Solidarity with communists in Russia and Ukraine!
The imperialist war in Ukraine continues to rage, causing enormous destruction – destruction of cities, infrastructure and human lives. Large parts of Ukraine have been turned into fields of rubble. Though it is difficult to estimate exactly, many tens of thousands of people from Ukraine and Russia have been killed, while many more are wounded, traumatized, and have lost friends, family or their homes.
The war is a reactionary war on both sides; a war for raw materials and markets, for investment opportunities, for trade and military ports. Neither the government of Ukraine nor that of Russia represent the interests of the working class and people of their countries. As in all capitalist countries, the governments of Russia and Ukraine represent the interests of their respective capitalist class; the exploitation of the working class as well as the interest to violently expand territory and market control. NATO countries are feeding the carnage with money and arms supplies – not to help the Ukrainian people, who have nothing to gain and everything to lose in a years-long war, but to weaken their Russian rival.
The sanctions against Russia are not in the interests of the working class either, but are part of a NATO war strategy, causing the ability to make ends meet to be increasingly more difficult for large sections of the working class. Russia, for its part, is supplied with arms by Iran and has close links with capitalist China. Thus, Ukraine has become the theater of a global conflict between two imperialist blocs.
The Ukrainian and Russian peoples are being pitted against each other by use of nationalist propaganda – some are told that Ukraine is not a “real” nation and was merely “invented” by Lenin and the Bolsheviks, while in Ukraine the Russian soldiers are called “orcs” and “subhumans”. Two peoples declared to be hereditary enemies.
But a look at history exposes this lie: in the Soviet Union, the Ukrainian and Russian peoples lived together not only peacefully, but in a fraternal and comradely way, for 69 years. They fought together for power in the October Revolution – Ukraine was as important a theater of the revolution as Russia.
Together, they defeated the German fascist invasion in 1941–45 and built socialism. To remember that past is to point to the solution: A peaceful future- one in which racism and nationalist agitation are a thing of the past – is only possible under socialism.
The only perspective for the working class is to rise up in all the countries involved; against the war policies of its own ruling class, to lead the struggle to eliminate the causes of war, for socialist revolution. This task is most urgent in Ukraine and in Russia itself, while at the same time fraught with dangers and obstacles. Despite all this, our comrades in both countries have taken up the struggle: The Workers’ Front of Ukraine (RFU) is agitating the working class under conditions of war, for the defense of the immediate vital interests of the people, against nationalism, against identification with “their own” government, against foreign occupation, for the overthrow of the capitalist system, for socialism. Similarly, the Union of Communists of Ukraine (SKU) opposes nationalism, rejects war from both sides and fights for a socialist Ukraine. In Russia, too, communists are fighting against the war: among others, the Revolutionary Communist Youth League (Bolsheviks) or RKSM(b) is opposing state propaganda, troop mobilization and annexation.
In both countries communists have been persecuted, repressed and intimidated by the state. In Russia it is forbidden to refer to the war as such. Since 24 February 2022, there have been numerous cases of imprisonment of left-wing and communist activists in Russia for their anti-war stance. Communist parties and organizations are tolerated by the state only if they betray the cause of proletarian internationalism and effectively abandon the goal of revolution in Russia. The situation is even worse in Ukraine, where all left-wing and communist organizations have already been banned after the 2014 coup, where any reference to communism is criminalized and the German Nazis and their collaborators are glorified. But the main point is: both states fight communism and the organized labor movement as their mortal enemies, because both states express the reactionary rule of capital. Neither the Ukrainian army defends the “freedom” of the Ukrainian people, nor do the armed forces of the Russian Federation fight for the “denazification” of Ukraine.
In the face of unrestrained rearmament, the lies of the war propaganda of the bourgeois media and NATO governments, the joining of so many people to the chorus of the warmongers, we oppose the helpless cries of there being “nothing we can do!” We say: We can and will support the struggle of those who honestly stand for peace and humanity in this war!
We who sign this campaign-call declare:
- Our full solidarity with the communist and revolutionary movement of Ukraine and Russia, which leads the struggle against both warring parties and for the defense of the interests of the working class.
- We will carry the position of proletarian internationalism into the German public – the rejection of war from both sides and the struggle for the power of the working class – and to raise the awareness of the struggle of the Russian and Ukrainian comrades
- To support the mentioned organizations from Ukraine not only in word, but also materially, by collecting financial means for their struggle
Fight the war!
This campaign is supported by:
Kommunistische Organisation (KO) (kommunistische.org)
Kämpfende Jugend (kaempfendejugend.noblogs.org)
Revolutionärer Jugendbund (Köln) (Instagram: @rj.koeln)
Frauenkampftag.SFO (Instagram: @frauenkampftag.sfo)
offen-siv – Zeitschrift für Sozialismus und Frieden (offen-siv.net)
Roter Hafen Greifswald (Instagram: @roterhafengw)
Rosa – Revolutionäre Organisation für einen Sozialistischen Aufbruch (Düsseldorf)
Kollektiv-Zwickau (Instagram: @_kollektiv_zwickau_)
Roter Aufbruch Dresden (Instagram: roteraufbruch.dd)
Sozialistische Perspektive [IL] (Göttingen) (Instagram: sozialistische_perspektive)
Antifa Bayreuth (Instagram: @antifabayreuth)
Rotes Leipzig (Instagram: @rotesleipzig)