Archive for the ‘Soviet Union (USSR)’ Category
War against Ukraine: Intervention on the political orientation of the Party DIE LINKE (Germany) – Bernd Riexinger
Introduction :
The content of this article is tremendously important. It strikes to the heart of significant dilemmas many activists have never before imagined, but which they cannot walk away from.
Can we be in favour of arming the popular resistance fighters in Ukraine without playing into the hands of NATO? Do we favour a Ukrainian victory over the Russian invaders? A strongly recommended article. Source : http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article61396
The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military is an act of aggression that causes untold suffering for the Ukrainian population and cannot be justified by anything. The bloodshed also affects Russian soldiers and the population in Russia will have to pay bitterly for the war costs. Both the resistance among the Ukrainian population and the first signs of Russian protests against the war therefore deserve our full solidarity.
Read the rest of this entry »It is good that the party and parliamentary group strongly condemned the war of aggression by Russia and demanded an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops. Also, the humble admission that our party did not believe the war by Russia was possible was correct and looks credible. Only a few days before the first bombs fell, individual party members had called for a rally under the slogan “Security for Russia means security for Germany,” relegating warnings of an invasion to the realm of storytellers. What a devastating misjudgement. The dispute over relations with Russia has preoccupied the party since its founding. The role of the Red Army in the liberation from fascism, the 27 million deaths caused by the fascist war and terror, hardship and deprivation imposed on the people of the then Soviet Union were not forgotten worldwide in the left. Especially in times of the Cold War, this was not a popular stance. Parts of the party also moved in the line of tradition of Soviet-influenced “real socialism,” which still shapes its attitude toward Russia today. Regardless of the justified criticism of many leftists of the character of this system, a neoliberal-influenced transformation to capitalism has taken place in Russia. The Putin regime embodies an authoritarian oligarch capitalism that goes hand in hand with a strengthened nationalism. This system has nothing to do with leftist ideas; on the contrary, it falls far short of the standards of even bourgeois liberal democracies. Under Putin, Russia has once again taken a more active role in world politics. This involves hard-nosed interests that are also being enforced militarily. Tommaso Di Francesco of il manifesto, who already assessed Putin’s decision to recognize the independence of Lugansk and Donetsk as an “act of violence” and an adventurous harbinger of a new war, describes Russia as “driven by its ideological and military expansion”.
“No to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine! Support to the Ukrainian resistance! Solidarity with the Russian opposition to the war!”
Statement of the Executive Bureau of the Fourth International
Source : https://fourth.international/en/566/europe/426.
Ukrainian volunteers sorting humanitarian aid at a refugee station – Aliona N. (fb)
1. Before dawn on 24 February 2022 the Russian army began its invasion of Ukraine, bombing the interior of the country and crossing the northern, eastern and southern borders of the country, heading for the capital Kiev. This aggression has already resulted in many deaths, both civilian and military. The Ukrainian army and population are defending themselves, several cities are holding out against the aggressor. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have gone into exile, but the resistance continues. The Ukrainan people are resisting, with and without arms.
The Kremlin’s recognition three days earlier of the “independence” of the so-called “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk and the official entry of the Russian army into their territory was only the prelude to the invasion aimed at the total submission of the neighbouring country.
Read the rest of this entry »It is a military invasion of the territory of a former oppressed nation by a capitalist oligarchic, autocratic and imperialist regime whose aim is the reconstruction of the Russian empire.
Confused About Ukraine and Russia? A Fable Sparks Debate “Ukraine used to be in an Abusive Relationship with Russia”
We wish to thank Sandra Kavanagh for circulating a brilliant fable :
“For anyone that’s confused about what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine, here it is in layman’s terms:
Sandra Kavanagh
-Ukraine used to be in an abusive relationship with Russia, feeding him, letting him use her car, and giving him whatever he asked for until she built up the confidence to call it quits back in 1991.
-Since then, Ukraine has been working on herself, becoming a strong independent woman with help from friends like France, America, Poland, and others. They give her support, loan her money, and are helping her find her way.
-Ukraine has been enjoying being single for 30 years and looking forward to continuing to grow and create new friendships.
-Now Russia, being the toxic ex that he is, wants her back, and doesn’t want her meeting new people or creating any new relationships.
-A couple of weeks ago Russia started sitting in the front of Ukraine’s house & when her friends ask him what was he doing there, he said “Oh nothing, just getting a little bit of exercise in, that’s all.”
-After her friends told her that Russia was potentially getting ready to do something bad to her, he said “They’re lying, they just want you to be scared of me and that’s not what it is.”
-Yesterday Russia broke into Ukraine’s house, beat her up & “took advantage” of her while live-streaming and double dog dared any of her friends to do something about it. She’s still waiting for help.”
Solutions :
The Russian man should be shackled with an effective barring order, backed up with aggressive legal sanctions. The house of the Ukrainian woman must be fortified. Concretely during this war : the anti-war movement must declare: Russian Troops Out of Ukraine Now!
John Meehan March 1 2020
Protest Outside Russian Embassy in Dublin – Monday February 28, 5pm, Orwell Road, Rathmines – Solidarity With Russian Anti-War Protesters
Statement Issued by Paul Murphy TD :
Thousands of anti-war protesters have taken to the streets of Russia opposing the invasion of Ukraine. They have faced repression and arrest, and they need our solidarity.
The real hope for stopping the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and future conflicts between NATO and Russia, lies in an anti-war movement that crosses the border of East and West and opposes both Putin and NATO.
Join PBP for this solidarity protest outside the Russian Embassy on Orwell road in Rathmines on Monday 28 February at 5pm in solidarity with the Russian anti-war movement.
The best way to stop war is by an international movement of ordinary people to force their own governments to end the warmongering.
Sinn Féin President Mary-Lou McDonald calls for expulsion of Russian Ambassador Yuri Filatov from Ireland https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2022/02/25/another-response-to-the-russian-attack/
Other casualties of the Russian attack on Ukraine
This Cedar Lounge Revolution article is valuable reading.
If anything were calculated to push people in under NATO’s umbrella – Nordic states, that have been hesitant to do so, most immediately, this will do…
Other casualties of the Russian attack on Ukraine
If anything were calculated to push people in under NATO’s umbrella – Nordic states, that have been hesitant to do so, most immediately, this will do so.
Thanks to Putin’s policy, more and more countries want to join the bloc, and Russia’s position is deteriorating. The outcome of the coming war is likely to include Sweden’s entry into NATO, and public opinion in Finland has also changed. During Putin’s rule, Russia has offered nothing to European countries to make NATO membership unattractive for them. On the contrary, thanks to the real danger of aggression from Russia, NATO again makes sense as a security option and its strengthening has begun to look like a basic development option for Europeans. Under Putin, the NATO bloc has become stronger than ever.
And the threat from NATO is overstated. To put it mildly.
Read the rest of this entry »Against Russian Imperialism, Hands Off Ukraine – Statement from the RSD (Russian Socialist Movement)
Statement from the RSD – Russian Socialist Movement. (Thanks to Peter Saxtrup Nielsen). The Russian Socialist movement was founded in March 2011 by two organizations, the Socialist Movement Vperiod (“Forward”), Russian section of the Fourth International, and Socialist Resistance. It is part of the Left Front, an alliance formed during the protests against the falsification of the elections in 2011 and 2012.
Against Russian imperialism, hands off Ukraine!
Putin’s address to the Russians has just ended. The man who calls himself president began his speech with an anti-communist panegyric and said that the creator of Ukraine is Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, and its existence in its current form is the result of the national policy of the Bolsheviks. By accusing the Bolsheviks of “cultivating nationalists,” Putin is covering up the most terrible and disgusting kind of nationalism – Great Russian chauvinism. Against this background, Putin threatened the Ukrainians to show what “decommunization” is. Given the context of his speech, one can perceive these words only as a threat of direct intervention on the territory of Ukraine. Not surprisingly, in criticizing the Leninist nationality policy, Putin threw stones at the planned economy, nationalization and complimented Stalinism.
Russian Imperialist Dictator Vladimir Putin Denounces “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine” – Russian Troops Out of Ukraine Now!
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was the first leader of the Bolshevik Russian Soviet Federation created by the 1917 October Revolution. A different Vladimir, the billionaire oligarch gangster Putin, is determined to wipe Ukraine off the map and ”show what real decommunisation means for Ukraine”. Anti-War movements across the globe need to support the demand “Russian Troops Our of Ukraine Now” while also opposing the eastern expansion across the European continent of the USA’s NATO war-machine.
Key Extracts from Vladimir Putin’s Speech Denouncing “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine”
“Modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia. This process began immediately after the revolution of 1917…
“As a result of Bolshevik policy, Soviet Ukraine arose, which even today can with good reason be called ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine’. He is its author and architect. This is fully confirmed by archive documents … And now grateful descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. This is what they call decommunisation. Do you want decommunisation? Well, that suits us just fine. But it is unnecessary, as they say, to stop halfway. We are ready to show you what real decommunisation means for Ukraine.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/extracts-putins-speech-ukraine-2022-02-21/
Statement of ‘Sotsialnyi Ruh’: Recognition of LDPR by Russia is criminal play of Russian Imperialism
Read the rest of this entry »Tomás Ó Flatharta
Tomás Ó Flatharta was the first known Irish supporter of the Left Opposition to the Stalin-led Bolshevik Government in Russia, in the 1920’s. He is pictured here with comrades
William F. Dunne, T.J. O’Flaherty (Tomás Ó Flatharta), William (Big Bill) Haywood, and James P. Cannon together in Moscow from Labor Defender. Vol. 1 No. 8. August, 1926. Frank Little Memorial Number.
Thanks to Des Derwin for the information.
Solidarity with the uprising in Kazakhstan
Solidarity with the uprising in Kazakhstan
This is an excellent initiative. Organizations and individuals from many parts of the globe – including five members of the Dáil in Dublin and elected representatives from Belfast and Derry, along with trade unionists, socialists, feminists and left public representatives” in other countries. Hopefully more people and organizations will endorse this statement, and stimulate the building of a mass movement in solidarity with the people of Kazakhstan.
There has been a rapid and strong response to the circulation of this Kazakhstan solidarity statement. Very close to 200 signatures in almost 40 countries were collected in the space of just two days, with many prominent individuals and organisations.
For more information read this blog https://kazakhsolidarity.wordpress.com/
Statement issued 12 January 2022.
Sources :
Solidarity with the uprising in Kazakhstan
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article60687
We, socialists, trade unionists, human rights activists, anti-war activists and organisations have watched the uprising in Kazakhstan since 2 January with a sense of deep solidarity for the working people. The striking oil workers, miners and protesters have faced incredible repression. The full force of the police and army have been unleashed against them, instructed to ‘shoot to kill without warning’. Over 160 protesters have been killed so far and more than 8,000 have been arrested.
We reject the propaganda of the dictatorship that this uprising is a product of “Islamic radicals” or the intervention of US imperialism. There is no evidence of that whatsoever. It is the usual resort of an unpopular regime – to blame ‘outside’ agitators.
Read the rest of this entry »How the Russian Left Survived in a Post‑Soviet World. : Ilya Budraitskis, Translation : Giuliano Vivaldi
This fascinating history of the fighting left in Russia since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 is recommended to readers of this blog.
The author, Ilya Budraitskis, is a leader of the “Vpered” (“Forward”), Russian section of the Fourth International, which participated in the founding of the Russian Socialist Movement (RSD) in 2011. This article was spotted on this blog : https://anticapitalistresistance.org/how-the-russian-left-survived-in-a-post-soviet-world/
This article originally appeared on the global dialogue website and can be located here.
Long Read
After the demise of the USSR on December 26, 1991, the Russian left had to find its place in a society transformed beyond recognition. In the face of huge challenges, its activists have led important struggles against the system established by Yeltsin and Putin.
The story of the modern left movement in Russia begins in the late 1980s, during the era of perestroika. From the very beginning it carried a contradictory combination of two political tendencies of the late Soviet period: popular (anti-market, statist) Stalinism and democratic socialism; nostalgic idealization of the USSR and criticism of it from the left. These political tendencies entered the public political arena in the late 1980s, and immediately found themselves on opposite sides of the battlefield dividing supporters and opponents of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 