One wonders, was this decision, to attack the USSR, only that of Hitler or
his entire political and military advisors & strategists? This decision
was one of the blunders by the Nazis, especially when they already had one
front live, and here they had the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (https://www.jstor.org/stable/20869721) to safeguard their Eastern Front.
80 years ago, Nazis & allies treacherously, without declaring war,
attacked the USSR at 4 am 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 USSR and many “sleeping”
sabotage groups, who were pro-Germans and anti-Soviets, were activated to
support the advancing German troops, which they started a 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 1418 days & nights and ended, when the Soviet
Army entered into Berlin, the Allies entered from the other side, on 07/08 May,
1945 (https://www.history.com/news/world-war-ii-end-events).
Idea of this article is not to go into the details of the military
warfare of the Second WW, or political economy of that time, which has been
written by thousands of able militarists, politicians, political
economists, historians, experts on fascism single handedly or collectively. But to
remind ourselves of the past, which started 80 years back and ended almost 4
years later (Japan surrendered on 02 Sep, 1945, after it was nuked twice, on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.). To warn ourselves from recurrence of similar human
devastations.
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
feats/achievements of that era, especially that of the USSR, which 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 snippers and part of the Saboteur
Teams, which worked behind the enemy line and was meant to destroy the enemy’s
logistic supply and communication. (See women at war in the Red Army https://www.politika.io/en/notice/women-at-war-in-the-red-army)
The USSR, 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, CPSU lost
its millions of worthy members, ideologues, veterans of 1917 Bolshevik
Revolution, the survivors of the purge, where the own cadres perished due
internal enemy class, and now the II 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
into the party and even reached the top position. This was one of the
reasons, how the CPSU started anti-communist propaganda and programs, initially
in hidden form, later openly, under the leadership of Khrushchev and cliques.
This led to restoration of capitalism when Khrushchev took
over the power. His erroneous policies and programs (Most probably planned)
derailed the socialist construction. One example will suffice. USSR, 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
queue to buy them.
And eventually, the treason by Gorbachev led to 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 to demonize 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 USSR,
the revolution and its ‘murder’. This will also help to understand the future
tactics and strategies of the revolutionaries.
(Kremlin Scholar: Shepilov https://kk16085.wordpress.com/2021/04/18/kremlin-scholar-shepilov/)
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 thousands. The state and its
machinery, the so-called pillars of democracy, are in their hands, as a rule,
barring few intermittent exceptions. 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, Nazism!
