Generals Chuikov & Gurov check the rifle of famed sniper Vassili Zaitsev at Stalingrad -- Daily LIFT #193
Zaitsev, the most effective sniper of the battle that turned the tide against the Nazis, meets with Soviet generals during the battle.
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Recipes from a Greek Island w. White Bean Soup, Red Mullet in Grape Leaves, Pork w. Quince & more -- Vintage Cookbook TBT
Publication Details: Simon & Schuster, 1991
The cookbook we are looking at today is like a love letter to Greece, Greek culture, the Greek islands and, of course, to Greek food. Written by Susie Jacobs, who moved to a Greek island and had been there for 15 years when she put the book together, it has over 100 recipes that reflect the cuisine and its ingredients and techniques that she loved so much.
There are also many breathtaking photographs of the truly stunning natural beauty of the setting. The book begins by looking at various seasonings and staples, then move to general sections like soups, fish and mains.
There are tips all along the way and many of the recipes are accompanied by colour photographs of the dishes.
One of those cookbooks that truly transports you to a place that it would be wonderful to visit...and perhaps even stay at for awhile.
(Click on images to enlarge)
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Fidel Castro and "La Pasionaria", January 1964 -- Daily LIFT #192
Fidel Castro and "La Pasionaria", January 1964 -- Daily LIFT #192
Castro in conversation with Dolores Ibárruri, the heroic Spanish Communist leader also known as "La Pasionaria". During the Spanish Civil War she coined the battle cry “No pasarán! ” as well as famously saying during a speech that "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees."
Just dying for them to reopen: The corporate coronavirus agenda
Two things are becoming clear at this critical moment in the western capitalist coronavirus crisis. One is that the capitalists and their governments want to "reopen the economy" as quickly as possible. The second is that this is incredibly dangerous for working people and the evidence is overwhelming that doing so is entirely about profits and greed.
There is no particularly deep analysis required to show that these two things are true.
Just a few recent examples in this newest front of the class war on workers by capital:
- On May 11, the government of Quebec announced the "complete reopening of all construction sites and manufacturing companies" in the province. According to their triumphant press release, "all construction sites are returning to activity, including residential, institutional, commercial, industrial along with civil engineering, public transit and roads and highways."
Yet just the day before La Presse reported (translated from the French):
The COVID-19 pandemic is not slowing down in Quebec: the province announced Sunday that it had recorded 142 deaths in 24 hours, which places Quebec in seventh place in the world for the number of daily deaths.- "Reopening", where it has been pushed forward in many countries or states, is often being followed by a totally predictable upsurge in coronavirus cases. This has been seen in places as far afield as Texas and Lebanon. In Germany daily cases nearly tripled after lockdown restrictions were eased forcing some German states to reimpose them. The German outbreaks were especially pronounced in meat packing factories, a disturbing trend internationally and also a reminder that "physical distancing" in factories is very difficult to achieve.
Only the United States, Ecuador, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy and Spain reported a daily death toll higher than that of Quebec on Sunday.
- Justin Mayhugh in Labor Notes talked about exactly this issue. In an article entitled "When Auto Plants Reopen, Some of Us Will Die for Corporate Profit" he notes:
The United States is still confirming roughly 25,000 new cases of the coronavirus every day. At least 1,000 Americans have died from the disease every single day since April 2; there have been nearly 1.4 million reported cases and more than 80,000 deaths.- That this is true could not be made more clear by the outbreaks in Cargill slaughterhouses and meat packing plants in Canada. The plant in Alberta had the largest single cornavirus outbreak yet in the country with over 900 cases. A second plant near Montreal has also had a large outbreak with at least 64 cases. Yet the Alberta plant has reopened over the strenuous objections of its union.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, racial and ethnic minority groups, the elderly, and people with underlying medical conditions are at higher risk to contract the virus. These underlying conditions include moderate to severe asthma and other respiratory problems, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and kidney or liver disease.
How many of our brothers and sisters have at least one of these underlying conditions? The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. are at elevated risk, including 41 million people under age 65.
If you’ve ever worked on an auto assembly line, you know there is very little the corporations can do to carry out the CDC’s six-foot social distancing guideline. Many of us work side by side with others for at least eight hours a day, at least five days a week.
Every vehicle assembled is touched by hundreds of workers. Breathed on by hundreds of workers. There is no way to avoid this reality in an assembly plant.
For example, in my plant on the door line, many workers do their jobs face to face with co-workers only a couple of feet apart. On the headliner install job, where workers attach a composite material to the inside of the vehicle's roof, at least three workers are within six feet of each other as each worker snaps in a corner of the headliner. Masks are not a fail-safe precaution.
- What if you don't want to go back to work because you think it is too dangerous? In most jurisdictions that is not going to be an option. For example the "Ohio state government has asked employers to report anyone who refuses to return to work because they are concerned about the coronavirus pandemic. Reported workers may be ineligible for unemployment benefits."
This is not simply in Ohio. In Canada "at least 540,000 low wage workers risk losing CERB if they refuse unsafe work" according to David Macdonald in Behind the Numbers. He goes to state:
Once workplaces are opened, employers will start to call workers back. If a worker doesn’t return because of concerns about workplace safety, an employer could deem that non-return as quitting and issue the employee a Record of Employment to that effect, disqualifying them from receiving the CERB. Hypothetically, if a provincial labour board upholds a work refusal due to unsafe conditions (ie. Coronavirus infection), a worker could keep receiving the CERB. But provinces like Ontario simply aren’t shutting down workplaces due to a clear coronavirus infection risk. Furthermore, there has been little movement by many provinces to investigate unsafe workplace complaints due to COVID-19, and there seems to be no particular drive to ramp up labour protection programs.We know which class benefits from this situation.
The discussion of “worker incentives” has already started, which really means cutting off basic income supports from low wage workers to force them back to work, putting themselves and their families at risk of infection. Conversely, there is almost no discussion of “employer incentives” to create safe workplaces. The narrative is being set: if businesses are allowed to reopen but workers don’t return, the workers—who are prepared to live off the supposed king’s ransom of $2,000 rather than working in potentially unsafe workplaces—are to blame for their greed. On the other hand, the same level of pressure is not being applied to employers to make necessary investments in shields, PPE and policies that will help keep their workers safe when businesses gradually reopen.
- As reopening proceeds, any type of temporary "pandemic pay" for "hero workers" will likely be rolled back even in cases where record profits were made. A case in point is Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the United States, which is eliminating the extra $2 hourly rate they were paying their workers on May 17. Yet "Kroger said the pandemic "triggered a significantly greater lift in sales across both physical retail stores and digital channels in March," with monthly sales up 30% from a year ago. Kroger added that it anticipates first-quarter sales to top its 2020 guidance." Things have been so good that "Kroger repurchased $355 million of its own shares in the first quarter, and holds about $2.3 billion in cash and temporary cash investments."
- In an example of the total farce that unfolds when governments and corporations say "back to work" yet still claim to want "social distancing" one need only look at London, UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that people who cannot work from home should be starting to physically go back to work even as the coronavirus continues to rage. Of course, workers who cannot work from home are disproportionately lower wage workers. They also have to find some way to get to work and this led immediately to overcrowding on public transit.
Thus we have a nearly Kafkaesque absurdity such as:
Johnson said in his address to the nation on Sunday that those unable to work from home should start returning to work from Wednesday, but urged people to avoid public transport and drive, cycle or walk.Telling people to head to work but to "avoid public transport" is something that only a clueless child of privilege like Johnson could do.
Unions say this is not a viable option for many in the capital, who either do not have a car or live to far away from their place of work to cycle or walk.
- In Ontario the march to reopen continues on the part of the big business Doug Ford government. Yet "Ontario's top doctor says he does not feel confident that the province has met the threshold to start on its economic recovery plan" and "the province reported 361 new cases, a second straight day of increasing case numbers" on May 12.
- Billionaire Elon Musk used his power and wealth to force local officials in California to capitulate and allow his Tesla plant to operate despite local health regulations and concerns about workers. "Democracy" in action. When it comes to power never doubt that the billionaire class has far more of it than any government right now.
There is no more transparent case of in whose interests "reopening" is than this one.
It is no coincidence that the forces lining up to force a "reopening" agenda are a coalition of billionaires, CEOs, right-wing politicians, extreme right and white supremacist formations and "protesters", and the right wing press and media.
This also tells you all you need to know about their motives. To the handful of "progressives" and "leftists" who are backing the line of these reactionaries, it is bizarre that anyone who claims to be anti-capitalist or pro-worker cannot see this corporate campaign for what it is based on.
It is perfectly obvious that the push by capital to "get the economy moving" and to force governments to relax the pandemic lockdowns is all about profit and has nothing to do with the health and safety of workers or the general population. At this critical juncture it is essential that the left and workers' parties and organizations fight back against any attempts to restart capitalist production on the backs and lives of working people.
Further Reading:
Don't let the capitalists fool you...we have the social wealth to properly fight the pandemic
Related Video:
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
May Day Rally, Philadelphia 1935 -- Daily LIFT #191
May Day Rally, Philadelphia 1935 -- Daily LIFT #191
Capitalism is incurable: Statements from the European Communist Imitative
On May 10, 2020, the parties of the European Communist Imitative held a teleconference with the theme "The struggle of the communist and workers' parties in the conditions of the pandemic and the new capitalist crisis".
As the conference was held at the initiative of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) the party's General Secretary gave an important and rousing opening statement.
After the teleconference a joint statement was issued by all the parties.
"The teleconference was attended by 24 communist and workers' parties from Austria, Bulgaria, France, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Croatia, Latvia, Belarus, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Sweden and Turkey."
Here are excerpts from both statements.
Introductory Speech of the General Secretary of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas (excerpt):
Dear comrades,
IT IS UP TO US TO BREAK THE SILENCE that the government and the big employers want to impose in the name of the slogan "let's overcome this crisis together", which is a reflection of hypocritical bourgeois ethics.
IT IS UP TO US TO DEMAND MEASURES to support the workers and the self-employed who have been hit by the restrictive measures.
TO DEMAND the cancellation of thousands of redundancies and the much more damaging changes that preceded them.
WE WILL NOT LEGITIMIZE measures taken under the pretext of the epidemic, with a view to become permanent, such as those concerning further "flexibility" of work...
...Comrades,
THE MYTH WHICH IS UTTERLY REFUTED during the coronavirus pandemic is the one saying that the public and the private sector can coexist harmoniously and thus contribute to addressing this situation. This myth is refuted by the profiteering of private health centers conducting the coronavirus testing, which is only accessible to those who can afford it, depriving state planning of valuable resources and at the same time increasing the risk of spreading the virus. This was tragically proved in many cases and deaths in Greece that occurred in private clinics and structures that did not fully meet hygiene standards.
This myth is also refuted by the fact that the state depends on the world market "war" conducted by the big companies, which found the opportunity to run a very lucrative business, for the supply of basic materials and drugs.
The necessity for an exclusively public and free Health system with the abolition of any business activity has been dramatically demonstrated. Today, it is indisputable that the health of the people, their care, protection, and security are incompatible with capitalist profit, greedy capital and the capitalist mode of production.
Either a solution will be provided based on the real needs of the people or the people will suffer, they will live in miserable conditions, they will constantly pay out of their own pockets so that the few and chosen ones of capital will make huge profits.
And as life confirms, the monopolies seek to increase their wealth both in conditions of capitalist development and in conditions of crisis of the capitalist economy.
Especially in the recent period, the activity and competitions at a European and international level have intensified over how to more effectively support the stricken capitalist economy.
The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic acted certainly as a catalyst for the worsening of the serious problems that pre-existed in the capitalist economy...
...The coronavirus will be cured and the pandemic will end, just as others did in the past. Capitalism, however, is incurable and will continue to torture humankind, with poverty, unemployment, wars, the destruction of the environment, until the peoples decide to lead the way in the developments.
More and more people in the world are realizing and shouting out loud that “capitalism is the real virus”.
Today’s system can only be overthrown and replaced by a superior social system, socialism – communism, where social ownership of the means of production with workers’ power, scientific central planning for the satisfaction of people’s needs, workers’ control of all the administrative organs and participation in all the organs of power, from the bottom to the top, can lead to prosperity for the people, to peace and the progress of humankind.
We must be consistently and unwaveringly oriented to this task. Our daily tactics and practice must be subordinated to this task, of course always taking into account the particular conditions, the correlation of forces, but without retreating because of them or altering our strategic goal.
Internationalism, workers'- communist solidarity and action, are what should accompany us at every step, as we have done so far, but with faster steps that will lead to realistic perhaps small leaps in the present, but which will prepare the big leap in the future, for the peoples of our countries, for the whole Europe, for the whole world.
Joint Statement of the European Communist Initiative Parties (excerpt):
The ECI parties also expressed solidarity with those affected by the CoVID-19 pandemic and wished them a speedy recovery.
Moreover, they saluted Cuba's solidarity action with the most affected countries.
The parties agreed to reinforce the struggle for:
Immediate strengthening of public health systems, recruitment of permanent medical and nursing staff with full rights, the meeting of all needs in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and infrastructure required for the full operation of public health care and research services.
Immediate provision of all the necessary means of protection (masks, gloves, disinfectants, etc.) to the people by the state free of charge and fight against profiteering. Immediate provision of all protection measures to the healthcare personnel that gives this battle.
The communist and workers' parties in Europe noted that they will lead the struggle against the attack of capital, which in the face of the new crisis proceeds to widespread layoffs and tries to further crush wages, working hours, leaves, and other labor rights. They expressed their solidarity with the class-oriented trade unions that struggle in order for the workers not to pay the consequences of the capitalist crisis.
They spoke out against the imperialist plans of the USA, NATO, and the EU, as well as against sanctions and economic exclusion measures that are criminal and make people's lives difficult.
The parties that attended the teleconference noted that the current situation shows the deep impasses of the capitalist mode of production (crisis, unemployment, the impoverishment of the working class, the commercialization of social needs such as health, imperialist wars, etc.).
Under these circumstances, the slogan "Socialism or barbarity" is more timely than ever.
Ham and Cheese Melt Sandwiches
When people think of making a "perfect" melted cheese sandwich they generally look to various grilled cheese techniques and ingredients. Today, however, I want to look at a way of making a melted cheese "croque monsieur" style bit of greatness that is broiled instead of fried.
There are an enormous number of variations of this that can be done and we will touch on some of them at the end, but here we are using an English muffin, ham and cheddar cheese.
To begin, lightly toast your English muffin. (If you are using bread, follow all of the same steps).
On one side -- in the case of English muffins the inside -- coat the bread with a layer of Dijon mustard. On the other, outside side, spread some softened butter.
Then place a layer of grated cheese over the mustard. We used old, sharp cheddar, but you can use any cheese. Another common one is, of course, Swiss or Gruyere.
Cover this with some slices of ham. We used Black Forest style.
Combine the two sides together and place on an ungreased oven pan. Place the pan in the oven set to broil and cook for around 5 minutes. You want, as generally with broiling, the oven rack to be at either the highest or second highest placement depending on the size of your oven
After around 5 minutes, leaving the broiler on, take the sandwiches out, flip them and top with another layer of grated cheese on the outside. Put them back in the oven and broil for 5 minutes more or until the topping cheese is melted and golden-brown to your liking.
Take out of the oven, sprinkle with some ground black pepper, let sit a couple of minutes and serve.
This is very, very tasty! There are also any number of variations. Below we used a whole wheat bread. Rye bread is terrific for this. Substitute spicy salami or roast beef for ham. You can switch it up all you want.
But the butter and the broiling will always produce a terrific texture and flavour.
Enjoy
Monday, May 11, 2020
The Pedestal Magazine Cover, May 1970 -- Daily LIFT #190
The Pedestal Magazine Cover, May 1970 -- Daily LIFT #190
On Mother's Day 50 years ago hundreds of women marched in Ottawa to fight for abortion rights and protest Canada's existing abortion laws. The Pedestal, a leftist women's liberation magazine, devoted much of their May issue that year to it.
You can learn more about this at this CBC report on the 50th anniversary of it: Canada's Abortion Caravan: Looking back at a historic reproductive rights movement
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Karl Marx, poster Azerbaijan SSR 1920 -- Daily LIFT #189
Karl Marx, poster Azerbaijan SSR 1920 -- Daily LIFT #189
Mercenary Attacks on Venezuela, Ahmaud Arbery, Victory Day 75 & more -- The Week in News and Opinion May 3 - 10
This week's roundup of articles, news items, visuals and opinion pieces that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.
This list covers the week of May 3 - 10.
This week's edition begins again with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis and its impact on working people globally. There are also roundups about the failed mercenary attacks on Venezuela, the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the 75th anniversary of the defeat of the Nazis.
The Featured Article link at the start is a very powerful piece by Charles Barron, "Coronavirus ravaging the Black community because of capitalism and ‘domestic colonialism’".
We have tried to arrange the coronavirus news thematically and to touch on many different areas of concern.
Featured Article:
Coronavirus ravaging the Black community because of capitalism and ‘domestic colonialism’
But what’s not talked about is the role that this racist, parasitic, predatory capitalistic system plays in economically exploiting our Black communities and turning them into “domestic colonies” of capitalism. Who created the poverty, unemployment, inadequate health care, miseducation, homelessness, mass incarceration, food shortages and unhealthy food (fast foods), and more? The answer is capitalism and domestic colonialism. Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the African Peoples Socialist Party, coined the term “colonial virus.”
Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis:
- Don't let the capitalists fool you...we have the social wealth to properly fight the pandemic
- That This System Would Fail Was Entirely Predictable
- US Blocks UN Global Ceasefire Resolution, Objecting to Indirect Reference to World Health Organization
- “The Discussion Is Basically Over”: Why Scientists Believe the Wuhan-Lab Coronavirus Origin Theory Is Highly Unlikely
- 'No Evidence Coronavirus Was Made in a Chinese Lab' Fauci Says
- Revealed: major anti-lockdown group's links to America's far right
- Trump's fake protest movement: Authoritarian stagecraft meets white privilege
- Canada’s Anti-Lockdown Protests are a Ragtag Coalition of Anti-Vaccine Activists, Conspiracy Theorists and the Far-Right
- PANDEMIC BRINGS OUT FAR-RIGHT RESPONSES
"Reopening" is ALL about business and the well to do and has NOTHING to do with the needs of workers or public health:
- Chris Christie Says People ‘Are Going To Have To’ Accept More Deaths To Reopen Economy
- Texas Governor Admits Dangers of Reopening State on Private Call With Lawmakers
- Ohio urges employers to report workers fearful of returning to work
- Conditions in US Meatpacking Plants Today Aren’t Much Better Than They Were in The Jungle
- Union opposes reopening U.S. meat plants as more workers die
- Meatpacking worker told not to wear face mask on job died of coronavirus: report
- Reopened restaurant told workers: Don't wear face masks — or don't work
- ‘We Are Not Essential. We Are Sacrificial.’
- How the Anglo-American model failed to tackle coronavirus
- Under Trump, American exceptionalism means poverty, misery and death
- The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying
- Epidemiologist Slams U.S. Coronavirus Response: 'Close To Genocide By Default'
- NYPD Under Fire For Starkly Different Responses To Violations Of Social Distancing Orders Over The Weekend
- 81 PERCENT OF NYPD'S SOCIAL DISTANCING SUMMONSES WERE ISSUED TO BLACKS AND LATINOS: 'IT'S THE NEW STOP AND FRISK'
- 35 of the 40 people who were arrested on social distancing violations in Brooklyn were black
- UK: Black People Four Times More Likely to Die From COVID-19
- The ‘Shadow Pandemic’ of Anti-Asian Racism
- Women demand voice in Italy virus response dominated by men
- There's no 'team Australia'. Workers are copping the brunt of the crisis
Ahmaud Arbery Murder:
- Two Men Arrested and Charged With Murder for Killing of Ahmaud Arbery After Video Sparked Nationwide Demands for Justice
- 'They lynched him': Ahmaud Arbery's father on the killing of his son
- Ahmaud Arbery: Atlanta mayor accuses Trump of inciting racist acts
- No burglaries were reported in neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was killed, contradicting suspects’ claim: report
Brazil:
- Brazilian Court Upholds 17-Year Sentence Against Lula Da Silva
- Brazil using coronavirus to cover up assaults on Amazon, warn activists
- Brazil: Bolsonaro Orders Journalists to Shut Their Mouths
- Bolsonaro attends floating barbeque as Brazil's Covid-19 toll tops 10,000
Canada:
- Cargill’s slaughterhouse profits flow through tax havens to keep its billionaire owners wealthy
- Cargill meat-processing plant south of Montreal says 64 workers infected with COVID-19
- Workers at Cargill’s Alberta Meat Plant Were Offered Special ‘Bonus’ Pay For Perfect Attendance During Pandemic
- An impossible choice: at least 540,000 low wage workers risk losing CERB if they refuse unsafe work
- Canadian Labour Congress calls for end to privately owned long-term care facilities after COVID-19 deaths
- Demands grow for national, universal long-term care in response to pandemic
- Province did inspections by phone at Toronto care home where 21 residents died of COVID-19
- Amazon Rolls Back Unpaid Leave As Workers Told of ‘Additional’ COVID-19 Case at Ontario Warehouse
- Alberta's statement on Ottawa's gun ban illustrates how little the rule of law really matters to Conservatives
- NS murders: Two tragedies must be viewed thru a feminist lens
- Canada: DNA discovery lends weight to First Nations ancestral story
- On the passing of Michael Lucas, immigrant organizer and friend of Soviet people
Climate Emergency:
- One billion people will live in insufferable heat within 50 years – study
- Capitalism: Eco-destruction and Plagues
Cuba:
- Make solidarity global -- Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez
- END THE SANCTIONS! END US AGGRESSION AGAINST CUBA NOW
- Cuba to Begin Mass-Scale COVID-19 Testing
- US Lawmakers Support Cuba in the Purchase of Medical Supplies
Ideas:
- The problem with universal basic income
- The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months
India:
- India's chemical plant disaster: another case of history repeating itself
Israel / Palestine:
- Australian government tells ICC it should not investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine
United Kingdom:
- Labour left MPs and activists defy Starmer-led party position on Kashmir
- The Labour Party Machine versus Corbyn
United States:
- Hunger stalks the land: Parents skipping meals to feed their kids
- 1996 court document shows Tara Reade told ex-husband of harassment in Biden's Senate office
- Tara Reade calls on Biden to drop out in rare on-camera interview
- 'What a Rigged Economy Looks Like,' Says Sanders, as Stock Market Enjoys Best Month in 33 Years Despite 20%+ Unemployment
- Nearly One in Five Workers Applied for State Unemployment Insurance Benefits in the Last Seven Weeks
- Iran anti-war bill in tatters after Trump veto and Senate failure to uphold it
- Sanitation workers in New Orleans on strike to demand better conditions and pay
- Sioux tribe rejects South Dakota governor request to remove Covid-19 checkpoints
- INDIANAPOLIS POLICE KILL BLACK MAN, LAUGH ABOUT IT NOT REALIZING IT’S BEING RECORDED ON FACEBOOK LIVE
- The day police bombed a city street: can scars of 1985 Move atrocity be healed?
Uruguay:
- 100,000 Uruguayans Fell Below Poverty Line in April: Study
- Uruguay: Lacalle Calls for Change in Abortion Law
Venezuela:
"Donald Trump thinks he can defeat us. He's wrong."
A message from the Venezuelan socialist fishermen who helped capture the coup plotting US mercenaries.
- Defeat of a Dirty Military Incursion into Venezuela on a Sunday Morning
- The Failed Invasion of Venezuela, and the American and Canadian Connections
- U.S. Mercenaries Captured in Venezuela After Failed Coup Attempt Compared to a “Bad Rambo Movie”
- Venezuela Denounces New Attack on National Electric System
- Mercenary Confesses Failed Plot Was to Bring President Maduro to US
- Trudeau Rolls out his Trumpian Covid-19 Latin America Policy
- US Mercenaries' Botched Venezuela Raid May be Prelude to Bigger Invasion, Analyst Warns
- US Investigating Ex-Green Beret, Denies ‘Direct’ Involvement in Failed Venezuela Coup
- 'I Would Use an Army to Raid Venezuela' Trump Acknowledges
- Guaido Hired Mercenaries for a Terrorist Incursion in Venezuela
- Guaido Behind Failed Operation Against Venezuela: Maduro
- Venezuelan President Maduro: "Mike Pompeo Stop Your Arrogance"
- Venezuelan Attorney General Requests Interpol Arrest Juan Jose Rendon, Sergio Vergara and Jordan Goudreau for Their Involvement in the May 3 Mercenary Raid
- China Rejects Illegal, Violent Actions Against Venezuela, Cuba
- Venezuela Showcases Progress in the Containment of COVID-19
- Guardian Blames Trump’s Murderous US Exceptionalism on Hugo Chávez
Victory Day 75
- No fascism ever again! -- Statements from Communist and Workers' parties on the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany
- Red Army's contribution in the defeat of fascism remembered on VE Day
- On the frontlines: Red Army veteran Moritz Mebel talks about his battles against fascism
Saturday, May 9, 2020
Red Army Soldiers Throw Nazi Banners to the Ground, Moscow, June 24, 1945 -- Daily LIFT #188
Red Army Soldiers Throw Nazi Banners to the Ground, Moscow, June 24, 1945 -- Daily LIFT #188
At the end of the first Victory Day parade in Moscow in celebration of the defeat of the Nazis, Red Army soldiers threw the banners of Nazi regiments to the ground outside of Lenin's mausoleum in Red Square. The soldiers all wore gloves so that they would not actually have to touch the banners.
Today is the 75th anniversary of the USSR accepting the surrender of Nazi Germany ending the Second World War in Europe.
The Fall of the Reichstag: An eyewitness Red Army account
Written 20 years after the end of the war, this is a thrilling eyewitness account of the battle for the Reichstag in the final days of the Red Army's victory in Berlin. Its author was Vassily Subbotin who was a 24 year old lieutenant. Subbotin's father was killed in action earlier in the war in fighting in Ukraine.
The account opens with a prose poem, The Road, and then tells of the confused fighting, the terrible deaths with the war just days from ending, negotiations for the surrender of the German troops in the Reichstag, and the story of the raising of the Soviet flag over the building in victory that was preserved in one of the most famous photographs of the war.
We have included some other photos from the account as well.
Today is the 75th anniversary of Victory Day in the USSR.
Republished in 1985 this was an excerpt from a larger book, How Wars End.
Biographical details:
A poet, prose writer and translator, Vassily Subbotin was born in Siberia. His father came from a family of farmers. Both the father and the son went to the front in 1941.
Subbotin's father was killed in action on the 1st Ukrainian Front, while Vassily, then a twenty-four-year-old lieutenant, fought his way with the army into Berlin and took part in the assault of the Reichstag. It was there, during respites in the fighting, that he wrote the first sketches of his future book, How Wars End. It took him, in fact, twenty years to complete the work.
(click on scans to enalrge)
Soviet dice-bombers over Berlin
At the height of the battle
After the storming of the Reichstag
Mikhail Kantaria and Mikhail Yegorov, the men who raised the Banner of Victory
The Nazi emblem thrown down from the Reich Chancellery