The Marxist-Leninist Weekly

The Soviet Union and its Red Army hold victory parade in Moscow, June 24, 1945.
The Nazi standards are cast down as the Soviet leadership presides over the event
from the top of Lenin's Mausoleum. Click to enlarge.

May 9, 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in Berlin and the victory over fascism in Europe. On this occasion, TML pays tribute to the fighting peoples of the world that crushed fascism, especially the peoples of the Soviet Union that bore the brunt of the fight to eradicate the Nazi plague. TML also hails all those from the occupied countries that sacrificed their lives to resist and defeat the fascist occupier. All of them fought so that humanity would never again know fascism and war.

Canada, joined by Newfoundland, sent some 1.1 million troops to fight in the war, including more than 130,000 Quebeckers. They distinguished themselves in many battles and campaigns, particularly in the Normandy landings, the Italian campaign and the liberation of Holland.

Today, the sacrifices that the peoples made to crush fascism call on us to step up the fight against wars of aggression and occupation and against the use of force to resolve conflicts between nations.

Our main contribution today to the victory of this cause is to step up our work to end Canada's involvement in U.S. wars and aggression in Iraq, Syria and the Ukraine, and to defeat the Harper government in 2015 and establish an anti-war government that will be a factor for peace in the world.

Prime Minister of Canada's Strange Statement on the Occasion of VE Day

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a strange statement on May 8 to mark VE Day. He saluted the contributions of the people of Canada and Newfoundland to the war effort, outlined the losses suffered as a result of their sacrifices and then recalled that in two years we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation. He made a vague reference to "Allies," but greeted no-one and did not recognize the sacrifice and losses of other peoples, especially not those of the former Soviet Union without whose contribution the victory over fascism would not have been secured. While he recognized the losses of Canadians and Newfoundlanders, he remained utterly silent about the contributions of the First Nations, and of all those Canadians who came here after the war, having fought the Nazi-fascists in their countries of origin. The statement totally denied the tremendous sacrifice made by the world's people who came together as one massive Anti-Fascist United Front. He expressed no remorse for how Canada provided refuge to Nazis who disguised themselves as Displaced Persons to gain access to Canada, thus enabling them to get away unscathed with the crimes they committed during the war. He did not see fit to hold anybody to account for the Hitlerite crimes.

The Prime Minister's statement said in part: "For Canadians, it is a day to pause and honour the more than one million brave Canadians and Newfoundlanders who, along with Allies, put their lives on the line to end the tyranny in Europe. They did so to protect the values of freedom and democracy that Canadians hold so dear, and because it was the right thing to do.

"It is also a day to pay tribute to the more than 45,000 selfless sailors, soldiers and airmen who made the supreme sacrifice and the more than 55,000 who were injured during the Second World War. We will forever be grateful to them and their families for their service to our country.

"Places such as Ortona, Juno Beach, Caen, the Falaise Gap, and the Scheldt, where Canadians secured important victories over the Nazis, still echo with the honour of our service members who fought so courageously for freedom there."

The Canadian people, unlike the Prime Minister, honour all those who put their lives on the line without creating a false division between those born in Canada and those who made their contributions in other countries. There were also countless people who fought as partisans in Europe, and also in Korea, China, the Philippines, Burma, India, other Asian countries and countries in north Africa, that were occupied by the German Nazis, Japanese militarists and Italian fascists. Many people from Africa and the Caribbean also contributed to the victory in Europe. Canada has people from every country that fought in the war to realize their striving for peace, freedom and democracy. They too are Canadians even though the Prime Minister of Canada disgracefully denies their very existence.

Left: First Nations soldiers from Moose Factory. Right: Chinese-Canadian soldiers.

Partisan forces in Europe in World War II. Top left: Russian women partisans, members of the Antifascist Front of Women. Top right: Jewish partisans in Belarus. Bottom left: Young Yugoslavian partisans. Bottom right: Members of the Sydir Kovpak partisan detachment in Ukraine.

Left: Filipino partisans in the Battle of Bataan, 1942. Right: Indian soldiers of the
7th Rajput Regiment in Burma, 1944.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi-fascism in Europe the Canadian people also pay deepest respects to the women and men who worked in the factories and fields to provision the allied forces. They recognize the thousands of First Nations members who gave their lives to contain the fascist monster in foreign lands. Many of them made the ultimate sacrifice to secure peace, freedom and democracy and on this day Canadians pay them deepest respect, though they remain unheralded by the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister's statement stands in stark contrast to what the wartime leaders of the countries with which Canada was allied during the war had to say about Russia and its leadership and sacrifice during the war:

"It was an experience of great interest to me to meet Premier Stalin ...It is very fortunate for Russia in her agony to have this great rugged war chief at her head. He is a man of massive outstanding personality, suited to the somber and stormy times in which his life has been cast; a man of inexhaustible courage and will-power and a man direct and even blunt in speech, which, having been brought up in the House of Commons, I do not mind at all, especially when I have something to say of my own. Above all, he is a man with that saving sense of humour which is of high importance to all men and all nations, but particularly to great men and great nations. Stalin also left upon me the impression of a deep, cool wisdom and a complete absence of illusions of any kind. I believe I made him feel that we were good and faithful comrades in this war -- but that, after all, is a matter which deeds not words will prove."

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a letter to Joseph Stalin, February 5, 1943:

"As Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States of America I congratulate you on the brilliant victory at Stalingrad of the armies under your Supreme Command. The one hundred and sixty-two days of epic battle for the city which has forever honoured your name and the decisive result which all Americans are celebrating today will remain one of the proudest chapters in this war of the peoples united against Nazism and its emulators. The commanders and fighters of your armies at the front and the men and women, who have supported them in factory and field, have combined not only to cover with glory their country's arms, but to inspire by their example fresh determination among all the United Nations to bend every energy to bring about the final defeat and unconditional surrender of the common enemy."

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a letter to Joseph Stalin, February 23, 1943:

"On behalf of the people of the United States I want to express to the Red Army on its twenty-fifth anniversary our profound admiration for its magnificent achievements unsurpassed in all history. For many months in spite of many tremendous losses in supplies, transportation and territory the Red Army denied victory to a most powerful enemy. It checked him at Leningrad, at Moscow, at Voronezh, in the Caucasus and finally at the immortal battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army not only defeated the enemy but launched the great offensive which is still moving forward along the whole front from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The enforced retreat of the enemy is costing him heavily in men, supplies, territory and especially in morale. Such achievements can only be accomplished by an army that has skillful leadership, sound organization, adequate training and above all determination to defeat the enemy no matter what the cost in self-sacrifice. At the same time I also wish to pay tribute to the Russian people from whom the Red Army springs and upon whom it is dependent for its men, women and supplies. They, too, are giving their full efforts to the war and are making the supreme sacrifice. The Red Army and the Russian people have surely started the Hitler forces on the road to ultimate defeat and have earned the lasting admiration of the people of the United States."

General Douglas MacArthur, U.S. Supreme Allied Commander of Southwest Pacific:

"The scale and grandeur of the Russian effort mark it as the greatest military achievement in all history."

"We and our allies owe and acknowledge an ever-lasting debt of gratitude to the armies and people of the Soviet Union."

"History knows no greater display of courage than that shown by the people of the Soviet Union."

So what is wrong with Stephen Harper? Why does saluting the sacrifice of the Soviet people stick in his craw like a fishbone he cannot swallow? It is important to answer why this Prime Minister is silent about the significance of the communist contribution in World War II. He is silent about the Soviet Union on VE Day and anti-communist slanders fall from his lips on every possible occasion. On the other hand, he praises the fascists from the Ukraine, Baltics and the Balkan countries as freedom fighters. It is clear that this Prime Minister holds dear everything against which Canadians fought in World War II.

The damage caused by those who pursue Cold War anti-communism to this day and seek to equate communism and fascism for purposes of promoting the fascists as freedom fighters is criminal. Such extremism has inflicted colossal damage on the Canadian people and continues to do so today. So too the wars of aggression and occupation against the peoples of various countries are linked with the attempt to reverse the victory over fascism and negate its significance. Such people must be removed from office as they are not fit to govern.

This Prime Minister's only international activity marking this important anniversary was a May 4 visit to a VE Day ceremony in Holland, where more than 6,000 Canadian soldiers lost their lives liberating the Dutch people from Nazi occupation in 1945. On the world stage, he was again silent about the indispensable role of the Red Army in the headway that the Anglo-American-Canadian forces were able to make after June 6, 1944 in western Europe.

One of the most significant aspects of this anniversary was that the leaders of most of the European countries, along with Canada and the U.S. declined Russia's invitation to participate in its Victory Day celebrations. They also used the occasion to repeat the big lie that Russia is attacking Ukraine, showing their adoption of the fascist Hitlerite logic that no matter how big the lie, if it is repeated often enough it will be recognized as truth.

Just like the German fascists, ideological beliefs are used to justify what cannot be justified. When the Nazis came to power in Germany and set out to drum the German people into complete submission, they proceeded with unprecedented ferocity to systematically eliminate all dissidents. This was an instrument of aggressive German imperialism at a time the Hitlerites already nursed wild dreams of world domination and were preparing to cast humanity into the abyss of war. All of it was done in the name of German values and high ideals, just as today Harper tries to hide his own extremism in the name of Canadian values and high ideals.

When the Prime Minister and others speak of Canadian losses in World War II they speak with insincere motives. Their reference to lives lost is merely to link themselves to the cause of freedom and democracy as a masquerade for their warmongering polices, cloaking them in "Canadian values." This is the reason for the silence about the contributions made by all the peoples of the world, especially those of the Soviet Union who gave more than 20 million lives to save humanity from the fascist plague and preserve the freedom of their socialist homeland.

Why then is Stephen Harper silent about the context of the war? Is it to divert attention from his support for the heirs to Stepan Bandera's "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" financed and armed by the Nazis, and responsible for the mass murder of 60,000 to 100,000 Polish people in Vohynia and Galicia in the name of establishing a "racially pure Ukraine." Is it to hide affinity with the neo-Nazi ideological and political program of the Ukrainian junta propped up by Canada, the U.S. and Britain along with the other countries of the EU today? Is it to divert attention from the role of the attacks on, and isolation of, Russia today in the ambitions of the U.S. and European powers to dominate Asia in their striving for world domination? The hypocritical arrogance of these countries which continue to impose the so-called final solution on the Palestinians and destroy countries such as Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Iran and others knows no bounds. Having failed to take over Afghanistan since the early 19th century, they are now following the footsteps of Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm and Hitler by underestimating Russia once again and threatening to subject the peoples of the world to another international conflagration.

70 Years Ago Today: Red Army Takes Berlin

May 9 marks the 70th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of the Nazi German garrison in the Reichstag, and with it the end of the Battle of Berlin.

Raging from April 25-May 2, 1945, the Battle of Berlin served as the dramatic culmination of a brutal four-year war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, known in Russia and other former Soviet countries as the Great Patriotic War.

In the spring of 1945, combat operations on the territory of Nazi Germany were being conducted by Soviet, US, British and French forces. The Soviet forces were 60 kilometers from Berlin, while the advance units of the US-British forces reached the Elbe River 110-120 kilometers from the German capital.

For the Nazis, Berlin was not only a political base, but also one of Germany's largest military-industrial centers. Leading up to the fighting, the Wehrmacht's main forces were concentrated near Berlin. About 200 Volkssturm (national militia) battalions were deployed in the city, with over 200,000 men organized in the garrison.

The city defense was carefully thought-through and well-prepared. The Berlin defense area included three circular perimeters. The outside perimeter passed along rivers, canals and lakes 25-40 kilometers from the center of the capital. It comprised large built-up areas converted into pockets of resistance.

The 6 km-thick internal defense perimeter, which was thought to be the main defense line of the fortified district, passed along the Berlin suburbs. Antitank obstacles and wire fences were installed on the streets. The third, inner city perimeter passed along the ring railway line. All of the streets leading to the city center were blocked by obstacles, including trenches, fortifications, barricades, and bunkers, while the bridges were prepared for explosive demolition. Nazi German forces made plans to use the 80-kilometer Berlin metro for stealth troop movements.

To ensure effective command and control of the defense operation, Nazi German forces divided Berlin into nine sectors. The central corridor, where the main government and administrative agencies, including the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery, were located, was the most heavily fortified sector.

The Soviet Supreme High Command's plan for the operation was to deliver several powerful strikes on a wide frontage, split the enemy's Berlin [military forces] group, encircle it and destroy it piecemeal.

Timeline of Soviet Army's Operation

The Berlin operation began on April 16, 1945. After powerful artillery fire and airstrikes, the forces of the First Belorussian Front commanded by Marshal Georgi Zhukov engaged the enemy on the Oder River. At the same time, the troops of the First Ukrainian Front commanded by Marshal Ivan Konev began to cross the Neisse River. Despite fierce resistance, the Soviet forces breached the enemy's defenses.

On April 20, the assault operation began with a long-range artillery attack on Berlin by the First Belorussian Front. Toward the evening of April 21, its advance units reached the city's northeastern suburbs.

The forces of the First Ukrainian Front implemented a rapid maneuver to reach Berlin from the south and the west. On April 21, having advanced 95 kilometers, the front's tank units entered the city's southern suburb. Exploiting the success of the tank divisions, the combined-arms units of the First Ukrainian Front's assault group advanced rapidly to the west.

On April 25, the forces of the First Ukrainian and the First Belorussian Fronts linked up west of Berlin, completing the encirclement of the Berlin group, comprising of 500,000 men, including Wehrmacht, SS, security and police forces, and Volkssturm militia, along with 3,000 heavy guns and 250 tanks. Against this, the Red Army concentrated 464,000 men, 12,700 guns and mortars, 2,100 rocket artillery units, and 1,500 tanks and self-propelled artillery.

The Second Belorussian Front crossed the Oder and, breaking through the enemy defense, by April 25, advanced to a depth of up to 20 kilometers. They pinned down the Third German Tank Army, preventing it from being used at the approaches to Berlin.

Even though it was clearly doomed, the Berlin group put up a fierce resistance. It was dissected by the Soviet forces into three isolated pockets in fierce street fighting between April 26-28.

The fighting continued round the clock. Advancing to the city center, the Soviet troops fought for every street and every building. Some days would see the freeing of up to 300 blocks. Hand-to-hand fighting erupted in metro tunnels, underground utility lines and underpasses. The main attack configuration during the fighting for the city was the assault group, consisting of rifle and tank units, reinforced by artillery, including 152 mm and 203 mm guns, for point-blank fire.

Tanks operated both as part of combined-arms rifle units and tank corps and armies, placed under the operational command of combined-arms armies or operating in their assault zone. Attempts to use tanks independently led to heavy losses from artillery fire and Panzerfaust antitank rocket launchers.

The massed use of bombers was made difficult by the city being covered with heavy smoke. The most powerful air strikes on city targets were delivered on April 25 and 26, with a total of 2,049 aircraft involved in the attack.

By April 28, the defenders of Berlin controlled only the central area of the city, facing shelling by Soviet artillery from all sides. Toward the evening of the same day, units of the Third Assault Army of the First Belorussian Front approached the Reichstag.

The Reichstag garrison had about 1,000 men and officers, reinforced by units including the SS Division Nordland, the French battalion from the 15th Waffen SS Grenadier Charlemagne Division, and the Latvian Battalion from the 15th Waffen SS Grenadier Division, bringing the number of defenders to nearly 5,000. The garrison had a large number of machine-guns and antitank rocket launchers, including Panzerfaust, as well as artillery systems. The defense had seen the construction of deep trenches, obstacles and machine-gun and artillery emplacements around the building.

On April 30, units of the Third Assault Army of the First Belorussian Front engaged the Reichstag garrison, which put up stiff resistance. It was not until the evening, after repeated attacks, that Soviet troops would be able to break into the building.

The Nazis fought back fiercely. There was hand-to-hand fighting in the corridors and on the stairs. Assault units took control of the Reichstag building step-by-step, room-after-room, floor-by-floor. Fighting for the first floor of the Reichstag lasted 21 hours and 45 minutes.

The Soviet soldiers' path from the main entrance to the Reichstag to the roof was marked by red flags, big and small. On the night of April 30 to May 1, the Victory Banner (the Assault Flag of the 150th Rifle Division) was hoisted on the Reichstag roof. Fighting for the Reichstag continued until the morning of May 1, while some enemy groups, entrenched in the basement, only surrendered on May 2.

The Germans lost over 2,000 men and officers in the fight for the Reichstag. The Soviet forces captured over 2,600 soldiers, 1,800 rifles and submachine-guns, 59 artillery systems, and 15 tanks and assault guns.

On May 1, units of the Third Assault Army, advancing from the north, met with the units of the Eighth Guards Army advancing from the south. Later in the day, two important defense nodes in Berlin surrendered -- the Spandau Citadel and the Flakturm I flak tower (Zoo Tower).

On the morning of May 2, Nazi German forces sent a communication, in Russian: "Please stop firing. We have shipped negotiators to the Potsdam Bridge." Meeting with the Soviets on behalf of German forces, General Helmut Weidling reported on their willingness to end all resistance; crossing over to the Soviets at 6 am, Weidling wrote an order of surrender, which was spread using loudspeakers and radio. Routed and disbursed, the last remants of the German resistance were destroyed or captured by May 5. Some managed to flee west, crossing the River Elbe, and joining German units and refugees who crossed into the US occupation zone. The remains of the Berlin garrison -- over 134,000 men, surrendered.

Results of the Berlin Operation

The fight for the city is estimated to [have] cost the lives of 125,000 civilians of Berlin's population of 2 million, along with the destruction of wide areas of the city. Of the city's 250,000 buildings, about 30,000 were completely demolished, over 20,000 were partially destroyed and over 150,000 sustained damage. Over one-third of the city's metro stations were flooded and destroyed by sappers [engineers -- TML Ed. Note] from the SS Division Nordland, and 225 bridges were demolished by Nazis sappers.

Fighting with separate groups attempting to break out of Berlin to the west ended on May 5. On the night of May 8-9, the Nazi forces signed the Act of Military Surrender.

During the Battle of Berlin, the Soviet forces encircled and destroyed the largest enemy group in the history of warfare. They routed 70 infantry and 23 tank and motorized rifle divisions, capturing 480,000 men.

The Berlin Operation came at a very high cost for the Soviet forces. Their irrecoverable losses were 78,291, with 274,184 injuries. German losses are estimated at 100,000 killed and 220,000 injured.

Over 600 participants of the Berlin Operation were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union; 13 received the second Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.

Since 2007, the Victory Banner of the 150th Rifle Division raised on the roof of the Reichstag has been used in Russia as the official flag of Victory.

Kiev Nationalists' Remember World War II by
Pledging to "Destroy Moscow"

Extreme right-wing nationalists and Nazi collaborators commemorated the end of World War II by gathering on May 7 to mark a newly established "Day of Remembrance for World War II Victims" at the Center of National Rebirth in Kiev. At the meeting, they gave the appeal for Kiev to take up its "historic mission" to destroy Moscow, freeing the Russian people and enable them to shape their own future. Those present at the May 7 meeting were veterans of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and members of the neo-Nazi volunteer battalions fighting with government troops against the people of Donestk and Lugansk.

The meeting was also attended by Yuri Sirotyuk, a member of the fascist political party Svoboda. The party's official website posted the text of his speech at the event. "We shall get rid of the dead load of imperialism," Sirotyuk is reported to have said. "That is why our historic mission is to continue the deed of our predecessors, to destroy Moscow and free the Russian people and enable them to shape their own future."

"I believe that if we truly want it, we will do it. Another question is that Ukraine, unfortunately, is still not a national Ukrainian power. Some of the Ukrainian political leadership feel indifference towards the Ukrainian nation. The Ukrainian leadership feel indifference when Ukrainian officers are being buried. But they feel sore when their stocks are falling and when they think of their factories, located in Russia."

According to the website, the meeting was part of the "Historic Dialogues" project and the theme of the gathering was "The Second World War and Russian-Ukrainian War of 2014-2015: Parallels and Regularities."

Canadians Commemorate Odessa Massacre by
Calling for Removal of Troops from Ukraine and
Defeat of Harper Government

On May 2, 2015, actions were held in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and other cities to mark the first anniversary of the massacre of more than 100 people at the Trade Unions House in Odessa, a southern port city in Ukraine. This crime was perpetrated by the neo-Nazi regime of Petro Poroshenko, brought to power by a U.S.-instigated coup in February 2014 that overthrew President Viktor Yanukovych.

The Odessa Massacre was carried out by neo-Nazi gangs in collaboration with the police that attacked a peaceful protest of citizens of Russian and other nationalities as they collected signatures for petitions opposing the government. The neo-Nazis first burned the protesters' encampment, set up in a park across from the Trade Unions House. They then made and threw Molotov cocktails at the protesters as they retreated into the Trade Unions House to escape the violence. The neo-Nazis -- many carrying side arms, bats and other weapons -- followed them inside, beating and killing the protesters and setting them on fire. A number of the scorched bodies retrieved from the devastating fire that followed had bullet holes in their heads.

One of the main themes of the Odessa commemorative actions was to inform Canadians about what is going on in the Ukraine under the iron-heel of the Poroshenko regime which is fully supported and armed by the Harper government. It was pointed out at the rallies that the people of Ukraine face fascist terror every day and that the monopoly media has engaged in disinformation to prevent Canadians from drawing the warranted conclusions about what is going on in Ukraine.

Montreal

In Montreal, the rally took place at Norman Bethune Park across from Concordia University. In the context of explaining what is happening in Odessa, some of the participants explained how their friends and families in Ukraine have suffered death, the destruction of their homes, neighbourhood schools and hospitals. They pointed out that the Harper government must be held to account for openly supporting the neo-nazi government there.

Everyone sang "Sviachtchennaïa Voïna" (Sacred War), one of the most famous songs of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union (1941-1945), a song that cemented the unity of the people in the fight against fascism.

The organizers informed everyone of various activities taking place on May 9, the 70th anniversary of the Victory over Fascism, and called on everyone to take part.

Toronto

The orange and black St. George's Ribbon refers to the highest military honours in Russia
and the great sacrifices of the Russian people during World War II.

Victims of the Odessa Massacre were remembered in Toronto with a picket downtown across from Dundas Square. Hundreds of people stopped to watch the flash-mob style cultural performances of dance and music depicting the Odessa Massacre.

A march then wound its way through the city centre shouting: Harper Stop Supporting Nazis in Ukraine! No war in Ukraine! Stop Demonizing Russia! Canadian Troops Out of Ukraine! Canada/NATO Out of Ukraine! Remember Odessa! We Shall Not Forget! We Shall Not Forgive! It was pointed out that the brutality of the Odessa Massacre harkened to the days of the Bandera Nazi terror in Ukraine and is aimed at suppressing and terrorizing people into submission. The demonstrators opposed the Harper government's sending Canadian troops to the Ukraine as "trainers" for the Ukrainian army.

Activists of CPC(M-L) participated in the Toronto actions and National Leader of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada Anna Di Carlo spoke on behalf of the Party. She said all Canadians must hold Stephen Harper and the entire Canadian government to account for its role in backing an illegitimate government in Kiev and work together to defeat the war government of Harper in 2015.

The action ended with a minute's silence for the victims of Odessa and the release of black balloons outside the Russian Consulate.

Calgary

Vancouver

In Vancouver, a gathering took place in Stanley Park to commemorate the Odessa Massacre. Speakers addressed both the nature of this crime and the geopolitical danger of fascism being unleashed in the Ukraine by U.S. imperialism, with the assistance of the Harper government that, together with the U.S., is arming and training the coup regime in Kiev. The cultural component of the commemoration included poems and songs. Various speakers highlighted the need for an anti-war government in Canada that will not orchestrate coups, war, and occupation in other countries.

Janine Solanki, chair of Movement Against War and Occupation, emphasized that Canadians must take a stand against fascism and U.S. interference in Ukraine. Roger Annis, a retired aeronautics worker, reported on his visit to eastern Ukraine. He said the people there want an end to the civil war so that relations with the rest of the country can be normalized and their national and linguistic rights respected in a new constitution or other arrangements. Charles Boylan, representing CPC(M-L), laid the blame for unleashing nazi-fascist gangs directly on U.S. imperialism and its coup government. He outlined the danger of U.S. and Canadian troops in Ukraine, denounced the Harper government for its role there and demanded Canadian troops come home and that an anti-war government be established in Canada. He saluted the heroic people of Odessa and the whole Soviet Union for their historic victory over nazi-fascism in the Great Patriotic War, the 70th anniversary of which is May 9.