At the initiative of PCP’s Members in the European Parliament, the Confederal Group of the European United Left/ Nordic Green Left (GUE / NGL) marked the 70th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-fascism by holding a seminar in Brussels, on 13th May.
The event, whose theme was "Commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi-fascism - Unity in the struggle for peace and against fascism and war", had the participation of GUE/NGL MEPs and several guest Communist parties and progressive forces from Europe, like the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia, the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Communist Party of Spain, the Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) in Cyprus, the Workers’ Party of Belgium, The Linke from Germany, the Socialist Party of Latvia and the Portuguese Communist Party. It was also attended by representatives of peace and anti-fascist organizations like the World Peace Council (WPC), International Federation of Resistants (FIR), Union of Portuguese Antifascist Resistants (URAP), the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), ARAC – Association Republicaine des Anciens Combattants (France), OSND - Osservatore Sulle Nuove Destre(Italy).
Among many important aspects mentioned in the various speeches, the Seminar stressed that to commemorate the 70th. anniversary of the Victory is to remember the role played by the Soviet Union, its people and the Red Army, by the communists and other democrats and anti-fascist resistants, by millions of men and women who selflessly and through all their effort and sacrifices, including giving their own lives, faced the Nazi-fascist barbarism that led to the deaths of more than 50 million people.
In the current framework, denounced was the unacceptable comparison of Nazi-fascism with Communism, with which they seek to conceal the class nature and crimes of Nazi-fascism and distort the emancipatory ideal and struggle of the communists. The participants also denounced the whitewashing of Nazi-fascism and of the heroism of the resistance that confronted it, denying the younger generations the right to Historical memory.
The struggle against fascism is not only a struggle for truth in History, but also a fight against the threat of fascism, which many communists and other democrats wage in European countries. Petro Symonenko, First-secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, brought to the seminar the serious situation in his country where, today like yesterday, the communists are at the forefront of the fight against the threat of fascism, despite the crackdown by the oligarchy in power in Kiev and the neo-Nazi and neo-fascist forces who rely on the connivance and even the support of the US, NATO and the European Union. Petro Symonenko thanked the solidarity with the communists and the Ukrainian people and called for the unity of the anti-fascist forces to fight against the rise of fascism and anti-communism.
At the end of the seminar, João Ferreira, PCP’s MP in the European Parliament, stressed the need to build a broad unity around the struggle for peace and against fascism and war. The democratic forces must unite against NATO, against the militarization of the EU, in defence of the compliance of the UN Charter and of solidarity with the peoples.
