Fake pacifism and fake patriotism to favor an invader in a newspaper in 1940

@ElentirENG ES 6·11·2024 · 18:15 0

There are apparently pacifist speeches that hide intentions that have absolutely nothing to do with a desire for peace.

The drift of the anti-Western right: yesterday Moscow, now Tehran, tomorrow Pyongyang?
Patriotism and the Russian invasion: Do you ask of Ukraine what you would not accept for your country?

The Nazi-Soviet pact and Moscow's orders to favor the aggressors

In August 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR signed the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, which included a secret protocol by which both totalitarian dictatorships divided up Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and two regions of Romania.

That pact implied a de facto alliance between Nazism and Communism, to the point that Moscow issued orders to the communist parties to promote opposition to any attempt to support the attacked countries by appealing to pacifism. On September 9, 1939 Georgi Dimitrov, general secretary of the Communist International, wrote the following orders:

"The strategy of the communist parties in all countries at war at this stage of the war is to oppose the war, expose its imperialist character; where communist deputies are available, vote against war credits, explain to the masses that war will bring them nothing but adversity and ruin."

The false communist pacifism exhibited by a PCE newspaper

When following these instructions, the communist parties omitted the fact that Germany and the USSR started that war and dedicated themselves to blaming France and the United Kingdom for coming out in support of Poland, invaded by Germans and Soviets. Thus, false communist pacifism did not really reject war, but rather support for the country that had been invaded. They were not authentically pacifist speeches, but rather an attempt to favor the aggressor countries.

As I already explained here years ago, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) followed those instructions from Moscow justifying the Soviet-German invasion of Poland and then supporting the Soviet invasion of Finland, started on November 30, 1939. In both cases, and following the slogans of the Communist International, the PCE demonized the invaded countries and France and the United Kingdom for supporting them, but He did not direct a single criticism to the invaders: neither to the USSR nor to its ally, Nazi Germany. On February 18, 1940, on this day, the PCE published in Mexico the first issue of its newspaper España Popular (can be downloaded here) with this great headline on page 5:

The communists appealed to patriotism to reduce support for the defense of France

With these slogans, the PCE appealed to pacifism and patriotism to prevent any aid or show of solidarity with the attacked countries. But these slogans were not limited to trying to reduce possible international support for Poland and Finland. As I already explained here, in that newspaper the PCE dedicated itself to attacking the Spanish exiles who wanted to fight against Hitler, who at that time was still an ally of Stalin. That explains that headline in large letters "Not a drop of Spanish blood for the imperialist war!"

On the right side of that page, under the title "Spain and the European conflict", the PCE criticized "republican leaders and socialist leaders", stating that "they have passed with weapons and baggage to the camp of the Franco-English bourgeoisie, thus seeking the path of reconciliation with Franco; that is, of submission to Franco, if we are to use the true expression." Three months later, Germany invaded France. This invasion did not change the speeches of the PCE or the French Communist Party (PCF), which dedicated itself to sabotaging its own country's war effort against the invaders.

History repeats itself with the attacks against Ukraine and Israel

It is curious to observe the striking similarity between those communist slogans of 1940 and some speeches of today, speeches that continue to appeal to false pacifism and false patriotism to cut off all aid to two attacked countries, Ukraine and Israel, blaming the wars started by Russia and Hamas on the countries that support the Ukrainian and Israeli people in their right to defend themselves.

It must be said that these speeches not only come today from the extreme left, but also from the other side of the political map, using the card of patriotism to favor the interests of Putin and Hamas, that is, of a Russia that has threatened the West several times with its nuclear weapons and of an Islamist terrorism that has already directed its wave of terror against the West on several occasions and murdered thousands of people. Does this patriotism that some sell us consist of asking us not to worry about those who threaten our peace and security? Let us remember that like Al Qaeda and ISIS, Hamas seeks the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate which would lead to a massacre of Christians and Jews.

A misleading 'anti-globalism' that favors the interests of the Kremlin

On the other hand, messages accusing those of us who support Ukraine and Israel of being "globalists" and bad patriots are now common on social media. In September 2022 I already warned here about the kind of stowaways who sneak into the so-called "anti-globalism" to favor the interests of the Kremlin. Now, with the same cynicism as the PCE in 1940, some demonize the fact of supporting Ukraine and Israel just as the communists did then with those who supported Poland and Finland. Given the curious similarity between what was published in that communist newspaper and some speeches today, it is worth asking: is the infamous attitude of some also due to instructions from Moscow?