since German war propaganda not only distorts facts but also promotes a genocidal narrative.

We say, in the spirit of Karl Liebknecht, that “the main enemy is within one’s own country.” In other words, for us in Germany, the German ruling class is the primary enemy, the one we can and must fight here. The German state supports the Israeli state militarily, politically, and ideologically. The German state supplies Israel with weapons worth millions of euros. And it is the German state that criminalizes and suppresses Palestine solidarity in Germany. We must oppose this with a broad united front.

Because cooperation in a united front doesn’t mean that we agree beyond the common denominators of the united front (e.g., stopping genocide and arms deliveries) or that we deny our differences. No, there are many differences.

Therefore, beyond the principles of the united front, we clearly and unequivocally present our positions in our propaganda, speeches, flyers, and online, and we do not shy away from openly criticizing the positions of other groups within the united front—be it on the necessity of a one-state solution, on internationalism, or unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle. Unity of action, freedom of propaganda must be our motto.

Instead of playing the “teacher from the sidelines” who criticizes the movement without being part of it, we argue that practically through a broad united front can we intervene substantively in the discussions within the Palestine solidarity movement and, moreover, present a united voice to the public, so that there are thousands, tens of thousands and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of us who say that the Palestinians have a right to a life of dignity, that the genocide must stop and that Zionist settler colonialism must end.