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(en) Bulgaria, FA: The Ukrainian crisis and the "lefts": clarifications needed (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Date Wed, 2 Oct 2024 09:08:47 +0300


We are publishing a translation of an article by the Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists (KRAS, Russian Section of the International Workers' Association), uploaded to their website on 09.28.2014 (https://aitrus.info/node/3948) in connection with what was then happening along the Maidan events. We decided that it would be useful to us today due to the similarities and correspondences in the international situation (Russia-NATO standoff), in popular sentiments (Proputinism and Euro-Atlanticism) and above all in the response of some of the left who are quick to declare support for one of warring state authorities and to declare its armed forces "more democratic" or "anti-fascist". However, as we know, all this is not a struggle for freedom and democracy, but a clash of competing geopolitical interests, where the pursuit of the "lesser evil" is disastrous or at least pointless and a betrayal of our ideals. There is no war for peace, nor can we look for revolution in power structures. Thus, the publisher agrees with the opinion of KRAS regarding internationalism as a firm and tested principle of anarchists and condemns the support for any political power, regardless of what it presents itself as.

The Ukrainian civil war dealt another heavy blow to those social forces in Russia that call themselves the "left," "anti-fascist," or "anarchist" movement. Having failed the test of the notorious "national question", or more precisely - the test of internationalism, these groups split into supporters of one of the bourgeois camps, which fought each other in the struggle for power in Ukraine.

The logic of support for the Maidan coup and the regime it created in Kiev, on the one hand, or pro-Russian regimes in Donetsk and Luhansk, which declared secession from Kiev, on the other, inexorably led their apologists to justify either the imperialist interests of the NATO countries, or the predatory expansionism of the Kremlin - that is, of those countries that clarify the relations of the Ukrainian land through the hands of their puppets and satellites.

The collapse of the " left"

Many "leftists" and "anarchists" in the spaces of the former Soviet Union were not distinguished by an internationalist position for a long time, and in pursuit of popularity among the "masses" they were ready to compromise with various forms of nationalism. The Ukrainian war was the impetus that helped complete this "rightward" evolution. The leftist camp of Ukraine split into two main groups. Borotba Leninists, faced with the openly anti-left, Ukrainian-nationalist rhetoric and practice of the Maidan, essentially supported the opposing Anti-Maidan and declared the pro-Russian demonstrations in the eastern part of the country "anti-fascist", unfazed by the active presence of the far-right in them , and in the main role. At the same time, the leaders of the "Autonomous Union of Workers" (AST) not only welcomed the Maidan as an "anti-dictatorship" protest, regardless of the avant-garde role of far-right "fighters", but then sided with the Ukrainian centralized bourgeois state, denying any dissatisfaction with the Kiev coup in the eastern part of the country and reducing the whole problem only and exclusively to the aggressive actions of the Kremlin. Some groups suffered a violent schism. Thus, part of the members of the platformist RKAS went to the Maidan, others condemned the struggle for power in Kiev, but then announced their intention to protect the "motherland from the aggressor" - Russia; others, according to rumors, entered the military formations of the DPR...

No less confusion reigns among the Russian "left". Some (including most "anarchists") sympathized with the Maidan from the beginning as a supposedly "people's" and "self-organized" movement, ready to justify a tactical alliance with Ukrainian nationalists and the far-right. Others support Kiev in its conflict with the East and the Kremlin, guided by "anti-Putin" motives and the unprincipled motto "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Still others, as before, are captive to the idea of "progressiveness" of the national-"liberation" movements and saw in the Maidan course towards NATO a manifestation of an advanced struggle against the age-old yoke of the "Russian Empire". A fourth, on the contrary, leaned in favor of the Donbas republics or even began to express more or less strong support for the Kremlin's policy, declaring Russian imperialism as a counterweight to the "more terrible" enemy - the imperialism of the West. Petty continues to present the rebellion in the east as an anti-fascist act, arguing that "anti-fascism" must unite the entire spectrum of political forces, from far-left to far-right. Six interpret the annexation of Crimea to Russia and the secession of the Ukrainian East in the spirit of the "right to self-determination"...

The inability of the majority of the "left" (in the broadest sense of the word) movement in Ukraine and Russia to consistently take an internationalist position in this conflict is of course no accident and unfortunately no surprise. Its roots are still the same that once, with the outbreak of the First World War, split the Second International - these are nationalism, patriotism, statesmanship and the political logic of opportunism ("the lesser evil" and "graduality").

Position of KRAS

The Russian anarcho-syndicalists from the very beginning took a stand against all the opposing bourgeois groups in Ukraine and against the imperialist forces behind them - Russia and the NATO countries. In the statement "War of War" signed by the Russian section of the MRA in early March, our anti-nationalism was formulated quite clearly. We condemned the struggle for power between the oligarchic clans of Ukraine, manifested in the streets in the form of opposition between Maidan and Anti-Maidan, and emphasized the expansionist character of the states' policy towards Ukraine, which became a bone of contention between the emerging military-political blocks. Even before the annexation of Crimea, we warned: "Russian capitalism intends to take advantage of the redistribution of Ukrainian state power to realize its long-standing imperial and expansionist aspirations in Crimea and in eastern Ukraine, where it has strong economic, financial and political interests. Against the background of the upcoming stage of economic crisis in Russia, the ruling regime is trying, by inflaming Russian nationalism, to divert the attention of the working people from the growing socio-economic problems, the miserable wages and pensions, the dismantling of affordable health care, education and others social services. Under the thunder of nationalist and militant rhetoric, it is easier to complete the formation of a corporate authoritarian state based on reactionary-conservative values and repressive politics . We also warned of the interests and aspirations of Western powers whose "intervention in the conflict could lead to World War III."

We understood very well that with the present weakness of the labor movement and the social-revolutionary forces, the workers in Ukraine and Russia would hardly be able to put up organized resistance to the war at this stage. But this does not mean that they should succumb to nationalistic hysteria and go and shed blood for the interests of their masters, whoever they may be. We called for a broad anti-nationalist, anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-state agitation, seeing this as a necessary step towards a future social-revolutionary upsurge.

This internationalist position was confirmed once again in the extensive interview one of our comrades gave to the German libertarian anti-militarist newspaper Grasswürtzelrevolution. Although he did it personally, his words reflected the point of view of our entire organization on this matter. Here's what he noted: "The pro-Russian movement in the East and in Crimea is as diverse as the Maidan." And equally nationalistic and reactionary in its predominant orientation. The leaders of the pro-Russian groups in Crimea are prominent representatives of the local Russian-speaking bourgeoisie. Regarding the participation of the Russian (Russian-speaking) far-right in the current anti-Kiev protests in eastern, southern Ukraine and Crimea - these are primarily Cossacks, who are today something like the KKK in the USA, and also members of various pro-fascist groups .

Of course, special attention in the interview was devoted to the plans and actions of the imperialist powers. "It is obvious that Putin's regime is taking advantage of the chaotic situation in Ukraine to implement its own hegemonic plans," our comrade noted, "The interests of the Russian state and capital in Crimea are diverse. In geopolitical terms, Russia is considered a regional superpower that claims at least hegemony in the former Soviet Union space. Ukraine has become a conflict zone of imperialist contradictions between Russia and the EU. In contrast to the projects for association of Ukraine with the EU, Moscow offered its southern neighbor membership in the bloc under its domination - the Customs Union. It is logical that Russia would not want to tolerate an anti-Russian government in Kiev. (...) Putin's regime prefers to even take the risk of finding a permanent and long-term enemy in Kiev with future revenge aspirations, if only to seize the Crimea region. Crimea is of great military importance to the Russian state. The main bases of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are located there , and the term of this deployment expires in 2017. From a strategic point of view, the peninsula jutting into the sea is the key to the Black Sea. And the possible perspective of Ukraine's membership in NATO scares the Russian government. Economic interests also matter. Russian capitalists run their businesses in Crimea and have real estate there. New profitable projects are planned. (...) Additional excitement is caused by the information about the presence of rich oil and gas resources in the sea in the vicinity of Crimea" . Finally, for the intervention "there are clear domestic political motives. The Russian government is increasingly strengthening its neoliberal economic policy against the background of already very low wages . Many analysts assume that the economic crisis in the country will worsen this year. So inciting nationalist and military hysteria is a suitable means of diverting the discontent of the population, which is being pushed towards a patriotic unification around the government .

"(...) We are dealing with competing imperialisms, with another round of the struggle for the redistribution of the world." - stressed the comrade - "At the same time, there are many players operating in the world - the imperial aspirations of the USA, China, etc. Every country would like to expand its sphere of influence and lead an imperial policy. Not everyone can, but everyone wants to. Hence the hypocrisy on all sides. Each country allows itself such a policy, but denies it to all others. I think that the first and most urgent task of anti-nationalists is to expose such a situation and explain it as much as possible to broad sections of the population. We must always - and as systematically as possible - explain that imperial politics and militarism are an integral part of the system . If we cannot contribute to a change of consciousness, we will never be able to break through the moral dominance of the capitalist-statist system."

The dogs are barking - the caravan is on its way

Since then, our position has not changed. We continue to oppose NATO and the Kremlin, Kiev and Donetsk-Luhansk, Maidan and Anti-Maidan. Our slogan is still the same: "A plague on both your houses, gentlemen bourgeois!".

But the principle irritates the Russian and Ukrainian leftists who are raging in the chaos. Forgetting what it is, they are ready to denounce any allegiance to the ideals of internationalism and class resistance (to which they are committed) as something naive, marginal and sectarian, and if that doesn't work - simply slander them.

It is clear that today we are causing burning hatred among the supporters of the Maidan/Kyiv and the supporters of the DPR/LPR/Kremlin. Some sincerely do not understand how it is possible not to support either of the opposing sides: after all, politics is "the art of the possible". It is useful for such heroes to be reminded that anarcho-syndicalists are not concerned with "politics" in this sense at all: they need no effort to explain it to themselves. We are not interested in the names and secrets of politicians, but in the struggle for the socio-economic interests of working people.

Some live by the logic of Stalin's prosecutor Vyshinsky: "whoever is not with us is against us." Schizophrenicly dividing the surrounding world, these individuals believe that anyone who does not support the "liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people" (under the leadership, of course, of the patriotic oligarchs) is a direct or indirect agent of the Kremlin. Without being psychiatrists, we do not know how to cure their political schizophrenia.

Finally, there are those who simply prefer outright lies and slander. So, there were liars who began to claim that KRAS refused to criticize the pro-Russian republics in eastern Ukraine and even supported them.

Anyone who understands the logic of our position and who has read the above quotations will easily notice that this is of course not the case. In fact, our site has so far featured more material on the social problems and anti-war protests in the zone controlled by the Kyiv regime. But this is primarily because there is no consistent information on these topics from the areas ruled by the separatists. We don't know anything about whether strikes are happening there, whether protests against the war, price rises and mobilization have broken out in those areas... As soon as we get the relevant data, we intend to publish and distribute it in the same way as we do with the strike material in Crimea, annexed to Russia.

However, in order to avoid any misunderstanding (since we consider it unnecessary to refute the open slander of the enemies), we can only confirm openly that we do not consider the regimes of the DPR/LPR in any way "better" than the Kiev one mode. Even with all the scatteredness and schematicity of objective information, there are enough grounds for such an opinion:

- The regimes of the DPR and LPR are bourgeois (as well as the regime in Kyiv). At their head are representatives of the local middle or small bourgeoisie and power structures, and behind them are quite clearly the interests of large Russian concerns, which have repeatedly sent their trusted people to the governing structures of the republics.

- The regimes in eastern Ukraine are extremely nationalistic, but, unlike Kiev, this nationalism is not Ukrainian, but Russian. In order to be convinced of this, it is enough not only to get acquainted with the constitution of the DPR, riddled with Black Hundred exclamations about "Russian world" and "Russian civilization", about the primacy of Orthodoxy and traditional values, but also to listen to or read the relevant statements of state and military officials of the two republics. Proof of this is the direct references of the leaders of the regime to the traditions of the Russian White Guard.

- The regimes in eastern Ukraine (as well as Kiev) are ready to receive support from their own and foreign neo-fascists. It can hardly be assumed that the activists of RNE, NBP, Cossacks and the successors of the White Guards are at least somewhat "better" than the Azov Battalion - the openly neo-Nazi unit of the Ukrainian National Guard.

- The regimes in eastern Ukraine are extremely repressive (as well as Kiev). International human rights organizations register numerous violations of human rights in both areas of the country. Similar to the territory controlled by the Kyiv authorities, censorship is established and practiced in the DPR and LPR, and political opponents are persecuted; people are arrested, kidnapped and beaten. From both parts of Ukraine there are reports of forced mobilization into military formations or "reinforcement work". In August, the DPR passed a law establishing military courts and reinstating the death penalty. We have no verified information about who was executed and when, but the very fact of such laws is extremely disturbing.

- The regimes in eastern Ukraine are anti-social (although, unlike the government in Kiev, they are not yet following the dictates of the IMF and the EU on "austerity"). None of the leaders of the republics will encroach on the property of the capitalists; no attempt is known to freeze prices, raise wages or proclaim additional social guarantees...

Enough said. Those "leftists" who declare their support for such regimes are simply out of their minds... Or they are nothing more than the "left" fig leaf of the bourgeoisie.

The anarcho-syndicalists remain on their principled positions. We have never supported, do not support and will never support any state, any ruling class, any bourgeois or national movement. Our course towards social revolution and anarchy is unchanged. This is what we insist on and cannot do otherwise.

https://www.anarchy.bg
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