Roter Frontkämpferbund

(RFB)

   Founded in Halle during the summer of 1924, the RFB (Red Front) was the KPD's answer to Weimar's "epidemic of uniforms" (see Freikorps). Created in response to the growth of the Republic's newly formed Reichsbanner,* it was a sophisticated augmenta-tion of the Proletarian Hundreds formed during 1923 as part of United Front* efforts in Saxony* and Thuringia.* Clustered in industrial areas, the RFB iden-tified 558 local branches and about 40,000 members by March 1925. After Ernst Thalmann's* 1925 purge of the ultra-left, it enjoyed an extended period of growth.

   In parallel with other Kampfbünde, the RFB established several auxiliary or-ganizations. The Rote Jungfront (RJ), formed in October 1924, was a youth auxiliary that grew to 30,000 to 40,000 members by 1929. A women's* league, the Roter Frauen- und Madchenbund (RFMB), was established at the RFB's second annual conference in May 1925. In conformity with United Front policy, the RFB maintained the fiction that it was independent of the KPD; yet it existed to attract new members to the Party and revealed its character, especially after 1928, by engaging in combat with the Reichsbanner (a largely SPD organiza-tion). Indeed, given its violent opposition to the Republic and its intrinsic mil-itary nature, it resembled the right-wing combat leagues far more than the Reichsbanner.

   Moscow's 1928 directive to abort the United Front policy induced the RFB to enter a series of bloody and reckless clashes with police. In May 1929 the RFB was banned by the Prussian Interior Minister, Albert Grzesinski,* and Prussia's* example was followed by other states. But the RFB, with a 1929 membership of somewhat less than 100,000, persevered with often-lethal results into the Republic's final months.

   REFERENCES:Diehl, Paramilitary Politics; Rosenhaft, Beating the Fascists?; Schuster, Rote Frontkampferbund.