[1] A legally registered association,[2] the RFB was banned in 1929 after violent clashes during May Day demonstrations in Berlin,[3] but continued its work illegally.

[4][5][6] The group's inaugural nationwide meeting was held in February 1925 in Berlin, where Ernst Thälmann was elected to lead the federal committee.

while giving a clenched fist salute gave rise to the expression Rotfront, often used among friends and foes to refer to the organization instead of its full title.

[citation needed] The KPD depended on the Proletarian Hundreds (German: Proletarische Hundertschaften) to protect their meetings and demonstrations,[15] but this organization was banned in 1923.

[16] This left the KPD's political activities exposed to attacks from the police and right-wing paramilitary organizations such as the nationalist Der Stahlhelm and the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA).

[32][33][34][35] The Arbeiterkampfgruppen (English: Combat Groups of the Working Class) and the Nationale Volksarmee (English: National People's Army) claimed to carry on the traditions of the RFB, while the Federal Republic of Germany in West Germany enforced the ban of 1929 and prosecuted former Red Front fighters who admitted to their RFB activities.

[citation needed] For its younger members (between the ages of 16 and 21), the RFB formed the Roter Jungsturm (English: Red Young Storm).

To commemorate this, in May 1925 the RFB founded the Rote Marine (RM) (English: Red Navy) with sections in all major port cities.

[citation needed] From 1925 the female members were organized in the Roter Frauen und Mädchen Bund (RFMB) (English: Alliance of Red Women and Girls).

On April 13, 1928, after the formation of the Bund on Reich level, Jakob Boulanger founded an RFB-Gau Nordbayern with subsequent local groups in Nuremberg, Würzburg, Aschaffenburg, Sulzbach, Bamberg, Hof and Bayreuth.

[50] A large part of the RFB activities were directed at supporting the political propaganda work of the KPD, the Rote Hilfe (English: Red Help), and other "proletarian" organizations such as workers unions.

Hardened by their harsh work and living conditions, the RFB men engaged in acts of violence against the police and the political rivals who tried to disrupt rallies.

For instance, the RFB and other organizations protested against the spending of billions of Reichsmarks on "pocket battleships", and demanded the money go instead to relieve poverty.

Other RFB events included propaganda marches in rural areas to get poor farmers and agricultural workers to join their cause.