Ukrainian Refugee in England: More the Same Than Different here♦ Fighting Sexism: Communist Criticism and Self-Criticism here ♦ Looking for Civilization? We Won’t Find It in Capitalism here ♦ 
Ukrainian Refugee in England: More the Same Than Different
A friend from Ukraine moved to Cambridge, England due to continuing problems of war. She received refugee status along with her two children and grandparents.
In November she was in Kyiv. The Russian military had just started attacking the power infrastructure. The winter was setting in. No heat, no job, just uncertainty… she decided to seek refuge in England.
After settling into a working-class neighborhood, she realized that the tiny apartment would cost £400 a month in electricity. As a refugee, she can’t work. The cost of daycare for her children was staggering. Because of that, and language barriers, and since her stay was temporary, she decided to keep her children home.
During her first month in the apartment, she got an intimidating letter demanding immediate payment of license fees for using a TV. It threatened that she would end up in court. She thought it was a scam, but it was an authenticated letter from the government. British taxpayers must pay a yearly license fee for each device to subsidize the BBC.
She was astonished, because the same BBC program in the Ukrainian language is available for free in Kyiv, and all around the world in various languages. While living in Kyiv, she regarded BBC as an objective source of news. But coming to England, she has found that it is a very carefully created propaganda, all paid for by British taxpayers.
She finds herself in Cambridge with hungry children, no food, no job, and an uncertain future— not unlike Kyiv. She sees hungry, unemployed people in the streets and there is a surge in strike activity everywhere. That reminds her of the situation in Ukraine before the war: strikes, hunger, and unemployment.
Back in Kyiv, Zelenskyy’s propaganda is just like BBC. They are spreading lies about the war. They are telling the masses that Ukraine is going to win with the help of NATO and the US. People are told that after the war, Ukraine will rebuild everything like Germany after World War II. That people must endure war and suffering, but these are temporary.
Our friend reported that every soldier who is recruited in Ukraine must pay for everything related to war. People are funding soldiers to pay for uniforms, food, boots, and small weapons. She also said that thousands of wounded soldiers are coming home with severe trauma. Many people have told her that tuberculosis is rampant in the Ukrainian army.
Braving bitter cold winter, demobilized soldiers are attempting to carry out demonstrations. They are quickly suppressed by police, but more and more soldiers are demonstrating.
Her story reminds us that, no matter where workers are, we will all face the brutality of wars, sooner or later. The communist revolution looks distant and at present impossible. But the capitalists are providing opportunities for us to see that we are more alike.
And we are many. We have a communist world to win.
—Comrade with Connections
Read our Pamphlet:
“Fight For the Day When No Worker Will be Called Foreigner”
Available here
Fighting Sexism: Communist Criticism and Self-Criticism
I have been reading Red Flag consistently for about six months, and I have also come to a number of collective meetings. I am interested in the politics, although not yet ready to become a member.
Recently, comrade L, who introduced me to the Party (we used to work together) sent me the draft of the article from South Africa and asked me if we could have a discussion about sexism.
We talked about sexism on our way home from a collective meeting. The comrade called me the next day to talk some more about it and during that conversation, I mentioned a concern about the meeting.
I told L that I was concerned that the men were doing most of the talking. Also, as the newest person, I was unclear about some of the things that were being discussed. I had only a little background in some of it.
L explained to me that the (male) comrade who joined us on Zoom hadn’t been to a meeting in a long, long time. Others were very excited to hear from him. However, she said that my critique of the sexism of the meeting was accurate and that one way we could fight this was by the women taking more leadership, including setting the agenda for the next meeting.
L told the collective leader what we had decided, and he agreed this was a good idea. This means I will need to take more leadership and will become closer to the Party.
I am glad that people were open to discussing the sexism, and it makes me feel hopeful about the work ahead.
—Friend in Seattle (USA)
Read our Pamphlet:
“The communist fight against sexism”
Available here
Looking for Civilization? We Won’t Find It in Capitalism
Civilization: 1. an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science and government has been reached –Webster’s College Dictionary
The world is suddenly aware of Monterey Park, where I live, a small suburb a few miles east of Los Angeles. A 72-year-old man shot up a dance studio, killing eleven people and injuring more. News reports said that he had been a volunteer dance instructor there. He then attacked another dance hall nearby, but a brave young man managed to disarm him. Only a day later, a similar crime took place in the city of Half Moon Bay, a few hundred miles away.
This violence shows that we as a city, society, people, are failing one another. We are born into families, families live in villages, towns, cities, states, and countries. At some point, we owe one another a bit of connection, kindness, charity. Why did this individual not have supportive friends, family, teachers, or clergy in his life? A neighbor with whom to talk things out?
A friend and I were discussing the lack of connection in our communities. It leads to emotional breakdowns in the young, the old, and the stressed. This man must have felt that he had nothing left to live for. He owned a large and powerful weapon to feel stronger and protected. In the end, his actions led him to take his own life, rather than face prison time.
We discussed how caring wolves are. They place the younger wolves and cubs at the center of their pack when traveling. The elders walk in front, to set the pace. The healthy adults walk in back, to ward off any attackers.
We can, should and must do better! We must build a system where we care for one another, where we share goods, services, and time! This way of forcing people to be “rugged individualists” only leads to mental illness and abuse at many levels.
—Monterey Park (USA) comrade