May 1 and May 9: Internationalism and anti-fascism

We have seen and learned that even with the dismantling of the Hitler regime, fascism, the terrorist form of capitalist rule, was not eliminated forever. Yes, in Soviet-occupied eastern Germany, the Red Army gave the anti-fascists, with the surviving communists at the head, the opportunity to build an anti-fascist-democratic order, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which could soon begin the transition to socialism.

In the western part of the country, however, the occupation forces of the United States and Great Britain did everything possible to protect and promote as many carriers of fascism as possible and to make them their instruments; they again became the ruling class of a capitalist front state, for aggression and war against the GDR, the Soviet Union, socialism and the international proletariat. And 45 years after May 9, 1945, in the spring of 1990, after decades of sabotage, psychological warfare, infiltration, corruption and, above all, massive arms buildup, they had achieved their goal: the GDR was overrun — and neither there, and certainly not here in the west, was there any significant resistance to it. The Soviet power was also destroyed … Thus the barricade that had slowed capitalism, and repeatedly forced it to disguise itself democratically, fell. The more capitalism and its ruling class come under pressure, the more aggression and terror must be used to ensure their continued existence. So the real development of the rotting system shows us what lies beneath the guise of democracy: naked violence.

And now that a deadly virus threatens our jobs, our lives, our future, this system is growing into a monster that wants to delay the end of capitalism with lies, stupidity and violence.

– The lives and health of tens of millions of people are sacrificed for an “economy” that only serves a handful of capitalists and their parasitic followers.

– Unimaginable financial resources are inflated to secure banks, corporations and production for war, while people working in the health sector and in other areas vital to society lack protective masks, clothing, all they need to protect their health and their families.

– People who managed not to drown in the Mediterranean are locked behind barbed wire in camps where the simplest hygienic means and often even water are lacking.

– Millions of people, in the poor countries of the Global South as well as in the U.S. and Europe, queue in endless lines for a little food while — as in the “Great Depression” of the 1930s — whole crops are burned, plowed under or rot, as Ernst Busch sang, “… and they throw the coffee into the fire, and they pour the wheat into the sea — and when will the sack beaters throw the robbers after them? …”

This system, this fascism of our time, will not be completely and forever dead until the proletarian revolution has killed capitalism.

We see an example in the socialist countries of Cuba and the People’s Republic of China:

– With measures whose absolute priority is the protection of the life and health of the people, state and social organs, especially the People’s Liberation Army and its medical service, led by communists, have largely brought the coronavirus epidemic under control. In a country of 1.6 billion people, the number of victims who could not be saved remained relatively few. In Wuhan, 7 out of 8 patients aged 100 years and over were cured.

– As soon as it was possible for medical personnel and manufacturers of medical equipment to do so, the PRC sent and continues to send help of various kinds to numerous countries, especially to Italy, which was so badly affected, and the Spanish state. The Cuban revolutionary government acts in the same way. This is happening while the European Union, especially the German government, is silent and selfishly dealing with itself. The people of Italy and other countries decorate balconies with Chinese and Cuban flags and will surely never forget who really helped them.

– People around the world will never forget that the capitalist powers continue their war of sanctions during this pandemic against Venezuela, Iran, Syria, Palestine, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea …

We can’t take to the streets as usual on May 1, 2020 — let’s protest however we can without endangering our health and life with the virus!

We demand:

Stop all sanctions against independent nations!