Vladimir Podgorbunsky: The bandit who became a Hero of the Soviet Union

The trials and tribulations that befall people during the war can change their lives forever. War brings tragedy and tears, but it can also be a turning point that inspires courage and heroism. A striking example of such a transformation is the amazing story of Vladimir Podgorbunsky, a former criminal from Chita.

Born in the Irkutsk region, Vladimir Podgorbunsky lost his father soon after his birth, and then tragically lost his mother, leaving him in the care of an orphanage . To survive, he became a thief and quickly became a leader among the inmates of the orphanage. He was sent to a juvenile colony at the age of 18, from where he repeatedly escaped, continuing to lead a life of crime.

Reactionary Ukrainian authorities remove sickle and hammer from giant WWII statue in Kiev

In another attempt to re-write history and guided by blind anti-communism, the Ukrainian authorities proceeded to the removal of the hammer and sickle from a gigantic sculptural figure that watches over Kiev, as part of a campaign to remove Soviet-era symbols.

The 62-metre-high steel figure of a woman holding a shield with the hammer and sickle and a sword, was opened in 1981 as a memorial to Soviet victory in World War II.

Estonia's "Institute of Historical Memory" shamefully falsifies WW2 history, promotes anti-communism

In an effort to re-write history, the so-called “Estonian Institute of Historical Memory” (Eesti Mälu Instituut/ EIHM), an anti-communist institution, in collaboration with the German Embassy in Tallinn, has launched since 2018 a “Summer School” focusing on “the history of crimes against humanity and human rights violations during and after the Second World War.

Promoting anti-communism and the distortion of history, EIHM tries to equate the Soviet Union – the major liberation force in WW2 – with Nazi Germany!!! More specifically, in the website of EIHM's “Summer School” someone can read the following:

 

The KKE honors the 9th of May, Day of the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples

Members and friends of the KKE in Berlin's Treptower Park.

The Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement on the 9th of May, Day of the People's Great Anti-fascist Victory, which notes, among other things, the following:

"World War II, like World War I, was the result of imperialist rivalries for the new division of markets, territories and spheres of influence, as well as their sharpening in conditions of capitalist economic crisis [...]

Remembering the Khatyn Massacre in Belarus

80 years passed since the massacre at the Byelorussian village of Khatyn, perpetrated by the Nazis and their Ukrainian fascist collaborators. 149 people, including 75 children, were brutally murdered. 

 

The heinous crime was committed by the Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118, composed primarily of Ukrainian fascists, assisted by the Dirlewanger Waffen-SS special battalion. 

European Communist Initiative: Statement on the 80th Anniversary of the Heroic Battle of Stalingrad

In a statement on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the heroic and decisive victory of the Soviet Red Army against Nazi Germany in Stalingrad, the Secretariat of the European Communist Initiative stresses out:

"This year marks the 80th anniversary of the great Battle of Stalingrad, which was of decisive importance and contribution to the Antifascist Victory of the Peoples, and to the class struggle overall.

Stalin bust unveiled in Volgograd to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Stalingrad victory

A new bust of Soviet leader Josef Stalin has been unveiled in the Russian city of Volgograd ahead of Wednesday's 80th anniversary of the Red Army's victory over Nazi invaders in one of the most significant battles of World War Two.

The bust is flanked by two others - legendary Soviet commanders Georgy Zhukov and Alexander Vasilyevsky - beside the Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad - Volgograd's name from 1925 to 1961, the local news outlet V1.RU reported on Tuesday. 

Stalin never allied with Hitler: The Truth about the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

 By Nikos Mottas.

"If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible...”

- Harry Truman, 1941.

Since the end of the Second World War, the bourgeois historiography has tried to distort various incidents in order to vilify Socialism and the USSR. One of these incidents- which has been a "banner" of imperialism's apologists and other anticommunists- is the so-called “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact” which was signed in 1939. In it's unscientific, unhistorical effort to equate Communism with Nazism, the bourgeois propaganda presents the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact as a medium of expansive policy by the USSR and Hitler's Germany. The distortion of historical events, the amalgamation of lies and the half-truths by the Imperialists and their collaborators aim in defaming the huge role of the Soviet Union in the anti-fascist struggle of WW2.

European Communist Initiative: 9th May, a milestone of the Great Antifascist Victory of the Peoples

In a statement about the 77th anniversary of the Great Antifascist Victory of the Peoples, the 9th of May, the Secretariat of the Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties issued the following statement:

We proudly commemorate 9 May, a milestone of the Great Antifascist Victory of the Peoples. We pay tribute to the millions of people who sacrificed their lives, fought with guns in their hands, and struggled against the fascist imperialist Axis of Germany–Italy–Japan and their allies. 

EAM: Notes on Greece's National Liberation Front

 By Nikos Mottas.

The 27th of September marked the 80th anniversary of the foundation of EAM, Greece's National Liberation Front, which played the leading role in the struggle against the country's Axis occupation. The major force behind the foundation, organization and activity of EAM was the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) which led the popular, anti-fascist struggle during the 1941-1944 period. 

Stalin did not deport German communists to Hitler

By Grover Furr.

A critique of an essay by Alex de Jong in Jacobin magazine, August 2021.

In August 2021, the social-democratic magazine Jacobin published an article by Dutch writer Alex de Jong titled “Stalin Handed Hundreds of Communist Over to Hitler”. The assertion in the article’s title is false. De Jong’s article, and other articles and books that make this claim, all commit the following three cardinal errors:

Last surviving Soviet soldier who participated in Auschwitz liberation dies at 98

David Dushman, the last surviving Soviet soldier involved in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, has died at the age of 98.

In January 1945, Red Army tank driver David Dushman saw Auschwitz survivors stagger out of the concentration camp, amidst the dead victims of Nazi terror. "They staggered out of the barracks, sat and lay among the dead," Dushman told the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper six years ago.

The memory of the Antifascist Victory does not fade away — Socialism is the future!

Statement by the Secretariat of the European Communist Initiative for the 76th anniversary of the Great Antifascist Victory of the Peoples and the defeat of Nazism. The statement reads:

76 years ago, the Red Army raised the Red Flag in the Reichstag, marking the Great Antifascist Victory of the Peoples and the defeat of Nazism. That was a fierce and bloody struggle, led by the Soviet Union with the decisive contribution of many anti-fascist, partisan movements, with the Communist Parties at the forefront.

Pablo Neruda — Song of Love to Stalingrad (1942)

Pablo Neruda, the emblematic communist Chilean poet and diplomat — one of the 20th century's most influential Latin American cultural figures — was significantly inspired by the heroism of the Soviet people in the Second World War. He was particularly impressed by the brave struggle of the defenders of Stalingrad in a battle that played a decisive role in the outcome of the war. 

In 1942, Pablo Neruda wrote the "Song of Love to Stalingrad" (Canto de Amor a Stalingrado), praising the bravery of the Red Army and the Soviet people. What follows is a English translation of this extroardinary poem:

Slovak communists denounce their exclusion from official event honoring WW2 resistance

Every year Slovakia celebrates the armed insurrection organized by the Slovak resistance movement against the Nazis and their collaborators during the Second World War. 

The known as Slovak National Uprising (SNP), in which the communists played a decisive role being the main organizers of the anti-fascist struggle, was launched on 29 August 1944 from Banská Bystrica.

This year, the authorities of the Slovak National Uprising Museum, which organizes the annual memorial events, decided to exclude the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS) from participating in the official commemoration event for the 76th anniversary. For this decision, the SNP Museum invoked the COVID-19 pandemic situation and the fact that the event, scheduled for August 28-29, would be held as an "apolitical event" with limited participation. 

EU and 'Black Ribbon Day': The anti-communist falsification of history shall not pass!

By Nikos Mottas.

Once again the European Union resorts to hideous anti-communism on the occasion of the so-called “European Day of Remembrance for victims of Stalinism and Nazism” (known as "Black Ribbon Day" which is observed annually on August 23rd. 

In a joint statement, the vice-president of the EU Commission Vera Jourova and the EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders reproduce the same old anti-communist slanders about the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Without any respect for history, the EU officials reproduce the blatant lie about the supposed “alliance between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany”. 

Belarus’ white and red flag: A symbol of Nazi collaborationists and counterrevolution

A characteristic of the recent Belarus protests is the use by the demonstrators of the white-red flag. Shortly after the announcement of the elections’ result on August 9th, the streets of Minsk flooded with opposition-backed protestors waving white-red flags. 

But what is the actual meaning of the Belarusian white-red flag and what’s the history behind it?

It was used for the first time by the short-lived anti-Bolshevik Belarusian National Republic (BNR) between March 1918 and February 1919. During the interwar period, it was occasionally used by political and non-political organizations, including the conservative Belarusian Christian Democracy (1927). 

Hiroshima-Nagasaki: Statement of the KKE for the 75 years since the nuclear holocaust

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary since the dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. military, the Press Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement.

The statement, published in 902 portal, is as follows:

"Seventy-five years have passed since the United States committed one of the most barbaric crimes against humanity – on August 6th in Hiroshima and a few days later, on August 9th in Nagasaki – by dropping for the first time the atomic bomb resulting to hundreds of thousands victims and many more in the following years due to the radioactivity effects. 

Aris Velouchiotis: The soul of Greek Resistance

Today, June 16th, marks the 75th anniversary since the death of the iconic Greek communist guerrilla Aris Velouchiotis. A member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and First Captain of the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) during World War Two, Velouchiotis is a leading personality of the Greek Resistance against the Axis occupation. 

Aris Velouchiotis, whose real name was Thanasis Klaras, Born in Lamia to a wealthy family on August 27, 1905, Aris studied at Larisa’s Averoff Agricultural School and worked briefly as an agronomist. 

Moving to Athens, he became a member of the Communist Youth (OKNE) in 1922 and a member of the KKE in 1925. Due to his radical, communist views he was sent to Kalpaki Disciplinary Platoon, an army camp where communist soldiers were imprisoned and tortured. 

75th Anniversary of the Victory over Nazis: Joint Statement of Communist and Workers' Parties

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the historic Victory of May 9, 1945, Communist and Workers' Parties from all over the world issued a joint statement, pointing out the following:

In the name of freedom, peace and truth — Against fascism and war.

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.