Editing Front organization (section)

==Politics==
In politics, a group may be called a front organization if it is perceived to be disingenuous in its control or goals or if it attempts to mask extremist views within a supposedly more moderate group.  Some special interest groups engage in [[astroturfing]], an attempt to mask lobbying as a [[grassroots movement]].

===Apartheid government fronts===
[[South Africa]]'s [[apartheid]]-era government used numerous front organizations to influence world opinion and to undertake [[extra-judicial]] activities and the killing of anti-apartheid activists; these included<ref>{{Cite web|title=Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa Report, Volume 2 |pages=525–527 |year=2003 |url=https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/finalreport/Volume%202.pdf |access-date=January 29, 2020}}</ref> the following:
*''[[The Citizen (South Africa)|The Citizen]]'' – funded secretly by the government and was intended to challenge the liberal ''[[Rand Daily Mail]]'', contributing to the political ruin of [[John Vorster]] and [[Connie Mulder]]
*[[Civil Cooperation Bureau]] (CCB) – a covert, special forces organization that harassed, seriously injured, and eliminated anti-apartheid activists
*[[Federal Independent Democratic Alliance]] (FIDA) – a conservative black group.<ref>[http://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0723/23051.html Pretoria Leaders Face Published Allegations], ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', July 23, 1991</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=48iHOXlrHBkC&q=gogotya&pg=PA133 ''They're Burning the Churches: The Final Dramatic Events that Scuttled Apartheid''], Patrick Noonan, Jacana Media, 2003, page 133</ref>
*[[International Freedom Foundation]] – Washington-based mechanism to combat sanctions and support [[Jonas Savimbi]] and [[UNITA]]
*[[Jeugkrag]] – or Youth for South Africa, led by [[Marthinus van Schalkwyk]] as a short-lived Afrikaner youth group, surreptitiously funded by the Military Intelligence's Project Essay
*National Student Federation (NSF) – led by [[Russell Crystal]], intended to challenge [[NUSAS]]
*[[Roodeplaat Research Laboratories]] – Led by [[Dr. Daan Goosen|Daan Goosen]], the main research facility of [[Project Coast]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/south-africa/biological/|title=South Africa - Country Profiles - NTI|work=NTI: Nuclear Threat Initiative|access-date=2013-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160120112825/http://www.nti.org/country-profiles/south-africa/biological/|archive-date=2016-01-20|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*[[Taussig Familienstiftung]], or Taussig Family Trust - a [[Liechtenstein]] conduit for secret government transactions<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/reports/volume2/chapter6/part4/subsection2.htm|title=TRC Final Report - Department of Foreign Affairs|website=SABC|access-date=23 August 2021}}</ref>
*Veterans for Victory – consisting of [[national service]]men, a countermeasure to the [[End Conscription Campaign]], which was allied to the [[United Democratic Front (South Africa)|United Democratic Front]] (UDF)

===Communist fronts===
{{Main|Communist front}}
[[Communist]] parties (especially [[Marxist-Leninist]] ones) have sometimes used front organizations to attract support from those (sometimes called "[[fellow travellers]]") who do not fully agree with the party's ideology but agree with certain aspects of it. The front organization often obscures its provenance and may often be a tool for recruitment. Other [[Marxists]] often describe front organizations as [[opportunist]]. The concept of a front organization should be distinguished from the [[united front]] (a [[coalition]] of [[working class]] or [[socialist]] parties) and the [[popular front]]. Both the united front and the popular front usually disclose the groups that make up their coalitions.

====United States====
According to a list prepared in 1955 by the United States [[Senate Internal Security Subcommittee]], the [[Comintern]] set up no less than 82 front organizations in the United States in the 1930s and the 1940s.<ref name=Staar79-84>Richard Felix Staar, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hvv7U15xCtMC Foreign policies of the Soviet Union]'', Hoover Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8179-9102-6}}, p.79, p.84</ref>

Soviet intelligence [[Soviet-run peace movements in Western Europe and the United States|infiltrated many peace movements in the West]]. In addition to the [[World Peace Council]], important communist front organizations included the [[World Federation of Trade Unions]], the [[World Federation of Democratic Youth]], and the [[International Union of Students]].<ref name=Staar84>Richard Felix Staar, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hvv7U15xCtMC Foreign policies of the Soviet Union]'', Hoover Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8179-9102-6}}, p.84</ref> [[Richard Felix Staar]] has also suggested that these organizations were somewhat less important front organizations: [[Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation]], [[Christian Peace Conference]], [[International Association of Democratic Lawyers]], [[International Federation of Resistance Movements]], [[International Institute for Peace]], [[International Organization of Journalists]], [[Women's International Democratic Federation]], and [[World Federation of Scientific Workers]].<ref name=Staar80-81>Richard Felix Staar, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hvv7U15xCtMC Foreign policies of the Soviet Union]'', Hoover Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8179-9102-6}}, p.80-81</ref> There were also numerous smaller organizations, affiliated with the above fronts such as [[Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs]].<ref name=Staar82-83>Richard Felix Staar, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hvv7U15xCtMC Foreign policies of the Soviet Union]'', Hoover Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8179-9102-6}}, p.82-83</ref><ref name=Staar86>Richard Felix Staar, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hvv7U15xCtMC Foreign policies of the Soviet Union]'', Hoover Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8179-9102-6}}, p.86</ref>  Numerous peace conferences, congresses and festivals have been staged with support of those organizations.<ref name=Staar85>Richard Felix Staar, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hvv7U15xCtMC Foreign policies of the Soviet Union]'', Hoover Press, 1991, {{ISBN|0-8179-9102-6}}, p.85</ref>

More recently, the [[Workers' World Party]] (WWP)<ref>Adrienne Weller, [http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/974 Millions in the streets! ...and here come the redbaiters], ''Freedom Socialist'', [[Freedom Socialist Party]], Vol. 24, No. 1, April–June 2003.</ref> set up an [[anti-war]] front group, [[A.N.S.W.E.R.|International ANSWER]]. (ANSWER is no longer closely associated with WWP; it is closely associated with a WWP splinter, the [[Party for Socialism and Liberation]], but PSL plays a more open role in the organization.)  Similarly, [[Unite Against Fascism]], the [[Anti-Nazi League]], the [[Stop the War Coalition]] and [[Respect – The Unity Coalition]] are all criticised as being fronts for the [[Trotskyist]] [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)]].

In 2014, [[Andrew Cuomo]] established a front political party, the [[Women's Equality Party (New York)|Women's Equality Party]]. The party was established to take advantage of [[electoral fusion]] laws in [[New York State]] that allow candidates to run on multiple ballot lines and to count all of their votes together. Critics of the party and of Cuomo have noted that there is an inherent level of deception involved in the party, as Cuomo is not a woman, the party has not favored women in its endorsement policies, and Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign fund is the primary source of revenue for the party's operations.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/nyregion/cuomos-so-called-womens-party.html | title=Cuomo's So-Called Women's Party| newspaper=The New York Times| date=2018-05-24| last1=Bellafante| first1=Ginia}}</ref>

====Russia====
In April 1991, the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] leadership and the [[KGB]] created a puppet political party in Russia, the [[Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union]] (LDPSU), which became the second officially-registered party in the country.<ref name="white">{{cite book|last=White|first=Stephen|title=Developments in Russian Politics|editor=White, Gitelman Sakwa|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2005|volume=6|chapter=The Political Parties|isbn=978-0-8223-3522-1}}</ref> According to KGB General [[Philipp Bobkov]], it was a "[[Sergei Vasilyevich Zubatov|Zubatov]]'s pseudo-party under KGB control that directs interests and sentiments of certain social groups".<ref name="Moscow 2003, page 574">[[Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev]] ''Time of darkness'', Moscow, 2003, {{ISBN|5-85646-097-9}}, page 574 ({{langx|ru|Яковлев А. Сумерки. Москва: Материк 2003 г.}})</ref> The former [[Soviet Politburo]] member [[Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev]] described in his book how KGB Director [[Vladimir Kryuchkov]] presented the project of the puppet party at a joint meeting with [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] and informed him about a selection of party leaders and the mechanism of funding from Communist Party money.<ref name="Moscow 2003, page 574"/> The book includes an official copy of a document providing the initial Liberal Democratic Party funding (3 million rubles) from the Communist Party's money. The Liberal Democratic leader, [[Vladimir Zhirinovsky]], proved to be an effective media performer<ref name="white"/> and gained 8% of votes during the [[1991 Russian presidential election|1991 presidential elections]].<ref name="hale">{{cite book |last1=Hale |first1=Henry E. |editor1-first=Stephen |editor1-last=White |title=Developments in Russian Politics 7 |year=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=978-0-230-22449-0  |chapter=Russia's political parties and their substitutes}}</ref> He also supported the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|August 1991 coup attempt]].

====China====
The [[united front (China)|united front]] is a political strategy and network of groups and key individuals that are influenced or controlled by the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP) and used to advance its interests. It has traditionally been a [[popular front]] that has included eight [[List of political parties in China|legally permitted political parties]]: the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]] (CPPCC), the [[All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce]], the [[China Council for the Promotion of International Trade]], the [[All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese]], and other [[people's organization]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 1957|title=The United Front in Communist China|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP78-00915R000600210003-9.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123040110/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP78-00915R000600210003-9.pdf|archive-date=23 January 2017|access-date=9 June 2020|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref> Under [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|Chinese Communist Party General Secretary]] [[Xi Jinping]], the united front and its targets of influence have expanded in size and scope.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Brady|first=Anne-Marie|author-link=Anne-Marie Brady|date=2017|title=Magic Weapons: China's political influence activities under Xi Jinping|url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/article/magic_weapons.pdf|publisher=[[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]]|s2cid=197812164 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Groot|first=Gerry|title=The Expansion of the United Front Under Xi Jinping|date=19 September 2016|url=http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n2095/pdf/ch04_forum_groot.pdf|work=The China Story Yearbook 2015: Pollution|editor-last=Davies|editor-first=Gloria|edition=1st|publisher=ANU Press|doi=10.22459/csy.09.2016.04a|isbn=978-1-76046-068-6|access-date=31 August 2020|editor2-last=Goldkorn|editor2-first=Jeremy|editor3-last=Tomba|editor3-first=Luigi|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Groot|first=Gerry|date=24 September 2019|title=The CCP's Grand United Front abroad|url=https://sinopsis.cz/en/the-ccps-grand-united-front-abroad/|access-date=31 August 2020|website=Sinopsis|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Tatlow|first=Didi Kirsten|date=12 July 2019|title=The Chinese Influence Effort Hiding in Plain Sight|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/chinas-influence-efforts-germany-students/593689/|access-date=31 August 2020|issn=1072-7825}}</ref> The united front is managed primarily by but is not limited to the [[United Front Work Department]] (UFWD).

====Other====
An [[anti-Islamist]] [[feminist]] group in the [[Muslim world]] has also been accused of being a front organization. The [[Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq]] has been accused of being a front for the [[Worker-Communist Party of Iraq]].<ref>Karsten Kofoed, [http://www.fritirak.dk/artikler/english/articles/2004/1028-ck.htm Lackeys of the occupation disguise as progressives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219063342/http://www.fritirak.dk/artikler/english/articles/2004/1028-ck.htm |date=2007-02-19}}, The Committee for a Free Iraq, Denmark, October 28, 2004</ref><ref>Megan Cornish, [http://www.socialism.com/whatsnew/iraqisistersolidarity.html Iraqi Women Face Double Jeopardy] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428021420/http://www.socialism.com/whatsnew/iraqisistersolidarity.html |date=2007-04-28}}, March 3, 2005</ref>