SOVIET UNION

Leonov landed at a Japanese airfield near the Korean port of Wonsan with a force of 140 men, led by a higher-ranking officer. The airfield, supposedly lightly defended, was actually manned by 3,500 Japanese defenders. Horribly outnumbered, 10 Spetsnaz officers were forced to surrender. The commander of the Russian force asked to speak with the Japanese garrison commander. As the negotiations started, Leonov angrily interrupted, saying:  “We’ve been fighting in the West throughout the war and we have enough experience to assess our situation. We will not allow ourselves to be taken hostage! You will die like rats when we break out of here!”

RAMIN MAZAHERI—The creation of credit-fueled financial bubbles may have bought the Pentagon some fancy toys, but it also bankrupted the US economically, ideologically and culturally – how could virtue and success ever be the final result of an insane, sovereignty-violating, global-sized war on other people’s types of socialism?

BRUCE LERRO—Who developed revolutionary theory? For the Old Left, revolutionary theory was developed by professional revolutionaries inside the Communist Party or by members of trade unions. At least hypothetically if not actually, Leninist theory should be informed by political practice in organizing the working class and its struggles. On the other hand, led by the Frankfurt school, New Leftist theory was developed not within a party or a union but within the academy. Most New Leftist theory after 1970 came out of universities, whether structuralism, Foucault, post-structuralist or postmodernist.

PAUL COCKSHOTT—The Western press spreads absurd stories about 66 million deaths under Stalin. Well in one sense, all social systems have a 100% mortality rate. None offer immortality. So in a big country, there will be millions of deaths per decade. This real issue is how many premature deaths there are and whether life expectancy is going up or down. You can not hide millions of premature deaths. They show up as declining population and declining life expectancy.

Editor’s Note: Russell Bentley, American expat and volunteer antifascist soldier in the struggle of Eastern Ukraine’s young republics of Donetsk and Lugansk against Kiev’s Nazi-infested, NATO-supported regime, has produced a moving video showing the people of Donetsk commemorating Russia’s victory in the Great Patriotic War. Simple and eloquent, the images say it all. I believe that decent people everywhere who understand these things, what WW2 meant to so many in terms of losses, pain and sacrifice,  will have a tough time holding back the tears. Paul Robeson’s singing is a most felicitous addition.—PG.