The Nazi groups waved swastikas, DeSantis flags, and chanted “Jews will not replace us,” a slogan popularized at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina. A notable attendee was Kent “Boneface” McLellan, a neo-Nazi who has reportedly traveled to Ukraine to serve with the Azov Battalion, showing how U.S. aid to Ukraine is being used to train and fuel the far-right movement of our own country. “The chickens coming home to roost,” as Malcolm X said.

While both mobilizations combined numbered less than 100 participants, and many traveled from out of state, neo-Nazis across the country are becoming more emboldened to hold public demonstrations and this must be analyzed. This increase in activity should be understood as the Republican Party openly embracing far-right political stances to mobilize their base, combined with the mainstreaming of racist and chauvinist politics by the media.

Organizations of all stripes are coming together against the rise of white supremacist terrorism, as seen following the murder of three Black people in Jacksonville. The people taking away reproductive rights and banning Black education are the same ones cozying up to white supremacists and neo-Nazi organizations.

We join with other organizations demanding that Governor DeSantis condemn these white supremacist mobilizations stoked by his policies and rhetoric. Governor DeSantis attacks teaching Black history in the legislature while white supremacists commit targeted attacks on Black people. This is national oppression in action.

The increasing activity of the far right extends beyond the DeSantis administration. The mainstreaming of far-right organizations and policies should be seen as a symptom of the decline of U.S. imperialism and power. The U.S. empire is in decline and our internal contradictions are sharpening. The time to join the fight is now! frso.org/join

#OrlandoFL #FRSO #FRSOOrlando #AntiFascism #Nazis #DeSantis

Orlando, FL – On Saturday, August 19, a panel of progressive organizations organized by Las Semillas was held at the Orange County Public Library. The purpose of this panel was for progressive organizations to network, present the work they are doing in their communities, and have a discussion about pressing political issues. All of these activities contribute to the goal of building a united front against the DeSantis administration and the deterioration of material conditions, especially for the working class of Central Florida. “Florida’s on fire in more ways than one, so we’re glad to be in concert with anyone trying to put the pieces together,” stated the social media post promoting the event.

The topics discussed at the panel ranged from economic and food justice to combating the assault on trans rights and how to move beyond 2024. One of the highlights of the panel involved a discussion on the current anti-trans legislation in the U.S. and contrasting it to the recently passed Family Code in Cuba. From the content of the laws, expanding the legal protections in Cuba, to the process of the actual drafting of the legislation, where thousands of meetings were held to discuss the thoughts of the Cuban people, Cuba is showing what a true democracy means for the people.

The organizations present were Las Semillas, March for Our Lives Pine Hills, Freedom Road Socialist Organization Orlando, The Umbrella Brigade, The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, Black Men Build Orlando, FL Student Power, Orlando DSA, and Ladies In Full Effect (L.I.F.E.).

The next panel hosted by Las Semillas will be in October. As part of this panel series, the location changes neighborhoods for each event, allowing different voices and organizations to be highlighted. Seven Charlestin, an organizer with Las Semillas, stated, We’re in a political moment across the globe right now, and if we don’t fight back we risk incorrigible damage to our planet and our civil liberties.”

Follow Las Semillas at @las_semillas_20 on Instagram for more information.

#OrlandoFL #ImmigrantRights #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #Antiracism #Antifascism #GovernorRonDesantis #AbortionRights

Orlando, FL – On August 10, an emergency rally was held in Orlando to address Governor Ron DeSantis’ recent dismissal of State Attorney Monique Worrell.

The attacks came as an affirmation by the DeSantis camp that they are an enemy of oppressed nationalities, the working class, women and LGBTQ people.

At the rally, the charges against the Tampa 5 were discussed by Anna Eskamani as a part of DeSantis’s attacks on education and African Americans. Progressive forces attending the rally understand the need to develop a strong united front against DeSantis and his clique of reactionaries. When democratic rights are under attack, the people are becoming ready to organize and fight back.

#OrlandoFL #ImmigrantRights #LGBTQ #Antiracism #Antifascism #GovernorRonDesantis #AbortionRights

Baton Rouge, LA – On July 24, protesters from across Louisiana gathered outside Jones Creek Library in East Baton Rouge Parish. They chanted and waved signs, voicing their opposition to Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley’s meeting with Moms for Liberty, a far-right national organization identified as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The demonstrators marched around the library and received supportive honking from passing highway traffic. They chanted “Ban hate, not books!” and “Defend trans youth!”

Moms for Liberty was founded in Florida and was initially focused on supporting Governor Ron DeSantis’ in efforts against COVID 19 regulations. They have since spread across the country, taking advantage of pre-existing wealthy Republican funding infrastructure. They have shifted their goals to promoting censorship in schools, advocating for “Don’t say gay” bills and against “critical race theory.”

Moms for Liberty faced national condemnation earlier this summer, when one of its chapters used a quote from Adolph Hitler in its inaugural statement.

The protesters denounced Superintendent Brumley for meeting with the reactionary group. “When we look at the power, the control and the influence this individual has on our education system, even sharing beliefs with a group like this becomes very dangerous for the people who live here. My hope is that groups that spout and spew and condone hateful rhetoric in their speech don’t have an ear when it comes to our education system,” said Pearl Ricks of the Reproductive Justice Action Collective.

The demonstrators then sat in the meeting, which Moms for Liberty hosted. Protesters held signs and submitted questions for the superintendent, but the hosts discarded their questions.

After answering a series of preselected questions, the chair attempted to close the meeting. One demonstrator tried to ask the superintendent if he would field more questions from his concerned constituents. Brumley then abruptly rushed out of the room to get to his car.

Some protesters attempted to engage him as he walked to his car. They told him how disappointed they were with his conduct in the meeting. Activists said they will continue to pressure him to represent all Louisiana students, regardless of the “culture war” politics sweeping the country.

#BatonRougeLA #Antiracism #Antifascism #GovernorRonDesantis

Tampa, FL – Hundreds came out to protest the right-wing, billionaire-funded “student group” Turning Point USA summit, July 23. The Turning Point summit featured a gaggle of reactionary, racist and chauvinistic speakers, not the least of whom was Donald Trump, looking to build momentum for a possible second presidential run.

Shouts of “shame!” echoed through downtown as speaker Laura Rodriguez from Tampa Bay Community Action Committee spoke about the conference’s police protection, stating, “They’re paying cops to protect those racists and bigots in our city.”

Rodriguez continued, “This city is in a housing crisis whether the mayor wants to accept it or not. Tampa is the fourth worst city in the nation for rent affordability.”

Who these cops protect couldn’t have been clearer than when the protest moved to the convention center where the hatefest was taking place. The bigots attacked, shoved, pushed down and assaulted protesters as cops looked on in tacit approval, intervening only when it looked like the reactionaries were in danger.

As David Jones of TBCAC described, “We sat there and watched them protect those conservatives while they were attacking us, because whose side are they on? Not ours.” The reactionaries attacked protesters as young as 11. After a tense standoff, protesters returned downtown.

The Tampa community took to the streets to let these hatemongers know that they and their brand of bigotry were not welcome. This event took place in the context of not just the repeal of Roe v. Wade, but also other state level attacks on women, African Americans, and LGBTQ folks, with Florida’s ban on abortion at 15 weeks, whitewashing the history of U.S.'s oppression and slavery, as well mandating LGBT discrimination in the education system with the “Don't Say Gay” bill.

It is no accident that this event took place in Florida – both of these bills have been the pet projects of Trump ally and potential successor, Governor Ron DeSantis, who was also in attendance. The virulent national agenda of those at the conference was to further roll back political and workers' rights, continue environmental devastation, enable attacks on women and LGBTQ folks, and suppress national liberation movements.

Speakers from a wide range of community groups attacked the agenda and attendees of the conference. Harrison Lundy, local activist and organizer with Democratic Socialists of America, said, “They get billions in dark money to keep poor people poor, to keep houseless people houseless, and keep birthing people from their autonomy, and so they’re scared to see us out here.”

The protest was hosted by Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida and Tampa Bay Community Action Committee, with speakers from Students for a Democratic Society, Democratic Socialists of America, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The same coalition of workers, oppressed nationalities, immigrants, LGBTQ folks and women, that united to deliver Donald Trump a crushing defeat in the 2020 election came out today, and is what is needed to continue the struggle to defeat the agenda of groups like TPUSA.

#TampaFL #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #US #Antifascism #DonaldTrump #TurningPointUSATPUSA #TampaBayCommunityActionCommitteeTBCAC #AbortionRights

On July 2nd, less than 100 Patriot Front members from across the country convened in Boston for a march through the downtown. Patriot Front is a white nationalist hate group that engages in street protests, offensive attack training, and utilizes American fascist imagery for propaganda and recruitment purposes. Outfitted with steel police shields and flags depicting the fasces, a symbol used by Mussolini’s National Fascist Party, the cowardly group marched with their faces covered in an attempted show of force. Additionally, members assaulted a local man, requiring him to be transported to the hospital. No arrests were made.

This kind of “show of force” is not new for the group, especially in recent months. On December 4th, nearly 100 members traveled to DC to march on the National Mall while carrying shields and chanting “Reclaim America.” On June 11th, 31 members of Patriot Front from across the country were arrested outside of a local Pride event in Idaho. They were arrested with riot gear, a smoke grenade, shields and a written plan for their attempted riot.

There is a consistent trend in these actions that must be discussed: the mass traveling of people from across the country to show an inflated number of members. We know from leaked messages and police reports that the members attending these acts of intimidation have coordinated travel across state lines. Additionally, leaked chats have shown that members are required to commit vandalism and attend these events to be a part of the group. This shows that any identified Patriot Front member must be treated as an active threat to the community they are invading.

Member Calvin Stow-Ortiz, alias Arthur FL, has proven to be a highly motivated fascist; he travels hundreds of miles for events, engages in marching and hand-to-hand training activities, and is being used to further recruit at Florida State University and in the greater Tallahassee area. Stow-Ortiz, stepson of a Tampa Police Department officer Antonio Ortiz-Saldana, has traveled to DC, Georgia, and throughout Florida to engage in vandalism and fascist organizing. He was identified en route to Boston and there are reports of his being in Massachusetts over the weekend. This evidence, as well as historical precedence, leaves us with little doubt that Stow-Ortiz was present at this march.

FSU Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will continue their calls for the removal of Stow-Ortiz from Florida State University, which would greatly hamper his fascist recruitment and propagandizing. FSU administration has been completely ineffective at protecting students from an active fascist presence on their campus. They will continue to turn a blind eye until it is too late. FSU SDS calls on all people (classmates, teachers, etc.) who know Calvin Stow-Ortiz to isolate this fascist. The university and the police will not do anything without outside pressure, which is why everyday people must act. We keep us safe!

#Florida #FL #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #Antiracism #Antifascism

This week an FSU undergraduate student has been exposed through copious emails and message logs as being a member of the Neo-Nazi group Patriot Front. The student is Calvin Stow-Ortiz from Tampa, where his father unsurprisingly works for the Tampa Police Department. In leaked messages Stow-Ortiz references spreading the groups propaganda posters and stickers in the Tampa area and made plans with another Patriot Front member to vandalize FAMU’s campus with white supremacist stickers. On the messaging app Telegram, Stow-Ortiz uses a picture of an SS Nazi soldier as his profile picture. In another leaked message Stow-Ortiz shared a video of a torchlit Nazi march and said Patriot Front should emulate it. There can be no doubt that Stow-Ortiz is a white supremacist, anti-semite, and fascist.

Despite overwhelming calls from the community to remove this white supremacist from our campus, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Angela Chong made it clear in an email obtained by Our Tallahassee that FSU would once again allow fascists to remain on campus. The email to a concerned citizen says FSU is unaware of any “actionable activity or offenses” and that “FSU prides itself on protecting freedom of expression and speech.” The email falsely claims that the safety of students, faculty, and staff is FSU’s foremost priority. The FSU and Tallahassee community have made it very clear: Calvin Stow-Ortiz presents a threat to the safety of all marginalized groups in Tallahassee.

In October 2021 Patriot Front held a retreat in Tallahassee at Williams Landing Park. In attendance were members from out of state and all around Florida. At this retreat they practiced marching like Nazis and pathetically attempted to train in hand to hand combat. SDS condemns FSU’s inaction in the face of racism and hate in our community and on our campus. SDS demands the immediate expulsion of Calvin-Stow Ortiz from FSU. SDS calls on all progressive student organizations to join us in opposition to Nazis on campus. FSU claims to care about diversity and inclusion, yet have shown time and time again that this is a lie. FSU honored the legacy of slave owner Frances Eppes for decades, so it comes as no surprise that racists like Stow-Ortiz feel that they can spread hate in our community. No white supremacists on our campus!

#TallahasseeFL #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #Nazis #Antifascism

Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the cowardly October 29 murder of New People’s Army spokesperson Ka Oris (Jorge Madlos) by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Medical aid Eighfel Dela Peña (Ka Pika) was also killed in the ambush. Both were unarmed and had no opportunity to defend themselves. The killers are now lying to the media to cover up their crimes.

Ka Oris was a communist who devoted the whole of his life to building the revolutionary movement in the Philippines. He was a committed proletarian internationalist. He worked tirelessly to build and promote the New People’s Army (NPA), which is at the forefront of the armed struggle to liberate the Philippines from the evils of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. He was loved by many and will be missed.

On this sad occasion, FRSO must state that the U.S. government is implicated in this crime. The U.S. government sends arms and money to the reactionary government of President Duterte. In addition, the U.S. government is trying to criminalize those who are fighting the liberate to Philippines from oppression. The U.S. State Department claims that the Communist Party of the Philippines and its New People’s Army are “terrorist” organizations. It is time for these lies to stop and to get rid of the U.S. “material support for terrorism” laws. Those who fight for national and social liberation are not “terrorists,” they are heroes.

FRSO sends our deepest condolences to the comrades, family, and friends of Ka Oris. His life is an example to revolutionaries everywhere, including in the U.S. Your loss is our loss. We stand with the revolution in the Philippines.

U.S. out of the Philippines now! Long live the spirit of Ka Oris! Long live the New People’s Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines!

#Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #frso #Antifascism #NewPeoplesArmyNPA #Asia

Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the cowardly October 29 murder of New People’s Army spokesperson Ka Oris (Jorge Madlos) by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Medical aid Eighfel Dela Peña (Ka Pika) was also killed in the ambush. Both were unarmed and had no opportunity to defend themselves. The killers are now lying to the media to cover up their crimes.

Ka Oris was a communist who devoted the whole of his life to building the revolutionary movement in the Philippines. He was a committed proletarian internationalist. He worked tirelessly to build and promote the New People’s Army (NPA), which is at the forefront of the armed struggle to liberate the Philippines from the evils of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. He was loved by many and will be missed.

On this sad occasion, FRSO must state that the U.S. government is implicated in this crime. The U.S. government sends arms and money to the reactionary government of President Duterte. In addition, the U.S. government is trying to criminalize those who are fighting the liberate to Philippines from oppression. The U.S. State Department claims that the Communist Party of the Philippines and its New People’s Army are “terrorist” organizations. It is time for these lies to stop and to get rid of the U.S. “material support for terrorism” laws. Those who fight for national and social liberation are not “terrorists,” they are heroes.

FRSO sends our deepest condolences to the comrades, family, and friends of Ka Oris. His life is an example to revolutionaries everywhere, including in the U.S. Your loss is our loss. We stand with the revolution in the Philippines.

U.S. out of the Philippines now! Long live the spirit of Ka Oris! Long live the New People’s Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines!

#Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #frso #Antifascism #NewPeoplesArmyNPA #Asia

So who is the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America? It's basically the Ukrainian version of the pro-Nazi German-American Bund. It was founded in 1940 to conduct propaganda in the U.S. in favor of anti-Semitic Ukrainian quisling organizations that would collaborate with the Nazi Wehrmacht and SS during the war, sending hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian and Polish Jews to their deaths in the extermination camps of the Third Reich.

The organization has a leadership body called the National Council, composed of groups like the Society of Veterans of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a fascist paramilitary that helped the Nazis round up Jews and communists. Another notable National Council member is the Brotherhood of Veterans of the 1st Division of the Ukrainian National Army. Another name for the Ukrainian National Army is 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. It was also known as the 14th SS Volunteer Division Galicia. Their führer was Pavlo Shandruk, who was responsible to the German High Command.

One of the Nazi dog-whistles they use is “renewed independence.” This is not simply a reference to the paperwork signed in 1991 that put post-Soviet Ukraine on the path to becoming a U.S. satellite state. It is a reference to a different, earlier phase of fake “independence” as a part of the Third Reich in WWII. They close their letter with the infamous phrase, “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Our Heroes!”, which is the Galician Nazi version of “Sieg Heil!”

The current “independent” regime in the failed state known as Ukraine (now officially the poorest country in Europe) dates back to violent, Nazi-led 2014 Maidan coup. This orgy of anarchic violence led, with U.S. assistance, to the illegal overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovich, who was forced to flee the country. The post-Maidan ruling junta has been a revolving-door government of billionaire oligarchs backed by their privately-owned Nazi paramilitaries. The term “external governance” has been coined by Ukrainian dissidents to describe Kiev's relationship with Washington.

The oligarchic regime has tried to impose a right-wing agenda that is discriminatory against Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east.

After it became clear that the Kiev junta intended to impose this reactionary agenda by force, Russian-speaking Ukrainians formed their own independent republics, the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic (DPR-LPR). The regime of the Galician oligarchs responded to this by unleashing a war against civilians in the LPR-DPR. Most Ukrainian soldiers have no taste for the blood of their sisters and brothers in the east, so the murder of civilians has been left up to the state-sanctioned Nazi paramilitaries like the infamous Azov Battalion and the Misanthropic Division.

The Chicago parade has nothing to do with Ukrainian “independence” because Ukraine isn't independent. Rather, it is a celebration of the OUN-UPA WWII Nazi puppet state and the genocide it carried out against Jewish Ukrainians, communists and Russian-speaking Ukrainians. All progressives, people of conscience, anti-racists and revolutionaries should condemn this outrageous fascist provocation.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #Ukraine #fascism #Antifascism #Europe

To mark the onset of the Great Patriotic War against the fascist powers, Fight Back! is publishing Stalin’s famous speech calling for resistance to Germany’s June 22, 1941 attack on the USSR.

Throughout much of the 1930s, the Soviet Union tried without success to organize collective security agreements with the capitalist powers of Europe to stop the aggression of Hitler’s Germany. Then the USSR signed a non-aggression pact with Germany to buy time and strengthen its defenses., while war overtook Europe. The June 22 attack on the USSR changed the class nature of World War II, as the war was no longer an anti-imperialist conflict, and a worldwide front came into being with the aim of defeating fascism.

J. V. Stalin’s speech was broadcast by radio.

Comrades, citizens, brothers and sisters, men of our Army and Navy!

My words are addressed to you, dear friends!

The perfidious military attack by Hitlerite Germany on our Fatherland, begun on June 22, is continuing. In spite of the heroic resistance of the Red Army, and although the enemy’s finest divisions and finest air force units have already been smashed and have met their doom on the field of battle, the enemy continues to push forward, hurling fresh forces to the front. Hitler’s troops have succeeded in capturing Lithuania, a considerable part of Latvia, the western part of Byelorussia and part of Western Ukraine. The fascist aircraft are extending the range of their operations, bombing Murmansk, Orsha, Moghilev, Smolensk, Kiev, Odessa, Sevastopol. Grave danger overhangs our country.

How could it have happened that our glorious Red Army surrendered a number of our cities and districts to the fascist armies? Is it really true that the German-fascist troops are invincible, as the braggart fascist propagandists are ceaselessly blaring forth?

Of course not! History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have been. Napoleon’s army was considered invincible, but it was beaten successively by the armies of Russia, England and Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm’s German army in the period of the First Imperialist War was also considered invincible, but it was beaten several times by Russian and Anglo-French troops, and was finally smashed by the Anglo-French forces. The same must be said of Hitler’s German-fascist army of to-day. This army had not yet met with serious resistance on the continent of Europe. Only on our territory has it met with serious resistance. And if as a result of this resistance the finest divisions of Hitler’s German-fascist army have been defeated by our Red Army, this means that it too can be smashed and will be smashed, as were the armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm.

As to part of our territory having nevertheless been seized by the German-fascist troops, this is chiefly due to the fact that the war of fascist Germany against the U.S.S.R. began under conditions that were favourable for the German forces and unfavourable for the Soviet forces. The fact of the matter is that the troops of Germany, a country at war, were already fully mobilized, and the 170 divisions brought up to the Soviet frontiers and hurled by Germany against the U.S.S.R. were in a state of complete readiness, only awaiting the signal to move into action, whereas the Soviet troops had still to effect mobilization and move up to the frontiers. Of no little importance in this respect was the fact that fascist Germany suddenly and treacherously violated the non-aggression pact which she had concluded in 1939 with the U.S.S.R., regardless of the circumstance that she would be regarded as the aggressor by the whole world. Naturally, our peace-loving country, not wishing to take the initiative in breaking the pact, could not resort to perfidy.

It may be asked, how could the Soviet Government have consented to conclude a non-aggression pact with such perfidious people, such fiends as Hitler and Ribbentrop? Was this not an error on the part of the Soviet Government? Of course not! Non-aggression pacts are pacts of peace between two states. It was such a pact that Germany proposed to us in 1939. Could the Soviet Government have declined such a proposal? I think that not a single peace-loving state could decline a peace treaty with a neighboring state even though the latter were headed by such monsters and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. But that, of course, only on the one indispensable condition-that this peace treaty did not jeopardize, either directly or indirectly, the territorial integrity, independence and honor of the peace-loving state. As is well known, the non-aggression pact between Germany and the U.S.S.R. was precisely such a pact.

What did we gain by concluding the non-aggression pact with Germany? We secured our country peace for a year and a half and the opportunity of preparing our forces to repulse fascist Germany should she risk an attack on our country despite the pact. This was a definite advantage for us and a disadvantage for fascist Germany. What has fascist Germany gained and what has she lost by perfidiously tearing up the pact and attacking the U.S.S.R.? She has gained a certain advantageous position for her troops for a short period of time, but she has lost politically by exposing herself in the eyes of the entire world as a bloodthirsty aggressor. There can be no doubt that this short-lived military gain for Germany is only an episode, while the tremendous political gain of the U.S.S.R. is a weighty and lasting factor that is bound to forth the basis for the development of outstanding military successes of the Red Army in the war with fascist Germany.

That is why the whole of our valiant Red Army, the whole of our valiant Navy, all the falcons of our Air Force, all the peoples of our country, all the finest men and women of Europe, America and Asia, and, finally, all the finest men and women of Germany—denounce the treacherous acts of the German-fascists, sympathize with the Soviet Government, approve its conduct, and see that ours is a just cause, that the enemy will be defeated, and that we are bound to win.

In consequence of this war which has been forced upon us, our country has come to death grips with its bitterest and most cunning enemy—German fascism. Our troops are fighting heroically against an enemy armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft. Overcoming numerous difficulties, the Red Army and Red Navy are self-sacrificingly fighting for every inch of Soviet soil. The main forces of the Red Army are coming into action equipped with thousands of tanks and planes. The soldiers of the Red Army are displaying unexampled valor. Our resistance to the enemy is growing in strength and power. Side by side with the Red Army, the entire Soviet people is rising in defense of our native land.

What is required to put an end to the danger imperiling our country and what measures must be taken to smash the enemy?

Above all it is essential that our people, the Soviet people, should appreciate the full immensity of the danger that threatens our country and give up all complacency, casualness and the mentality of peaceful constructive work that was so natural before the war, but which is fatal to-day, when war has radically changed the whole situation. The enemy is cruel and implacable. He is out to seize our lands watered by the sweat of our brows, to seize our grain and oil secured by the labor of our hands. He is out to restore the rule of the landlords, to restore tsarism, to destroy the national culture and the national existence as states of the Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Uzbeks, Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanians and the other free peoples of the Soviet Union, to Germanize them, to turn them into the slaves of German princes and barons. Thus the issue is one of life and death for the Soviet State, of life and death for the peoples of the U.S.S.R.; the issue is whether the peoples of the Soviet Union shall be free or fall into slavery. The Soviet people must realize this and abandon all complacency; they must mobilize themselves and reorganize all their work on a new, war-time footing, where there can be no mercy to the enemy.

Further, there must be no room in our ranks for whimperers and cowards, for panic-mongers and deserters; our people must know no fear in the fight and must selflessly join our patriotic war of liberation against the fascist enslavers. Lenin, the great founder of our state, used to say that the chief virtues of Soviet men and women must be courage, valor, fearlessness in struggle, readiness to fight together with the people against the enemies of our country. These splendid virtues of the Bolshevik must become the virtues of millions and millions of the Red Army, of the Red Navy, of all the peoples of the Soviet Union.

All our work must be immediately reorganized on a war footing, everything must be subordinated to the interests of the front and the task of organizing the destruction of the enemy. The peoples of the Soviet Union now see that German fascism is untamable in its savage fury and hatred of our native country, which has ensured all its working people labor in freedom and prosperity. The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise against the enemy and defend their rights and their land.

The Red Army, Red Navy and all citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of Soviet soil, must fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages, must display the daring, initiative and mental alertness that are inherent in our people.

We must organize all-round assistance to the Red Army, ensure powerful reinforcements for its ranks and the supply of everything it requires; we must organize the rapid transport of troops and military freight and extensive aid to the wounded.

We must strengthen the Red Army’s rear, subordinating all our work to this end; all our industries must be got to work with greater intensity, to produce more rifles, machine-guns, guns, cartridges, shells, planes; we must organize the guarding of factories, power stations, telephonic and telegraphic communications, and arrange effective air-raid protection in all localities.

We must wage a ruthless fight against all disorganizers of the rear, deserters, panic-mongers and rumor-mongers; we must exterminate spies, sabotage agents and enemy parachutists, rendering rapid aid in all this to our extermination battalions. We must bear in mind that the enemy is crafty, unscrupulous, experienced in deception and the dissemination of false rumors. We must reckon with all this and not fall victims to stratagem. All who by their panic-mongering and cowardice hinder the work of defense, no matter who they may be, must be immediately haled before a military tribunal.

In case of a forced retreat of Red Army units, all rolling stock must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a single engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or gallon of fuel. The collective farmers must drive off all their cattle and turn over their grain to the safe keeping of the state authorities for transportation to the rear. All valuable property, including non-ferrous metals, grain and fuel that cannot be withdrawn must be destroyed without fail.

In areas occupied by the enemy, guerilla units, mounted and on loot, must be formed; sabotage groups must be organized to combat enemy units, to foment guerilla warfare everywhere, blow up bridges and roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines, set fire to forests, stores and transports. In occupied regions conditions must be made unbearable for the enemy and all his accomplices. They must be hounded and annihilated at every step, and all their measures frustrated.

The war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary war. It is not only a war between two armies, it is also a great war of the entire Soviet people against the German-fascist armies. The aim of this national patriotic war in defense of our country against the fascist oppressors is not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our country, but also to aid all the European peoples groaning under the yoke of German fascism. In this war of liberation we shall not be alone. In this great war we shall have true allies in the peoples of Europe and America, including the German people which is enslaved by the Hitlerite misrulers. Our war for the freedom of our country will merge with the struggle of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for democratic liberties. It will be a united front of the peoples standing for freedom and against enslavement and threats of enslavement by Hitler’s fascist armies. In this connection the historic utterance of the British Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, regarding aid to the Soviet Union, and the declaration of the United States Government signifying readiness to render aid to our country, which can only evoke a feeling of gratitude in the hearts of the peoples of the Soviet Union, are fully comprehensible and symptomatic.

Comrades, our forces are numberless. The overweening enemy will soon learn this to his cost. Side by side with the Red Army many thousands of workers, collective farmers and intellectuals are rising to fight the enemy aggressor. The masses of our people will rise up in their millions. The working people of Moscow and Leningrad have already begun to form huge People’s Guards in support of the Red Army. Such People’s Guards must be raised in every city which is in danger of enemy invasion; all the working people must be roused to defend with their lives their freedom, their honour and their country in this patriotic war against German fascism.

In order to ensure the rapid mobilization of all the forces of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. and to repulse the enemy who has treacherously attacked our country, a State Committee of Defense has been formed and the entire state authority has now been vested in it. The State Committee of Defense has entered on the performance of its functions and calls upon all our people to rally around the Party of Lenin and Stalin and around the Soviet Government, so as to render self sacrificing support to the Red Army and Red Navy, to exterminate the enemy and secure victory.

All our forces for the support of our heroic Red Army and our glorious Red Navy!

All the forces of the people for the destruction of the enemy!

Forward to victory!

#StalinTalksAboutTheJune22AttackOnSovietUnionByFascistGermany #Antifascism #GreatPatrioticWarAgainstTheFascistPowers #fascistGermany #RedArmy

The World Federation of Trade Unions honors the 76th anniversary of the peoples’ anti-fascist victory on May 9, 2021.

9 May is the symbol of the great victory over Fascism and Nazism which in the times of the II World War seemed impossible to many. However, the enormous military power of the Germans and the Fascist Axis (Italy and Japan), despite the enormous support they received from the German and the International Monopolies, was defeated by the organized resistance of the peoples and the role played by the Soviet Union. This is the legacy of the World Federation of Trade Unions and the militants around the world.

This was a decisive strategic victory for the future of mankind. It changed the global correlation of forces in favor of workers and peoples and has boosted national liberation movements and decolonization and the struggle against colonialism. But first of all, it proved that only the organized people can really put an end to Fascism and the system that gives birth to it. Peoples united can achieve victories that seem impossible.

A child of this victory is the founding of the World Federation of Trade Unions on October 3, 1945.

However, 76 years after that date, US imperialism and its NATO allies are promoting conflicts that seriously threaten world peace and increase fascism and intolerance in various forms. The caravans of innocent refugees, the situation in Ukraine, the rivalries between the alliances but also within them only bring negative developments for the peoples.

Nowadays, a methodical effort is being made by the European Union and the USA to present May 9 as supposedly Day of Europe. To forget the great victory of the red army and the peoples against fascism. It is the duty of all of us to prevent the falsification of historical truth.

These servants of exploitation and imperialism who today try to rewrite historical facts with slander and lies, must fail.

In the face of these developments, the employees and workers raise our own flag, the flag of the WFTU, with our demands and needs written on it.

The WFTU salutes the anniversary of this epopee by reaffirming its commitment to the defense of world peace, the rights of peoples, especially the working class, to the socialist perspective.

Long live May 9, 1945, the day of the victory of the peoples against Nazism and fascism!

The Secretariat

#Greece #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #Antifascism #VictoryDay

The farmers in India oppose the three bills that would have long-term detrimental effects. Instead of building more APMC mandis (rural markets) that would promote better cooperation between the farmers and government institutions, improve procurement, build more storage facilities, and build better transport networks, the right-wing BJP (ruling party of India) government sought to remove the APMC's altogether and completely privatize the agricultural sector.

Privatising the agricultural sector has previously caused damaging effects. Since 1995 and the rise of globalisation, the lives of farmers have worsened year on year, leading to the death of nearly 300,000 farmers by suicide. Worsening conditions in terms of the environment has had a deep impact on agriculture. Private companies pay very little attention to the sustainability aspect of farming.

On Republic Day, the largest tractor rally, of 200,000 tractors, rocked the streets of New Delhi. Several thousands of farmers and protesters stormed the city’s historic Red Fort. These farmers broke through the police barricades and were met with violence from the police. Historically, Republic Day called for immense military processions. This year the tractor rally was used to draw the attention towards the protesting farmers and the repressive farmer bills. Various farmer, student and workers unions have lent their support alongside socialist and communist groups.

As of today, January 29, the farmers continue to protest all across the country. In Ghazipur, Uttarpradesh, the police failed in their attempts to remove the peaceful protesters opposing the farmer bills. These protesters were soon swarmed and viciously attacked by right-wing thugs from the BJP while the police there watched in silence. The state government then proceeded to cut off the internet to prevent circulation of news from the state. The farmers and protesters there have resisted these attacks and now continue to organize and demonstrate.

Since the BJP took power, they only sought to benefit the few by introducing anti-people laws. They have proved that they do not have the interests of the people at heart and their policies have stunted the growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Unemployment is also at an alarming 27% as well – owing in part to poor management of COVID-19. Protests will grow stronger over the next few months unless the situation regarding the farmers are properly addressed. The BJP has to keep in mind that the farmers are the providers of food in India and their voices are strong and will not easily be silenced.

#India #PeoplesStruggles #Antifascism #Constitution #Farmers #Asia