A look at events leading up to and around the Russian military intervention in Ukraine including a joint statement of Communist and Workers' parties initiated by the KKE.
As the Russian military action against Ukraine unfolds it is essential to remember several key points.
There is no question that NATO and the west refused to engage in diplomacy in the lead up to this crisis and that Russia's demands were actually quite reasonable. NATO and the US had no interest in engaging in diplomacy. It is not "diplomacy" to outright reject all of the main demands being raised by those you allegedly wish to negotiate with IN ADVANCE of any negotiations which is what NATO and the US did.
The west's hypocrisy is stunning and its talk of "international law" given the repeated and ongoing violation of it by the US on an almost daily basis is farcical. Given their illegal interventions, illegal sanctions against various countries like Cuba and the utterly illegal regular extrajudicial executions by the US around the world through drone attack or raids, any ally of the US talking about wanting to uphold "international law" is a farce.
It is also quite clear that when folks or western officials pontificate about how Russia is somehow destroying "democracy" and a "rules based order" this is a hypocritical joke. The west could not care less about democracy -- including in Ukraine where they backed the overthrow of a democratically elected government in the 2014 coup -- and the only "rules" the "international order" has been based upon are those imposed by the United States.
The rise of the far right in Eastern Europe and Ukraine itself is a serious issue.
These facts do not change the reality that the Russian military action is a human catastrophe and an extraordinarily dangerous moment.
The best statement to date is the urgent joint statement of Communist and Workers' Parties initiated by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). It looks at all the various aspects of this imperialist conflict and the need for global working-class solidarity.
No to the imperialist war in Ukraine!
An independent struggle is needed against monopolies and bourgeois classes, for the overthrow of capitalism, for the strengthening of the class struggle against imperialist war, for socialism!
The Communist and Workers’ Parties signing this Joint Statement are opposed to the imperialist conflict in Ukraine, which constitutes one of the consequences of the tragic situation for the peoples shaped after the overthrow of socialism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Both the bourgeois and the opportunist forces, which for years have fought against the USSR and recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of its dissolution, silencing the fact that the restoration of capitalism meant the dismantling of historic workers’ and people’s achievements and brought the peoples of the USSR back to the era of class exploitation and imperialist wars, are completely exposed.
The developments in Ukraine, which are taking place in the framework of monopoly capitalism, are linked to the US, NATO, and EU plans and their intervention in the region in the context of their fierce competition with capitalist Russia for the control of the markets, raw materials, and transport networks of the country. These pursuits are concealed by imperialist powers, which are in conflict promoting their own pretexts such as “defending democracy”, “self-defence”, and one’s right to “choose their alliances”, the compliance with the UN or OSCE principles, or supposedly “fascism”, while deliberately detaching fascism from the capitalist system that gives rise to and utilizes it.
We denounce the activity of fascist and nationalist forces in Ukraine, anti-communism and the persecution of communists, the discrimination against the Russian-speaking population, the armed attacks of the Ukrainian government against the people in Donbas. We condemn the utilization of reactionary political forces of Ukraine, including fascist groups, by the Euro-Atlantic powers for the implementation of their plans. In addition, the anti-communist rhetoric against Lenin, the Bolsheviks, and the Soviet Union to which the Russian leadership resorts to justify its own strategic plans in the region, is unacceptable. However, nothing can tarnish the enormous contribution of socialism in the Soviet Union, which was a multinational union of equal Socialist Republics.
The decision of the Russian Federation to initially recognize the “independence” of the so-called “Peoples’ Republics” in Donbas and then to proceed to a Russian military intervention, which is taking place under the pretext of Russia’s “self-defence”, the “demilitarization” and “defascistization” of Ukraine, was not made to protect the people of the region or peace but to promote the interests of Russian monopolies in Ukrainian territory and their fierce competition with Western monopolies. We express our solidarity with the communists and the peoples of Russia and Ukraine and we stand on their side to strengthen the struggle against nationalism, which is fostered by each bourgeoisie. The peoples of both countries, who lived in peace and jointly thrived in the framework of the USSR, as well as all other peoples have no interest in siding with one or another imperialist or alliance that serves the interests of the monopolies.
We highlight that the illusions fostered by bourgeois forces claiming that there could be a “better security architecture” in Europe by EU intervention, NATO “without military plans and aggressive weapon systems in its territory”, a “pro-peace EU”, or a “peaceful multipolar world”, etc are highly dangerous. All these assumptions have nothing to do with reality and are misleading for the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggle, seeking to cultivate the perception that “peaceful imperialism” may exist. However, the truth is that NATO and the EU, like any capitalist transnational union, are predatory alliances with a deeply reactionary nature that cannot become pro-people and will continue to act against workers’ and people’s rights and the peoples; that capitalism goes hand in hand with imperialist wars.
We call on the peoples of the countries whose governments are involved in the developments, especially through NATO and the EU but also Russia, to struggle against the propaganda of the bourgeois forces that lure the people to the meat grinder of imperialist war using various spurious pretexts. To demand the closure of military bases, the return home of troops from missions abroad, to strengthen the struggle for the disengagement of the countries from imperialist plans and alliances such as NATO and the EU.
The interest of the working class and the popular strata requires us to strengthen the class criterion for analyzing the developments, to chart our own independent path against monopolies and bourgeois classes, for the overthrow of capitalism, for the strengthening of the class struggle against imperialist war, for socialism, which remains as timely and necessary as ever.
SolidNet Parties signing the Joint Statement:
Communist Party of Azerbaijan
Communist Party of Bangladesh
Communist Party of El Salvador
Communist Party of Greece
Socialist Party of Latvia
Communist Party of Mexico
New Communist Party of the Netherlands
Philippines Communist Party [PKP 1930]
Communist Party of the Workers of Spain
Communist Party of Turkey
Other Parties signing the Joint Statement:
Communist Front (Italy)
Update: As of March 3 the statement has now been signed by 65 parties and organizations.