Central Executive Committee, May 8th, 2020
The YCL-LJC marks today as a day of great importance to celebrate the surrender of Nazi Germany, signaling the defeat of fascist forces in Europe. Soviet soldiers liberated the Nazi death camps and advanced to Berlin, sparking the official end of the war days later on May 8, 1945. Recognizing that Nazi Germany was a threat to not only its own citizens but to human freedom everywhere on the planet, the Soviet Union was relentless in this fight against one of the most violent and hideous evils of human creation: fascism.
This victory is thanks to the sacrifice of millions towards this fight, where notably the Soviet Union lost more than double the lives than any other country. Resistance movements also have to be honoured: partisans didn’t hesitate to organise clandestinely and take up arms against fascism and occupation. We outline that many of them were young communists, who’s contribution was key in the victory of the peoples 75 years ago. On this 75th anniversary we salute the courage and strength shown by those who fought, and remember those who were lost
After this victory, imperialists aimed to rewrite this history as a triumph of their own military’s intervention in support for global freedom. However the opposite is true, with Nazi history particularly intertwined with that of the US. American capitalists supported the rise of Nazi Germany, with notable ideological and economic supporters such as Henry Ford and J. D. Rockefeller, who were admirers of Nazi eugenics. The laws enacted by Hitler’s government drew inspiration from the racist Jim Crow laws in the US which were still in effect for decades after the fall of the Third Reich. And while Nazi Germany officially fell, we know that long after fascism remained in plain sight, with some of Nazi high officers granted amnesty or even official positions across the Americas.
The Canadian state is also implicated in its own relationship with fascism, often overlapping with colonial history. Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “We eat Canadian wheat and never think of the Indians” expressing support for Canada’s genocide, even drawing inspiration from it for his political goals. In fact, Canada’s deputy superintendent of the department of Indian Affairs, Duncan Scott Campbell, was the first to coin the term “final solution”, in reference to the elimination of indigenous peoples and their culture. This led to Indigenous children being forcefully sent to residential schools where thousands died, the last of which closed in 1996. Additionally, Prime Minister Mackenzie King visited Hitler in 1937 and wrote fondly of the experience in his diary. Under his government, in 1939, Canada denied entry to over 900 Jewish refugees from the M.S. St. Louis, many of whom were later rounded up by the Nazis and murdered. These did not occur as isolated incidents, as other groups also faced racist persecution by the Canadian state. During the Second World War, over 22,000 Japanese Canadians and many people of Italian origin would be interned on a basis of race alone.
Today, with the inevitable crises of capitalism becoming more frequent and hard-hitting, far-right ideologies are on the rise. They take many forms, from the resurfacing of eugenic thought, to ecofascist solutions ecological catastrophe, to the resurgence of white supremacist organizational activity. Underlying all are extreme racism, anti-semitism, sexism, chauvinism, xenophobia, islamophobia and violence. Groups like the Proud Boys, Soldiers of Odin, La Meute, the Canadian Yellow Vest movement, and Canada’s new Nationalist Party all organize politically around such beliefs. Far-right and fascist groups such as these will no doubt continue to flourish alongside continued capitalist crisis.
As we recall from history, the misery of the great depression of the 1930’s created space for facsist ideas to garner widespread support. We must brace ourselves for what may be to come during this unprecedented economic catastrophe triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. As capitalism continues to flounder, a more brutal course will be needed to enforce repressive and reactionary measures to ensure that capitalists continue to squeeze profits from the working class. This means further attacks on labour, public services, women, racialized people, and basic rights including the right to organize and fight back.
Now more than any point since the May 8, 1945 victory, we must be vigilant that the struggle against Fascism is still not over. The YCL-LJC calls for all progressive groups to organize together to denounce and defeat these fascist groups. As young communists, we know that this is part of the broader struggle to build socialism, a world built on human dignity and peace that is free from economic crisis and far-right reaction.