The call of the party to selflessly defend every inch of Soviet land
Combat operations on the front, despite the greatest resilience and perseverance of Soviet warriors, unfolded under extremely unfavorable conditions. The strike groups of the German-fascist army advanced rapidly into the depths of the Soviet country, launching offensives simultaneously on three strategic directions — towards Leningrad, Moscow, and Kyiv. Under the pressure of superior enemy forces, the Soviet troops were forced to retreat, engaging in heavy defensive battles and suffering significant losses. By mid-July 1941, the enemy had managed to capture Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, part of Ukraine, and invade the territory of the Russian Federation.
The initiative in conducting military operations fell into the hands of the enemy. A deadly danger loomed over the socialist Motherland.
The failures of the initial period of the war can be explained by a number of factors. Germany's economy had been converted to a wartime footing long before the attack on the USSR. It had at its disposal the economic and human resources of almost all of Western Europe. Germany, along with the countries it occupied, produced about 404 million tons of coal, 31.8 million tons of steel, and 21.4 million tons of pig iron annually, which was 2.5 times the annual coal production, approximately 1.5 times the steel production, and 1.3 times the pig iron output in the USSR.
The fascist army, fully mobilized, possessed the latest military technology of the time and had two years of experience in modern warfare. Germany's success was also aided by the treachery and suddenness of the attack, the absence of a second front in Europe, which allowed it to deploy the overwhelming majority of its armed forces against the USSR—over 70% of its ground troops. Miscalculations in determining the possible timing of Hitler's Germany's attack on the Soviet Union and the related shortcomings in preparing to repel the initial blows of the enemy's gigantic force also played a role. The Soviet Union was forced to keep part of its Armed Forces in the Far East and the Caucasus, as the possibility of an attack from Japan and Turkey could not be ruled out. All these circumstances placed our country in an extremely difficult and dangerous position at the beginning of the war.
The inspirer and organizer of the nationwide struggle against the fascist aggressors was the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the extremely tense situation for the Motherland, it took on the leadership of the front and the rear with unwavering will to victory, launching multifaceted organizational work to mobilize forces and resources to resist the enemy.
In its activities, the party was guided by Lenin's ideas about the defense of the socialist Fatherland. "If it has come to war," taught V.I. Lenin, "then everything must be subordinated to the interests of war, all internal life of the country must be subordinated to war, no slightest hesitation in this regard is permissible."
These instructions from V.I. Lenin formed the basis of the directive of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) dated June 29, 1941, to the party and Soviet organizations of the front-line regions. It was sent to all Central Committees of the Communist Parties of the union republics, regional committees, and provincial committees of the party and was accepted for guidance and execution.
The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR pointed to the deadly danger hanging over the socialist country, exposing the reactionary, predatory imperialist nature of the Hitlerite invasion. The main political and military goal of this attack, the directive stated, "is the destruction of the Soviet system, the seizure of Soviet lands, the enslavement of the peoples of the Soviet Union, the plundering of our country...". The party's directive aimed at restructuring the national economy of the country for wartime, mobilizing all forces to resist the enemy, strengthening the rear of the Red Army, transforming the country into a single military camp, significantly increasing the production of military goods, ensuring uninterrupted supply to the front of all necessary materials, and providing extensive assistance to the wounded.
The party called on the soldiers of the Red Army to selflessly defend every inch of Soviet land, and the population of temporarily occupied enemy territories to launch a powerful partisan movement. The enemy is treacherous, cunning, and experienced in deception and spreading false rumors, the directive stated. Soviet people must take all this into account, not succumb to provocations, and unite even more closely around the Communist Party, around the Soviet government for selfless support of the valiant defenders of the Motherland. The Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR emphasized that in the situation of an already erupted war, "everything depends on our ability to quickly organize and act, without losing a minute, not missing a single opportunity in the fight against the enemy." The slogan put forward by the Communist Party, "Everything for the front, everything for victory!" became a concentrated expression of the main idea of the directive.
The creation of the anti-Hitler coalition of three powers