Reminding the nuclear horror of August 6 and 9, 1945, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is for the Portuguese Communist Party a duty of memory and a time of reaffirmation, year after year, of the firm commitment of Portuguese communists to the struggle for a world of peace and friendship among peoples, freed from the threat of nuclear weapons, where the huge resources wasted on weapons are channelled to the promotion of social progress and the fight against hunger, disease, underdevelopment and other serious problems that affect the vast majority of Humanity.
At a time when imperialism fosters tension in international relations, expressed in the escalation of war and confrontation in Europe and other regions of the world, as in Asia-Pacific, with the serious dangers that such an escalation entails for the world, and which includes Nancy Pelosi's provocative visit to Taiwan, it becomes more necessary to recall what was and what meant the criminal dropping of the atomic bomb by the US on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which caused more than 200,000 victims.
For the success of the struggle to ensure that nuclear horror is never repeated, it is necessary not to let fall into oblivion the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nor to allow the falsification of the circumstances and objectives that surrounded it.
Falsely portrayed as essential to defeat Japan and put an end to World War II in the Pacific, when in fact Japanese militarism was already defeated, the use of the atomic weapon by the US, the only country that then possessed it, represented an affirmation of the strength of US imperialism and its unbridled ambition for world hegemony, particularly targeting the USSR and the impetus of the liberating struggle that was then dawning around the world.
It was in fact an extreme expression of the militaristic and aggressive nature of imperialism which, restrained by the struggle of the workers and peoples and by the existence of the USSR and of the Socialist camp, became even more violent with the disappearance of the powerful counterweight that these countries and their policy in defence of peace and disarmament represented. The continuous increase in military spending, the production of increasingly more sophisticated weapons, the continuous reinforcement and enlargement of NATO, the abandonment of important disarmament agreements, particularly with regard to nuclear weapons, the systematic disregard for the principles of the UN Charter and international law, the proliferation of acts of interference and aggression by imperialism against peoples and countries, pose serious dangers for the very fate of Humanity.
On recollecting Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the PCP calls on the Portuguese people, and particularly the youth, to intensify the struggle for peace and disarmament, so that the US, NATO and the EU put an end to their strategy of confrontation and cease to instigate the war in Ukraine, as well as on Russia and all the other players, to urgently embark on a path of negotiation aimed at reaching a political solution to the conflict, answer the problems of collective security and disarmament in Europe, in compliance with the principles of the UN Charter and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference.
The PCP alerts that the foreign and defence policy of successive PS, PSD and CDS governments has jeopardised national sovereignty and independence and is dangerously involving Portugal in imperialism's aggressive militaristic strategy. The PCP stresses that the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic compels the Portuguese State to pursue a policy of peace and international cooperation, namely involving the dissolution of political-military blocs, as well as a general, simultaneous and controlled disarmament, naturally including the abolition of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. In this regard, it is particularly significant that the Portuguese Government continues to refuse to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The PCP considers that the struggle against imperialism’s militaristic policy, for peace and disarmament, is inseparable from the struggle against exploitation and for the social and political rights of workers and peoples.
Notice how the instigation of war and the drift of sanctions imposed by the US, the EU and NATO are dragging the world into an even more serious economic and social situation, with unbridled speculation, steep increase in the prices of energy, food and other basic necessities, attack on living conditions and the worsening of poverty and hunger worldwide, to the delight of the large economic and financial groups that amass colossal increases in profits.
The PCP will try everything in its power to promote the convergence and unity of those who, regardless of differences of opinion, have in common the aspiration for a world of freedom, peace and social justice.
Faced with the complex and dangerous international situation we are presently experiencing, it is necessary and urgent to give more strength to the struggle for peace and disarmament.
