Originally published August 8, 2022
Workers must take the defense of national sovereignty into their own hands.
The Ukrainian parliament (Rada) and Zelensky are attacking the workers from behind. They have just passed a law allowing the capitalists not to pay wages to the workers who have gone to the front lines to defend the country. Meanwhile, the deputies increase their own salaries.
The heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people has driven Putin’s troops out of Kyiv, Chernigov and Kharkov, forcing the invader to concentrate his offensive in the Donbass to the East, where he has met the determined will of the working class of the most industrialized region of the country to defeat the invader. It took him several weeks to take Mariupol, Severodonetsk and Lisichansk, and he only managed to control these cities after demolishing them with massive bombardments and artillery.
On the other hand, in the occupied South, especially in Kherson, where the Dnieper River flows into the Black Sea, the invaders cannot consolidate control, for surrounded by a hostile population, they are harassed by a growing partisan movement and acts of sabotage, such as the blowing up of the Russian ammunition depots at Kherson and of the bridges over the Dnieper.
However, if at the front the determination of the people raises the combat morale and weakens the occupiers, the same cannot be said of the rear. The recent parliamentary measures sanctioned by the Zelensky government call into question the fundamental factor that has allowed the partial victories in this unequal war: the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian working people, who are waging a just war for their land, for their freedom and independence.
In the face of the unfulfilled promises of U.S. and European imperialism to send offensive weapons that never reach the battle front, hopes for the military defeat of Putin and his regime, which would open the road to freedom for many peoples under his yoke, are focused on the resilience of the Ukrainian working people. However, while the working people fight for the freedom and independence of the country on the front lines against the invaders, deputies and government officials attack them from behind in pursuit of profits for the foreign oligarchs and corporations. They undermine the resistance and help Putin – aggression is being fought from Moscow, while facing a fifth column from Kyiv!
Behind workers’ backs, the government drafted a law that allows employers to fire workers without justification or warning. The Rada approved a law on the 0-hour employment contract in the first reading, which in fact eliminates guarantees of employment and stable income. A law drafted by the head of the parliamentary commission on “social policy,” Jalina Tretyakova, was adopted by the Rada and signed by Zelensky on July 19, allowing capitalists to stop paying wages to workers who have gone to the front lines to defend the country.
As if this were not enough, the deputies, in the midst of the ongoing war in the country, increased their salaries. And nobody voted against it. It is evident that this is a “reward” for the anti-worker laws at the service of the oligarchs. This is a macabre mockery, which has caused massive indignation.
This happens in the midst of war, when workers give their lives for the freedom of the motherland, often without the most necessary things, and their families suffer hardships in the rear. The Jalina Tretyakova law, signed by Zelensky, deprives fighting workers of civilian wages.
Workers from the front have denounced and made demands of the government
The outrage with the government’s policies is clearly being reflected in numerous individual and collective messages recorded from the trenches. One video message went viral on the networks, from Donbas soldier and coal miner Sergei Prikhodko:
“I have been serving at the front since March. For the first three months, I did not receive a penny from the state for my service. My family-a young daughter and a pregnant wife-lived on this civilian salary. This helped us a lot. If it were not for that salary, everything would be a disaster. Right now, I am starting to receive some money for military service. But with the shortages it doesn’t make a difference. I think it’s very wrong and criminal to take away what belongs to us, which is our average salary. I have been working in the coal industry for more than 10 years. And there are many of us who have worked for many years. I have worked long enough to earn this average wage. If our authorities think it is possible to deprive us of this easily, then let them propose a law that will exempt me from criminal liability and I can freely return to my civilian position, go and continue to work, take care of my livelihood and be near my family, who will be safe because I will be there. Now I, a soldier, do not feel that security. My family is losing its livelihood and rights.
In other words, it turns out that my daughter, my wife and I are nobody. And those who are mobilized, who are already beginning to suffer the same grievances, are also nobody. I understand that the situation of the country is difficult, but this is not the way out! They get into the pocket of those of us who defend our homeland and our people. Therefore, I ask everyone – the mobilized, the hired soldiers, those who have been deprived of their average salary, deprived of their income – to gather in social networks to achieve at least some result. Let Tretyakova come here at least once, to the front line, to see who, how, what we are doing!…
If you think that we get a lot of money, you will see that it is not so. My name is Sergey Prikhodko. I am from western Donbass. And I am not afraid for my words. And believe me, there are many people like me. Now for the time being, we need to go and take our fighting positions in the trenches. Be that as it may, no one is going home, we will resist until the end. But I see that our rulers are starting to spit on us a bit. All this can end very badly. I do not ask anyone to lay down their arms, to go home, to go on strike, to go to Kyiv, by no means. We will continue to fight tenaciously against the invaders. But if you continue like this, excuse me, I will have to leave everything and return home to my family.”
In whose hands should the management of the national defense be placed?
These accurate and profound words from an armed worker and from the trenches show in full starkness what happens when the supposed defense of the country is at the command of the pro-imperialist oligarchs and their government. These backstabbing attacks on the working-class defenders of Ukraine are the greatest boon to the murderous Putin and his invading hordes. Yet, while Zelensky poses for “Vogue” magazine, boasting of his “bravery” for not having fled, he heeds the claims of the foreign oligarchs and corporations, who are not even in the country and whose sons are not fighting on the front lines. Defeating Putin requires the opposite. Victory in the war does not require securing the profits of the oligarchs, but the expropriation of all businesses associated with Putin, the nationalization and centralization in the hands of the state of the economy in the service of defense under workers’ control.
No layoffs or forced suspensions! Guarantee jobs for all, as part of a national defense plan.
No deprivation of income to the workers and their families! Full provision for the people at the front and in the rear.
Only the working class can ensure these defense tasks by taking them into its own hands.
Defend sovereignty at the cost of capitalist profits!
Do not increase profits at the expense of defense!
