Without socialism we cannot defeat the enemy

Vladislav Gonchrov, Pravda, November 28-December 1, 2025 —

On Thursday, November 27, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the All-Russian Headquarters for Protest Actions dispatched the 146th humanitarian convoy to the North-Eastern Military District zone, dedicated to Russia’s Day of Military Glory on December 5—the anniversary of the start of the victorious counteroffensive of Soviet troops against the Nazi invaders in the Battle of Moscow in 1941. The event was attended by Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G.A. Zyuganov, who addressed the gathering:

“We are sending everything necessary from the Lenin State Farm, primarily to soldiers fighting on the front lines, children being treated in hospitals, orphanages, schools, boarding schools, and families who have suffered.

This convoy has a special meaning; it commemorates the Battle of Moscow. It was a legendary battle that fundamentally changed the course of the war. The Nazis marched swiftly across Europe, crushing the vaunted French army in 44 days. It took several weeks to conquer the rest of Europe, and they suffered their losses especially in the Balkans: the Serbs didn’t surrender, they rose up, and Hitler declared that after victory on the Eastern Front, they would execute every other Serb. They unleashed a gigantic army on our country, subjugating all the iron, all the ports, all the machinery in Europe.

Of course, withstanding the first blow was difficult, as it required the mobilization of all resources. Hitler, in his “Barbarossa” plan, predicted that they would be able to crush our army and take Moscow within three months. Moreover, it was immediately declared: no surrender would be accepted, but Moscow would be razed to the ground, turning it into a vast reservoir. Such cannibalistic plans are hard to imagine. The Nazis approached Moscow. Only Stalin’s political strength and will, and the unity of the Communist Party and the Soviet people, enabled them to mount a powerful rebuff and achieve this remarkable victory.

The battle began on September 30 and lasted for two months: we built up our forces, brought up the legendary Siberian divisions, and fortified our positions. Here, near Moscow, our brilliant commanders, such as Zhukov, Rokossovsky, and Konev, learned to fight. I believe they didn’t just learn; they demonstrated character, as the odds were unequal.

Stalin was offered the chance to leave Moscow and move to the Volga, where a new capital was to be established, but he said, “I’ll be here, defending the capital with the last battalion.” We managed to prevail, and by defeating the fascist troops near Moscow, we drove them back 200-300 kilometers. It was a remarkable battle, in which we proved that no army is invincible.

After this, Japan, ready to declare war in the east, with the million-strong Kwantung Army already at its borders, decided not to engage. It became clear that the Turks were also unwilling to enter the war. Roosevelt and Churchill were forced to agree with Stalin and join the Anti-Hitler Coalition. Therefore, this battle is of utmost importance to us.

Our men are now fighting at the front. Once again, NATO and the Anglo-Saxons have declared war on the Russian World, a great civilization with a thousand-year history that has produced outstanding composers and scientists, writers and poets. Therefore, today we are defending the world order, world culture. We are fighting the evil spawned by the oligarchy and financial capital in the form of fascism and Nazism. Now they have risen again in their most ugly and horrific form.

We must win, but to win, we must know our history. We must understand why Peter the Great personally led the battle at Poltava, despite the fact that Charles XII’s Swedish army was the strongest in Europe. We must understand why Lenin returned to a country where there was no army, where it had all fled, and where there was nothing to fight for in World War I. He assembled an army of workers and peasants and made it the strongest in the world, capable of defeating 14 countries that wanted to seize our country and divide it into 20 pieces.

During the Great Patriotic War, all nationalities of the USSR fought: Kazakhs, Uzbeks, and Tatars—they fought courageously. We need to show not those disgusting “Chronicles” that spit in the faces of our soldiers, but a truly victorious history. Then we can win. We must tell everyone today that without a left turn, without socialism, without the experience of the Soviet Union and the Red Army, we will not defeat the enemy.”