The Great
Patriotic War and 'Our Right' to be Marxist-Leninists (Ahora, Cuba)
What were the benefits of the allied victory over the Nazis in World War II? Many theories provide an answer, including this one from Cuba's former dictator Fidel Castro. From Cuba's state-run Ahora newspaper, this is latest edition of 'Reflections by Fidel' in which the Cold War veteran combines gratitude for the sacrifices of the Soviet Union, threats to the human species, hope that a renewed Russia-China alliance will shield 'world peace and security,' and his own brand of contempt for capitalism in all its forms.
In commemoration of
the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War, the historic leader of the
Cuban Revolution expresses his profound admiration for the heroic Soviet people
who provided an enormous service to humanity.
On May 9, the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War
will be commemorated. Given the time difference, as I write these lines, soldiers
and officials of the Army of the Russian Federation, full of pride, will be
parading through Moscow’s Red Square with their characteristic rapid military march.
Lenin was a brilliant revolutionary strategist who without hesitation
took the ideas of Marx and implemented them in an immense and only partly
industrialized country, where the proletariat party [the Communist Party] became
the most radical and courageous on the planet. It arose in the wake of the
greatest global slaughter ever promoted by capitalism, when for the first time
tanks, automatic weapons, aviation and poison gas made their appearance in war,
to say nothing of the legendary cannon capable of launching a heavy projectile over
100km which made its presence felt in the bloody conflict.
Out of the carnage emerged the League of Nations, an
institution that should have preserved peace but which failed even to prevent
the rapid advance of colonialism in Africa, much of Asia, Oceania, the
Caribbean, Canada and the crudest neo-colonialism in Latin America. Barely 20
years later, another atrocious world war broke out in Europe, the preamble to which
was the Spanish Civil
War beginning in 1936.
After the crushing defeat of the Nazis, nations placed their
hope in the United Nations, which strives to generate cooperation in order to halt
aggression and war, such that countries may preserve peace, development and
peaceful cooperation among nations large and small, rich and poor. Millions of
scientists could, among other things, boost the chances of the survival for the
human species, with billions of people already threatened by shortages of food
and water within a short period of time. We already have 7.3 billion people on
the planet. In 1800 there were only 978 million. The figure rose to 6.07
billion in 2000; and according to conservative estimates, by the year 2050
there will be 10 billion.
Of course, scarcely mentioned along with reports on the
arrival in Western Europe of migrants packed on any object that floats is that this
river of African migrants are from a continent which was colonized by Europeans
for hundreds of years. Twenty three years ago at a United Nations Conference on
the Environment and Development I stated: “An important biological species is
in danger of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive destruction of its
natural, life-sustaining conditions - man.” What I didn't know at the time was
how close we were to this.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the Great
Patriotic War, I wish to put on record our profound admiration for the heroic
Soviet people who did humankind such an enormous service. Today one can make
out a solid partnership between the peoples of the Russian Federation and the
state with the most rapid economic progress in the world: The People’s Republic
of China. Both countries, with their close cooperation, advanced scientific capabilities,
strong armies and brave soldiers, they constitute a powerful shield for world
peace and security, so that the life of our species may be preserved.
Physical and mental health and the spirit of solidarity are
norms that must prevail, or the future of humankind as we know it will be lost
forever. The 27 million Soviets who died in the Great Patriotic War also made
it possible for humanity to retain the right to think and be socialists, Marxist-Leninists
and communists and leave the dark ages behind.
