Front of National Unity

This article is about Polish political organization. For Bolivian political party, see National Unity Front.

National Unity Front Front Jedności Narodu
First leader	Bolesław Bierut
Last leader	Henryk Jabłoński
Founded	1947 (as Democratic Bloc)
Dissolved	1983
Succeeded by	Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Stalinism (until 1956)
Political position	Far-left
Colors	Red
Politics of Poland Political parties Elections

FNU election poster from mid 1970s.

Front of National Unity or National Unity Front (Polish: Front Jedności Narodu, FJN) was a popular front supervising elections in the Polish People's Republic which also acted as a coalition for the dominant communist Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) and its allies. It was founded in 1952 as National Front (Front Narodowy) and renamed to Front of National Unity in 1956. It was the heir of the Democratic Bloc (Blok Demokratyczny) which ran in the elections of 1947 before the merger between communists and socialists.

The Front was created by and was subordinate to the PZPR. Its membership included all three legal Polish political parties (the PZPR, Democratic Party, and United People's Party) and many organizations (such as trade unions). During elections it had a near monopoly (varied depending on particular time) on registering candidates who had the right to participate in the elections. As was the case with other popular fronts in the Soviet bloc, the member parties of the Front were largely subservient to the PZPR; they had to accept the PZPR's "leading role" as a condition of their existence.

On 16 July 1983 at a meeting in Warsaw of the presidium of the National Committee of the Front of National Unity, the dissolution of that organization was announced and an appeal was made for FJN members to join Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth (Patriotyczny Ruch Odrodzenia Narodowego, PRON).

Leaders

• Bolesław Bierut (1947–1956)
• Aleksander Zawadzki (1956–1964)
• Edward Ochab (1965–1968)
• Janusz Groszkowski (1971–1976)
• Henryk Jabłoński (1976–1983)

Electoral history

Sejm elections

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1947	9,003,682	80.1%	394 / 444	394	1st	Super-majority
1952	15,459,849	99.8%	425 / 425	31	1st	Sole legal coalition
1957	16,563,314	98.4%	459 / 459	34	1st	Sole legal coalition
1961	17,342,570	98.3%	460 / 460	1	1st	Sole legal coalition
1965	18,742,152	98.8%	460 / 460		1st	Sole legal coalition
1969	20,473,114	99.2%	460 / 460		1st	Sole legal coalition
1972	21,746,242	99.5%	460 / 460		1st	Sole legal coalition
1976	23,502,983	99.4%	460 / 460		1st	Sole legal coalition
1980	24,683,056	99.5%	460 / 460		1st	Sole legal coalition