By Donald Ramotar, Former President of Guyana That victory came at a very high cost. Millions of persons, both military and civilians from many parts of the world perished. The figures of the dead vary between fifty million (50,000,000) and eighty million (80,000,000) people. That victory came at a very high cost. Millions of persons, both military and civilians from many parts of the world perished. The figures of the dead vary between fifty million (50,000,000) and eighty million (80,000,000) people. However, undoubtedly the two countries that lost the most people were the Soviet Union (mainly Russia) and China. The sacrifice of those two states in crushing fascist Germany and Japan is still not fully appreciated by many in the West who through various means, including films and other deliberate distortions of history are made to believe that the US and the UK were the main forces that defeated Hitlerite and Japanese Fascism. The fact is that the whole foreign policy of the West was to push Hitler’s military machine (then the strongest army in the world) against the Soviet Union. The UK always dreamed of crushing Russia since the revolution of 1917. Recall Churchill’s famous statement shortly after the Revolution of crushing Bolshevism in its cradle. So, they allowed Hitler to capture the whole of Europe and then to attack the Soviet Union, which it did on June 22, 1941. In passing it is apposite to recall that when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, he did so not only with the force of Germany but the industrial and military power of Europe. That is similar to what is happening today when Russia is once again fighting the whole of NATO in the Ukraine, which is being used as a proxy. Knowing that it had the tacit support from the West, Hitler concentrated almost all its forces against the Soviet Union. In June 1941, the then US Senator Harry Truman (who became President before the end of the war in 1945) said “… If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia; and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and in that way let them kill as many as possible …” This was not just his personal opinion it was the dominant thinking among the US ruling class at the time. That is why they did not open a second front against Hitler until the Red Army was almost at the gate of Berlin. However, Russia’s victory came at a very high price. Some twenty-seven million (27,000,000) soldiers and civilians died. 1,700 cities and towns and 70,000 villages razed to the ground and tens of thousands of factories and agricultural enterprises were totally destroyed. By the end of the war twenty-five million Soviet citizens were homeless. The role of China in the defeat of fascism is not well known in the West. Yet it was of enormous importance and its contribution to the world’s freedom cannot be overexaggerated. In 1931, Japan invaded China. It was at a time when China was going through a great civil war. The resistance to the Japanese aggression was done mostly by the Communist Party’s Red Army. The resistance was so great that when Germany attacked the Soviet Union the Japanese could not open a second front against the USSR because it was held down in China. The Chinese resistance made it easier for the US to operate in the South Pacific as well. China paid a high price for its victory over Japan. Some twenty million Chinese citizens died in that war. The role of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was so great that it was recognized internationally. At the founding of the UN in 1945 at San Francisco the CPC was invited to send representation. Its delegate was Tung Pi-Wu. He and the People’s Republic of China held the UN in high esteem. Even though the PRC was kept out of the UN for more than two decades after its victory in October 1949 the CPC maintained its conviction that the UN must play an important role in maintaining peace in the world. Writing on the 10th Anniversary of the UN in 1955, Tung-Pi-Wu wrote “Our support for the purposes and principles of the charter of the United Nations is consistent… In order that the UN may work efficiently the charter of the UN must be respected by all nations…” This is more important today than when it was written seventy years ago. Today we are celebrating this 80th Anniversary at a very difficult time. A genocidal war is being waged against the Palestinian people and Russia is once again being attacked by NATO using Ukraine to wage a proxy war. Africa is also experiencing several wars. some to complete their National Liberation and some instigated from outside, as once more we see imperialism in a great scramble for Africa’s rich resources. Other wars are also being waged. The United States has started a trade and economic war against many countries, but principally against China. In the process it is using tariffs and sanctions to try to weaken and retard China’s socio-economic advances. This attack on China is the main reason for much of the unstable, unpredictable situations in our world. However, we are optimists. Let us take inspiration from the epic struggles against Hitlerite and Japanese fascism and chart our course for a peaceful, democratic and prosperous world.