Joint statement signed by a number of Communist and Workers’ Parties, including the Communist Party of Canada
The liberation of Berlin by Soviet troops in May 1945, marks the victory of the peoples in World War II and the defeat of Nazi-fascism – the most violent form of class domination generated by capitalism and the direct cause of the war and of the death of tens of millions of human beings.
The decisive role in the victory of May 9, 1945 was played by the Soviet Union, its people and Red Army, under the leadership of its Communist Party. It was on the Eastern Front that the major battles which determined the outcome of World War II were fought. To mark the 70th anniversary of the Victory is to recall and celebrate the heroism, the courage and determination of millions of Soviet men and women who, at the cost of enormous sacrifice and of over 27 million dead, resisted and fought, giving a decisive contribution to the defeat of the Nazi-fascist barbarity. To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Victory is to remember and praise the heroism, courage and determination of millions of other resistance fighters and anti-fascist strugglers from all over the world who dedicated and committed their lives to the struggle for Victory.
Nazi-fascism was a brutal instrument of big capital to impose its rule, when confronted with the profound crisis of capitalism which followed World War I, in particular after the big crisis of 1929 and the repercussions of the October Revolution. Anti-communism was always a defining trait of Nazi-fascism. Everywhere, the working-class and popular movements, and especially the Communists, were its first victims. Everywhere, the Communists were in the front ranks of the resistance to fascism and were at the vanguard of the mass and armed resistance which led to the liberation.
Today, the resurgence of the fascist threat and the danger of a new war of great proportions are real and growing. Again, in the context of an ever deeper crisis of capitalism – which results from its irreconcilable contradictions – big capital is attempting to emerge from the crisis by force, imposing brutal levels of exploitation and attacking the peoples' sovereignty and the independence of States on all continents. The big imperialist powers attempt to impose their world-wide hegemony by military means, multiplying their wars of aggression. Ukraine is living the consequences of fascist action, with the active support of the USA and the European Union – and of their military wing, NATO. In the name of “the struggle against Communism”, revisionism and historical forgery, with the shameless equation between fascism and Communism, are leading to a rehabilitation of fascism.
It is therefore of crucial importance to recall the lessons of history, to remember the crimes of Nazi-fascism, its class nature and the complicities which gave rise to its ascent. The tragedy of World War II must not be forgotten, so that another catastrophe may be prevented.
The undersigned Communist and Workers' Parties call upon the workers and the peoples of the whole world to develop their liberating struggle, to make the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-fascism into a powerful assertion of unity and struggle for peace, and against the threat of fascism and war, which is rooted in capitalism and which represents a danger to humanity, and for democracy, social progress and socialism.
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(The above article is from the May 16-31, 2015, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)
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