What should communists do right now in Ukraine?
People in Ukraine are resisting the Russian imperialist invasion. These forces are heavily infiltrated with Nazis, organized by the CIA, and wrapped in Ukrainian flags.
They are also filled with working people who are being used by US/NATO imperialism. And, as a comrade told me, their fierce resistance to Russian imperialism was inspiring to him.
Everything has similarities and differences. How is this similar and how is this different from the heroic resistance of the Vietnamese fighters to US imperialism? Or the FMLN fighters against US imperialism?
What do we say to the resistance in Ukraine? What do communists do and advocate?
Comrade veterans of the guerrilla struggle in El Salvador can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think we fight for communism. This requires organizing Party cells within the resistance, to win those who stand with us to a communist perspective. The ideological struggle goes on everywhere, even in the trenches.
Comrades in an anti-imperialist struggle take up arms against the invader, but they don’t take up the nationalist flag. They know that defeating the imperialist invader would maintain the national capitalists in power, subservient to their own imperialist masters. In Cuba, the US defeat resulted in a new set of masters—the Soviet Union, by then a state-capitalist/imperialist state. Defeating the Russian invaders in Ukraine would maintain the Ukrainian rulers in charge, subservient to their US/NATO masters.
Comrades in El Salvador know that defeating imperialists is part of the real fight for communist workers’ power. In my opinion, this is the message that workers around the world in the ICWP have learned from our comrades in El Salvador, and the message we would send to the resistance in Ukraine.
—Comrade in the US
They Make War, We Make Revolution
March 6—ICWP has long warned workers that inter-imperialist rivalry will lead to a wider conflict and even World War III. These warnings have come true.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is well into its second week and shows no sign of cooling down. Some thought it would be short with few casualties. They were wrong. Many in 1914, at the beginning of World War I, thought the same.
Deprived of quick victory, the Russian invaders are following the tactics they used recently in Syria (and earlier in Chechnya): to take a city, first destroy it, then move in and kill all resisters. This could be the fate of Mariupol, Kharkov, and, eventually, Kiev. Colossal destruction and loss of life.
Most people are depressed by the thought of such a bloody war, which could even escalate to nuclear exchanges. But believe it or not, there is a bright side. WWI led to the Russian and other revolutions, WWII led to the Chinese and other revolutions. Wars don’t turn out well for the bosses and the fear of social upheaval may be the reason they’ve avoided a global conflict since WWII ended in 1945.
But the contradictions of imperialism relentlessly build up and now we are witnessing a massive war in Europe. Who knows where it will lead? One thing is sure, though: we will see Ukrainian nationalists and Russian nationalists slaughtering each other over control of pipelines.
It is not our job as communists to speculate about causes and possible outcomes. Our job is to reproduce the revolutionary successes of WWI and WWII. As Lenin put it, to convert the imperialist war (for world domination) into civil wars (for communism).
And by communism we mean the real thing, as described in our manifesto “Mobilize the Masses for Communism” A society without money or wage slavery, a society based on collective labor and distribution according to need. A society without nations and borders. A society without (eventually) sexism, racism, or xenophobia. And (eventually) without war. This is NOT the “communism” (actually socialism) of the old USSR.
How do we do this? Not easy. First talk to friends, family, and coworkers about the war – almost everyone wants to talk about it. Show them this article and ask what they think. It’s especially important to reach out to people in the armed forces.
For more, explore this Red Flag/Bandera Roja website. Use an online translation program like Google translate or Deepl, though they are not 100% reliable. (The translations we use have been checked.)
And above all join ICWP. The bosses are set on destroying the world. With your help we can save it.
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