Skip to main content
Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Victory Day belongs to the left
The internationalism and patriotism of all those who fought fascism in the 1920s, 1930s, and yes, WWII should be celebrated — socialists and communists must fight for the soul and meaning of days like VE Day, writes ROBERT GRIFFITHS

MY father fought in WWII with the 48th Royal Marine Commandos. He took part in D-Day and many other military operations in Europe and North Africa and had the medals to prove it.

Yet he never reminisced very much about his own exploits. He never talked about the shooting, the killing and the dying, although he must have seen plenty of all three.

He preferred wartime stories in which rank-and-file soldiers put one over upper-class officers, or peasant girls brought the troops chickens to cook as they helped liberate France.

Robert Griffiths is General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain.
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
A ballot box arriving during the count for the Blackpool South by-election at Blackpool Sports Centre, Blackpool, May 2, 2024
Features / 19 July 2025
19 July 2025

In the run-up to the Communist Party congress in November ROB GRIFFITHS outlines a few ideas regarding its participation in the elections of May 2026

Claudia Jones
Features / 27 February 2025
27 February 2025
From McCarthy’s prison cells to London’s carnival, Jones fought for peace and unity while exposing the lies of US imperialism, says ROBERT GRIFFITHS, in a graveside oration at Highgate Cemetery given last Sunday
REDISTRIBUTION NOW: Protesters march against austerity measu
Features / 4 November 2024
4 November 2024
In the second of two articles on Labour’s weak Budget, ROBERT GRIFFITHS argues that Britain’s massive private wealth and offshore tax havens show clear potential for radical redistribution through progressive taxation
Features / 3 November 2024
3 November 2024
In the first of two articles, ROBERT GRIFFITHS argues that despite a parliamentary majority, Labour’s timid Budget fails to seize a historic opportunity and lacks the ambition needed to address Britain’s deep social and economic crises
Similar stories
Daily Worker May 9 1945
WWII / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

PHIL KATZ looks at how the Daily Worker, the Morning Star's forerunner, covered the breathless last days of World War II 80 years ago

Protesters outside Liverpool Crown Court where Axel Rudakubana, 18, is charged with three counts of murder, 10 attempted murders and possession of a knife, after a stabbing attack on a Taylor Swift-themed children's holiday club class in Southport, Merseyside on July 29, 2024. Picture date: Monday January 20, 2025
VE Day 2025 / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

TONY CONWAY assesses the lessons of the 1930s and looks at what is similar, and what is different, about the rise of the far right today

RED FLAG FLYING: The Soviet flag is hoisted over the Reichst
Features / 30 January 2025
30 January 2025
NICK WRIGHT examines the British ruling class's complex relationship with fascism before, during and after the second world war