Messages, appeals and statements of Comintern (SH)

Appeal for the International Red Fight Day - 2023 - against World Fascism

Antifascists !

Comrades !

On 30 January 1933, the German bourgeoisie handed over power to the fascist Hitler and the NSDAP to establish their openly fascist dictatorship. The KPD led a heroic struggle against the offensive of capital and fascism with comrade Ernst Thälmann at its head, while the Social Democracy united with the fascists in the common struggle against the KPD, against Bolshevism.

The characteristic peculiarity of the situation at the time of the Hitler coup was that the conditions for a victorious uprising, for the beginning of the socialist revolution in Germany, were not yet fully developed.

However, in retrospect, when we communists recall and recall the cruel genocide of Hitler's fascists, we do not necessarily consider it adventurism if we communists had taken up arms at that time, if we had stood in the way of the fascists' seizure of power with revolutionary violence in order to prevent worse. Even if on 30 January 1933 there was still no real prospect of an assured victory for the socialist revolution, we communists would have had to take up the revolutionary weapons of resistance, even when even the general strike called by us communists had been thwarted by the strikebreaking of the social-fascist trade unions. Even if the united front was prevented by the social-fascists, it was impossible at the negotiating table, but it might well have been established in the armed resistance struggle. The possibility existed, even if the prospect of victory was slim. In our opinion, it is quite in line with communist morality to sacrifice one's life in the struggle against fascism, even if the prospect of victory seems too slim.

Today, we are faced with the decision of how we can and must avoid a repetition of the history of our behaviour towards fascism, only that we are no longer dealing with the struggle against Hitler's fascism alone, but with fascism all over the world.

The Second World War did not begin until 6 years after Hitler came to power, because Germany was still too weak due to its defeat in the First World War to instigate another world war straight away.

And even today, Germany needs a certain amount of time to convert its economy to a war economy, because Germany had one of the strongest peace movements in the world, which the German warmongers had met with fierce resistance. Unfortunately, that has changed. The bourgeoisie in Germany has now succeeded in reawakening its ideology of war and fascism and harnessing the peace movement to its cart, from the German "defence of democracy in the Hindu Kush" to the "defence of democracy" in Kiev.

Today, the social democratic, green and liberal leaders have taken up the Nazi legacy and are gearing up for the Third World War, so that the two defeats in the First and Second World Wars are finally turned into a victory.

The danger of war and fascism today no longer emanates from imperialist Germany alone, but from world imperialism as a whole. The victory of German revachism is unthinkable on its own. Today, Germany is integrated into NATO and is subordinate to its overlords in America. The danger of war does not come from Germany alone, as it did in the First and Second World Wars, but from the USA and its allies on the one side, and from Russia and its allies on the other.

The imminent Third World War, for which the entire world imperialism is now feverishly preparing, will be decided between the Eastern and Western world camps of imperialism - with the two superpowers USA and China at the head.

Unless the third superpower would put its foot down, namely the great army of the world proletariat, which would thwart the war preparations of world imperialism and prevent the Third World War with the socialist world revolution.

Decisive for the struggle on a world scale is the struggle against war and fascism at home.

If all the peoples of the world would lead the struggle against war and fascism in their own country, the imperialist world war danger would be averted.