The United States, eighty-one years ago, carried out a surprise nuclear attack on the people of Hiroshima. Three days later, it dropped an even more powerful nuclear device on Nagasaki. Between the initial blasts, subsequent firestorms, and acute radiation exposure, the two bombs killed over 200,000 people by the end of 1945. Those who survived carried psychological and physical scars, including a vastly increased susceptibility to cancer.

Those strikes, carried out against an adversary already negotiating terms of surrender, were a criminal act with no legitimate wartime purpose. Their purpose was to show the world that the U.S. capitalist class was determined to achieve planetary domination. That crime ushered in an era of escalating nuclear deterrence. Today, all the world’s people live in the lengthening shadow of mutually assured destruction.

The Communist Party USA joins all peace-loving people of the world in mourning the victims of the U.S. nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as all victims of nuclear testing and radioactive contamination. We stand in solidarity with the survivors, their descendants, and all those in every country — including our own — who have been wounded, displaced, and impoverished by ecological catastrophe and imperialist war.

As the world’s leading imperialist power and the only nation to have used nuclear weapons in war, the United States bears a heavy responsibility to work for nuclear disarmament. Unfortunately, in recent years, the U.S. government has rejected and undermined non-proliferation initiatives, even as it pushes increasing militarization in every corner of the world.

The Communist Party USA supports every negotiated, multilateral initiative aimed at curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. We oppose any attempt by the United States to act as arbiter of who may or may not possess nuclear weapons. And we condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the U.S.-Israeli war of aggression on Iran, launched under the pretext of eliminating a nonexistent nuclear threat.

Only one path leads to a livable future for humanity: the path of peace and disarmament.

We call on the United States government to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and to commit to the full, unconditional, and verifiable dismantling of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. We call on all peace-loving, progressive, and democratic forces to press that demand at every level.

And to everyone who dreams of a better world, we say that hope is not a weakness. Hope, organized into action, is the only basis for progress. For decades, the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have worked for a nuclear-free world. Their tireless struggle is a powerful example of steadfastness in the cause of peace. It is not too late to end the nuclear threat and build a world of peace and cooperation — the common birthright of humanity.

Image: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICANW) joint action in Hiroshima. ICANW.