The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) salutes and honors the 80th anniversary of this historic victory. We pay deep tribute to the millions of victims of Nazi and fascist atrocities, and especially to the countless anti-fascist fighters who gave their lives on the battlefields, in the resistance movements, in the partisan struggles, and in the concentration camps. Their sacrifice made possible the victory over barbarism.

This victory, with the Soviet Union and the Red Army playing a leading role, gave rise to a new hope: a world free of war, racial discrimination, colonialism, exploitation, and injustice. It changed the global balance in favor of workers and the oppressed, inspired national liberation struggles, and started the collapse of colonial empires.

The foundation of the WFTU in 1945 was itself born out of the great anti-fascist victory. It was created to unite the trade union movement in the struggle for peace and freedom.

Today, 80 years later, we witness again the rise of fascism and the far-right, with the support of the capital and its representatives, with imperialist wars and interventions continuing to bring suffering to the peoples. From the ongoing genocide in Palestine to the imperialist aggression elsewhere, to the growing refugee crises and rising militarism promoted by the USA, NATO, and the EU, the dangers facing peace and humanity are grave.

At the same time, these forces are intensifying efforts to falsify and erase history. They attempt to eliminate the decisive role played by the Soviet Union, the working class, and the anti-fascist movements in the defeat of Nazism. They even rebrand May 9 as “Europe Day” to rewrite the meaning of this date and strip it of its revolutionary legacy.

The international class-oriented trade union movement does not and will not forget. Our duty is to preserve historical truth, to educate the new generations of trade unionists, and to strengthen the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist struggle of the working class worldwide.

We reaffirm our commitment to the defense of world peace, to the rights and dignity of the peoples, as the only lasting path to a world without fascism, wars, and exploitation.

Long live the victory of May 9, 1945!
Long live the anti-fascist struggle!

The post Eighty Years Since the Victory Over Fascism, WFTU on Victory Day 2025 first appeared on Labor Today.

79 years ago, the day that marked the end of the fascist axis, the fascist machine that butchered the peoples has been officially defeated. The red flag with the hammer and sickle had been raised in the German Reichstag already since April 1945.

On this day, we honor the memory of the fighters everywhere who gave their lives on the battlefields, in the concentration camps, and in every form of anti-fascist action.

The victory of the people over fascism, with the Soviet Army in its vanguard, was accompanied by a new air of hope and optimism for a better world, without wars and disasters, without racial or other discrimination, free of exploitation and social injustice, and without colonialism and national oppression.

It changed the global correlation of forces in favor of workers and peoples and has boosted national liberation movements and decolonization and the struggle against colonialism. But first of all, it proved that only the organized struggle of the people can really put an end to fascism and the system that gives birth to it. Peoples united can achieve victories that seem impossible.

The foundation of the World Federation of Trade Unions, had also been a child of the great antifascist victory of the peoples.

However, 79 years after that great victory, US imperialism and its NATO allies are promoting conflicts that seriously threaten world peace and promote fascism. The caravans of innocent refugees, the situation in Ukraine, the ongoing genocide in Palestine, only bring negative developments for the peoples.

Today, the importance of this Victory is more topical than ever. In a period when the capitalists and their governments, the USA and the EU are trying to falsify history and erase the colossal contribution of the peoples, of the Soviet Union, of the partisan movements in the victory over fascism, our task is even more urgent. Peoples’ enemies did not even hesitate to characterize May 9 as the “Europe Day”, in order to change the true content of this date. In this methodical effort to overwrite the history, the international class-oriented trade union movement does not remain silent. We continue struggling against fascism and the system that generates it. At the same time, we don’t let memory to be erased and the historical truth to be forgotten. We continue spreading the truth to the new generations of trade unionist, honoring the memory and the struggle of the real liberators of the people and the world.

The WFTU salutes the 9^th of May, by reaffirming its commitment to the defense of world peace, the rights of peoples, especially the working class, to the socialist perspective.

Long live May 9, 1945, the day of the victory of the peoples against Nazism and fascism!

The post WFTU Statement on May 9 – Long live Peoples’ Anti-fascist Victory! first appeared on Labor Today.