The WFTU salutes and honors the anniversary of the great anti-fascist victory of the peoples, with the capitulation of Nazi Germany on May 9, 1945, and pays tribute to the millions of victims of Nazi and fascist atrocities.
79 years ago, the day that marked the end of the fascist axis, the fascist machine that butchered the peoples has been officially defeated. The red flag with the hammer and sickle had been raised in the German Reichstag already since April 1945.
On this day, we honor the memory of the fighters everywhere who gave their lives on the battlefields, in the concentration camps, and in every form of anti-fascist action.
The victory of the people over fascism, with the Soviet Army in its vanguard, was accompanied by a new air of hope and optimism for a better world, without wars and disasters, without racial or other discrimination, free of exploitation and social injustice, and without colonialism and national oppression.
It changed the global correlation of forces in favor of workers and peoples and has boosted national liberation movements and decolonization and the struggle against colonialism. But first of all, it proved that only the organized struggle of the people can really put an end to fascism and the system that gives birth to it. Peoples united can achieve victories that seem impossible.
The foundation of the World Federation of Trade Unions, had also been a child of the great antifascist victory of the peoples.
However, 79 years after that great victory, US imperialism and its NATO allies are promoting conflicts that seriously threaten world peace and promote fascism. The caravans of innocent refugees, the situation in Ukraine, the ongoing genocide in Palestine, only bring negative developments for the peoples.
Today, the importance of this Victory is more topical than ever. In a period when the capitalists and their governments, the USA and the EU are trying to falsify history and erase the colossal contribution of the peoples, of the Soviet Union, of the partisan movements in the victory over fascism, our task is even more urgent. Peoples’ enemies did not even hesitate to characterize May 9 as the “Europe Day”, in order to change the true content of this date. In this methodical effort to overwrite the history, the international class-oriented trade union movement does not remain silent. We continue struggling against fascism and the system that generates it. At the same time, we don’t let memory to be erased and the historical truth to be forgotten. We continue spreading the truth to the new generations of trade unionist, honoring the memory and the struggle of the real liberators of the people and the world.
The WFTU salutes the 9th of May, by reaffirming its commitment to the defense of world peace, the rights of peoples, especially the working class, to the socialist perspective.
Long live May 9, 1945, the day of the victory of the peoples against Nazism and fascism!
