Andrew Murray, a leading spokesperson of the British Stop the War Campaign, has attempted to write an explanation of the Prigozhin Coup.

A Ceasefire is more important than ever

A schoolchild can demolish this writer’s approach :

My comments are in bold italics and red.

John Meehan (JM)

I deploy a technique well known to effective teachers. One of those teachers explained that, even when you are dealing with the brightest pupils, you need to repeatedly state necessary concrete practical action and analysis so it gets through to the listeners and readers.

Andrew Murray (AM) :

“The case for a ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict is made all the more compelling by the events in Russia.”

John Meehan (JM)

The “events in Russia” have been caused by Ukrainian resistance. There is a “compelling” case to continue and deepen this resistance.

AM :

“The mercenary Wagner group launched an armed insurrection to depose the leadership of the Russian military. Had it been successful, Russia’s military, including its vast nuclear arsenal, could have fallen into the hands of an enraged oligarch.”

JM:

Russia’s “vast nuclear arsenal” is already in the hands of an enraged oligarch – Vladimir Putin.

“The adventure is a product of the failure of Russia’s war to achieve its objectives in Ukraine. Indeed, Wagner boss Prigozhin has belatedly declared that the whole invasion last year was unnecessary and predicated on lies.”

JM:

Precisely. The co-leader of the invasion has declared – unlike Stop The War (Britain) – that there was no threat to Russia from NATO, and no plans by Ukraine to invade Russia.

AM:

“The bizarre agreement ending Wagner’s march on Moscow leaves everything unresolved. Many Russians appear to share Prigozhin’s frustrations with the military hierarchy.”

JM:

The “events in Russia” have been caused by Ukrainian resistance. There is a “compelling” case to continue and deepen this resistance.

AM:

“Between Prigozhin and Putin there is nothing to choose. Russia’s brave anti-war movement, facing state harassment, are the only Russian political forces deserving of solidarity at present.”

JM:

The “events in Russia” have been caused by Ukrainian resistance. There is a “compelling” case to continue and deepen this resistance.

AM:

“However, there is scant likelihood of them coming to power in the foreseeable future. Waiting for a more progressive regime in Moscow remains a wish, not a policy.”

JM:

The “events in Russia” have been caused by Ukrainian resistance. There is a “compelling” case to continue and deepen this resistance. The better possibility “for a more progressive regime in Moscow” arises from stubborn Ukrainian resistance.

AM:

“Ukraine is now several weeks into its long-anticipated offensive to reclaim territory. So far, there is little to show for it.”

Pure nonsense. Despite the 14 month resistance and the Autumn push back. It is arguable that the offensive is making slow but steady gains, that it has yet to be fully unleashed, that the preparatory ‘shaping’ has been done, and that the offensive is going to plan. The very subject of this article, the Prigozhin coup, opens up new battlefield possibilities.

“NATO continues to pour in arms and ramp up bellicose rhetoric, the British government to the fore. But it does not appear that Russia’s positions were adversely affected by the coup drama.”

This is passive nonsense “But it does not appear that Russia’s positions were adversely affected by the coup drama.” Again, for this and other extremely slow talented learners : The “events in Russia” have been caused by Ukrainian resistance. There is a “compelling” case to continue and deepen this resistance.

“Stalemate on the battlefield remains the most likely outcome. Under those circumstances, the calls from governments and peoples across the world for a ceasefire and peace negotiations need to be redoubled.”

Political Garbage – See Above.

“It is the only way forward. The longer the conflict continues, the more the dangers to the world escalate. The British government is seeking by every means to prolong the conflict and must be brought to its senses.”

Political Garbage – See Above.

“The ministers attacking living standards and public services here are no more to be trusted on foreign policy. In Ukraine they pursue the same class interests as at home. Peace must be imposed on them.”

The outlook of Andrew Murray and co-thinkers “remains a wish, not a policy”

John Meehan, June 26 2023

I wish to acknowledge assistance given by Des Derwin in the writing of this article

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A much better approach is adopted by the American socialist writer Dan la Botz. Readers can compare and contrast. Article Source : The War Comes Home to Russia; Could it Open the Way to Revolution?

The War Comes Home to Russia; Could it Open the Way to Revolution?

Sunday 25 June 2023, by Dan La Botz

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine has, as wars often do, come home. A rebellion led by the perhaps even more rightwing and authoritarian Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Russian Wagner Group, is leading his mercenary army to Moscow, saying he wants to talk with the generals, but he could try to take Moscow to overthrow Putin. There is little chance that Prigozhin’s little army of a few thousand could take power, but it could unleash a political process that cannot be contained by Putin. The most important question at this moment is: Can this struggle in the Russian elite lead to the collapse of Putin and the oligarchy and could it make it possible for the Russian people to rise up and overthrow them all

The conflict between Putin and Prigozhin, the two dominant figures in the prosecution of the war on Ukraine, demonstrates the depth of crisis in both the military and political situation in Russia. Their conflict, which could become not just a military uprising but perhaps the beginning of a civil war, makes possible both a victory for Ukraine if it can take advantage of the events to drive the Russians out of all of their territory, and also could lead to the toppling of Putin.

Russia experienced two similar moments, one when after losing the war with Japan of 1904-95, a revolutionary movement developed among returning soldiers, workers, and peasants that threatened to overthrow Tsar Nicholas II. And then again, as World War I continued to slaughter millions, in 1917 Russian soldiers began to march home, peasants and workers rebelled, and Nicholas was overthrown by a liberal government in February and that government, as the revolution deepened, overturned by a coup by the Bolshevik Party in October.

In 1941, however, when Hitler’s Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the Communist dictators Joseph Stalin took advantage of the crisis to strengthen his strangle hold on Soviet peoples. Stalin not only survived, but after the war extended his rule and the Communist system to the Baltic State and Eastern Europe. The war did not come home to overturn either Stalin or the bureaucratic Communist state.

Today, the circumstances are very different than in either of those cases. While Russia in 1917 had had thirty years of revolutionary organizing by anarchists and socialists who had constructed bases among the country’s working people, today in Russia the revolutionary left is tiny. Every critical thinker or activist has either been imprisoned or fled the country, as half a million have. As best we know, no public demonstrations have yet taken place against Putin. There is the danger that a sector of the society, disgusted with Putin, might turn to the vile Prigozhin and his murderous Wagner mercenaries.

And unlike 1941, Putin’s rule, unlike Stalin’s, was not preceded by twenty years of repression an even more severe repression in which at least 100,000 died and hundreds of thousands of others went to the Gulags.

History has shown, in Russia and everywhere else, that ordinary working people can and will intervene from below to resist oppression and exploitation and to assert their desire for peace and justice. Until they do, we stand with the Ukrainians in their war against Russia and with the Russian people in the struggle for democracy and peace.

24 June 2023

See also :

Russia: “Prigozhin’s March”: What Was It All About?

Russian Anarchists on the Wagner Mutiny

from the Europe Solidaire Sana Frontieres (ESSF) Site