Our Right to be Marxist-Leninists
The 70th
anniversary of the Soviet people’s victory in the Great Patriotic War will be
commemorated the day after tomorrow, on the 9th of May. Given the
time difference, as I write these lines, proud Russian Federation Army soldiers
and officers are going to be parading in Moscow’s Red Square with their
characteristically quick and martial steps.
Lenin was a
brilliant revolutionary strategist who did not hesitate to take on the ideas of
Marx and implement them in a huge and only partially industrialized country
whose proletarian party became the most radical and courageous party worldwide in
the light of the worst slaughter capitalism had inflicted upon the world. It
was the first time tanks, automatic weapons, aviation and asphyxiating gases
were used in war and even a famous cannon capable of launching a heavy
projectile for a distance of over one hundred kilometers had a role in the
bloody conflict.
This massacre led
to the birth of the League of Nations, an institution that was meant to
preserve the peace, but couldn’t even stop the accelerated advance of
colonialism in Africa, a great part of Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, Canada,
and gross neocolonialism in Latin America.
Barely 20 years
later, another horrible world war broke out in Europe, whose preamble was the Spanish Civil War initiated in 1936. After the crushing
defeat of the Nazis, nations placed their hopes on the United Nations
Organization which strived to create the cooperation that would do away with
all aggressions and wars, where countries could preserve the peace,
development, and peaceful cooperation among the world’s large and small, rich
and poor States.
Millions of
scientists could, among other tasks, increase the chances of survival for the
human species, already menaced by food and water shortages for billions of
people in a brief period of time.
The planet now has
7.3 million inhabitants. Back in 1800, there were only 978 million. The figure rose
to 6.07 million in 2000 and by 2050, according to conservative estimates, there
will be 10 billion.
Obviously, the fact
that boats overloaded with emigrants, making use of all sorts of floating
objects as means of transportation, are reaching Western Europe is scarcely
mentioned. This is a flood of African emigrants from the continent that had
been colonized by the Europeans for hundreds of years.
Some 23 years ago,
during a United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development, I
stated: “An important biological species is in danger of disappearing with the
rapid and progressive destruction of its natural life-sustaining conditions: humankind.”
However, at that time, I did not know how close we were.
As we commemorate
the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War’s victory, I would
like to put on the record our profound admiration for the heroic Soviet people
who provided an enormous service to humankind.
Today, the solid
alliance between the peoples of the Russian Federation and the People’s
Republic of China, the State with the world’s fastest economic growth, is
possible. With their close cooperation, powerful armies and brave soldiers, both
countries constitute a mighty shield for peace and world security, so that the
life of our species may be preserved.
Mental and physical
health as well as the spirit of solidarity must be the prevailing norms;
otherwise, the destiny of humankind, as we know it, will be lost forever.
The 27 million
Soviet casualties during the Great Patriotic War gave their lives for the sake
of humanity and for their right to think and to be socialists,
Marxist-Leninists, communists, and to emerge from prehistoric times.
Fidel Castro Ruz
May 7th, 2015
10:14 p.m.