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| Monument to the Red Army Soldiers Who Died Defending the Caucuses, Gagra, USSR 1966 |
May 8th and 9th (in much of Eastern Europe) are celebrated around the world as the days on which victory was proclaimed against Nazi Germany after the terrible devastation and sacrifices of the Second World War.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of that triumph and internationally the threat of fascism is rising again. There are also ongoing attempts to whitewash the fascist and collaborationist past by many nationalist groups in Europe.This has been combined with a grotesque effort to equate communism with Nazism.
75 Communist and Workers' parties signed a joint statement in honour of the anniversary which is shared here in full. There are also excerpts from statements by parties in Ukraine, the Netherlands, Iran and Austria
In the name of freedom, peace and truth — Against fascism and war: Joint statement of over 75 Communist and Workers' Parties
The victory over Nazi-fascism in the Second World War is a major event in history, the memory of which must be preserved and defended in the face of repeated attempts at historical falsification aimed at making us forget the decisive role played by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, by the communists and by anti-fascists from around the world.
Generated by capitalism, Nazi-fascism was the most violent and terroristic manifestation of monopoly capital. It was responsible for the outbreak of this war of aggression and plunder that caused close to 75 million deaths, of which approximately 27 million were Soviet citizens, and for the immeasurable suffering and horror of the Nazi concentration camps. The peoples can also not forget dark pages, such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the USA, without any military justification, which represented a display of power and of their world-wide hegemonistic ambitions.
The Second World War (1939-1945) was the result of increasingly acute inter-imperialist contradictions and, at the same time, of the intention to destroy the first Socialist State, the USSR, which was namely expressed in the support and connivance of the United Kingdom, France and the United States with the rearmament and expansionist ambition of Nazi Germany.
In commemorating the 75th anniversary of the historic Victory on May 9, 1945, the undersigned communist and workers' parties, certain in the knowledge that they portray the feelings and aspirations of workers and peoples from all over the world:
- Pay tribute to all those who gave their lives on the battlefields against the Nazi-fascist hordes and in particular to the heroism of the resistance movements and anti-fascist fighters and to the heroic Soviet people and Red Army, led by the Communist Party, whose contribution, written in heroic pages such as the battles of Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad, was decisive for the Victory over barbarism;
- Consider that the Victory over Nazi Germany and its allies in the Anti-Comintern Pact was achieved thanks to the decisive contribution of the USSR, to the class nature of the Soviet power with the participation of the masses of the people, to the leading role of the Communist Party, to the superiority which was displayed by the Socialist system. That victory is an enormous historical legacy of the revolutionary movement;
- Value the outstanding advances in the social and national emancipation of the workers and peoples that the Victory and the resulting advancement of the forces of social progress and peace made possible, extending the sphere of socialism within the countries of Europe, Asia and Latin America, creating the conditions for the advance of the labour movement in capitalist countries, the sweeping development of the national liberation movement and the resulting liquidation of colonial empires;
- Denounce and condemn the campaigns that aim to belittle, distort and even deny, the role of the USSR and of the communists in the defeat of Nazi-fascism and also to unjustly and falsely blame the Soviet Union for starting the Second World War, to expunge the responsibilities of big capital and the governments at its service in the promotion and rise of fascism and in unleashing the war, and whitewash and rehabilitate fascism, while destroying the monuments and memory of the liberating Soviet army, promoting anti-communism and criminalizing communists and other anti-fascists;
- Denounce and condemn the EU’s anti-communist resolutions and the slanderous historical falsification which attempts to equate socialism with the fascist monster;
- Warn that the most reactionary and aggressive sectors of imperialism are increasingly viewing fascism and war as a “way out” of the deepening crisis of the capitalist system, whose inhuman character becomes particularly obvious when, even in the face of the very serious epidemic outbreak of Covid-19, imperialism, the USA, NATO, the EU and its allies capitalist powers, continue a criminal policy of blockades and aggressions against countries and peoples;
- Consider that the struggle for peace, social progress and socialism are inseparable; and make a commitment to seek a stronger common action of the working class, of the workers and peoples of the world, of the political forces engaged in blocking the path to fascism and in the struggle against imperialism, imperialist aggressions and a new war of tragic proportions.
The situation with which the workers and peoples of the world are confronted underlines the importance of strengthening the struggle against imperialism, for the sovereignty of the peoples and the independence of States, for the rights of the workers and peoples, as leading forward to the revolutionary overcoming of the capitalist system, a system which breeds fascism, war, the injustices, dangers and contradictions of the present. As it was 75 years ago, it is today the struggle of the communists and all those facing capitalist exploitation and oppression that will open the way for the future for Humanity.
75 years since the liberation - Statement of the New Communist Party of the Netherlands (excerpt)
Communists took the lead in the armed struggle and dangerous missions, such as acts of sabotage and liquidations. For this reason, thousands of CPN-members were executed, or met their ends in concentration camps. The names of members of the CPN, such as HannieSchaft, Jan Bonekamp and many others, became symbols of the resistance through their heroic struggle.
Communists were at the forefront of the resistance in all of Europe, not just in the Netherlands. The heroic demeanour displayed by communists was the result of communist ideals and praxis, the collective struggle, solidarity, camaraderie and trust in the strength of common working-class people. For this reason, the pre-war dealings of the CPN and its close ties with the working class, established through the class struggle, were of crucial importance for the latter resistance in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands were liberated by English, American and Canadian troops. We must, however, not forget that, on the other side of Europe, the Soviet Union and the Red Army gave the decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazi-Germany.
The anticommunist distortion of history propagated by bourgeois political parties and the EU, which hushes up the role of the CPN in the resistance, which attempts to equate fascism and communism, which goes as far as to state that the Soviet Union shares responsibility for the outbreak of World War II, is extremely dangerous. With this narrative, they conceal the causes and true character of fascism and war.
We pay homage to the members of the CPN and the other resistance fighters
who fought the fascist occupation.
Not then, not now, no fascism ever again!
The statement on The 75th anniversary of VE Day! - Tudeh Party of Iran (Excerpt)
On May 9th, amidst the global health crisis emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic, falls a major anniversary… For it was on this day, 75 years ago, that the Victory over Nazi Germany was secured thus ending World War II in Europe. This Victory was the culmination of combined counter-offensives by the Soviet Red Army and partisan units, who turned around the Nazi war machine in the East and changed the course of the war; the Allies; and the resistance movements across Europe, during the latter part of 1944 and into the spring of 1945.
The Second World War was instigated for the purpose of world domination by the Axis powers - an alliance of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan, and their collaborators. Aggression by the Nazi-Fascist Axis was driven by a cold economic reasoning; a need to re-divide the world and redraw the lines laid down by the other imperialist powers - namely Britain, France, and the emerging United States - and thus resolve the drive for profit by big business in Germany, Italy, and Japan. Of course, the defeat and bringing down of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the other main objective, one from which all of the imperialist powers would have benefited. However, after over 50-million deaths - more than 20 million of which accounted for Soviet citizens alone - and utter devastation wrought to countries around the world, the Axis powers were defeated and the Soviet Union gloriously prevailed thanks to the heroic resistance and steadfastness of its people and armed forces.
The Tudeh Party of Iran was actually established as an anti-fascist party in the midst of the WWII, on 2nd October 1941, by communist prisoners released after the removal of Reza Shah by the Allies that September, owing to the preponderance and orientation of him and his administration towards Nazi Germany. Indeed, at that time, the state and its apparatus were awash with pro-Nazi collaborators and those advocating for Iran’s alignment with the Axis powers. Thus, in the early years after its formation, our Party’s driving focus was the fight against any vestige of fascism and Nazism in Iran. The Party began publishing the “Anti-Fascist Mardom (People)” newspaper to educate and organise the masses in fight against the Nazi hordes that, within a year, were pushing towards the Caucasus adjacent to the country’s borders with the Soviet Union. This activity continued until the end of the war and laid the ground for a shift towards progressive policies in Iran over the years that followed.
The Victory over Fascism heralded a new era in the establishment and spread of socialism around the world. A wave of national liberation movements against the empires of Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands - as well as that of the newly-emerged and emboldened power; the US - began, and was strongly supported by the Soviet Union and the newly-formed socialist states in Eastern Europe.
On the momentous occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Victory over Fascism in Europe, the Tudeh Party of Iran applauds and salutes the memory of all those who stood and fell in the struggle against the Axis powers and their collaborators.
75 years since liberation from fascism and foreign rule - Party of Labour of Austria (Excerpt)
May 8 and 9 are the anniversaries of the unconditional surrender of Germany in the Second World War. These days meant 1945, 75 years ago, the end of historical German fascism, of its war of extermination and its crimes. At the same time, they marked the Great Antifascist Victory of the Peoples. The Party of Labour of Austria highlights the following points on the 75th anniversary:
- May 8 and 9, 1945 were days of liberation. We oppose any view which seeks to reinterpret the end of the Second World War as a defeat for the Austrian people, whether on the basis of historical revisionist, revanchist, anti-communist, German nationalist, pan-Germanist or even fascist attitudes.
- May 8 and 9 brought down the fascist system of rule - and with it, terror and persecution, mass murder and genocide. The victims of these crimes will never be forgotten. We remember the murdered Jews, Roma, religious and ethnic minorities, homosexuals, war opponents and pacifists, politically persecuted and opponents of German fascism. We oppose racism and anti-Semitism, nationalism and chauvinism, xenophobia, discrimination and intolerance.
Victory Day 9th of May - Communist Party of Ukraine (Excerpt)
Dear comrades!
Please accept congratulations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine with the 75th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, which saved the USSR, Europe and the whole world from the threat of fascist slavery and genocide.
The tragedy of that terrible war is the main lesson of the twentieth century. It serves as a reminder to everyone about what leads to indifference and compromise with the Nazis. But it also demonstrated the unique example of the military fraternity of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Accept our tribute to the courage of the soldiers of the allied armies, who together with the Red Army fought against fascism and broke the back of the Nazi beast. Let us bow before the strength of spirit of the generation of Victors, who won the the greatest military battle for peace, for the prosperity of the peoples and countries of the world community.
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