Author: Priyadarshi Dutta
Publication: The Daily Pioneer
Date: December 4, 2001
In June 1940, the Soviet Red Army
marched into the Baltic state of Latvia and bullied this independent democracy
into the fold of Communist USSR. The move was part of a secret treaty between
the Communist Russians and the Nazi Germans to divide up militarily inferior
Eastern Europe as a plume cake. But the Third Reich reneged from the Ribbentrop-Molotov
No-War Pact of 1939 to launch an attack on Russia on June 22, 1941.
They were able to wrest much of
Eastern Europe allotted to the Soviet share but the Russians were able
to recapture the territory by 1944. Latvia has one of the oldest languages
in Europe that is closer to Sanskrit. Under Soviet rule, Latvian was banned,
their national anthem prohibited and national flag proscribed. Large-scale
Russian immigration threatened to make Letts (Latvians) a minority in their
own country. The demographic share of Letts declined from 75 per cent at
the time of Soviet takeover to 52 per cent within 50 years. Latvia was
not a unique instance of invasion; its sister states in the Baltic, namely
Estonia and Lithuania, endured the same fate. They were the frontrunners
in leaving the USSR in August 1991. Their glowering hatred for the Russians
prevented them from joining the Russian federation formed in December that
year.
It is deplorable that the above
instance is never held up as a mirror before the Communist fraternity in
India to exorcise the myth that Communism is anti-Imperialist, anti-Fascist
or anti-invasionist. Subhas Chandra Bose in his book Indian Struggle (1920-34),
written during his Europe sojourn after much interaction with European
politicians of all hues, was the first to dwell on the parallels between
Communism and Fascism, till then portrayed as two exclusive world views.
Communism and Fascism display pathological hatred towards democracy and
favour of one-party rule; they favour cult figure worship; they both believe
in rapid development of the economy, military prowess and industry, and
they tolerate no voice of dissent. Let's not forget that Communism succeeded
in Russia for 34 years after Marx's died-his last words were "Tut, I am
not a Communist"-as a reaction against the Czarist Empire. Fascism and
its virulent version Nazism succeeded in relatively forward looking inter-war
Western Europe where even Socialism and Communism had failed. Communism
violated the principles of democracy, the hallmark of liberal west with
as much impunity as Fascism. But why Hitler's example turned glaring is
that he tried to expand the Reich in an incredibly short span of time and
that too in Western and Central Europe. In the case of the Soviets, the
mission dangerous was slow and protracted-unadventurous outside its territory
since 1945. The final figure of Hitler's holocaust stood at 6 millions
Jews, Serbs and Gypsies. But let's take a look at the figures for Communist
Russia. At least 17 million people were sent to Gulag Archipelago in the
Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. More than 12 million prisoners perished
at a Soviet camp called Perm-36 in the Ural Mountains.
The Reich wanted to turn its territory
into Juderenin (or Jew-free) but did the liberal Western bloc really back
up the desolate Jews till they established Israel? Jews had been equally
marginalised in the Soviet Union (glaring example was the assassination
of Lev Davidovich Bronstein better known as Leon Trotsky) so that their
Israel-ward exodus continued till the concluding days of Soviet Union.
The Communist fraternity of India,
notoriously known for its shady role in the Quit India Movement and Partition,
changed its version of World War II from anti-people to pro-people as soon
as USSR joined it. If the Taliban are living in the medieval age, the Communists
haven't progressed beyond the mid-20th Century. So before they malign the
Sangh Parivar the next time, let's remind them that the best camouflage
for Fascists is red not saffron.
