On May 9th, amidst the global health crisis emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic, falls a major anniversary…  For it was on this day, 75 years ago, that the Victory over Nazi Germany was secured thus ending World War II in Europe.  This Victory was the culmination of combined counter-offensives by the Soviet Red Army and partisan units, who turned around the Nazi war machine in the East and changed the course of the war; the Allies; and the resistance movements across Europe, during the latter part of 1944 and into the spring of 1945. 

The Second World War was instigated for the purpose of world domination by the Axis powers - an alliance of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan, and their collaborators. Aggression by the Nazi-Fascist Axis was driven by a cold economic reasoning;  a need to re-divide the world and redraw the lines laid down by the other imperialist powers - namely Britain, France, and the emerging United States - and thus resolve the drive for profit by big business in Germany, Italy, and Japan.  Of course, the defeat and bringing down of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the other main objective, one from which all of the imperialist powers would have benefited. However, after over 50-million deaths - more than 20 million of which accounted for Soviet citizens alone - and utter devastation wrought to countries around the world, the Axis powers were defeated and the Soviet Union gloriously prevailed thanks to the heroic resistance and steadfastness of its people and armed forces. 

The Tudeh Party of Iran was actually established as an anti-fascist party in the midst of the WWII, on 2nd October 1941, by communist prisoners released after the removal of Reza Shah by the Allies that September, owing to the preponderance and orientation of him and his administration towards Nazi Germany.  Indeed, at that time, the state and its apparatus were awash with pro-Nazi collaborators and those advocating for Iran’s alignment with the Axis powers.  Thus, in the early years after its formation, our Party’s driving focus was the fight against any vestige of fascism and Nazism in Iran.  The Party began publishing the “Anti-Fascist Mardom (People)” newspaper to educate and organise the masses in fight against the Nazi hordes that, within a year, were pushing towards the Caucasus adjacent to the country’s borders with the Soviet Union.  This activity continued until the end of the war and laid the ground for a shift towards progressive policies in Iran over the years that followed. 

The Victory over Fascism heralded a new era in the establishment and spread of socialism around the world.  A wave of national liberation movements against the empires of Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands - as well as that of the newly-emerged and emboldened power; the US - began, and was strongly supported by the Soviet Union and the newly-formed socialist states in Eastern Europe. 

On the momentous occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Victory over Fascism in Europe, the Tudeh Party of Iran applauds and salutes the memory of all those who stood and fell in the struggle against the Axis powers and their collaborators. 

The Tudeh Party of Iran unequivocally condemns the scourge of fascism in any shape and form and all of its manifestations, as well as its natural companion, imperialism.  We must never forget the sacrifice and toll of that era or overlook the lessons it holds for today’s world, as we face the rise of right-wing populism in the US and Europe, of religious fundamentalism elsewhere, and continued conflicts driven by the economic imperatives of big business. 

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Victory over Fascism in Europe, the Tudeh Party of Iran recommits itself to the global campaign for peace, equality, human and democratic rights, and social justice! 

The Tudeh Party of Iran

7May 2020