Il 22 giugno 1941 i nazifascisti aggredivano l'Unione Sovietica.
Il 3 luglio successivo Giuseppe Stalin si rivolgeva al popolo con un discorso che riportiamo
di seguito, nella traduzione in lingua inglese.
Proprio oggi soprattutto in Russia e Bielorussia l'evento viene commemorato con iniziative
ufficiali, tra cui la visita del presidente russo Medvedev a quello bielorusso Lukashenko.
La ricorrenza non viene invece ricordata nei paesi occidentali, nei quali ad uno stato
avanzato la riscrittura della storia del Novecento in termini filofascisti e filonazisti oltrech
antisovietici.
(a cura di AM per il CNJ)
STALIN'S ADDRESS TO THE SOVIET PEOPLE RE JUNE 22 NAZI INVASION
--- In SovietBelarus @yahoogroups.com, "cccp_3a_cccp" wrote:
RADIO ADDRESS OF 3 JULY 1941, BY JOSEPH STALIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE
COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS OF THE U.S.S.R.
As Transcribed and Translated by Soviet Russia Today, August, 1941
Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Men of our army and navy!
I am addressing you, my friends!
The perfidious military attack on our Fatherland, begun on June 22nd
by Hitler Germany, is continuing.
In spite of the heroic resistance of the Red Army, and although the
enemy's finest divisions and finest airforce units have already been
smashed and have met their doom on the field of battle, the enemy
continues to push forward, hurling fresh forces into the attack.
Hitler's troops have succeeded in capturing Lithuania, a
considerable part of Latvia, the western part of Byelo-Russia, part
of Western Ukraine. The fascist airforce is extending the range of
operations of its bombers, and is bombing Murmansk, Orsha, Mogilev,
Smolensk, Kiev, Odessa and Sebastopol.
A grave danger hangs over our country.
How could it have happened that our glorious Red Army surrendered a
number of our cities and districts to fascist armies? Is it really
true that German fascist troops are invincible, as is ceaselessly
trumpeted by the boastful fascist propagandists? Of course not!
History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have
been. Napoleon's army was considered invincible but it was beaten
successively by Russian, English and German armies. Kaiser Wilhelm's
German Army in the period of the first imperialist war was also
considered invincible, but it was beaten several times by the
Russian and Anglo-French forces and was finally smashed by the Anglo-
French forces.
The same must be said of Hitler's German fascist army today. This
army had not yet met with serious resistance on the continent of
Europe. Only on our territory has it met serious resistance. And if,
as a result of this resistance, the finest divisions of Hitler's
German fascist army have been defeated by our Red Army, it means
that this army too can be smashed and will be smashed as were the
armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm.
As to part of our territory having nevertheless been seized by
Germany fascist troops, this is chiefly due to the fact that the war
of fascist Germany on the USSR began under conditions favorable for
the German forces and unfavorable for Soviet forces. The fact of the
matter is that the troops of Germany, as a country at war, were
already fully mobilized, and the 170 divisions hurled by Germany
against the USSR and brought up to the Soviet frontiers, were in a
state of complete readiness, only awaiting the signal to move into
action, whereas Soviet troops had still to effect mobilization and
move up to the frontier.
Of no little importance in this respect is the fact that fascist
Germany suddenly and treacherously violated the Non-Aggression Pact
she concluded in 1939 with the USSR, disregarding the fact that she
would be regarded as the aggressor by the whole world.
Naturally, our peace-loving country, not wishing to take the
initiative of breaking the pact, could not resort to perfidy.
It may be asked how could the Soviet Government have consented to
conclude a Non-Aggression Pact with such treacherous fiends as
Hitler and Ribbentrop? Was this not an error on the part of the
Soviet Government? Of course not. Non-Aggression Pacts are pacts of
peace between states. It was such a pact that Germany proposed to us
in 1939.
Could the Soviet Government have declined such a proposal? I think
that not a single peace-loving state could decline a peace treaty
with a neighboring state, even though the latter was headed by such
fiends and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. Of course only on one
indispensable condition, namely, that this peace treaty does not
infringe either directly or indirectly on the territorial integrity,
independence and honor of the peace-loving state. As is well known,
the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR is precisely
such a pact.
What did we gain by concluding the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany?
We secured our country peace for a year and a half, and the
opportunity of preparing its forces to repulse fascist Germany
should she risk an attack on our country despite the Pact This was a
definite advantage for us and a disadvantage for fascist Germany.
What has fascist Germany gained and what has she lost by
treacherously tearing up the pact and attacking the USSR?
She has gained a certain advantageous position for her troops for a
short period, but she has lost politically by exposing herself in
the eyes of the entire world as a blood-thirsty aggressor.
There can be no doubt that this short-lived military gain for
Germany is only an episode, while the tremendous political gain of
the USSR is a serious lasting factor that is bound to form the basis
for development of decisive military successes of the Red Army in
the war with fascist Germany.
That is why our whole valiant Red Army, our whole valiant Navy, all
our falcons of the air, all the peoples of our country, all the
finest men and women of Europe, America and Asia, finally all the
finest men and women of Germany--condemn the treacherous acts of
German fascists and sympathize with the Soviet Government, approve
the conduct of the Soviet Government, and see that ours is a just
cause, that the enemy will be defeated, that we are bound to win.
By virtue of this war which has been forced upon us, our country has
come to death-grips with its most malicious and most perfidious
enemy--German fascism. Our troops are fighting heroically against an
enemy armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft.
Overcoming innumerable difficulties, the Red Army and Red Navy are
self-sacrificingly disputing every inch of Soviet soil. The main
forces of the Red Army are coming into action armed with thousands
of tanks and airplanes. The men of the Red Army are displaying
unexampled valor. Our resistance to the enemy is growing in strength
and power.
Side by side with the Red Army, the entire Soviet people are rising
in defense of our native land.
What is required to put an end to the danger hovering over our
country, and what measures must be taken to smash the enemy?
Above all, it is essential that our people, the Soviet people,
should understand the full immensity of the danger that threatens
our country and should abandon all complacency, all heedlessness,
all those moods of peaceful constructive work which were so natural
before the war, but which are fatal today when war has fundamentally
changed everything.
The enemy is cruel and implacable. He is out to seize our lands,
watered with our sweat, to seize our grain and oil secured by our
labor. He is out to restore the rule of landlords, to restore
Tsarism, to destroy national culture and the national state
existence of the Russians, Ukrainians, Byelo-Russians, Lithuanians,
Letts, Esthonians, Uzbeks, Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians,
Azerbaidzhanians and the other free people of the Soviet Union, to
Germanize them, to convert them into the slaves of German princes
and barons.
Thus the issue is one of life or death for the Soviet State, for the
peoples of the USSR; the issue is whether the peoples of the Soviet
Union shall remain free or fall into slavery.
The Soviet people must realize this and abandon all heedlessness,
they must mobilize themselves and reorganize all their work on new,
wartime bases, when there can be no mercy to the enemy.
Further, there must be no room in our ranks for whimperers and
cowards, for panic-mongers and deserters. Our people must know no
fear in fight and must selflessly join our patriotic war of
liberation, our war against the fascist enslavers.
Lenin, the great founder of our State, used to say that the chief
virtue of the Bolshevik must be courage, valor, fearlessness in
struggle, readiness to fight, together with the people, against the
enemies of our country.
This splendid virtue of the Bolshevik must become the virtue of the
millions of the Red Army, of the Red Navy, of all peoples of the
Soviet Union.
All our work must be immediately reconstructed on a war footing,
everything must be subordinated to the interests of the front and
the task of organizing the demolition of the enemy.
The people of the Soviet Union now see that there is no taming of
German fascism in its savage fury and hatred of our country which
has ensured all working people labor in freedom and prosperity.
The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise against the enemy and
defend their rights and their land. The Red Army, Red Navy and all
citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of Soviet soil,
must fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages,
must display the daring initiative and intelligence that are
inherent in our people.
We must organize all-round assistance for the Red Army, ensure
powerful reinforcements for its ranks and the supply of everything
it requires, we must organize the rapid transport of troops and
military freight and extensive aid to the wounded.
We must strengthen the Red Army's rear, subordinating all our work
to this cause. All our industries must be got to work with greater
intensity to produce more rifles, machine-guns, artillery, bullets,
shells, airplanes; we must organize the guarding of factories, power-
stations, telephonic and telegraphic communications and arrange
effective air raid precautions in all localities.
We must wage a ruthless fight against all disorganizers of the rear,
deserters, panic-mongers, rumor-mongers; we must exterminate spies,
diversionists and enemy parachutists, rendering rapid aid in all
this to our destroyer battalions.
We must bear in mind that the enemy is crafty, unscrupulous,
experienced in deception and the dissemination of false rumors We
must reckon with all this and not fall victim to provocation.
All who by their panic-mongering and cowardice hinder the work of
defence, no matter who they are, must be immediately haled before
the military tribunal. In case of forced retreat of Red Army units,
all rolling stock must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a
single engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or
a gallon of fuel.
The collective farmers must drive off all their cattle, and turn
over their grain to the safe-keeping of State authorities for
transportation to the rear. All valuable property, including non-
ferrous metals, grain and fuel which cannot be withdrawn, must
without fail be destroyed.
In areas occupied by the enemy, guerrilla units, mounted and on
foot, must be formed, diversionist groups must be organized to
combat the enemy troops, to foment guerrilla warfare everywhere, to
blow up bridges and roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines, set
fire to forests, stores, transports.
In the occupied regions conditions must be made unbearable for the
enemy and all his accomplices. They must be hounded and annihilated
at every step, and all their measures frustrated.
This war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary war.
It is not only a war between two armies, it is also a great war of
the entire Soviet people against the German fascist forces.
The aim of this national war in defense of our country against the
fascist oppressors is not only elimination of the danger hanging
over our country, but also aid to all European peoples groaning
under the yoke of German fascism.
In this war of liberation we shall not be alone. In this great war
we shall have loyal allies in the peoples of Europe and America,
including the German people who are enslaved by the Hitlerite
despots.
Our war for the freedom of our country will merge with the struggle
of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for
democratic liberties.
It will be a united front of peoples standing for freedom and
against enslavement and threats of enslavement by Hitler's fascist
armies.
In this connection the historic utterance of the British Prime
Minister Churchill regarding aid to the Soviet Union and the
declaration of the United States Government signifying its readiness
to render aid to our country, which can only evoke a feeling of
gratitude in the hearts of the peoples of the Soviet Union, are
fully comprehensible and symptomatic.
Comrades, our forces are numberless. The overweening enemy will soon
learn this to his cost. Side by side with the Red Army many
thousands of workers, collective farmers, intellectuals are rising
to fight the enemy aggressor. The masses of our people will rise up
in their millions.
The working people of Moscow and Leningrad have already commenced to
form vast popular levies in support of the Red Army. Such popular
levies must be raised in every city which is in danger of enemy
invasion, all working people must be roused to defend our freedom,
our honor, our country--in our patriotic war against German Fascism.
In order to ensure the rapid mobilization of all forces of the
peoples of the U.S.S.R. and to repulse the enemy who treacherously
attacked our country, a State Committee of Defense has been formed
in whose hands the entire power of the State has been vested.
The State Committee of Defense has entered upon its functions and
calls upon all people to rally around the Party of Lenin-Stalin and
around the Soviet Government, so as to self-denyingly support the
Red Army and Navy, demolish the enemy and secure victory.
All our forces for support of our heroic Red Army and our glorious
Red Navy! All forces of the people--for the demolition of the enemy!
Forward, to our victory!
--- End forwarded message ---
Il 3 luglio successivo Giuseppe Stalin si rivolgeva al popolo con un discorso che riportiamo
di seguito, nella traduzione in lingua inglese.
Proprio oggi soprattutto in Russia e Bielorussia l'evento viene commemorato con iniziative
ufficiali, tra cui la visita del presidente russo Medvedev a quello bielorusso Lukashenko.
La ricorrenza non viene invece ricordata nei paesi occidentali, nei quali ad uno stato
avanzato la riscrittura della storia del Novecento in termini filofascisti e filonazisti oltrech
antisovietici.
(a cura di AM per il CNJ)
STALIN'S ADDRESS TO THE SOVIET PEOPLE RE JUNE 22 NAZI INVASION
--- In SovietBelarus @yahoogroups.com, "cccp_3a_cccp" wrote:
RADIO ADDRESS OF 3 JULY 1941, BY JOSEPH STALIN, CHAIRMAN OF THE
COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSARS OF THE U.S.S.R.
As Transcribed and Translated by Soviet Russia Today, August, 1941
Comrades! Citizens! Brothers and sisters! Men of our army and navy!
I am addressing you, my friends!
The perfidious military attack on our Fatherland, begun on June 22nd
by Hitler Germany, is continuing.
In spite of the heroic resistance of the Red Army, and although the
enemy's finest divisions and finest airforce units have already been
smashed and have met their doom on the field of battle, the enemy
continues to push forward, hurling fresh forces into the attack.
Hitler's troops have succeeded in capturing Lithuania, a
considerable part of Latvia, the western part of Byelo-Russia, part
of Western Ukraine. The fascist airforce is extending the range of
operations of its bombers, and is bombing Murmansk, Orsha, Mogilev,
Smolensk, Kiev, Odessa and Sebastopol.
A grave danger hangs over our country.
How could it have happened that our glorious Red Army surrendered a
number of our cities and districts to fascist armies? Is it really
true that German fascist troops are invincible, as is ceaselessly
trumpeted by the boastful fascist propagandists? Of course not!
History shows that there are no invincible armies and never have
been. Napoleon's army was considered invincible but it was beaten
successively by Russian, English and German armies. Kaiser Wilhelm's
German Army in the period of the first imperialist war was also
considered invincible, but it was beaten several times by the
Russian and Anglo-French forces and was finally smashed by the Anglo-
French forces.
The same must be said of Hitler's German fascist army today. This
army had not yet met with serious resistance on the continent of
Europe. Only on our territory has it met serious resistance. And if,
as a result of this resistance, the finest divisions of Hitler's
German fascist army have been defeated by our Red Army, it means
that this army too can be smashed and will be smashed as were the
armies of Napoleon and Wilhelm.
As to part of our territory having nevertheless been seized by
Germany fascist troops, this is chiefly due to the fact that the war
of fascist Germany on the USSR began under conditions favorable for
the German forces and unfavorable for Soviet forces. The fact of the
matter is that the troops of Germany, as a country at war, were
already fully mobilized, and the 170 divisions hurled by Germany
against the USSR and brought up to the Soviet frontiers, were in a
state of complete readiness, only awaiting the signal to move into
action, whereas Soviet troops had still to effect mobilization and
move up to the frontier.
Of no little importance in this respect is the fact that fascist
Germany suddenly and treacherously violated the Non-Aggression Pact
she concluded in 1939 with the USSR, disregarding the fact that she
would be regarded as the aggressor by the whole world.
Naturally, our peace-loving country, not wishing to take the
initiative of breaking the pact, could not resort to perfidy.
It may be asked how could the Soviet Government have consented to
conclude a Non-Aggression Pact with such treacherous fiends as
Hitler and Ribbentrop? Was this not an error on the part of the
Soviet Government? Of course not. Non-Aggression Pacts are pacts of
peace between states. It was such a pact that Germany proposed to us
in 1939.
Could the Soviet Government have declined such a proposal? I think
that not a single peace-loving state could decline a peace treaty
with a neighboring state, even though the latter was headed by such
fiends and cannibals as Hitler and Ribbentrop. Of course only on one
indispensable condition, namely, that this peace treaty does not
infringe either directly or indirectly on the territorial integrity,
independence and honor of the peace-loving state. As is well known,
the Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the USSR is precisely
such a pact.
What did we gain by concluding the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany?
We secured our country peace for a year and a half, and the
opportunity of preparing its forces to repulse fascist Germany
should she risk an attack on our country despite the Pact This was a
definite advantage for us and a disadvantage for fascist Germany.
What has fascist Germany gained and what has she lost by
treacherously tearing up the pact and attacking the USSR?
She has gained a certain advantageous position for her troops for a
short period, but she has lost politically by exposing herself in
the eyes of the entire world as a blood-thirsty aggressor.
There can be no doubt that this short-lived military gain for
Germany is only an episode, while the tremendous political gain of
the USSR is a serious lasting factor that is bound to form the basis
for development of decisive military successes of the Red Army in
the war with fascist Germany.
That is why our whole valiant Red Army, our whole valiant Navy, all
our falcons of the air, all the peoples of our country, all the
finest men and women of Europe, America and Asia, finally all the
finest men and women of Germany--condemn the treacherous acts of
German fascists and sympathize with the Soviet Government, approve
the conduct of the Soviet Government, and see that ours is a just
cause, that the enemy will be defeated, that we are bound to win.
By virtue of this war which has been forced upon us, our country has
come to death-grips with its most malicious and most perfidious
enemy--German fascism. Our troops are fighting heroically against an
enemy armed to the teeth with tanks and aircraft.
Overcoming innumerable difficulties, the Red Army and Red Navy are
self-sacrificingly disputing every inch of Soviet soil. The main
forces of the Red Army are coming into action armed with thousands
of tanks and airplanes. The men of the Red Army are displaying
unexampled valor. Our resistance to the enemy is growing in strength
and power.
Side by side with the Red Army, the entire Soviet people are rising
in defense of our native land.
What is required to put an end to the danger hovering over our
country, and what measures must be taken to smash the enemy?
Above all, it is essential that our people, the Soviet people,
should understand the full immensity of the danger that threatens
our country and should abandon all complacency, all heedlessness,
all those moods of peaceful constructive work which were so natural
before the war, but which are fatal today when war has fundamentally
changed everything.
The enemy is cruel and implacable. He is out to seize our lands,
watered with our sweat, to seize our grain and oil secured by our
labor. He is out to restore the rule of landlords, to restore
Tsarism, to destroy national culture and the national state
existence of the Russians, Ukrainians, Byelo-Russians, Lithuanians,
Letts, Esthonians, Uzbeks, Tatars, Moldavians, Georgians, Armenians,
Azerbaidzhanians and the other free people of the Soviet Union, to
Germanize them, to convert them into the slaves of German princes
and barons.
Thus the issue is one of life or death for the Soviet State, for the
peoples of the USSR; the issue is whether the peoples of the Soviet
Union shall remain free or fall into slavery.
The Soviet people must realize this and abandon all heedlessness,
they must mobilize themselves and reorganize all their work on new,
wartime bases, when there can be no mercy to the enemy.
Further, there must be no room in our ranks for whimperers and
cowards, for panic-mongers and deserters. Our people must know no
fear in fight and must selflessly join our patriotic war of
liberation, our war against the fascist enslavers.
Lenin, the great founder of our State, used to say that the chief
virtue of the Bolshevik must be courage, valor, fearlessness in
struggle, readiness to fight, together with the people, against the
enemies of our country.
This splendid virtue of the Bolshevik must become the virtue of the
millions of the Red Army, of the Red Navy, of all peoples of the
Soviet Union.
All our work must be immediately reconstructed on a war footing,
everything must be subordinated to the interests of the front and
the task of organizing the demolition of the enemy.
The people of the Soviet Union now see that there is no taming of
German fascism in its savage fury and hatred of our country which
has ensured all working people labor in freedom and prosperity.
The peoples of the Soviet Union must rise against the enemy and
defend their rights and their land. The Red Army, Red Navy and all
citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of Soviet soil,
must fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages,
must display the daring initiative and intelligence that are
inherent in our people.
We must organize all-round assistance for the Red Army, ensure
powerful reinforcements for its ranks and the supply of everything
it requires, we must organize the rapid transport of troops and
military freight and extensive aid to the wounded.
We must strengthen the Red Army's rear, subordinating all our work
to this cause. All our industries must be got to work with greater
intensity to produce more rifles, machine-guns, artillery, bullets,
shells, airplanes; we must organize the guarding of factories, power-
stations, telephonic and telegraphic communications and arrange
effective air raid precautions in all localities.
We must wage a ruthless fight against all disorganizers of the rear,
deserters, panic-mongers, rumor-mongers; we must exterminate spies,
diversionists and enemy parachutists, rendering rapid aid in all
this to our destroyer battalions.
We must bear in mind that the enemy is crafty, unscrupulous,
experienced in deception and the dissemination of false rumors We
must reckon with all this and not fall victim to provocation.
All who by their panic-mongering and cowardice hinder the work of
defence, no matter who they are, must be immediately haled before
the military tribunal. In case of forced retreat of Red Army units,
all rolling stock must be evacuated, the enemy must not be left a
single engine, a single railway car, not a single pound of grain or
a gallon of fuel.
The collective farmers must drive off all their cattle, and turn
over their grain to the safe-keeping of State authorities for
transportation to the rear. All valuable property, including non-
ferrous metals, grain and fuel which cannot be withdrawn, must
without fail be destroyed.
In areas occupied by the enemy, guerrilla units, mounted and on
foot, must be formed, diversionist groups must be organized to
combat the enemy troops, to foment guerrilla warfare everywhere, to
blow up bridges and roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines, set
fire to forests, stores, transports.
In the occupied regions conditions must be made unbearable for the
enemy and all his accomplices. They must be hounded and annihilated
at every step, and all their measures frustrated.
This war with fascist Germany cannot be considered an ordinary war.
It is not only a war between two armies, it is also a great war of
the entire Soviet people against the German fascist forces.
The aim of this national war in defense of our country against the
fascist oppressors is not only elimination of the danger hanging
over our country, but also aid to all European peoples groaning
under the yoke of German fascism.
In this war of liberation we shall not be alone. In this great war
we shall have loyal allies in the peoples of Europe and America,
including the German people who are enslaved by the Hitlerite
despots.
Our war for the freedom of our country will merge with the struggle
of the peoples of Europe and America for their independence, for
democratic liberties.
It will be a united front of peoples standing for freedom and
against enslavement and threats of enslavement by Hitler's fascist
armies.
In this connection the historic utterance of the British Prime
Minister Churchill regarding aid to the Soviet Union and the
declaration of the United States Government signifying its readiness
to render aid to our country, which can only evoke a feeling of
gratitude in the hearts of the peoples of the Soviet Union, are
fully comprehensible and symptomatic.
Comrades, our forces are numberless. The overweening enemy will soon
learn this to his cost. Side by side with the Red Army many
thousands of workers, collective farmers, intellectuals are rising
to fight the enemy aggressor. The masses of our people will rise up
in their millions.
The working people of Moscow and Leningrad have already commenced to
form vast popular levies in support of the Red Army. Such popular
levies must be raised in every city which is in danger of enemy
invasion, all working people must be roused to defend our freedom,
our honor, our country--in our patriotic war against German Fascism.
In order to ensure the rapid mobilization of all forces of the
peoples of the U.S.S.R. and to repulse the enemy who treacherously
attacked our country, a State Committee of Defense has been formed
in whose hands the entire power of the State has been vested.
The State Committee of Defense has entered upon its functions and
calls upon all people to rally around the Party of Lenin-Stalin and
around the Soviet Government, so as to self-denyingly support the
Red Army and Navy, demolish the enemy and secure victory.
All our forces for support of our heroic Red Army and our glorious
Red Navy! All forces of the people--for the demolition of the enemy!
Forward, to our victory!
--- End forwarded message ---