National Front of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen

(Al-Jabha al-Qawmiya), a national democratic organization founded in 1963 through the unification of several underground patriotic groups operating in the Federation of South Arabia, comprising the former British colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorates. Until 1967 the front was called the National Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen. It is composed of workers, peasants, the revolutionary intelligentsia, and representatives of the petite bourgeoisie. The National Front led the armed struggle against the British colonialists, the rulers of the Federation of South Arabia, and local feudal chiefs. The struggle began on Oct. 14, 1963, and ended on Nov. 30, 1967, with the proclamation of the independent Republic of Southern Yemen, called the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen since Nov. 30, 1970.

The National Front has been the country’s governing organization since late 1967. Originally, the most influential group in the National Front was a moderate nationalist group headed by Qahtan al-Shaabi, but on June 22, 1969, the leaders of the National Front expelled the group. The Fifth Congress, held in March 1972, adopted new bylaws and a new program, replacing the one adopted at the First Congress in June 1965. The Congress proclaimed as its basic task the completion of the national-liberation and antifeudal revolution and the country’s progress toward socialism with the help of the socialist countries. In October 1975 the National Front and other revolutionary organizations joined together to form a single governing organization, the United Political Organization National Front, with Abdul Fattah Ismail as its secretary-general. Its press organ is the weekly newspaper Al-Thawri.