1941 October Revolution Parade
[1] Every year in modern Russia, November 7th is a holiday in honor of the 1941 parade as a substitute for celebration of the October Revolution,[2] as a Day of Military Honour.
Following Colonel General Pavel Artemyev riding on horseback, the parade marched past in the following order:[4] Before the parade commenced the then General Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) and Premier of the USSR Joseph Stalin delivered the following address to the nation:[5] "Comrades, men of the Red Army and Red Navy, commanders and political commissioners, working men and working women, collective farmers-men and women, workers in the intellectual professions, brothers and sisters in the rear of our enemy who have temporarily fallen under the yoke of the German brigands, and to our valiant men and women guerillas who are destroying the rear of the German invaders!
On behalf of the Soviet Government and our Bolshevik Party, I am greeting you and congratulating you on the twenty-fourth anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
In spite of temporary reverses, our Army and Navy are heroically repulsing the enemy’s attacks along the entire front and inflicting heavy losses upon him, while our country—our entire country—has organized itself into one fighting camp in order, together with our Army and our Navy, to encompass the rout of the German invaders.
We had no allies, we had no Red Army—we had only just begun to create it; there was a shortage of food, of armaments, of clothing for the Army.
Our country is now many times richer than it was twenty-three years ago as regards industry, food and raw materials.
The spirit of the great Lenin and his victorious banner animate us now in this patriotic war just as they did twenty-three years ago.
If one judges, not by the boastful assertions of the German propagandists, but by the actual position of Germany, it will not be difficult to understand that the German-fascist invaders are facing disaster.
"The other national parade held was at Kuybyshev (today Samara), at the grounds of Kuybyshev Square, attended by officials of the All-Union Communist Party, the Council of People's Commissars and the Supreme Soviet, high-ranking officers of the Soviet Armed Forces and the diplomatic corps, on the grounds of the city being a wartime national capital in the case of Moscow having fallen into Axis hands.
[8][clarification needed] [10] Today, the legacy of the twin parades held during the first year of the Great Patriotic War in the cities of Moscow and Samara serves as a reminder of the resistance of the Russian people and her armed forces, as part of the wider Soviet Union, against the aggression brought upon by Nazi Germany, in the Eastern Front of the Second World War.
Thus, the anniversaries of the parades of 1941 are for many Russians held in high esteem as a show of force against the fascist enemy and of Russia's determination to defeat any form of international aggression, as well as for the country to show to her people and the young the values of patriotism, remembrance of the fallen, love of country, and service in the armed forces.
[12] In 2003, the City Government of Moscow revamped that event as a parade of youth organizations and cadet schools.
The 2012 parade was also marked as the final event concluding a year of celebrations of the bicentennial jubilee of the French invasion of Russia and the historic Battle of Borodino.
The 2020 parade, earmarked as the final event in a year of celebrations of the diamond jubilee of the victory in the Second World War in Europe, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia.
[13] Alternative small celebrations are slated to take its place as a local kick-off to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the parade slated in 2021, which by itself represent the end of a year of national commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the war in the territories of the former Soviet Union.
Also a televised event, the Mayor of Samara is the parade's guest of honor, reviewing more than 10,000 marchers from the armed forces, civil services, veterans, and students of cadet schools in Samara and neighboring regions of the country, making it far larger than the Moscow parade.
Starting with the parade of 2017, the city garrison's massed bands play The Internationale as the colour guard, including the naval ensign of the Amur Military Flotilla and the flags of the two infantry divisions which took part in the original parade, marches into the square to take its place of honor in the lead of the formation.
