To: Detroit/Seattle
Workers' Voice mailing list
February 6, 2022
Re: The threat of invasion of Ukraine
by Joseph Green, Detroit Workers’ Voice
The Russian government is massing troops on the border of Ukraine. This is a serious war threat. The present Russian government is not reconciled to the dissolution of the USSR, which it sees as the dissolution of the “Russian world”. It has intervened in a number of its neighbors; it invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014; and step by step it has been absorbing the Donbas region of Ukraine.
Putin has put forward various demands concerning what countries on Russia’s borders are allowed to do. The US and Russian governments are engaging in negotiations on these demands. In essence, Washington and Moscow are negotiating over Ukraine’s status, and indeed that of other countries; they are negotiating a redivision of Europe; and Ukrainians and other concerned peoples have nothing to say about this. But what happens in Ukraine is first and foremost a matter for Ukrainians. They have the right to decide whether Ukraine is independent of Russia or not, and of the policies of their government. But both imperialisms, Western and Russian, think nothing of haggling over the fate of another country.
In fact, Putin is not acting out of fear of a Western invasion, but out of the conviction that Russia is so strong militarily that Ukraine must either concede what Russia wants, or face dismemberment. There is no Ukrainian military threat to Russia. And the danger that Ukrainians will want to join NATO has mainly been caused by Russian intervention on Ukrainian territory, such as annexing Crimea and working towards the annexation of the Donbas. Meanwhile an invasion of Ukraine might itself give rise to a wider war. At the very least, it will give rise to escalating hatreds in the region.
The key issue in this situation is not what satisfies Moscow and Washington, but what happens to the Ukrainian people. From the standpoint of democracy, Ukraine has the right to self-determination. From the standpoint of past international decisions, Ukraine’s borders were supposed to be guaranteed in 1994 by the US, UK, and Russia in exchange for Ukraine giving up its stock of nuclear weapons (the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances). But once again it has been shown that the guarantees of imperialist powers are worthless; it is only the working people who really want to ensure the right of self-determination for the various peoples of the world.
Below we reproduce a statement from an organization of Ukrainian labor activists that deals with the present war threat. We do not have any connection with this group, but the statement is an example of what left-wing Ukrainians think; it tries to show how to settle the present crisis independently of any imperialism, and instead in the interests of the people of the region, Ukrainians, Russians, and other East Europeans. It looks at things not from the point of view of the EU, Russian, or Ukrainian governments, but from the point of view of the working people of Ukraine. Their desires are close to those of working people everywhere, but their government is a bourgeois government, just as are the governments of Russia and the US.
Workers around the world have no stake in trying to ensure the impossible, that the world is divided “properly” between the imperialist countries. Our demands have to be in support of the people of the various countries, against the sordid deals of the imperialist powers, and against the threat of imperialist war. <>
The Kremlin has ordered the Russian army to the Ukrainian borders and is threatening to intervene if the US, NATO, and Ukraine do not fulfill its demands. We, the Ukrainian socialists, call on the international left to condemn the imperialist policies of the Russian government and to show solidarity with people who have suffered from the war that has lasted almost eight years and who may suffer from a new one.
After the collapse of the USSR, only one superpower remained in the world – the United States. But nothing lasts forever and now its hegemony is declining. US interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq brought catastrophic wars to the peoples of these countries and ended in disgrace for the United States. Unfortunately, the decline of American imperialism has been accompanied not by the emergence of a more democratic world order, but by the rise of other imperialist predators, fundamentalist and nationalist movements. Under these circumstances, the international left, accustomed to fighting only against Western imperialism, should reconsider its strategy.
In recent decades, there has been a revival of Russian imperialism, which is now trying to get the US to redistribute spheres of influence in the world. The facts show that falling into the sphere of influence of Putin’s Russia does not bring any good to the people. Right now, Russian troops are in Kazakhstan with the aim of forcefully suppressing the popular uprising. These actions confirm the reactionary nature of the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization], which was created not to protect countries from external aggression, but to strengthen the influence of the Kremlin and to protect unpopular regimes from revolutions. De facto Russian troops in Kazakhstan also protect the interests of both American and British capitalists, who own a significant part of the oil industry in Kazakhstan.
Russia has played a similar role in the Belarusian protests. The Kremlin sent its propagandists to replace the striking media workers and announced the formation of a reserve of security officials to be sent to Belarus. Just like in the 19th century, when the Russian Empire was the gendarme of Europe, the Putin regime is now becoming the roadblock of social and political changes in the post-Soviet space – any social movement in this territory is forced to think about how not to become an irritant for the Kremlin.
We express our gratitude and solidarity to the Russian left-wing activists who oppose the imperialist policies of the Kremlin and who are fighting for democratic and social transformations in their country. Only a revolution in Russia and the overthrow of the Putin regime can bring stability, peace and security to post-Soviet countries.
The Kremlin accuses the Ukrainian authorities of planning a military offensive in Donbas, but that is a blatant lie. Zelenskiy’s policy indicates that after multiple unsuccessful attempts to achieve peace after coming to power, he has abandoned plans to change something in Donbas. We condemn the neoliberal and nationalist policies of the Ukrainian authorities, but they in no way justify the imperialist aggression of Russia.
Russia constantly accuses Ukraine of not fulfilling the political part of the Minsk agreements [agreed on in 2014 and 2015 by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine], but it itself constantly violates the security part of them. The latest example was the non-continuation by Russia of the mandate of the OSCE mission [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, part of the Trilateral Contact Group] to monitor the Ukrainian-Russian border, although it is provided for in paragraph 4 of the Minsk Protocol. On the part of the self-proclaimed republics controlled by the Kremlin, there were always incomparably more restrictions on the freedom of movement of representatives of the OSCE mission on the contact line, but despite these obstacles, the OSCE in recent years has recorded many times more violations of the conditions for the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line precisely by the “DPR” and “LPR” [Donetsk and Luhansk People’’s Republics in the Donbas]. But the main thing is clause 10 of Minsk-2, which was never implemented: “The withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, as well as mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine under the supervision of the OSCE. Disarmament of all illegal groups”. There were and there are Russian troops in Donbas, but the Kremlin still hypocritically denies this.
Contrary to the myth, which is popular among some Western leftists, the regimes in the “DPR” and “LPR” are not the result of popular will. The heads of the “DPR” and “LPR” are integrated into the ranks of the ruling elite of the Russian Federation and have become the mouthpiece of the Kremlin’s most aggressive predatory sentiments. In the “republics” themselves, any opposition political activity, even the most loyal to the Russian government, is suppressed.
At the same time, the territories of the “republics” are rapidly de-industrialized. Infrastructure is deteriorating, and public transport networks are being dismantled in cities. Even for enterprises whose products are exported through the Russian Federation, multi-month wage arrears have become the norm. Workers’ protests culminate in the kidnapping of activists and the introduction of military vehicles.
In addition, Donbas has already become a zone of environmental collapse. Many mines are closed without proper conservation measures, which has resulted in the contamination of drinking water. According to the UN estimates, Donbas, while being one of the most densely populated parts of Ukraine, is the area which is filled with the most landmines in the whole world.
Now the Kremlin denies the subjectivity of Ukraine and the possibility of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The Russian government wants to agree on everything with the United States, while completely discarding Ukraine. But the decision to resolve the conflict should be made while taking into account the views of people whose lives directly depend on the conflict and the way it will be resolved. Ukraine should not become a bargaining chip in the agreements between the two imperialist states.
We strive for a peaceful, neutral Ukraine, but for this the Kremlin must end its aggressive imperialist policy, and Ukraine must be provided with security guarantees more serious than the Budapest Memorandum, blatantly trampled by the Russian Federation in 2014.
Not harboring illusions about the policy of Western governments serving big capital and their own goals, we believe that the interests of the Ukrainian working people can be taken into account by them only under the pressure of progressive movements and the public of these countries.
First of all, it is necessary to finally end the fighting in Donbas and prevent possible provocations on the front line of armed conflict, which can be used as a pretext for a new intervention. Therefore, the first step should be the introduction of a UN peacekeeping contingent in Donbas. We are aware of the problems with existing peacekeeping missions and remember that sometimes blue helmets did not prevent massive violence. But under the current Ukrainian circumstances, this is a necessary forced step.
The issues of a long-term political settlement of the conflict should be resolved only after the security issues are resolved. The end of hostilities should reduce the severity of the conflict and after that it will be easier to discuss possible compromises. The conditions for future reintegration must also be prepared.
• The complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Donbas. One of the best means of pressure on the leaders of the Russian Federation would be the seizure of the property and assets of Russian oligarchs and officials in London and other places.
• Creation of an international program for the restoration of the war-affected region and assistance to its inhabitants (including through the confiscation of what was plundered by Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs).
• Revision of the socio-economic course proposed to Ukraine by the West: instead of destructive neoliberal reforms under the pressure of the IMF – the cancellation of Ukraine’s external debt.
• More inclusive and progressive humanitarian policies in Ukraine, ending impunity for the Ukrainian far-right and abolishing “de-communization” laws.
• Provision of guarantees for the observance of human rights for those who lived in the “DPR” and “LPR”, the adoption of an amnesty law for those who did not commit war crimes.
The war in Donbas has claimed the lives of thousands and forced millions of people to leave their homes. The threat of escalation hangs over Ukraine like the sword of Damocles and greatly narrows the scope of progressive politics. The future of the socialist movement in Ukraine depends on international solidarity.
(https://rev.org.ua/time-for-international-anti-war-solidarity,
emphasis as in the original) <>
Picture:
map of Ukraine. <>
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