The communists of Nikšić gathered at the city square in Nikšić, at the monument of Čedomir Ljub Čupić, as a sign of revolt against the recent desecration of his tombstone, when unknown vandals tried to remove Ljub's name, year of birth and death and pentacle with a sharp object.
"This is not the first time that we communists have protested because of the desecration and abuse of the symbols of NOR and the socialist revolution, as well as the finding of memorial busts of national heroes in landfills," said Radislav Stanišić, president of the Central Committee (CK) of the Yugoslav Communist Party of Montenegro (JKP CG).
As he pointed out, what Ljubo Čupić and 1.516 citizens of Nikšić gave their lives for in the fight for freedom, unfortunately no longer exists.
"Anti-fascist values are less and less valued in Europe and in our country, and equating the partisan and fascist movements is shameful. That is why the values symbolized by Ljubo Čupić are important," Stanišić said.
He recalled Čupić's brave demeanor when shooting.
"There is no eraser, no primitivism that can erase the memories of the symbols of freedom and the smile that still shines and defies the fascists and occupiers, as well as today's rascals who have no face and people are not ashamed. That's why we are here, on Freedom Square, to say that Nikšić is a city of freedom and free citizens who inherit anti-fascist values", said the president of the Central Committee of the JKP of Montenegro.
According to him, a large anti-fascist gathering was held in Florence the day before yesterday, which gathered over 100 thousand citizens, and among the numerous flags there were more than ten flags of the great Yugoslavia.
"The Yugoslav tricolor with a pentagram reminded us of our glorious past, which others are now proud of as a symbol of our anti-fascist struggle, more than we are," Stanišić said.
After the address, the Nikšić communists, with the tricolor and the proletarian flag, went to Ljub's grave to lay flowers and pay tribute to the hero whose smile still defies today.
Three days ago, the desecration of the tombstone was condemned by the presidency of the Association of Fighters of the National Liberation War (UBNOR) and anti-fascists from Nikšić. They reminded that last year MI from Nikšić urinated on the Čupić monument in the square, for which he was sentenced to ten months in prison, as well as that "a vain student of history published a photo in which he raised his hand as if shooting at the bronze figure of the hero and wrote 'We killed and once, we'll kill you again..."
"Now it's his grave's turn to have his name and the pentacle under which he fought and died scraped off the tombstone. And what was most sacred in Montenegro, such as the tomb and our relationship to the dead in general, has been violated and rendered meaningless. What a moral lapse. And all this has been happening in the last few years in the city of heroes and freedom fighters, which was unimaginable until recently, at least for Nikšić. "Nikšić knew how to repay his deserving fellow citizens as best as possible, and the number of erected memorials shows," the response of the Nikšić UBNOR states.
His smile, they point out from UBNOR, still vibrates today in the photographs in the museums of the patriotic peoples of the world, confirming the words of a French publicist: "That heroism is worthy of the national emblem of the bravest nations". Ljub's smile was immortalized in a photograph by Karlo Ravnič, an Italian officer who, after Italy's capitulation, joined the partisan division "Garibaldi" to fight against fascism.
The fighters recalled that three years ago on Kablena Glavica, at the place where the Chetniks captured Ljub Čupić and Joko Baletić and handed them over to the fascists, they erected a memorial plaque and the mountaineers paved the way and made a path that they called "Jokina and Ljubova staza".
"This is not just the desecration and demolition of monuments from NOR and the greatest symbols of anti-fascism such as Ljubo Čupić. This is at the same time the undermining and covert demolition of Montenegro and all those values on which it rests and which are its heritage.
Today, it is our greatest obligation and duty, as well as that of all progressive and patriotic forces, to stand up to the vampiric Chetniks and preserve our only homeland, Montenegro, and its civil character, which is based on multi-religious and multinational harmony," concludes the announcement of the presidency of UBNOR and anti-fascist Nikšić.
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