The 18th World Congress of the Fourth International took place in Belgium from 23 to 28th February. The wide-ranging discussion covered the international situation in all its aspects from the structural polycrisis in its environmental, economic, social and political aspects to the movements of resistance, and the need to build and strengthen our own International. One particular point of debate was how as internationalist revolutionary Marxists we express our opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and our solidarity with the resistance of the Ukrainian people to this invasion, to the neoliberal policies of the Zelensky government and to neoliberal militarization.
We publish here the resolution presented by the majority of the outgoing IC, approved by the congress by 95 votes in favour, 23 against, 3 abstentions and 5 no votes, and the alternative resolution presented by a number of delegations rejected 31 for, 80 against, 9 abstentions.
Duncan Chapel has complied a table comparing both resolutions, indicating areas of agreement and disagreement.
1. In February 2022, Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in an attempt to turn the country into a Russian satellite. This attempt has caused hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded already. But the regime in Moscow has long been characterised by expansionist Greater Russian imperialist ideology, which sees superpowers as endowed with the right to extend their zone of influence by all means possible, challenging established norms of international law and legitimising a new era of imperialist redistribution. Thus, for the Kremlin, the daily increasing human cost of this aggression is no reason to cease it, and further intensification is instrumental to terrorise the Ukrainian people into submission.
2. What was supposed to be a “special military operation” to bring down the Kyiv government in a matter of days has turned into a three-year entanglement in full-scale war. This development was unexpected not only for Putin but also for the Western powers—Biden even offered to help Zelensky evacuate. It is precisely the determination and resilience of the Ukrainian resistance that has thwarted Putin’s plans to this day.
3. The invasion of Ukraine was not only an attempt to reassert the role of Russia in the capitalist competition but also a deliberate attempt to tighten control over Russian society and crush all dissent. Anti-war activists have been prosecuted and sentenced to long prison terms on trumped charges. Socialist organisations, such as that of our comrades in the Russian Socialist Movement, have been forced to disband, and their members have had to flee. While feminists continue to mobilise, they do it under constant pressure with threats of imprisonment for even uttering the word “war”.
4. As internationalists, we defend Ukraine’s right to self-determination and their right to resist the invasion. People’s movements are an integral part of this resistance, waging a struggle on two fronts: against the occupants and against the Zelensky government. In this unequal fight, we stand together with other progressive forces in the country. We urge all internationalist left to develop political and material solidarity with trade unionists, feminists, and social and democratic activists in Ukraine. Just as the Fourth International has been doing this since the beginning of the aggression within the framework of the “European Network of Solidarity with Ukraine” (ENSU/RESU) and together with the Ukrainian left-wing organisation, Sotsialnyi Rukh.
5. Once again, we underline that we have no illusions about the nature of Ukraine’s regime. Their government is right-wing and neo-liberal, not shying away from mobilising fear to stay in power. It is just as keen to satisfy domestic capitalists as to reassure the Western powers of its ability to adapt to their demands. Its anti-social and anti-democratic policies are counter-productive in terms of defending Ukraine. They oppose the needs of its working classes, provoke their resentment, undermine social trust, and, as a result, the government relies on increasingly authoritarian measures. This makes standing with the Ukrainian wage earners and their organisations all the more important. We cannot abandon them when they desperately need solidarity, especially if our vision of emancipation is that of a struggle from below, where the people rise to fight, independant from the government and the great powers.
Convicted Rapist-President Donald Trump (USA) and wanted international war criminal President Vladimir Putin (Russia) are knifing Ukraine Palestine and Syria, hosted by the Saudi Arabia bloodbath kingdom.
Three sociopathic assassins (Putin, Trump, and Mohammed bin Salman) have form. Barcelona journalist Cristina Mas notes : “This format would have been unthinkable just five years ago, after the murder of journalist and opposition leader Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a crime that prompted condemnation around the world and the cooling of relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia”
From the pro-Ukraine left, useful interpretations are circulating.
In a highly confrontational speech delivered at the Munich Security Conference opening on 14 February, US Vice President JD Vance declared that the “internal threat” facing Europe was more serious than that posed by Russia and China. He criticised the annulment of a recent election in Romania, the prosecution of an anti-abortion protester in the United Kingdom, and the exclusion of far-right and far-left German politicians from the event itself.
And here we are. This is one outcome of arguing that one imperialism is less bad than another, that some people are oppressed while others either don’t exist (,Putin’s original playbook) or don’t really matter. Palestinians good, Ukrainians, Kurds? Not so much.
Clare Daly (ex MEP; a twice defeated Irish election candidate in 2024) was on the RTÉ 1 TV “Upfront with Katie Hannon” programme on February 17 2025, supporting the Trump-Putin stab in the back of Ukraine. She is like the peace activists who backed the Hitler-Chamberlain 1938 agreement selling out Czechoslovakia. A year later this “peace in our time” deal, promoted by a British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain famously waving a piece of paper, paved the way for World War 2 in Europe and Nazi occupation of France, Holland, Belgium, Poland plus many more.
We also saw the Hitler-Stalin pact in 1939, followed in 1941 by – guess what? – a Nazi invasion of Stalin’s Russia.
Let us recall the various Clare Dalys, spiritual daughters of Stalin – one of whom claimed in 2022 that predictions Putin intended to invade Russia were “insane”.
Pro-Ukraine anti-war activists got it right, for example Donnacha Ó Beacháin :
3 years ago today I was in a TV studio expressing scepticism about Putin’s claim he was withdrawing troops from Ukraine’s borders On the same program Russia’s ambassador said anybody who suggested Russia would invade Ukraine was “insane”. Russia launched its full-scale invasion the very next week
Here is an account of the warnings Stalin ignored prior to the Hitler invasion in 1941.
Unlike the Germans, who saw the Non-Aggression Pact as necessary but temporary, Stalin had illusions that it might be lasting. Owen Matthews quotes from a 1966 interview with Marshal Zhukov, conducted by Lev Bezymensky, a Soviet historian and war veteran. In January 1941, Zhukov and others had warned Stalin of ominous German troop movements. Stalin wrote to Hitler, asking politely whether these reports were true. Hitler replied that they were, but he swore ‘on my honour as a head of state that my troops are deployed … for other purposes. The territories of Western and Central Germany are subject to heavy English bombing and are easily observed from the air by the English. Therefore I found it necessary to move large contingents of troops to the east where they can secretly reorganise and rearm.’ Stalin believed him.
Source : Winston Churchill : His Times, His Crimes, Tariq Ali, Verso Books,
The 2025 Trump-Putin partition policy is a spiritual daughter of the 1922 Treaty which peace politicians used to stab Northern Nationalists in the back by implementing the partition of Ireland. This gave us, in the prophetic words of James Connolly, “A Carnival of Reaction” – 2 sectarian counter-revolutionary states on one small island.
Like James Connolly, Grace Plunkett (widow of 1916 Easter Rising martyr Joseph Plunkett) understood that partition, pretending to be peace, meant a sham freedom for Ireland.
So, today, it should be obvious to all on the left : oppose a peace and partition plan promoted by 2 violent untrustworthy sociopaths.
Ask the people of Canada, of Mexico, of Greenland. Ask the people of Ukraine, of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, of Poland , of Finland.
A dictatorship hosting another dictatorship to negotiate with an aspiring dictatorship about the future of a democracy that’s not represented.
Two superpowers opening discussions on the future of a country which one of them is still invading, without that country
Are the international pro-solidarity left organising solidarity with Ukraine? Answer Yes
A physical and online conference in support of the Ukrainian people’s national and social rights
No to partition! Russian troops out!
This important conference will address the grave threat posed by the incoming Trump administration’s intention of imposing on the Ukrainian people a deal agreed with Putin’s Russia.
Violating international law, it would partition Ukraine and entrench the occupation of territory annexed since 2014 and expanded by Putin’s full-scale war since February 2022. It would produce a “peace” imposed through Western acquiescence in the dismembering of Ukraine, with parallels to the 1938 Munich Agreement that handed Nazi Germany 30 per cent of Czechoslovak territory.
The vulnerable position presently confronting Ukraine’s war of just resistance is a direct result of the failure to provide necessary aid by key states, despite their boasting that they “stand by Ukraine”.
The dire prospect of a partitioned Ukraine partly under Putin’s control would be the product of the appeasement policy of those sections of big business anxious to restore and develop their Russian commercial ties. In contrast, the Solidarity With Ukraine conference of progressive forces—of trade unions, socialists, social democrats, green, feminists and other social movements—will take place on the understanding that the partition of Ukraine cannot bring peace.
The only road to a just and lasting peace requires the complete withdrawal of Russian forces. While they remain in any part of Ukraine it will be impossible for Ukrainians to freely determine their own future.
Any peace negotiations should be with Ukraine as a main partner: the war should not and cannot be solved as a horse trade between the great powers at Ukraine’s expense.
Against the decline in aid and a possible Trump-Putin deal, the organisers and sponsors of the Solidarity With Ukraine conference advocate a surge in military support to strengthen Ukraine’s position in any negotiations, and to be able to continue its just resistance if no security guarantees acceptable to Ukraine are achieved.
That military aid must be accompanied with unconditional financial support for Ukraine’s reconstruction and the cancellation of its debt. We reject the corporations’ self-interested argument that solidarity with Ukraine’s armed and unarmed resistance must mean accepting the dismantling of social rights and services, either inside Ukraine or in the countries giving it support.
The struggles of Ukraine’s working people and their trade union organisations, and of the country’s feminist, environmental, LGBTIQ+ and human rights organisations have been indispensable to the country’s resistance, primarily against the Russian invasion but also against anti-social policies adopted by the Zelensky government. They are also the best guarantee that reconstruction will be in the interest of Ukraine’s social majority.
The message of representatives of such Ukrainian movements will be a central feature of the plenary sessions of the Solidarity With Ukraine conference.
They will also participate in workshop sessions that will provide an invaluable opportunity to increase understanding of Ukraine’s complex reality and develop practical solidarity initiatives with Ukrainian partners.
The conference will also adopt a final declaration, with the goal of giving as much publicity as possible to its position in favour of a just peace and just reconstruction for Ukraine and its people.
The final text and the Solidarity With Ukraine conference program will be published soon.
I can’t remember who let me know that John Goodwillie had passed away a few days ago – the first person I told was Des Derwin, who has written the tribute below, which contains informative and entertaining scenes from the class struggle in Ireland.
There will be a celebration of John Goodwillie’s life at the Garden Chapel of Mount Jerome Cemetery, which is can be viewed online at 3pm on Tuesday December 10. Condolences to his husband Val, his family, friends, and comrades.
nstead of fake doves, listen to those who care enough to actually ask people on the ground about their concerns. Pressure Putin, not us—stop trading with him, for God’s sake. Strengthen Ukraine, with arms, diplomatic efforts, grants, and by raising the voices of the unions & CSO
Li Andersson MEP, Finland, Left Alliance
At the plenary session today, we had a debate on the EU’s support to Ukraine. During our visit to Ukraine, everyone emphasized how this winter will be the hardest period since Putin started his war of aggression. That is why our support is so needed now.
Utmost importance that we stand firm in our solidarity with Ukraine
This is a very stimulating interview with Catherine Samary on solidarity with Palestine and Ukraine – and also about the unstable political scene in France, where President Macron was electorally defeated by the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire) – and then made an unstable parliamentary deal with the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
President Macron, Prime Minister Michel Barnier, Far-Right Extremist Marine Le Pen – Versus Left-Wing Resistance
— Before we turn to the discussion of the war in Ukraine and prospects for left internationalism, let’s talk about the recent developments in your home country. How do you analyse the current political situation in France and the role that left-wing politics might play in it?
— Michel Barnier’s new government combines two core elements: racism and attacks on social rights. The latter is evident in the ongoing parliamentary debates over the 2025 budget and social security funding. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (Rassemblement National) has played a key role in these discussions, not least due to the fact that no single party has managed to achieve a stable majority in the French parliament. Even though the result of the New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire) in the recent legislative election, which followed the dissolution of the Assembly last June, was unexpectedly high — and most welcome — it is still only a minor and relative victory.
This situation is unlikely to change unless the various forces within the New Popular Front come together, consolidate their victory, and start a large-scale mobilization. This could be achieved through the creation of local political alliances across the entire country that would be focused on concrete struggles. We should not forget that mass mobilizations against attacks on the social system are still possible — and so is the collapse of the government itself.
You’ve probably seen the call to join the big rally in Berlin on November 17.
November 20 will mark 1,000 days since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, cities have been bombed, and over a million civilians have been killed or injured, according to “The Wall Street Journal”.
Our message in Dublin is the same as in London and other cities around the world holding actions: stop the war in Ukraine, withdraw the troops, provide reparations, and free political prisoners!
There are currently around 5,000 political prisoners in Russia, according to OVD-Info, including minors, people with health issues, and those facing ethnic and religious persecution. In the past year alone, over five people have reportedly been killed in prison.
We are taking to the streets this November for an important reason — cold weather is setting in for Ukraine, and its infrastructure has been severely damaged. Together with the London-based Russian Democracy Society, we are raising funds for generators and informing the Irish public about what is happening in Ukraine and Russia and why we demand an end to the war.
Simon Harris confirmed that he’ll travel to Áras an Uachtaráin shortly to ask President Higgins to dissolve the Dáil.
The election is set for Friday 29 November 2024.
A number of radical left candidates against any coalition deal with FFFFGGG have a realistic chance of winning a Dáil seat. [FFFGGG = Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Greens, Gombeens].
One of them is Councillor John Lyons in Dublin Bay North.
Councillor John Lyons (Second left) supports Irish Left With Ukraine (Seen Here Picketing the Dublin Russian Embassy of Vladimir Putin
Rejecting any coalition deals with FFFGGG and a policy that All refugees Are Welcome should be top priorities for radical left candidates in this general election.
People Before Profit (PBP) candidates also endorse the above policy.
On the M1 Podcast, Garrett does stories of interest to those who live up and down the M1. Santry resident Olga Popova who fled Russia in 2021. To her 50,000 tiktok followerers, she is an outspoken critic of the war against Ukraine https://m1.radio.ie
Episode 24- Santry resident fled Russia before the war against Ukraine
Olga Popova and her husband moved to Ireland in 2021 before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They settled in Santry on the northside of Dublin. Her husband was involved in activities protesting against the Russian government and they were prompted to flee after he spent a night in police custody. ‘I was at home with our child, because in Russia, if you go protests you need to be able to run fast’.
Tomás Ó Flatharta 