Christmas: A Celebration of Light, Family, Peace, Love, and Joy

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To His Holiness Kirill

Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias

Dear friends and comrades, my brothers and sisters!

From the Pacific Ocean to the icebound White Sea, our entire state is ready to celebrate Christmas… a beloved traditional holiday, the first in the new 2019. I’d like the feeling of joy, togetherness, and love to last for the whole coming year. Traditionally, we celebrate Christmas with the people most dear and close to us… our parents, children, grandchildren, workmates, friends, colleagues, and those with whom we share our joys and trials. However, according to ancient tradition, our thoughts turn these days to those treated badly by life, those who even on these joyful days are cold, hungry, uncomfortable, and anxious, and to those who vigilantly carry out their duty to protect the Motherland, to those who look after our health and safety. Mercy and gratitude figure largely in the Russian national character, in Russian people, in all those who live on our blessed land. Therefore, first of all, I want to give Christmas greetings to our servicemen, border guards, police, rescue workers, doctors, and volunteers, as well as to all those sick, weak, afflicted, orphaned, and homeless.

On this bright holiday, we look back as we gather around the festive table as if starting a new beginning in life. We evaluate our achievements; we blame ourselves for our errors, we make wishes, we give each other gifts, and we make plans for the coming year. On such days, we more than ever feel the unity of the past and the future. We can particularly clearly feel during the Christmas holidays the unity and interdependence of the world, of peoples, of countries, and of continents. Today, it’s more and more obvious that the formula of the “end of history” is fallen. The West actively imposed this on us immediately after the destruction of the USSR, when it seemed to many in the West that they defeated the ideals of social equality. Current events show that it isn’t so, history hasn’t reached a conclusion. The struggle for the interests of the working people, for justice, which is trampled upon by self-lovers, exploiters, and rapists, is only growing.  The confrontation between labour and capital, between rich and poor, is growing, becoming ever more acute and spilling over into open protests of the disadvantaged. We give them our sympathy and special support during these Christmas days.

Our great state is now a target for continuous attacks by its traditional opponents and detractors. A siege is coming for our country, when the base of the “approach” is almost along its entire perimeter… not only to intimidate us but also for possible aggression. The goal is to grasp the gigantic resources of Russia, to take our open spaces connecting East and West. They want to make our people forget their dignity and great history. We, as heirs of a mighty state and its glorious past, are particularly concerned about the process of alienation of the fraternal Ukraine from the Russian Federation, which they are trying to strike at the very heart, to knock out the canonical Orthodox Church, which is the support of the people. When the new government banned the activities of the Communist Party of the Ukraine in 2015, when they subjected its headquarters, newspapers, and offices to pogroms, when they defamed its leaders and activists, we warned that the process of destruction wouldn’t stop there. Indeed, such happened. In the Ukraine, not only do we see a revival of Nazi madness, but also a dangerous church schism, conceived far from the Dnieper and implemented with Byzantine cunning and American-English perfidy.

The schismatics don’t heed the words of the Fathers:

Making divisions in the Church is no less evil than to fall into heresy … even the blood of martyrdom doesn’t wash away the sin of schism.

St John Chrysostom Interpretation to Ephesians: 65, 11 

They don’t hear the witness of Orthodoxy:

The division of the churches is the work of the devil.

St Ioann Kronshtadtsky My Life in Christ Part II, 9

They don’t attend to the sayings of righteous elders:

Fear division and schism in the Church! Fear to fall away from the Mother Church, for only it alone holds back the lava of anti-Christian revelry in the world now! … Our task is to protect the Church from schism and heresies.

Archimandrite Ioann Krestyankin

In these hard times, we wish steadfastness for all Orthodox, not only those in the fraternal Ukraine. We all need to be firm and faithful. We hope that the cup of trials and torment would pass us by. We hope that the lava of bitterness won’t cover the Ukrainian land and that a hopeless “St Bartholomew’s Night” wouldn’t fall on it. We still believe that we can admonish the misguided, sober those intoxicated with anger, to reach out to our disoriented brethren, addressing them with the message of the poem Slavs by Fyodor Tyutchyov:

Hello, from us to all of you!

On the feast of peace and love …

Although hostile destiny

Separated us,

We’re still one people,

Sons of the same mother

Finally, we wish our beloved Russia to overcome inertia and embark on creative transformations in the interests of the majority, without imitating others, without the camouflage of showy festivities. It’s very important for us to return to the main achievements of the Soviet period… affordable education for all, truly free healthcare, and high-quality social security. The past year dealt a severe blow to whole generations of our citizens, who now have to work even longer, rolling up their sleeves in order to receive their expected and deserved reward from the state in the form of pensions. It’s become ever clearer to those able to see and hear that the course imposed on our country is a course going nowhere. As promised, we’ll continue to strive to achieve the creation of a socially responsible government focused on the national interests of the country, which would take care of the workers, overcome poverty and corruption, and wouldn’t serve the oligarchic clans who illegally appropriated gigantic resources for themselves. We can and should invest the national wealth in science, education, culture, and sports… in real modernisation, not its ostentatious imitation.

The quality of any policy is determined by the welfare and well-being of our people, by their life expectancy and education, and by its respect for our country and people. To realise our national interests, we need new objectives, another way of thinking, and a new socio-political culture. In this Christmas holiday season, the KPRF and other popular patriotic forces once again affirm that we’d actively struggle with all the situations facing our people, for the creation of social justice, to implant a creative and honest moral-political situation in the country and in the authorities. We must turn away from the course of destruction and return to the path of goodness and creativity. Otherwise, we’d spiral finally into the funnel of the crisis.

My dear compatriots, I greet all of you on the holiday, I hope that together we’d be able to prevent adversity and protect our fellow citizens, as we see in the All-Night Vigil:

Preserve us from hunger, destruction, fear, fire, sword, foreign invasion, internecine strife, and from all enemies, visible and invisible.

I believe that every malice and pride in everyday life, despondency, and negligence in our hearts will come to an end, and love, humanity and brotherly love would strengthen them.

С Праздником! С Рождеством Христовым!

To the feast! To the Nativity of Christ!

6 January 2019

G A Zyuganov

Head of the KPRF faction in the RF Gosduma

Chairman of the TsK KPRF

KPRF.ru

KPRF official website

https://kprf.ru/party-live/cknews/181627.html?fbclid=IwAR2o3HmR-bT1T649Q9O3tAmHFznylGgJTCKsvzMMlvi72ILvS3sdpB7YNK4

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20 January 2019. Back After Three Months of Hell…

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It’s been three months since my last post in October. Nicky’s health continued to deteriorate and I was getting about two to four hours of sleep a night, combined with six-day work-weeks. Finally, in November, he had to go to hospital. He’s now in rehab. This has given me the chance to recover from that period of too much work and not enough rest. I’m still working hellish hours, as that’s the only way that I can earn enough to pay the bills. I’m also going to be 65 and I’m unable to retire because of Republican cuts to Social Security (the new age of full retirement benefits is now 70, thanks to Republican greedsters allied with Establishment Dem Corporate Ass-kissers).

The system of oppression put in place by Reagan and refined by Clinton, Bush II, and Obama put most working people under the boot of worthless sorts such as hedge-fund managers, subcontractors, real-estate developers, and stock-market drones. The “conservatives” and “liberals” are the same… it’s like the last scene of Orwell’s Animal Farm… there’s no difference between Establishment Republicans and Democrats… both favour the fatcats over the common man. The worst came this January… I got a raise… from 11.00/hour to 11.10/hour, that is, I now get 4.00 USD more a week. That’s because the minimum wage in New York State went up to 11.10/hour. In effect, my employer said to me by doing that:

If we could pay you less, we would, but the law won’t let us. Now, take this extra dime and be grateful for it. We won’t give you any more. We deserve it far more than you do.

This is common throughout the USA. For the first time in its history, the USA is full of quietly desperate people. You see, since the Affluent Effluent are doing well, that’s the only thing that matters. It doesn’t matter that hedge-fund shysters ruined Sears and Toys r’ Us deliberately to earn short-term profits… the affluent managers got off relatively scot-free. The workers got fucked with no vaseline? That’s just the “invisible hand of the market”… the management class says:

We’re not to blame. We didn’t make the system. This is the world is, the way it’s always been, and the way it’s always going to be!

That’s not so. Bernie scares the shit out of them. The new class of US Representatives includes people who truly rile he Corporate Class. Trump and Clinton were of the same social background… they were “strivers”, people who wanted to be in the upper reaches, but who were kept out by the Rockefellers, Whitneys, Mellons, Scaifes, and Gardners. Obama, as a Harvard-educated corporate lawyer, was actually of higher social standing than those two are. These two are the poisoned fruit of the noxious era brought forth by Reagan, refined by the Clintons, continued by Bush II, and brought to its logical culmination by Obama. Remember, in 2008 Obama had plenty of aid for fatcats impacted by the Great Recession, but next to nil for ordinary folks. 

However, do note that the NYT, WaPo, and CNN all ignore the Yellow Vests in Europe… the media is trying to bury it. Yet, reality has a way of asserting itself. The most popular Dem candidate for 2020 is Bernie… not Warren… not Biden… not Gabbard… but will the DNC pull its head out of its ass and go back to FDR? Remember, the first president to attack the New Deal was Harry Truman… not a Republican. He was a corrupt Pendergast Machine pol who made deals with Republicans… he allowed Taft-Hartley and he instigated the Cold War. McCarthy ran rampant because Truman let him (Ike stopped McCarthy… never forget that). However, the existence of the USSR meant that the American Corporate class didn’t want to let the working people get influenced by socialism. They used two things… one, they allowed the workers to have relative prosperity, and two, they used relentless propaganda to demonise socialism. When the USSR fell and the USA congratulated itself on winning the Cold War (wrongly, but that’s what happened), the Managerial Class felt that they could do as they pleased. The Clintons did more to harm working people than Reagan ever did. 

Yet, we’re at the end of an era, not the beginning of one. Trump is a result, not a cause. Hillary Clinton is a result, not a cause. Remove both, and the infection is still there. However, we can bring back the New Deal, and take it further. Socialism is the most-favoured political stance of the young… it’s simple… the greed of the Corporate moloch has ground them down with massive student debts. Shall we see a change? Yes… the only question is how violent the transition will be. I hope that it would avoid that. God willing, I’d hope that would be so.

Well, I’m back. Maybe, not every day, but I’m feeling well enough to take my place on the firing line. Keep it focused and keep it prudent. You win nothing by pointless bravado or pseudo-intellectual vapouring. Take my hand… the way won’t be easy, but we can make it if we stand united…

BMD

WE REMEMBER…

Even in the midst of the siege, life triumphed… a maternity ward in winter…

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Editor:

Don’t forget… the Westerners haven’t changed their spots. Contemporary “conservatives” and Republicans show the same racism demonstrated by the German fascists. Sadly, all too many “liberals” and Democrats share the same noxious ideology. Racism isn’t just a “black and white” thing. It also covers Russophobia and hatred of Asians and Orientals. It also covers the Zionist attack on Palestinians (mind you, a hatred of Jews is also racism… Zionists aren’t a majority of Jews; one must bear that in mind). Racism fuelled the German Drang nach Osten. The same rancid racism propels Israeli attacks on Palestinians and American attacks on Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Russian World. It was evil in the 1940s… it’s evil today. Lest we forget…

BMD

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We Remember…

18 January 1943

Breakthrough of the Blockade of Leningrad

Every year, pseudo-historians try to deny our history. They rewrite it, in an attempt to crush our Russian soul. Yet, it’s precisely this spirit that won our victory. Each year, we see those who defame the theme of the Blockade events, who besmirch the motives and feelings of those who went through this hell. Now, we see that such sorts have made a scandalously infamous movie. Every year, some creep yelling about “victory obsession” rebukes us, telling us that “you shouldn’t trifle with our victory”. Let God judge them. Meanwhile, we remembered, we remember, and we will remember. Always. We shall pass this memory on to our children.  No doubt, we’ll prove superior to such loudmouths. Unfortunately, my uncle didn’t live to see the breakthrough in the blockade, as did so many thousands of other people.

Вечная им Память… Eternal be Their Memory

From 8 September 1941, Leningrad was under blockade, which lasted 900 days. The most severe test facing its inhabitants was hunger. On 20 November 1941, the authorities established the lowest level of bread rations… workers, engineers, and technical workers received 250 grammes, office workers, dependants, and children got 125 grammes. Frontline units, warship crews, and combat aviation formations got 500 grammes, whilst rear echelon military personnel received 300 grammes. This was the beginning of large-scale losses from starvation. Physical overexertion, cold, lack of electricity and heating, a breakdown of water and sewage systems, and the deterioration of other basic living conditions ever more weakened people’s ability to resist death by starvation. In December 1941, 53,000 died… more than 100,000 in each of January and February 1942… more than 95,000 in March 1942. The diary written by little Tanya Savicheva can’t leave anyone indifferent:

Grandmother died on 25 January … Uncle Alyosha on 10 May … Mom on 13 May at 0730. Everyone’s dead. Now, there’s only Tanya.

The losses in Leningrad during the blockade totalled up to 1 million deaths. Grief visited every family. Mothers and fathers saw their sons and daughters die; children went on without their parents. The “Road of Life” laid on the ice of Lake Ladoga brought salvation for hundreds of thousands besieged. Starting on 21 November 1941, this means brought in food and ammunition. On the return trip, the vehicles evacuated civilians, mostly women and children. Until March 1943, the ice road (useful until the summer) delivered 1.615 million tonnes of various cargoes. At the same time, its vehicles evacuated 1,376,000 Leningraders and many thousands of wounded soldiers. Some 1,750,000 people left the city during the blockade. This was the largest evacuation of civilians from a besieged city in history. There was a pipeline laid along the bottom of Lake Ladoga to transport petroleum products.

The Red Army made four attempts to break the siege. The first was in September 1941, on the third day after fascist troops cut the land communications with the city; the second occurred in October 1941, in spite of the critical state of affairs on outside Moscow; the third came in January 1942 during a general counter-offensive, which only partly achieved its objectives; and the fourth kicked off in August 1942 and lasted until January 1943, when the Wehrmacht’s main forces were in Stalingrad. This offensive (Operation Iskra (Spark)) partially lifted the blockade. A narrow strip on the southern coast of Lake Ladoga, 8-11 kilometres wide, restored land communication with the rest of the USSR. Over the next 17 days, the Soviets built new rail and road links along this corridor. January 1943 was a turning point in the siege of Leningrad.

More than a year remained to completely lift the siege of the city…

20 January 2019

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