Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Hiroshima and Nagasaki – why we must learn the lessons for today
In breach of international agreements the Tories are expanding the British nuclear arsenal. On the 76th anniversary of atom bombs being dropped on Japan we must pledge ourselves to redouble efforts for peace and disarmament, writes JEREMY CORBYN
HMS Vigilant at HM Naval Base Clyde, Faslane, which carries the UK's Trident nuclear weapons

TODAY we commemorate Hiroshima Day, August 6, 1945, when an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city.  Then, on August 9 another atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. 

We have a duty to remember the victims of the bombing, and to campaign for world peace and nuclear disarmament, creating much-needed awareness about the danger nuclear weapons pose to the very future of humanity.

These two atomic bombs dropped on Japan, although much less deadly than those carried by the nuclear states today, killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 74,000 in Nagasaki by the end of 1945. Tens of thousands more died in succeeding years.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Jeremy Corbyn speaks in front of Palestine flags
Features / 3 September 2025
3 September 2025

The truth will out: we are here to unveil the full scale of the government’s complicity in genocide and to hold it to account for the monstrous bloodshed in Palestine, writes JEREMY CORBYN

Visitors speak with Kunihiko Iida, an atomic bomb survivor (Hibakusha) and volunteer tour guide for the iconic exhibition hall best known as the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima
Features / 6 August 2025
6 August 2025

JEREMY CORBYN reports from Hiroshima where he represented CND at the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the city by the US

Mourners attend the funeral of members of Al-Aimawi family who were killed in an Israeli bombardment of Al-Zawaideh, at Al-Aqsa Hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025
British Foreign Policy / 3 July 2025
3 July 2025

Just as the Chilcot inquiry eventually exposed government failings over the Iraq war, a full independent investigation into British complicity in Israeli war crimes has become inevitable — despite official obstruction, writes JEREMY CORBYN MP

UNEQUIVOCAL: Jeremy Corbyn remains committed to the cause of
Features / 24 December 2024
24 December 2024
From Islington's streets to Parliament's chambers, our movement grows stronger as diverse communities unite against war and inequality, writes JEREMY CORBYN MP
Similar stories
Visitors speak with Kunihiko Iida, an atomic bomb survivor (Hibakusha) and volunteer tour guide for the iconic exhibition hall best known as the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima
Features / 6 August 2025
6 August 2025

JEREMY CORBYN reports from Hiroshima where he represented CND at the 80th anniversary of the bombing of the city by the US

Kunihio Iida, atomic bomb survivor and a volunteer guide the iconic exhibition hall best known as the Atomic Bomb Dome speaks in English to foreign visitors on July 9, 2025, in Hiroshima, western Japan
East Asia / 5 August 2025
5 August 2025

Ageing survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings are increasingly frustrated by growing nuclear threats by global leaders