Latvian workers refuse to demolish Soviet memorial

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org/Александр Тимофеев

A few days ago we wrote about the despicable decision of the Latvian authorities to dismantle Soviet monuments, including the memorial complex dedicated to the country's liberation by the Red Army in Riga. 

News source from the Baltic country reported that workers refused to dismantle Soviet-era monuments in the eastern Balvi region. 

Like many other memorials of Soviet heritage, the monument that is dedicated to the partisans of the Red Army in the Balvi region is planned to be dismantled and transferred to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. According to a statement by the chairman of the regional Duma, Sergei Maksimov, local workers refuse to do this.

Sweden's Communist Party condemns the extradition of Kurdish fighters to Turkey

In a statement published in its official gazette “Riktpunkt” (here in Swedish), the Communist Party of Sweden (SKP) condemns the extradition of Kurdish fighters from Sweden to Turkey. The SKP also reiterates its strong opposition to Sweden's accession in NATO.

“In their effort to join NATO, Sweden's bourgeoisie and its social democratic government reject everything related to human rights. Sweden's social democratic government entered into a deplorable agreement with Turkey to extradite Kurdish communists and other fighters who have lived in Sweden for years and received asylum to escape Turkey's oppression and death threats”, points out the SKP. 

KKE: "Hands off the anti-fascist monuments of Europe”

“The Red Army's antifascist Victory cannot be erased! Hands off the anti-fascist monuments of Europe” points out a statement of the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) concerning the dismantling of the Soviet monument in Riga, Latvia on 23 August. More specifically, the statement (here in Greek) reads: 

“The decision of the authorities of Latvia and the city of Riga to destroy the entire complex of the anti-fascist monument, which was located in a central part of the Latvian capital and related to the liberation of Riga from the fascist invaders, is another step towards the rewriting of history. It took place in a country where anti-communist persecutions are practiced and which has already proceeded to the justification of the Nazi collaborators, the Nazi “legions” which officially parade ever year. 

The Shame of the Baltics: Latvia, Estonia dismantle Red Army memorials

Following the overthrow of Socialism in the beginning of the 1990s, the bourgeois governments in the former Soviet Republics of the Baltic region (namely Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) engaged in long-term anti-communist, anti-soviet campaigns. The activity of Communist Parties was prohibited, communist symbols were banned and socialist-era monuments were destroyed.

In a recent episode of this anti-communist hysteria, Latvian authorities decided to proceed to the the dismantling of a 1985 memorial dedicated to the Red Army. As a pretext for this shameful act the Latvian government used the Russian invasion in Ukraine! The first question that comes to our mind is: What does the ongoing war in Ukraine have to do with the Soviet Red Army? What kind of relation does capitalist Russia have with the Soviet Union?

Venezuela's Communist Party denounces "shameful attacks" by PSUV leader Cabello

Caracas, 23-08-2022- This Monday, during its press conference, the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) qualified as shameful the attacks maintained by the Vice President of the PSUV, Diosdado Cabello, against the Communist Party of Venezuela through the Venezuelan State media.

"You lash out against the Communist Party of Venezuela and against our General Secretary using your position of power and from your economic well-being, taking advantage of the State media, without allowing us a right to reply to your excessive and euphoric attack",said Carlos Lazo, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the PCV. 

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.

Danish communists mourn the death of Bo Moeller

Bo Moeller, long time cadre of the Communist Party in Denmark (KPiD) who served as international secretary, has died following a cardiac arrest at the age of 68.

According to a communique issued by the KPiD (Kommunistisk Parti i Danmark), Moeller was a loyal, faithful, devoted and intelligent comrade. 

Bo has been a organized communist for 50 years. First in the youth party, then the student organization and then again the party and participated in starting the Communist Forum in 1991 and later on our present party, KPiD.

Palmiro Togliatti: The International Significance of the October Revolution

For a Lasting Peace, for a People's Democracy!" Vol. 2, no. 21; November 1, 1948 via marxists.org.

 

By Palmiro Togliatti,

Nearly a third of a century has passed since Soviet Power was established. Since November 1917, 31 years have gone by in the course of which mankind and the peoples of capitalist Europe in particular, have passed through a period of acute economic and political crises, through bitter battles between the forces of democracy and peace and the forces of reaction and war.

India - Bilkis Bano case: Communists vehemently condemn the release of rapists and murderers

Bilkis Bano was five-months pregnant when she was attacked by a Hindu mob in 2002 as anti-Muslim violence gripped the western Indian state of Gujarat. Bano, then 21 years old, was gang-raped by sword-wielding men from her neighborhood. Fourteen of her family members were killed, including her 3-year-old daughter, who was snatched from her arms and bashed against a rock.

A few days ago, on the 15th of August, 11 men serving a life sentence for the crimes were released from prison on remission by the Gujarat state government, sparking widespread outrage and an emotional appeal for justice from Bano. 

The 1968 Prague Spring — Counterrevolution as the “Trojan Horse” of Imperialism

By Nikos Mottas

 

It was August 1968, in the capital of the Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia, Prague, where the internationalist solidarity of the Warsaw Pact countries crushed one of the most significant counterrevolutionary efforts of the Cold War era. The events in Prague consist a milestone in the struggle of the socialist world against imperialism. At the same time, the then events continue serving as a source of anticommunist propaganda by various bourgeois and opportunist forces.

For many decades, the bourgeois historiography- supported by opportunists and counterrevolutionaries (trotskyites, eurocommunists, social democrats, etc.) refers to the “soviet tanks” which, as they argue, “drowned Prague in blood” thus ending prematurely the effort for a “socialism with a human face”.

10th anniversary of Marikana massacre: Statement by the South African Communist Party

On the 10th anniversary of the Marikana tragedy, the South African Communist Party (SACP) reiterates its call for workers and trade unions to unite with each other and together wage the common struggles against exploitation by capitalist bosses and for a capable and accountable democratic developmental state.

The SACP, once again, conveys its message of sincere condolences and solidarity to all the families of the workers who were killed before, during and after that tragic day, 16 August 2012, to the workers who were victimised, attacked and displaced, and to all the women workers who were sexually abused and raped. 

Israel: Communists protested against new Gaza attack

Photo: Zo Haderech.

Protests were held in several locations across Israel last Saturday 6 August against the Israel Defense Forces’ deadly operation ongoing in Gaza, launched a day earlier. 

 

Protests were held in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Shefa-amr, Umm el-Fahm, Sakhnin, Rahat, Kufr Yasif, Jaffa, Taibe and opposite the house of Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Tel Aviv.

At a protest in Haifa, Joint List chairman MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) said: “A round [of fighting] brings another round, more killing and more resistance. The circle of horror needs to stop. We came out to protest together for the only way that will benefit both nations – real negotiations to end the occupation, founding a Palestinian state alongside Israel and a just peace.”

Sri Lanka protest leader Joseph Stalin released on bail

Sri Lanka trade union leader, General Secretary of Ceylon Teachers Union, Joseph Stalin who was arrested on August 3 has been released on bail.

Upon his release on Monday 8 August, Stalin told reporters that Sri Lanka’s youth-led Aragalaya (Struggle) protests will continue against what he called the suppressive actions of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government.

Sweden Elections: SKP election campaign in full swing

The electoral campaign is underway in Sweden, with the comrades of the Communist Party (SKP) being in the streets and residential areas thus spreading the message of the class struggle.

According to Riktpunkt, the official newspaper of SKP, members and friends of the Party in various cities, such as Uppsala, Sveg and Burlov, distribute flyers and talk to the people in working class neighborhoods and places of labour. 

KKE expresses solidarity with Cuba's Communist Party and people in face of Matanzas fire

On the occasion of the disastrous fire at the oil facility in Matanzas, the International Relations Section of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) sent a solidarity message to the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). As Rizospastis reports, the message reads:

“Dear Comrades,

Please convey to the Central Committee of the PCC, the government and the people of Cuba our internationalist solidarity for the large fire and destruction caused by powerful lightning at the Matanzas oil facilities.   

Hiroshima Child — Poem by Nazim Hikmet

The poem "Hiroshima Child" (The Little Girl), written by Turkish communist poet Nazim Hikmet in 1956, is a reference to the horror of the most barbaric crimes of the 20th century — the dropping of the atomic bomb by U.S imperialists in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 respectively. 

The actual aim of the imperialist crime was to intimidate the peoples, to send a “message” to the Soviet Union and to the rising communist movement, as World War II had in fact already ended and the use of nuclear weapons didn’t play a role in its outcome. 

KKE: On the tension between the USA and China

In a statement about the recent escalation of tension between the United States and China over the visit of Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) points out (here in Greek):

“The recent visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives in Taiwan, the mobilization of US military forces and the broader tension in the Indo-Pacific, are links in the chain of the dangerous competition between USA and China for the primacy in the global capitalist system. 

Ho Chi Minh's bust to be erected in Greece

A bust in honor of the Vietnamese communist revolutionary and statesman Ho Chi Minh will be erected in the northern Greek town of Edessa, Greece's Foreign Minister announced on Monday during an official visit in Hanoi.

Following a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son, Greek Minister Nikos Dendias wrote on Twitter: “President Ho Chi Minh, the founder of Vietnam, fought on the Macedonian Front in the period ‘16-'17 serving in the French army. We, therefore, agreed that a bust of him should be erected in Edessa to highlight this fact”.

PCV denounces British court ruling that endorses the theft of Venezuelan gold by Guaidó

In a statement issued on June 29th the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) stresses out:

 

"The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) expresses its energetic repudiation of the recent judgment of the High Court of London in favor of the administration of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) illegitimately appointed by Juan Guaidó with regard to the custody of the gold property of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, deposited in the Bank of England.

Thoughts prompted by the film "The Young Karl Marx"

By Nikos Mottas.

“Der junge Karl Marx” (The Young Karl Marx) is a historical drama that covers the revolutionary, theoretical and political activity of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the period from 1843 to 1847. This is the period when Marx and Engels began the joint work which became the foundation of the scientific worldview of the proletariat.

Within the limited framework of a film, Raoul Peck tries his best in order to present both the rich theoretical work of the two revolutionary thinkers as well as their militant activity. Despite the difficulty of the task the director uses effectively the powerful tools provided by cinema as a means of disseminating ideas. 

Iraq Crisis: Communist Party calls for early elections organised by an independent interim government

The Iraqi Communist Party has called for the organisation of fair and honest early elections that express the true will of the Iraqi people, to be organised by an independent interim government.

The Political Bureau of the party said in a statement that it issued yesterday, 27th July 2022: "At a time when the repercussions of the political impasse and their negative repercussions on the stability of the country and people's lives and livelihoods are intensifying, we hold the forces that still adhere to ethno-sectarian power-sharing as a system for managing the state fully responsible. 

Brazil presidential election: Meet the Communist Party candidates Sofia Manzano and Antônio Alves

The Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) has presented its pre-candidates for the presidential election of October 2nd. Sofia Manzano, professor and economist, is the presidential nominee and Antonio Alves, trade unionist, has been selected as the candidate vice president. 

 

The PCB candidates have presented an anti-capitalist political program while engaging in dialogue with workers throughout Brazil about their needs and demands. 

Russia: Communist local deputy fined for appealing to Putin for peace

On May 27th, Communist lawmakers in Russia's far east Primorye region expressed their disagreement over the imperialist war in Ukraine and called President Vladimir Putin to end the military campaign (read here).

We demand the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. We demand an end to military action”, legislative assembly member Leonid Vasyukevich had said during a session. Vasyukevich, member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) back then, said continuing Russia’s three-month campaign in Ukraine “would lead to an imminent increase in military deaths and injuries.” "During a military operation, people become disabled. These are young people who could be of great use to our country," he added.  

Italy: Massive rally in Piacenza against the persecution of trade unionists

With a massive demonstration held in Piacenza, in Italy's northern region of Emilia Romagna, thousands of workers, men and women, people of every age, demanded the release of the eight trade unionists of Si Cobas and USB who remain under house arrest.

The trade unionists were placed under house arrest and searched on July 19th, based on a 350-page indictment of the Piacenza Public Prosecutor’s Office against USB and Si Cobas unions.