On May 9, 1945, in occupied Berlin by the Red Army, the Nazis signed their surrender to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, putting an end to World War II or the Great Patriotic War.
On June 22, 1941, the Nazis invaded Soviet borders and arrived at the gates of Moscow mobilizing about 4.5 million soldiers with the support of 600,000 vehicles, 750,000 horses and about 2,700 aircraft (more than half of the German air force). Forced to retreat because of the resistance, the new Nazi strategy aimed at taking control of Stalingrad, where in July 1942 the most cruel and violent battle of the whole war began.
The Red Army and the armed people resisted against the conquest of every block, every street, every house, every room. Workers’ militias were formed. One of the stages of this heroic struggle was the tractor factory where the workers entered the fight against heavily armed invading troops. On February 2, 1943, Stalingrad was liberated.
When the Red Army was already advancing to the capital of the Nazi state, Hitler commits suicide, on April 30 and May 9, 1945, the Germans accept the surrender to the Soviets.
This was a decisive strategic victory for the future of mankind. It changed the global correlation of forces in favor of workers and peoples and has boosted national liberation movements and decolonization. It was on this historic track that, on October 3, 1945, the World Federation of Trade Unions was founded.
However, 73 years after that date, the threat of a new World War hovers over international relations. US imperialism and its allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) promote conflicts that seriously threaten world peace and make, in old and new forms, fascism and intolerance grow in various forms.
The WFTU salutes the anniversary of this epopee by reaffirming its commitment to the defense of world peace, the rights of the peoples, in particular the working class while being convinced of the socialist perspective as the future for humanity.
Long live the 9 of May of 1945, victory day of the Soviet Union over nazism and fascism!
Those servants of exploitation and imperialism who nowadays try to re-write historical facts on slanders and lies, must fail.
Eternal reverence for the millions of soldiers, for the men and women who fell on this mission for Humanity!
The Secretariat
