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.

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 [...]

Bulgaria: Hundreds protested against the removal of Red Army monument in Sofia

Hundreds of people protested on March 9 in Sofia, Bulgaria, against the removal of a large monument dedicated to the heroic Soviet Red Army. Holding Red and Bulgarian flags, the demonstrators created a human chain around the memorial, expressing their strong opposition against the local authorities' plan to relocate it.

The capital's city council, following a proposal by the pro-EU “Democratic Bulgaria” party, has decided to dismantle the memorial and relocate it in another site outside the city center. 

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.

Ukrainian regime removed the statue of Soviet hero Nikolai Vatutin who liberated Kiev in WWII

The statue of Soviet hero Nikolai Vatunin in Kiev.

In another episode of anti-communist, anti-soviet frenzy in Ukraine, the authorities of Kiev proceeded to the removal of the monument of Nikolai Vatunin, the Soviet General who led the liberation of the Ukrainian capital from the Nazis in World War Two. 

During the Soviet offensive to retake right-bank Ukraine, Vatutin led the 1st Ukrainian Front, which was responsible for the Red Army's offensives to the west and the southwest of Kiev and the eventual liberation of the city. The removal of Vatunin's statue is another link in the chain of the so-called "de-russification" in Ukraine, an anti-communist process that identifies the Soviet Union with capitalist Russia thus leading to the demolition of Soviet-era monuments and memorials (Read: Kiev street renamed to honor neo-Nazi criminals).

Poland's shameful attempt to erase historical memory - Four Red Army memorials demolished

It's been a long time since the authorities of Poland began their attempt to erase historical memory, by slandering socialism-communism and destroying Soviet-era monuments. In this effort, the bourgeois authorities don't hesitate to demolish memorials dedicated to the heroic Red Army soldiers who fought against the monster of Nazism in the Second World War. 

On Thursday, within the framework of Russo-phobia and in an attempt to equate capitalist Russia with the Soviet Union, four more monuments in different locations across Poland were destroyed. 

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.

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?

Shameful billboard against Victory Day in New York's Times Square

The shameful billboard in New York City.

A shameful multimedia billboard appeared in Times Square, New York City, on Monday 9 May, calling the victory of the Soviet Red Army over the Nazis a "day of shame"! 

The billboard, paid by the campaign "Unite with Ukraine", was referring to Russia and the ongoing imperialist war in Ukraine. 

"MAY 9, RUSSIAN VICTORY SHAME DAY" was the message written in the billboard, provoking numerous negative comments in social media. 

KKE: Statement on the 77th anniversary of the Great Antifascist Victory of the Peoples

On 7/5/2022, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece  (KKE) issued a statement (here in Greek) on the 77th  anniversary of the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples, which notes, among other things, the following:

“The 9th of May inspires the peoples, it teaches them to have faith in their own power.

The USSR managed to achieve the feat of the anti-fascist victory thanks to the superiority of the socialist system, workers’ power, and the advantages of the socialization of the means of production and the central planning of the economy, which today are derided by the leaders of capitalist Russia (...) The workers’–people’s forces in Greece and all over the world will always commemorate the 20,000,000 Soviet soldiers and people that fell victims with admiration and respect.(...) 

Azov neo-Nazis demolish Zhukov statue in Kharkov

Neo-Nazis belonging to the Azov Battalion, supported by the Ukrainian authorities, demolished the statue of the legendary Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov in the city of Kharkov. 

The dismantling of the monument reportedly took place on Sunday 17 April. 

Koatiantyn Nemichev, an ex-combatant of the neo-Nazi Azov Regiment and head of the Kharkov branch of the National Corps, published a video of the demolition of the monument, stating that it had been dismantled by KRAKEN special forces. The video shows the statue being taken to a landfill. 

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.

Russian communists honored the Red Army anniversary

Despite the freezing temperatures and the restrictions due to the pandemic, hundreds of workers, young men and women, members and supporters of Russian Communist Parties and Communist Youth organizations honored the Day of the heroic Red Army on February 23rd.

In Moscow, people with red banners gathered at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall where they laid flowers in memory and honor of the Soviet Red Army's legendary fighters. The event was attended by a delegation of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) headed by the its Chairman Gennady Zyuganov. 

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:

Russian athletes propose Soviet song 'Katyusha' to replace the national anthem

Despite the decades of anti-communist propaganda, the memories of the Soviet Union and the immense contribution of the Red Army to the victory against fascism in WWII are still alive in capitalist Russia. 

A recent example of this is the proposal by the Russian Athletes Commission to play the famous Soviet song 'Katyusha' at international sporting events for the next two years, while Russia's national anthem is banned over doping violations. 

State vandalism in Ukraine: Lviv authorities plan to dismantle monument dedicated to the Red Army

Another disturbing episode of anti-communist frenzy comes from Ukraine as the local authorities of Lviv are planning to dismantle the city's Monument of Glory – a memorial dedicated to the heroic Red Army soldiers - by the end of February 2021.

The decision was strongly condemned by the country's communists. Petro Symonenko, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, said that the dismantling of the monument is “an act of state vandalism and moral terrorism” and added: “This is a crime against the memory of the soldiers of the Red Army, a crime against the memory of compatriots who died in the fight against the fascist infection, it is a slap in the face of the international community and all members of the anti-Hitler coalition”. 

Who saved Europe from the Nazis? The Soviet Union's triumph and the falsification of history

By Nikos Mottas.

“Anyone who loves freedom, owes such a debt to the Red Army that it can never be repaid”. This phrase of Ernest Hemingway encompasses the whole symbolism of the 9th May 1945; the day of the Great Antifascist Victory of the people. 

The day when the red flag with the sickle and hammer raised over Reichstag, in Berlin, thus marking the triumph of the Red Army and the Soviet Union over the monster of Nazism.

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.