Skip to main content
1945 and its aftermath - an eyewitness remembers
Communist Party veteran DAVID GROVE remembers celebrating victory over fascism 75 years ago, and asks why the bright promise of 1945 went unfulfilled

FOR anyone, like me, born in the 1920s, the year 1945 was, politically, the most exciting of our lives. And it was probably the most critical year in human history.  

Worldwide there was victory over fascism, and in Britain Labour won the general election with a big majority on a radical manifesto.

Seventy-five years later some Labour activists see the ensuing Attlee government as an inspiring model, especially for the many young people who joined the party after Jeremy Corbyn became leader. So it is vital for the left to be clear about the legacy of 1945.

  • Failure to understand the nature and continuing power of imperialism;
  • Failure to recognise that the state serves monopoly capitalism and in its present form can’t be used to carry out socialist policies;
  • Failure to see that parliamentary processes alone will never achieve socialism but must always be subordinate to a mass movement based on workplaces and communities;
  • Belief that class collaboration rather than class struggle is the way forward for the British people, and
  • Failure to recognise that anti-communism divides the movement and weakens the struggle for progress.
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
HEAR US OUT: The voices of disabled concerned about assisted dying have to be considered when End of Life Bill enters the final stages of committee scrutiny, March 24 2025
Features / 15 May 2025
15 May 2025

DANIEL GOVER considers the procedural complexities awaiting a Private Member’s Bill in its passage through Commons and Lords

Features / 11 August 2022
11 August 2022
Even the best Labour governments have been a disaster for the working class once in power, argues DAVID GROVE, but the lessons of Corbynism married with the current wave of militancy provide us with a unique opportunity
Features / 11 January 2021
11 January 2021
Any strategy that risks splitting the trade-union movement, or separating the unions from Labour, could be disastrous for the progress towards socialism, says DAVID GROVE
Similar stories
A mural depicting the Battle of Cable Street
VE Day 2025 / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

PHIL KATZ describes the unity of the home front and the war front in a People’s War

US President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd as he depart
Eyes Left / 16 April 2025
16 April 2025
ANDREW MURRAY casts an eye over past upheavals and asks whether the left can find a fire escape before the world goes up in flames
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
EXPULSION: The expulsion of Palestinian women and children f
Features / 7 November 2024
7 November 2024
From Israel’s creation in 1948 to today, views on the nature of the Jewish state have passed through several stages – but what remains constant is the projection of imperial power in the region, which is the barrier to peace and Palestinian self-determination, writes NICK WRIGHT