On the 21st of February, the president of the Kryvyi Rih Miners and Metalworkers Union, Yuri Samoilov, made a first presentation on workers’ solidarity with Ukraine in the Polish city of Warsaw. The challenges of the Ukrainian working class who, without the necessary weapons, have to face the Russian invasion and, at the same time, face the labor reform and privatizations implemented by the Zelensky administration for the benefit of the Ukrainian oligarchy and the multinationals.
This first talk was organized by the Polish trade union Inicjatywa Pracownicza as part of a tour in eight European cities organized by the International Labour Network for Solidarity and Struggles. Check the report here.
This talk took place on the same day that President Joe Biden attended a meeting with leaders of NATO countries in Warsaw. Despite many words of support, Biden failed to deliver the tanks and the Patriot anti-aircraft batteries promised in December. Despite protests in front of his hotel demanding the delivery of F-16 planes to Ukraine, Biden refuses to address the matter.
In Moscow, Putin played the victim and said he would continue the war to annex the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014.
Faced with these facts, it is urgent and necessary to strengthen the international workers’ solidarity.
The next activities will take place in Paris on the 23rd, Lyon on the 25th, Madrid on the 28th, Lisbon on the 4th, Milan on the 6th, Padova on the 9th and Katowice on the 13th of March.
No bosses, no governments: Solidarity with Ukrainian Workers’ Resistance grows stronger
The Workers’ Aid campaign for Ukraine was launched at the fourth meeting of the International Labour Network for Solidarity and Struggles in the French city of Dijon in April 2022:
https://litci.org/en/ilnss-4th-meeting-gathers-around-200-activists-and-celebrates-an-important-advancement/
In the same month, the first workers’ aid convoy was sent to Ukraine, where the “Dimensions of War” Conference was held on May 1st together with the Ukrainian organization Sotsyalnyi Ruh. The 800 kilograms of food, first aid kits and generators were handed over to the Kryvyi Rih Miners and Metalworkers Union: https://litci.org/en/may-day-in-ukraine-celebrates-workers-international-solidarity/
At the end of September, the Labour Network sent the second workers’ aid convoy with a ton of first aid kits and power generators to the town of Kryvyi Rih where they met with local unionists and activists. See the photo report: https://litci.org/pt/2022/10/14/sindicalistas-realizam-o-Segundo-comboio-de-ajuda-operaria-a-ucrania/
On December 17, the International Conference of the Workers’ Aid to Ukraine Campaign was held, with the participation of more than 200 activists from 23 countries. On this occasion, an international crowdfunding was launched to help workers during the winter. Watch the video about the activity here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu5XQpVZXVY
The IWL-FI unconditionally supports the Ukrainian workers’ resistance for the withdrawal of Russian troops from all Ukrainian territory, including the Donbass and Crimea. The IWL-FI denounces the imperialist hypocrisy that speaks in favor of Ukraine while sending insufficient and outdated weapons, and plotting “peace” negotiations to hand over part of the Ukrainian territory to Putin. The IWL-FI supports the Ukrainian working class in the struggle against the Zelensky government’s labor reform and privatizations, which aim to favor the Ukrainian oligarchy. On this one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion, the IWL-FI published a manifesto that points to the need for the working class to take the lead in the struggle for national liberation and social emancipation, and launched a website in the Ukrainian language to spread the ideas of the workers’ international revolution: https://litci.org/en/only-the-working-class-can-lead-the-way-to-victory/
