In a recent interview, Yuri Petrovich Samoilov, chairman of the Krivoy Rog Independent Miners’ Union, Dniepropetrovsk region, Ukraine, denounces the fierce aggression they are suffering from the Russian army, tells how Ukrainian workers are actively fighting in what he calls the “war for the independence of Ukraine” and how trade unions are participating. [1]
By IWL-FI
As for concrete proposals, he calls on the workers of the world to “demand the cancellation of the payment of the unjust and enslaving Ukrainian [foreign] debt”, and to “demand the supply of aviation and weapons to Ukraine.” In this framework, he calls on the workers of the world to stand in solidarity with the workers’ resistance to the massacre by Putin’s army.
We welcome and support this appeal. We believe that the working-class organisations, parties and trade unions, should widely disseminate the call of the Ukrainian mining leader to the activists and among the workers. But not only that, we must state clearly that it’s a war where we support the resistance of a people fighting their enemy under very unequal conditions. As Samoilov says, the supply of armaments and all kinds of military items and staples becomes a central issue. So, we must actively support the efforts of the Ukrainians to acquire weapons and supplies to defend themselves by carrying out a broad campaign for funds to send to the resisting workers, such as the miners of Krivoy Rog.
Mobilised workers can support the Ukrainian resistance, such as the workers at the Ellesmere refinery port in Cheshire, England, who refused to unload oil from Russia, echoing steps taken by workers at the gas terminal in Kent and at ports in the Netherlands. According to the report, “dissent spread across European ports in response to the invasion of Ukraine.” [2]
We do so because developing such a campaign is the attitude that revolutionaries must have towards the real meaning of the present war.
The government of Vladimir Putin unleashed an invasion of the Russian army into Ukraine. With methods of extreme cruelty, it attacks and destroys cities, including “targets” such as hospitals and women hospitals, with the ultimate goal of seizing Kyiv (the Ukrainian capital) and thus dominating the whole country. Despite Russia’s immense military superiority, the invaders face resistance actions greater than expected from the Ukrainian people, often heroic ones.
That’s why we say it’s the aggression of a much stronger nation (Russia, one of the world’s major military powers) against a weaker one, with the aim of subjugating it. This takes place in a framework in which, except for a short period at the beginning of the Soviet Union (when Lenin’s policy, now heavily criticised by Putin, was applied), the old Russian empire as well as Stalinism and the latest Russian capitalist governments always considered Ukraine as “their backyard.”
Therefore, we support the resistance of the Ukrainian workers and people against the invasion and we must do what is at our hands for the defeat of the Russian troops, without this representing any support or political trust in the Zelensky government or in the Ukrainian bourgeoisie who call to resist the invasion.
This stand leads us to firmly combat those who support the Russian invasion with the argument that Putin’s Russia is part of a progressive, anti-imperialist camp, and that this action is directed against imperialism and its military arm (NATO) which, through Ukraine and its government, would be attacking Russia.
We expose NATO’s role as the military arm of imperialism and fight for its dissolution. But this is not a military invasion of NATO against the Russian territory, nor against the Ukrainian people. At the same time, there are no NATO soldiers fighting Russian troops in Ukraine (or, as far as we know, anywhere else). It is the Russian army that is attacking Ukraine today.
That is why we disagree with the positions of large sections of the world’s left that refuse to speak out against Putin’s invasion or declare themselves “neutral”. In other words, they have “no side” in a war initiated by Russian aggression. As we have said, we do, because a victory of the Ukrainian resistance and a defeat of the Russian invasion is the only outcome favourable to the workers and masses of the world.
We make ours the appeal made by Yuri Petrovich Samoilov and his union and, in addition to fundraising, we propose to develop and promote activities with the aim of helping to clarify the confusion that exists about the nature of the war.
Secondly, to promote mobilisations to publicly demonstrate support for the Ukrainian resistance, as has been happening in Europe and elsewhere. [3] We believe that it is absolutely correct to mobilise to demand that the governments (especially the imperialist countries) give the Ukrainian resistance arms and all the necessary materials (ammunition, food, medicine) directly and unconditionally. We are totally against the entry of NATO into the conflict and demand its dissolution. We also call to combat the measures to “strengthen” the armies that make it up (as the German government has just announced), because they are a threat to all the peoples worldwide. Instead, these governments must be demanded to hand over their weapons to the Ukrainian resistance directly and unconditionally.
Let us respond to the Ukrainian miners’ appeal with a united campaign of the working-class organisations and parties, whose first step was taken by various labor unions as well as by the joint statement between the IWL-FI and the UIT-CI. Let us strengthen workers’ internationalism, workers of the world unite in support of the Ukrainian resistance!
Notes:
[1] https://internationalsocialistleague.net/interview-with-ukrainian-miners-leader/
[2] Dockers at UK refinery refuse to unload Russian oil | Shipping industry | The Guardian
[3] See: Miles de personas se manifiestan en varias ciudades europeas en apoyo a Ucrania (yahoo.com)
For a broad international campaign of support and solidarity with the Ukrainian resistance! For the defeat of the Russian army's invasion! No to NATO!
