In August 29, together with our brotherly Slovak people, with a respect, we commemorate the 80th anniversary of Slovak National Uprising, the largest antifascist action against fascism, Nazism and subjugation of brotherly Slavonic nations, the Slovaks and the Czechs, within the area of former Czechoslovakia during the WW II.
Slovak National Uprising signed openly into united Czechoslovak Republic, rejecting the Slovak State, collaborating with Hitler’s Germany from the very beginning of its formation. Side by side, together with brotherly Slovaks, more than two thousand Czech and many Poles, Romanians, Rusyns, Ukrainians, French, Bulgarians, and Yugoslavians joined directly into uprising. The Soviet Union provided large material aid, and, although in smaller extent, the Western allies as well. So, the uprising had got broad international dimension.
However, the Slovak National Uprising also included an important trade union event. On 15 October 1944, the Conference of Racing Committees and Confidential Corps took place in the small town of Podbrezová. Jan Šverma, a Czechoslovak member of the pre-war National Assembly and a Communist, spoke at the conference. His words about both the need to create a unified trade union and the need for a fair solution to the national issue after the war were met with a very positive reception. According to the audience, of all the speakers, Šverma’s speech was rewarded with the greatest applause of those present. This legacy was forgotten in the Czechoslovak Republic in 1990, and the hard-fought trade union unity was broken after fall of socialism.
With particular attention, the legacy of the Slovak National Uprising is being commemorated today, when war conflicts are once again raging in the World, in the Middle East, in Europe. The evils of fascism, genocide, enslavement for religious beliefs, political beliefs, persecution and murder for trade union freedom of association and the defence of the interests of workers are not being eradicated, and they are taking on an increasingly menacing scale. Once again, we are witnessing the most powerful imperialist states and ruling groups of the world using the method of divide and rule, betting here on the open, here on the hidden support of fascism and the madness of war. The means to fuel the war effort are easy to find, the means to maintain wages, salaries, basic life security are difficult to find in capitalism. Human dignity and the right to life are constantly being trampled on.
Therefore, it is also the duty of the workers’ trade unions to raise the banner of the fight for peace, against wars and for human dignity. That is why, dear Slovak brothers, together with you, we commemorate the legacy of the Slovak National Uprising, which must not be forgotten. Nor must it be forgotten who, 85 years ago, on 1 September 1939, unleashed the most terrible war yet in the history of mankind; the World War II.
IN THEIR FIGHT FOR PEACE, THE WORKERS MUST BE UNITED ALL AROUND THE WORLD, THEN THEY SHALL WIN!
