On 22 June, 1941, the Nazis attacked the U.S.S.R. What the Red Army did after that made history. But the despicable fascist Hitler must have reflected on his decision before he committed suicide on 30 April, 1945.
One wonders, was this decision to attack the U.S.S.R. only that of Hitler or his entire political and military advisors and strategists? This decision was one of the blunders by the Nazis, especially when they already had one front live, and they had the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to safeguard their Eastern Front.
Eighty years ago, Nazis and the allies treacherously, without declaring war, attacked the U.S.S.R. at 4 a.m. and bombed Minsk, Kiev, Odessa, Riga, Vilnius, Brest, Sevastopol and other cities. Targets included Railways, Airfields, Naval bases. They had laid mines in the territorial waters of the U.S.S.R. and many “sleeping” sabotage groups, who were pro-German and anti-Soviet, were activated to support the advancing German troops, which they started few hours after the undeclared war.
The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people started after absorbing the initial shock. The CPSU and the Red Army, however, were not sleeping but had anticipated the forthcoming fascist attack and had prepared for the same. Their military might, the Red Army, clubbed with the morale of the Soviet workers and peasants, youths (Komsomol) and guided by the CPSU under the leadership of Joseph Stalin proved very mighty and superior to the enemy.
The war continued for 1,418 days and nights and ended when the Soviet Army entered Berlin. The allies entered from the other side on 07/08 May, 1945.
The idea of this article is not to go into the details of the military warfare of the Second WW, or the political economy of that time, which has been written by thousands of able militarists, politicians, political economists, historians and experts on fascism, single-handed or collectively. This article is to remind ourselves of the past, which started 80 years back and ended almost 4 years later (Japan surrendered on 2 September, 1945, after it was nuked twice, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
The idea is to warn ourselves from recurrence of similar human devastation.
We have a similar situation now globally, with many local characteristics in different countries, clubbed with the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis/recession. However, we need to draw a few lessons and appreciate a few outstanding feasts/achievements of that era, especially that of the U.S.S.R., which is disintegrated and looked down upon as a monumental failure of Communist “experiment”.
The Red Army had a million-strong women soldiers in various wings, starting from Air Force, as fighter pilots (German troops were mortally scared of them, as these pilots were very accurate on the target and were highly committed to their task accomplishments), to snipers and part of the Saboteur Teams, which worked behind the enemy line and was meant to destroy the enemy’s logistic supply and communication.
The U.S.S.R., after the war, suffered a lot, more than what it suffered during the war. Approximately 20–30 million soldiers and civilians died and it lost social wealth and means of production, agriculture. In this war, the CPSU lost millions of worthy members, ideologues, veterans of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the survivors of the purge, where their own cadres perished due to internal enemy class, and now the Second WW.
This resulted in a big vacuum in the party and the new entrants looked for facilities rather than sacrifice for the party and the socialist construction. The survivors of the war, especially the gallantry award winners, thought themselves worthy of a better lifestyle. The anti-communists, opportunists, the enemy of the working class also penetrated the party and even reached the top positions.
This was one of the reasons why the CPSU started anti-communist propaganda and programs, initially in hidden form, later openly, under the leadership of Khrushchev and cliques.
This led to the restoration of capitalism when Khrushchev took over power. His erroneous policies and programs (most probably planned) derailed the socialist construction. One example will suffice. The U.S.S.R., which had become an exporter of grains, became importers within 5–6 years under Khrushchev. The abundance of products turned into shortage and the people had to be in a queue to buy them.
And eventually, the treason by Gorbachev led to the disintegration of the great entity, the first workers-controlled state, where all the means of production were controlled by the producer, through their party, the CPSU, and distributed. Khrushchev and later other General Secretaries of the CPSU helped the Western media demonise JV Stalin and equate him with Hitler.
The following link is a brief narration of the book referred to on this issue. A must-read for the investigators of the history related to the U.S.S.R., the revolution and its “murder”. This will also help to understand the future tactics and strategies of the revolutionaries.
The Earth has close to 8 billion human beings. The control over the Earth, its resources, the public property created by the working people over centuries is in the hands of very few, limited into thousand. The state and its machinery, the so-called pillars of democracy, are in their hands, as a rule, barring few intermittent exceptions.
It’s time to think if this is permanent or can be changed. If the latter is true, what must we do?
Long live the victory of the soldiers and the people over fascism.