The Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten'', KGRNS), more commonly known as the Black Front (), was a political group formed by

Otto Strasser Otto Johann Maximilian Strasser (also , see ß; 10 September 1897 – 27 August 1974) was a German politician and an early member of the Nazi Party. Otto Strasser, together with his brother Gregor Strasser, was a leading member of the party's ...

in 1930 after he resigned from the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

(NSDAP) to avoid being expelled. Strasser formed the Black Front to continue what he saw as the original anti-capitalist stance of the Nazi Party, embodied in several items of its 25-point Program of 1920 that was in large part ignored by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, which Strasser saw as a betrayal. The group reflected Strasser's political views, such as

revolutionary nationalism Revolutionary nationalism is a name that has been applied to the political philosophy of many different types of nationalist political movements that wish to achieve their goals through a revolution against the established order. Individuals a ...

, and its

criticism of capitalism Criticism of capitalism typically ranges from expressing disagreement with particular aspects or outcomes of capitalism to rejecting the principles of the capitalist system in its entirety. Criticism comes from various political and philosophic ...

was expressed in economic antisemitic terms rather than

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. The Black Front was composed of radical former Nazis who intended to cause a split in the party, and adopted the crossed hammer and sword symbol that is still used by several Strasserite groups. The group published a newspaper entitled ''The German Revolution''. The Black Front, which never had more than a couple of thousand members, was unable to effectively oppose the Nazis. Hitler’s appointment as

Chancellor of Germany The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...

in 1933 effectively ended its influence. In 1934, during the

Night of the Long Knives The Night of the Long Knives (, ), also called the Röhm purge or Operation Hummingbird (), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, urged on by Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, ord ...

, in which

Gregor Strasser Gregor Strasser (also , see ß; 31 May 1892 – 30 June 1934) was a German politician and early leader of the Nazi Party. Along with his younger brother Otto, he was a leading member of the party's left-wing faction, which brought them into ...

, Otto's older brother, was killed. Gregor Strasser had previously broken with his brother over Otto's proclivity to act on his own. Otto Strasser spent the years of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

in exile, first in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(then the

First Czechoslovak Republic The First Czechoslovak Republic, often colloquially referred to as the First Republic, was the first Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938, a union of ethnic Czechs and Slovaks. The country was commonly called Czechosl ...

) and later in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, before returning to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in 1953.

References

{{authority control 1930 establishments in Germany 1933 disestablishments in Germany Banned far-right parties Far-right political parties in Germany Fascist organizations German nationalist organizations German nationalist political parties Nazi parties Organizations disestablished in 1933 Organizations established in 1930 Political parties in the Weimar Republic Strasserism Syncretic political parties Third Position

See also

References