Generals Chuikov & Gurov check the rifle of famed sniper Vassili Zaitsev at Stalingrad -- Daily LIFT #193

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.

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."

May Day Rally, Philadelphia 1935 -- Daily LIFT #191

May Day Rally, Philadelphia 1935 -- Daily LIFT #191

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

Karl Marx, poster Azerbaijan SSR 1920 -- Daily LIFT #189

Karl Marx, poster Azerbaijan SSR 1920 -- Daily LIFT #189

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.

Defend Moscow!, Soviet Great Patriotic War Poster, 1941 -- Daily LIFT #187

Defend Moscow!, Soviet Great Patriotic War Poster, 1941 -- Daily LIFT #187

Poster from the dark days of the fall of 1941 as the Red Army rallied in defense of Moscow and the fate of the world hung in the balance. Today is Victory in Europe Day in many countries while tomorrow, May 9, is Victory Day in many countries of the former USSR.

Neoliberalism, plunder and unemployment -- Cuban Poster Daily LIFT #187

Neoliberalism, plunder and unemployment -- Cuban Poster Daily LIFT #187

Neoliberalism, plunder and unemployment is the agenda of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Seven Pairs of the Clean and Seven Pairs of the Unclean, Vladimir Mayakovsky Sketch, 1919 -- Daily LIFT #186

Seven Pairs of the Clean and Seven Pairs of the Unclean, Vladimir Mayakovsky Sketch, 1919 -- Daily LIFT #186

Famed Soviet poet, writers and artist Mayakovsky did this sketch as a scene design for his revolutionary play Mystery Bouffe.  In the end the "unclean" proletariat triumphs over the "clean" bourgeoisie.

May Day, painting by Renato Guttuso -- Daily LIFT #184

May Day, painting by Renato Guttuso -- Daily LIFT #184

Guttuso (1911 - 1987) was a renowned Italian artist, anti-fascist and leftist. He was awarded a World Peace Council Prize in 1950 and the Order of Lenin in 1972.

Capitalism Also Depends On Domestic Labour, Red Women's Workshop, UK 1975 -- Daily LIFT #183

Capitalism Also Depends On Domestic Labour, Red Women's Workshop, UK 1975 -- Daily LIFT #183

Poster for the 110th anniversary of Lenin's birth, USSR 1980 -- Daily LIFT #182

Poster for the 110th anniversary of Lenin's birth, USSR 1980 -- Daily LIFT #182

Protest Against Plant Closures, New York, 1983 -- Daily LIFT #181

Protest Against Plant Closures, New York, 1983 -- Daily LIFT #181

Mao and Che dine together, China 1960 -- Daily LIFT #180

Mao and Che dine together, China 1960 -- Daily LIFT #180

Che enjoys a meal with Mao during his diplomatic trip to the People's Republic of China, late 1960.

Soviet Pin in Honour of the Centenary of Lenin's Birth, 1970 -- Daily LIFT #179

Soviet Pin in Honour of the Centenary of Lenin's Birth, 1970 -- Daily LIFT #179

Today is the 150th anniversary.

Amilcar Cabral:

We are not saying anything new. Today everybody, even the colonialists and imperialists, fully realizes that without the victorious Great October Revolution, without the establishment and consolidation of the world's first socialist state—the Soviet Union—and without the successful continuation of Lenin's cause, the oppressed peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America would have remained in the darkness of colonial slavery. The political map of the world would have looked quite different, for the anti-imperialist, national-liberation movement would not have assumed the scope and power it has today. Everybody knows that the Leninist analysis of imperialism and imperialist domination is a powerful weapon for the national-liberation movement and all forces fighting imperialism. 

Fidel Castro:

Lenin is a truly exceptional phenomenon in human life ... It is rare when in some process—and perhaps, never in the political process generally —someone's mind, thought, perspicacity were able to make such a huge contribution to the development of that process as the mind, thought and perspicacity of Lenin. 

Tim Buck:

Lenin didn't speak, or write, about the necessity for audacity in the way that Danton did but he showed his capacity for it in a greater variety of engagements and on a greater scale than the famous French revolutionist had opportunity to know of. Lenin demonstrated the decisive role of audacity in revolution more clearly and more dramatically than has any other revolutionary whose activities are recorded. The fact that so little is written about this characteristic of his is striking evidence of the fact that mankind at large, including Communists, is still discovering so much that is new in Lenin's theoretical and ideological work that admiration of his remarkable intellectual audacity attracts the main attention. The personal audacity which was the physically decisive factor in some of the greatest of his historical achievements is usually accepted as though it flowed naturally and automatically from his theoretical conclusions—come to think of it, in his case it did. That's the sort of man that he was. Lenin's personal audacity, the superficial appearance that he didn't even realize the extent of the risk involved, was the more inspiring because it was in fact always the result of conviction, arrived at by careful study, and never of unthinking recklessness. 

Yuri Gagarin with his daughters Lena and Galya, April, 1966 -- Daily LIFT #178

Yuri Gagarin with his daughters Lena and Galya, April, 1966 -- Daily LIFT #178

For more about the Soviet space program see: A look at the Soviet space program on the anniversary of Gagarin's flight

Workers volunteer for enlistment in the Red Army to fight the counterrevolution, Russia, 1918 -- Daily LIFT #176

Workers volunteer for enlistment in the Red Army to fight the counterrevolution, Russia, 1918 

-- Daily LIFT #176

Ban the Atomic Bomb, Painting, Hans Grundig GDR, 1954 -- Daily LIFT #175

Ban the Atomic Bomb, Painting, Hans Grundig GDR, 1954 -- Daily LIFT #175

Grundig (1901 - 1958) was a German artist who joined the Communist Party in 1926. Under the Nazis he was arrested multiple times and ultimately was sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1940 - 44. Amazingly he survived.

After the war he became an art professor in the German Democratic Republic. This was one of his last major works.

The Red Army's First Cavalry Regiment Passing Through Petrograd, 1918 -- Daily LIFT #174

The Red Army's First Cavalry Regiment Passing Through Petrograd, 1918 -- Daily LIFT #174

Red Army Soldiers Hoist the Red Banner over Liberated Vienna, 1945 -- Daily LIFT #173

Red Army Soldiers Hoist the Red Banner over Liberated Vienna, 1945 -- Daily LIFT #173

The Red Army liberated Vienna 75 years ago today.

You can read more about this at: Vienna Liberated by the Red Army, April 13, 1945