The Evening Star (May 1, 1946)
May Day observance in Moscow parades Soviet armed force
LONDON (AP) – Russia paraded her armed force in a mighty May Day peacetime show of strength today, after Prime Minister Stalin warned that “international reaction” is “hatching plans for a new war.”
In the defeated Fascist countries and elsewhere in Europe and Asia, left-wing groups paraded, singing the “Internationale” in celebration of May Day. which Moscow dispatches termed a “made in America” holiday, stating that its first observance was in Chicago in 1886 when workers demonstrated for an eight-hour day.
Red Square in Moscow seethed with humanity, radio accounts said. Prime Minister Stalin, watched the six-hour parade, representing every segment of the vast and varied Soviet population, from atop Lenin’s Tomb.
Address by Rokossovsky
Reviewing Soviet troops before the start of the parade, Moscow radio said Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, former commander of the Second White Russian Army and one of the Soviet Union’s youngest generals, told the soldiers:
“The war demonstrated that the armed forces of the Soviet Union are capable of inflicting the most shattering blows and also of defeating anybody who dares to lift his hand against the achievements of our people.
“We must not be lulled into complacency. … The storm of war has died down, but durable peace and security have not yet been established.”
Amid the Russian show of armor, as described by a radio commentator, appeared a new heavy tank, which the announcer said was “never seen before.”
Parade arranged in Berlin
The day – first observed in Russia in 1890, a year after it was proclaimed officially by the Second Socialist International in Paris – also was marked in other European capitals, including rubble-strewn Berlin, where Germans arranged a parade in the Soviet zone.
In Trieste, the disputed Adriatic port city, the Yugoslav press was critical of an Allied ban on the day’s observance and warned of possible consequences.” A parade was scheduled for tomorrow to observe the first anniversary of the Allies’ entry into the city.
In Poland, the day was observed widely. The Communist-supported Polish Workers’ Party organized parades in the principal cities. Marchers carried Red banners attacking the Polish Peasants’ Party of Vice Premier Stanislaw Mikolajczyk.
In Tokyo, Japanese May Dav leaders greeted Gen. MacArthur with expressions of appreciation as occupation forces hunted through surging crowds for a man suspected of desiring to greet the general with bullets instead.
Twenty-five thousand Malayans, Chinese and Indonesians holding their first May Day celebration in four years demonstrated in Singapore against British aid to “Dutch imperialism.”
In Britain, Socialists will not celebrate May Day until Sunday.
Although Prime Minister Stalin gave first place in his order of the day to “our valiant armed forces,” he told his people: “There is no reason to doubt that in the future the Soviet Union will be true to its policy – the policy of peace and security, the policy of equality and friendship of the peoples.”
Mr. Stalin exhorted the Russian armed forces to remain strong and increase their effectiveness by lessons learned from the war “on the basis of development of science and technique,” but it was noted that the military parade before Lenin’s Tomb was cut a half hour from the regular two-hour review.
“Now our armed forces are faced with a task of no less importance – vigilantly to guard the peace which was won and the constructive labor if the Soviet people, to be the reliable bulwark of the interest of the Soviet Union,” Mr. Stalin said.
“The successful accomplishment of this honorable task is possible only on condition of further growth of military culture and military skill of the officers and men of our army, our navy and our aviation.”
Mr. Stalin urged Russian workers to reach and even exceed the goals set in the nation’s new five-year plan.