The Iron Front (German: Eiserne Front) was an anti-Nazi, anti-monarchist, and anti-communist paramilitary organization formed in Germany on 16 December 1931 by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, the Reichsbanner and workers' sport clubs originally to counter the right-wing Harzburg Front formed by the National Socialist German Workers Party, the Stahlhelm and the German National People's Party. The organization sought to engage the old Reichsbanner, the SPD youth organization, and labor and liberal groups as a united front. The SPD rallied to the Iron Front, held mass demonstrations, fought fascists in the streets, and armed themselves. This is more than the SPD leaders wanted, but SPD workers grew increasingly revolutionary. In 1933, the organization was banned.
Its logo, the Antifascist Circle (three arrows, pointing south-west/to the lower-left inside a circle) was designed by Sergei Tschachotin, former assistant to the physiologist Ivan Pavlov in 1931. It was designed so as to be able to easily cover Nazi swastikas. The meaning of the three arrows has been variously interpreted. One meaning is that they stood for the opponents of the Iron Front, the three enemies of social democracy: monarchism, communism and national socialism, as seen in a 1932 election poster for the SPD. The present-day Reichsbanner Association says the arrows of the logo stood for the SPD, the trade unions and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold, as well as for the political, economic and physical strength of the working class.
About its formation, Karl Höltermann, chairman of the Reichsbanner, commented "The year 1932 will be our year, the year of victory of the republic over its opponents. Not one day nor one hour more do we want to remain on the defensive - we attack! Attack on the whole line! We must be part of the general offensive. Today we call - tomorrow we strike!"
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