ECA statement on the 81st anniversary of the Great Anti-fascist Victory of the Peoples

On this day, 81 years ago, Nazi Germany capitulated to the socialist Soviet Union. The victory of socialism over the most brutal expression of capitalism was a fact. As we have done all previous years, we honour all the millions who gave their lives to achieve this goal, all those who became martyrs in the anti-fascist struggle. We never forget.

The victory over fascism, achieved through the efforts of the national liberation movements and the invaluable contribution of the Soviet Union and the heroic Red Army, which raised the red flag bearing the hammer and sickle over the Reichstag, in Berlin is a milestone in the history of the peoples and socialism. Despite the murder of millions of people, the unimaginable destruction, and the pillaging of entire countries, the popular masses could achieve victory in the end. They showed us that capitalism could not withstand the supremacy of socialism, the determination and will of the people, not even capitalism in its most brutal form, that of fascism.

On the 9th of May, every working person, every soldier, every partisan and every anti-fascist showed that the victory over fascism and the very system that gives rise to it, capitalism, was possible - and that it will always be possible. We raise our fists even higher in honour of their struggle.

This great historical epic cannot be distorted or misrepresented by the EU, bourgeois governments and their staffs, or by their wretched anti-communist sermons and resolutions, which futilely seek to designate 9 May as so-called “EU Day” and to equate communism with the monster of fascism. Nor, of course, can it be used to justify the imperialist war in Ukraine or to absolve the bourgeois classes involved in the war.

Despite the sacrifices that the peoples made in the struggle against Nazism they did not manage to smash it once and for all. In too few countries could this struggle lead to the overthrow of the capitalist system and socialism, with the contribution of the Red Army.

Armed with historical experience, the struggle currently being waged by the communist parties of the ECA in their respective countries is promising.

We see the same contradictions and rivalries sharpening in our times, as drew the world into the imperialist war that was just only on the part of the Soviet Union and finished on the 9th of May. On the shoulders of those who came before us, we therefore continue to struggle towards the same goals as they.

Our world is characterized by sharp contradictions, by a sharp struggle that grows from the very nature of the capitalist system. The endless expansion of every bourgeois class  in a finite world allows us to glimpse the catastrophe that might await and lets us understand the imperialist wars that now rage for supremacy in the imperialist system.

We struggle against Nazism and fascism; and to crush it once and for all, we must overthrow capitalism which gives rise to it. The struggle against fascism can never be separate from the struggle for socialism.

The intensification of imperialist contradictions is also impacting bourgeois politics and governments, where reactionary and openly fascist forces are gaining ground in a context of widespread impoverishment of the working class. Recognising that fascism fulfilled a specific historical role—as a brutal response of the bourgeoisie at a moment of advancing class struggle—Communist Parties must strengthen their work within mass fronts in order to build a class-oriented opposition capable of linking the question of imperialist war, fascism, and the seizure of power.

On this day, 81 years ago, fascism and Nazism was defeated, albeit not conclusively. This task awaits us. With the lessons gained through the struggles of the past we meet our future. We will finish what the victory 81 years ago did not finish - and those who gave their lives will show us the way.

Long live the victory over fascism and Nazism!

Long live the peoples’ power!

Long live socialism-communism!