Yemelyan Yaroslavsky 1943
Author: Yemelyan Yaroslavsky;
Written: 1943;
First published: 30 April 1943 in Krasnaya Zvezda;
Source: https://0gnev.livejournal.com
Translated by: Anton P.
For the second year, the country of the Soviets meets the day of May 1 in an atmosphere of bloody war unprecedented in magnitude, against a monstrously vile enemy. In the current war, started by Nazi Germany and spread to the whole world, about 15 million people have already died, according to military observers. And if we count those tortured by the German fascist invaders in various European countries, shot, burned alive, buried alive by them, then this figure reaches even more colossal proportions. The world has not yet known such a destruction of human lives, human values, accumulated over centuries of cultural treasures, such a death of hundreds of cities, tens of thousands of villages, wiped off the face of the earth by the rabid Huns, the fascist scoundrels. Wild hordes of Hitlerites have flooded the expanses of Europe and threaten the whole world with a bloody flood.
Our country comes to the day of May 1, to the day of the review of the fighting forces of the working people, strong, confident in its victory, despite the fact that it has suffered serious wounds, despite the temporary loss of a significant territory, despite the greatest sacrifices made by the people in this greatest, holiest of the wars that our Motherland is waging against the vile enslavers who have filled the world with their atrocities. Since the day of May 1 began to be celebrated in Russia, it has always raised the most courageous, most energetic, persons, those most devoted to their people in the struggle. Columns of demonstrators were built under the banner of the Lenin-Stalin party in the days of the struggle against Tsarism. They were not afraid of death on the streets of cities, under the bullets of the Tsarist gendarmes. They rallied the entire people. Russia, which they loved infinitely, for the happiness of which the best sons of our Motherland gave their blood and lives, this Russia was conquered by the people to build in it the fairest socialist society. The Soviet people worked hard to create such a society. All the creative, productive forces of the country developed in it with tremendous force during the years of Soviet power. The mighty construction of a new life proceeded from one peak to another.
The day of June 22, 1941, sharply disrupted the entire course of life of the Soviet state. The beginning of this war was a turning point in the entire course of the Second World War. Of course, even until that day, the Soviet people knew that they would have to face the fascist armies that enslaved half of Europe and were only waiting for the right moment to attack the Soviet country. We would have committed the greatest crime before the people, before the whole world, if we had not prepared for this war, which the Soviet government was striving to prevent with all its might. Let us remember that the main motive of the May Day demonstration in 1940, the main idea of ??all the speeches was the thought: if there is war tomorrow! The enemy, relying on the resources of Europe, the continent he had conquered, attacked us treacherously, pulling up a huge army to the borders of the Soviet state, consisting of selected troops, armed with numerous equipment, intoxicated with easy victories in Europe, arrogant and confident that they would march across our country as well. And the Soviet country met these vile enslavers with such resistance as they had never met anywhere else, with such hatred as they had not yet experienced, with such force of blow, which already in the first stages of the war, even before the defeat of the Germans near Moscow, put out of action many of the best units of the German Army and scattered into dust and smoke the legend created by the Germans of the invincibility of German weapons.
As the titanic struggle of the Soviet people against the huge war machine of Germany unfolded, the peoples of the countries occupied by the Germans began to see more and more clearly that this war of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany was tearing apart the heavy leaden clouds that crushed Europe and threatened the whole world. From the Soviet-German front, the dawn of liberation dawned on the crushed, tortured peoples of the countries occupied by the Germans. Here the glow of the fires kindled by the German enslavers blazed, hundreds of cities and thousands of villages burned, a cannonade of battles unheard of in scale rang out. But soon countless echelons of the wounded, cripples from the Soviet-German front reached the West, and in the winter of 1941, when the Germans boasted that they would soon end the campaign in Russia by capturing Moscow and Leningrad and all the vital centers of the country, the Red Army, led by Comrade Stalin, inflicted them a severe defeat, from which they recovered only because our allies were unable to pin down the German forces in the West.
The Germans launched a new offensive with these forces in the summer of 1942. We lived through the second war summer, when the battles unfolded on an even greater scale, when the enemy put his reserves at stake and, due to the absence of a second front in Europe, withdrew a large number of divisions from the occupied European countries and threw them against us. The enemy boasted that he had closed the gates to the Caucasus and the gates to Caucasian oil for the Soviets forever. The enemy boasted that he forever held in his hands the banks of the Terek and the Kuban, the Don and the Volga. He was sure that in the summer of 1942 he would occupy not only Stalingrad, but the entire Volga region, Moscow, Leningrad and the entire Caucasus. When victory seemed so close to the enemy, a second crushing blow of unprecedented power was inflicted on him at Stalingrad. The Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the country of Soviets, Marshal of the Soviet Union, Comrade Stalin, vigilantly watched every step of the enemy, taking into account his strength. And when the decisive moment came, when the enemy’s forces were at their limit, the Supreme High Command of the Red Army gave the order to attack.
On November 19, 1942, the offensive of the Red Army began on a 100 km front. A month later, the front of its offensive stretched up to 1,000 km. And by the end of February to 1,500 kilometers. One of the greatest battles in the history of war took place near Stalingrad. At Stalingrad, a huge elite army of fascist invaders was surrounded, exterminated and partly captured, along with two dozen generals, 2.5 thousand officers, led by Field Marshal of the German Army General Paulus. If at that moment a second front was created in Western Europe, this defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad would have led to the final defeat of the Nazi armies. But this time, too, the Germans managed to gather, thanks to the absence of a second front, dozens of divisions in Western Europe, to throw SS units and their strategic reserves into battle.
The Red Army liberated a huge territory of 480 thousand square kilometers. This is more than the territory of Germany before the start of the Second World War. At the same time, a significant part of the territory occupied by the Germans in 1941 was liberated. The Don and the Volga were completely liberated from the German invaders. How freely one breathes now, how life unfolds in the regions liberated from the fascist scum. The spring sowing is now in full swing there. The country is healing its wounds. Stalingrad, like a phoenix from the ashes, begins to revive to become even more powerful and terrible for the enemies of the city-fortress. The whole country is lovingly building Stalingrad. Every region, every republic, every city and thousands of villages want to contribute and are making their contribution to the restoration of the hero-city.
The Red Army drove the enemy even further from Moscow, liberating Rzhev, Gzhatsk, Vyazma. It drove the Germans away from the region of Demyansk and Velikiye Luki, broke the blockade of Leningrad. Meeting the day of May 1, 1943, we know that days of heavy, decisive battles await us. The enemy has lost their combat advantages. He lost over 5 thousand aircraft only on the Soviet-German front this winter. His tank columns have not yet lost their strength, but no less powerful tank formations and anti-tank guns are now opposing his tank columns. The enemy lost over 9,000 tanks on the Soviet-German front in the winter of 1942-43 alone. He lost more than 20 thousand guns. Can the enemy make up for these losses? Of course he can, if you give him time for this. And time, as Comrade Stalin said, does not wait.
The enemy is carrying out “total mobilization”. He cleans up everything he can sweep under the broom. He is not broken yet. If his hands are untied in the west, as they have been completely untied until now, he will still be able to embark on new major military adventures, launch an offensive in one sector or another. But even if he succeeds in launching this offensive, he will be forced to throw an army into battle, which in many respects differs significantly from the army that advanced in 1941 and 1942. Then the army attacked, confident of its victory, then the elite German troops attacked. Where is German confidence in victory now? It does not exist, despite all the hysterical cries of Goebbels, who threatened to use against those with “small faith” all the means of repression that are at the disposal of Hitler’s bandits.
During this time, the Red Army has accumulated vast military experience and has learned to hate the enemy with such fierce hatred that nothing can satisfy us except the death of the enemy. It seems that after everything we know about the atrocities of the German fascist scoundrels, after the numerous documents published about these atrocities, about our brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers who were brutally tortured to death, it is difficult to think of anything even more terrible. Meanwhile, every day brings new stories of the unceasing bloody orgies of the German executioners. Blood runs cold in veins from these news and hands reach for weapons to take revenge, to avenge these bastards, the degenerates of the human race.
We know that we have something to take revenge on, we have something to repay for these unheard-of bullying, abuse and butchery. Our factories forge weapons day and night to deliver decisive blows to the enemy. These weapons are becoming more and more sophisticated. We know that if the Germans today improve the tank, and tomorrow the plane, then we will find the means to destroy these improved tanks and improved planes. In our mighty factories, in workshops where millions of workers, engineers, technicians work selflessly, loyally, in our research laboratories, where scientists headed by the Academy of Sciences work, all the creative scientific thought, popular intelligence and tireless energy of the Soviet people has a single purpose: they are working day and night on the creation of a weapon that should bury the monstrous cannibalistic system of Hitlerite Germany. The enemy will soon find out how our human reserves have grown, strengthened, and hardened. In decisive battles, brave warriors, hardened in battles, go with one thought: as soon as possible to cleanse our land of the fascist evil spirits, to expel the enemy from the borders of our land.
This task requires the exertion of all our forces. How many of our land is still in Nazi captivity, under the heel of the occupiers, how many millions of Soviet people languish and wait for the day when the Red Army will liberate this land and together with the people will free our fields, meadows, forests, cities and villages from German captivity. And this day will come, of this we are deeply convinced. All over the Soviet land our fields will spike even more magnificently from edge to edge, abundant herds of cattle will graze, the gardens of our country will flourish.
We know: our people have showed unprecedented energy in this Great Patriotic War. They are ready to make the greatest sacrifices. The history of Russia knows many examples when the people rose, as one, to fight. In 1611, when the Polish gentry captured Moscow and threatened to enslave the Russian people, at the call of Minin and Pozharsky, the people created a people’s militia, donated all their wealth to expel the invaders, and they achieved victory. In 1812, when Napoleon with an army of “twelve languages” flooded Russia and occupied Moscow, all the people rose up to fight. Napoleon was expelled, and the remnants of his army, once considered invincible, were now looking pathetic: dressed in rags they stretched out their hand for alms to the Russian peasants, calling them shermi (dear friend) and the peasant called these “dear friends” whom he despised, sheramyzhniki. How great is that mighty patriotic upsurge of the peoples of the Soviet Union, of which we are eyewitnesses and participants today! It has never happened in history for the village to show such exceptional concern for strengthening the country’s defenses. On the initiative of the Tambov collective farmers, the whole country took part in this great, historically important patriotic cause; collective farms and collective farmers, work collectives, military units, Soviet institutions, religious organizations and church ministers joined in this powerful movement, and in a short time the state received more than 7 billion rubles, except for donations of grain and other agricultural products for arms and to help the Red Army.
The pre-May Day socialist competition showed how much a people can do, inspired by a single thought, having set themselves a single noble goal of liberation and driven by a single will aimed at defeating the enemy. Many factories not only fulfilled the state plans ahead of schedule, but provided additional weapons for dozens of regiments. Now in our villages a mass movement is unfolding to sow hundreds of thousands of hectares in addition to the fund of the Red Army. This is with what we come to the day of May 1st. Now more than ever, this day for us is the day of the review of the fighting forces of the working people. We are not alone in this struggle. The working people of all countries who value freedom, independence, the honor of their people, who do not want to be a slave to the Nazis, raise their weapons to fight the Nazi invaders. We see how the united anti-fascist front of struggle is expanding, gaining strength, despite all the obstacles. We welcome the decisive struggle of the soldiers of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, France and other countries occupied by the Nazis. And we call on the day of May 1 the working people of all countries to an even closer, militant alliance. We send greetings to the peoples of Europe who are fighting against Hitler’s imperialism. We call on them: Patriots of European countries, rise up to fight for your liberation from the fascist yoke, overthrow Hitler’s tyranny! We appeal to the brothers, the oppressed Slavs: fan the flame of the holy people’s war against the Nazi imperialists, the mortal enemies of the Slavic peoples!
We are proud that Czechoslovak soldiers are fighting in the ranks of the Red Army, who covered themselves with unfading glory and blood, who welded the Czechoslovak people with their Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian brothers, with all the peoples of the Soviet Union. We rejoice at every success of our allies and strive by all means to ensure the victory of the Anglo-Soviet-American military alliance over the enemies of mankind, the German fascist enslavers.
We have extended a fraternal helping hand to all peoples who are enslaved by Hitlerite Germany, to all peoples who are threatened by this enslavement. Our people are fighting honestly, selflessly, heroically against the worst enemy of all progressive humanity. We treat with the utmost contempt the attempts of the Polish chauvinists – the Sikorsky government – to support the Hitlerites’ vile slander against Soviet power. Our people and the masses of all democratic countries fully approve of the decision of the Soviet Government to break off diplomatic relations with the Polish Government, which has established contact with Hitler.
We love the Red Army and believe in its strength, in its victory. The soldiers of the Red Army and their glorious commanders know that the gaze of the whole world, of all progressive mankind, is directed at them. The days of decisive battles are approaching. The Red Army and our Navy will put all the force of their blows, all their hatred for the enemy, love for our people, devotion to the socialist Motherland, loyalty to the banner of Lenin-Stalin on the scales of history. And let their attacks on the enemy be even more deadly, let the offensive on the ground, in the air, at sea and under water against the enemy forces be even more decisive!
We send greetings to the brothers and sisters on the other side of the front. We tell them: brothers and sisters, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Karelians, who have temporarily fallen under the yoke of the German fascist scoundrels, fan the flame of the national partisan movement, exterminate the German scoundrels. Soviet partisans and partisans! Power up your blows to the enemy rear. Destroy railways, bridges and communications. Exterminate the enemy’s manpower. Do not let the Germans burn our villages and towns, save the Soviet people from being driven into German slavery and exterminated by Hitler’s executioners. Vengeance and death to the German scoundrels!
We firmly believe in the victory of our just cause. The Soviet people are fighting for it with all courage and strength, because they know that the fate of our country, the fate of the whole world for many years to come depends on the outcome of the war. Under the banner of Lenin, under the leadership of Stalin, forward to defeat the German occupiers and drive them out of our homeland!