Ukraine's decommunization and the rise of fascism

By Nikos Mottas.

The process of the so-called “decommunization” in Ukraine was introduced during the first years of the restoration of capitalism in the USSR and included the slandering and erasing of anything related to the Soviet period and the construction of socialism.

This term was also used by the President of today's capitalist Russia, Vladimir Putin, in his anti-communist statement prior to the invasion, saying characteristically that “we are ready to show you what genuine decommunization means for Ukraine”. It is not a coincidence that anti-communism is a common feature of both the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev as well as the leadership of capitalist Russia, at a time when the two sides are waging a bloody war against the people on behalf of their bourgeois classes.

Jean-Jacques Marie vs Grover Furr on Joseph Stalin

Jean-Jacques Marie and Grover Furr.

In December 2021, British journal "Historical Materialism" published reviews of two books ("Yezhov vs Stalin" and "Khrushchev Lied") written by American professor Grover Furr. The reviews are signed by French historian, specialized on Soviet History, Jean-Jacques Marie. 

According to professor Furr, "Historical Materialism" declined to publish his answer to Marie's reviews which, as he states, "are full of crude personal insults, attempts at sarcasm and full of shocking errors". 

Kim Philby Remembered: A traitor to his class

Photo: rbth.com

Kim Philby, born on January 1st, 1912, is one of the best known double agents of the Cold War era. A man of affluent bourgeois background who decided to cut ties with his class and devote himself to the struggle of the working class by serving the Soviet Union secret services. In his homeland, Britain, he has been labeled as a “traitor”. But, in fact, just for “betraying” the interests of British imperialism, Philby should be regarded as a hero for the working class people.

“I have followed exactly the same line the whole of my adult life. The fight against fascism and the fight against imperialism were fundamentally the same fight”, Kim Philby was quoted as saying. 

30 years later, 63% of Russians regret the dissolution of the Soviet Union

Thirty years since the victory of the counterrevolution and the overthrow of socialism in the Soviet Union, the supposed "heaven" that capitalism would bring in Russia has been proved nothing more than a deception.

The deeply anti-worker policies of the bourgeois governments, from Boris Yeltsin to the current administration of Vladimir Putin, leads more and more Russians to consider what they lost after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Huge social achievements were abolished, the rich became richer and the poor became poorer, while the income for the working class families shrinks year by year. Capitalism has shown its real, repulsive, barbaric face to the working people of Russia. 

The Red Flag will rise again: 30 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union

By Nikos Mottas.

It was thirty years ago, on December 26, 1991, when the red flag with the sickle and hammer was lowered from the Kremlin. 

It was then, during the cold days of December, when the first socialist state of the world, the homeland of the world's proletariat, bent under the weight of the counterrevolution. Four days before, on December 22nd, the leaderships of three of the largest Soviet republics had decided the dissolution of the USSR, while the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) had been outlawed on summer of the same year.

Russia: Workers honored Stalin's 142nd birthday

Despite snow, the severe cold weather and the pandemic restrictions, hundreds of working men and women in Russia paid tribute to Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin on his 142nd birth anniversary on December 21. 

In many Russian cities, workers, members and cadres of Communist Parties, laid flowers to monuments dedicated to the Soviet leader, expressing their admiration and gratitude to Stalin despite the decades of anti-Soviet, anti-Stalinist propaganda. 

The stance of the KKE in the face of the 1990-91 overthrows in the USSR

Interview with Aleka Papariga, member of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), former General Secretary of the Party from 1991 to 2013, in "Rizospastis" concerning the stance of the KKE during the 1990-91 counterrevolutionary overthrows in the Soviet Union. 

The interview (here in Greek) was originally published in "Rizospastis" weekend edition (18-19 December 2021). English translation by Nikos Mottas.

— The bourgeois parties celebrated when the red flag was lowered from the Kremlin. What were their main declarations at that time?

30th anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR: "Socialism remains the future and the only way out for the people"

“Socialism remains the future and the only actual way out for the people” underlined Kostas Papadakis, MEP of the Communist Party of Greece (ΚΚΕ) during his intervention at the debate on the “30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union” held in the Plenary Session of the European Parliament.

In his intervention (here in Greek), the KKE MEP said:

Sergei Kirov — An example of Bolshevism

Sergei Kirov, one of the most prominent party and state leaders in the Soviet Union in 1920-1930, a charismatic personality and close companion of Joseph Stalin, was murdered on 1st December 1934 aged 48.

Sergei Mironovich Kirov (real name Sergei Kostrikov) was born on 27 March 1886 in the city of Urzhum, Vyatka province (now Kirov region) in a middle-class family. Sergei lost his parents at an early age and was raised, along his two sisters Anna and Elizabeth, by his grandmother Melania Avdeyevna. He was sent to the "House of Charity for young orphans" and in 1901 he graduated from City College. He later joined the lower Mechanical and Technical School of Kazan. 

A story about Molotov's last days

Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, the legendary Soviet politician and diplomat, an old Bolshevik revolutionary, died on November 8th, 1986 at the age of 96.  

At the time of his death, he was the last surviving major participant in the events of the 1917 October Revolution.

During the last weeks of his life the decline in his health had become noticeable. However he never lost his sense of duty. There is a story about elderly Molotov's reaction concerning a statement or decision of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze in 1986. 

October Revolution's 104th anniversary honored in Russia

Thousands of communists, workers, men and women of every age gathered on Sunday 7th of November in Moscow's Red Square to pay tribute to the 104th anniversary of the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution.

Holding red flags the participants laid flowers to the Lenin Mausoleum, as well as to the memorial complex to Heroes of the Revolution at Kremlin's Necropolis. In his statement to journalists the Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) Gennady Zyuganov talked about the “major holiday for all the workers of world”, pointing out some of the Revolution's great achievements. 

The 103rd anniversary of Komsomol was honored in Russia

In Red Square, Moscow.

The 29th of October marked the 103rd anniversary since the founding of the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, known as Komsomol.

Komsomol became the hope and reserve of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. According to Lenin, it was an organization aimed to “teach communism” to the younger generations. Komsomol members defended the October Revolution from the very first moment, against the counterrevolutionaries and the foreign powers that attacked the country in 1918. 

Truth and Lies about the 1956 counterrevolution in Hungary

"In autumn 1956, Hungary announced its withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, but Soviet troops invaded the country and suppressed the uprising." 

 

"In 1968 the Czechoslovak attempt to distance itself from Moscow was met with an invasion of the country by the member states of the Warsaw Pact.”

(Greek History book, 3rd grade of High School) 70

USSR 2.0: Half of Russians would prefer the Soviet system

Thirty years after the counterrevolution and the restoration of capitalism in Russia, the prestige of socialism remains in high levels despite the waves of anti-communist propaganda.

 

A recent poll conducted by Levada Center comes to confirm that more and more Russians appreciate the significant achievements of the socialist period.

According to the survey, which was conducted between 19 and 26 August 2021, half of Russians (49%) would prefer the Soviet political system. This is the highest number since the early 2000s. Only 18% chose the current political system, while 16% believe that the best political system is “the Western model of democracy”. 

Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight 60th anniversary: When the Soviet Union conquered space

Sixty years ago, on 12 April 1961, a hero of the Soviet Union, cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, became the first man in outer space marking a new era in human history. 

 

On this occasion we remember and honor this great man whose legacy is intextricably linked with the legacy of his socialist motherland, the Soviet Union which played a leading role in mankind's effort to explore and conquer space. 

George Blake, famous British double agent who worked for the KGB, died at 98

George Blake, the legendary British double agent who fled to the Soviet Union, has died in Moscow at the age of 98, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service reported.

Blake, a member of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), became affiliated with the communist ideology while serving as a prisoner of war in Korea. He said he volunteered to work for the Soviet Union after witnessing the atrocities of U.S. army in North Korea.

Russia: Joseph Stalin's birth anniversary was honored in Moscow

In a simple but highly symbolic event in Moscow's Red Square, men and women, workers, members and friends of Communist Parties and Youths honored today the 142nd birth anniversary of Joseph Stalin, 

Holding red banners and portraits of the Soviet leader, the participants laid flowers to the tomb of Stalin in the Kremlin Necropolis. At the end of the ceremony, a statement to the reporters was delivered by the Chairman of the CC of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) Gennady Zyuganov.

On the Anti-communist remarks of the Ecumenical Patriarch concerning the Holodomor

By Nikos Mottas.

“The Ukrainian term ‘Holodomor’ refers to the man-made and intentional famine, the devilish plan of the Stalinist system aimed at a well-planned genocide of a very pious people with the aim of eradicating the Christian faith and the Orthodox Church...”.

These words were not expressed by any extremist ultra-conservative bishop or priest, nor they were written in any right-wing newspaper. These are the words of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the head of the Orthodox Church, during a memorial service held at the Patriarchal Church in Istanbul on the occasion of the 87th anniversary of the so-called 1932-1933 Ukrainian famine (also known as “Holodomor”). 

Russian communists paid tribute to the October Revolution in Moscow

With a flower-laying ceremony held on November 7th in Red Square, Moscow, communists honored the 103rd anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. 

Wearing red masks due to the pandemic, workers, members and supporters of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) marched through Red Square in order to pay tribute to the most significant event of modern history. 

"There has been nothing more magnificent than the Great October", said CPRF chairman Gennady Zyuganov during his address, praising the achievements of the 1917 Revolution. 

Nostalgia for Socialism: Most Russians say that life would be better if Perestroika had never happened

Thirty-five years have passed since the beginning of Mikhail Gorbachev disastrous Perestroika policy which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Today, almost half of the Russian people believe that life would be better if Perestroika had never happened. 

According to a poll conducted by Levada Center, 47% of Russians acknowledge that life in the country was better before Gorbachev's destructive reform plan, with just 39% disagreeing. A 14% of the participants found "difficult to answer".