100 years ago since the USSR was founded

On 30 December 1922, the revolutionary republics of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) formed the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR). The Soviet-Union was meant to be a union of the working class, a country not build for one ethnicity or people, but a union by workers for workers. History has shown us that it never became a state for the working class. But what the USSR was able to do in its 70 year history remains an inspiration and also a curse. Because the ruling class is using the failures of Stalinism as a weapon against the working class. The Soviet-Union is part of the capitalist propaganda machine and we must learn from that fact, not to glorify nor neglect it.

100 years ago on 30 December, the worst nightmare of Winston Churchill came into reality. The former British Secretary of State for War had to watch as his pawns in Russia were defeated. Revolutionary workers under leadership of the Russian Communist Party had won the Russian civil war and defeated the White Armies of anti-Communists, who were supported by the British and Churchill. He always hated the idea of workers rule. Winston Churchill had said that he wanted to eliminate the Russian revolution and crush anybody who stood up to capitalism and imperialism. This is why he fully called for 40.000 British troops to be send into Russia to help the reactionary anti-Semitic White Armies!

The western intervention into the Russian civil war failed. But in the long run, the degeneration of the Soviet-Union turned out to be a major lifesaver for capitalism. Joseph Stalin rejected the idea of world revolution. At first he called for socialism in one country and then said that communists must work with progressive capitalists. This is why many communist parties today are part of capitalist electoral coalitions. Stalinism made sure that the communist movement became paralyzed and a propaganda mouth for Moscow. Today communist parties play no major role in world politics. Those who still rule in countries like Cuba, Vietnam, Laos and China have mostly accepted market capitalism.

Although revolutionary socialists gave no political support to the Stalinists, the Soviet-Union was seen by many as a alternative to western capitalism. Even among sections of the social-democratic left, there was admiration and even sympathy. This was mainly the result of campism, the idea that the world was divided into two camps; one ”democratic” and one ”communist”. Those who rejected the western ”democratic” camp were more or less pushed into the supposed ”communist” camp and those supported western democracy, were more or less pushed into the ”democratic” camp. We rejected this campist idea as the Soviet-Union was not socialist and the western world was not democratic by nature!

The first Cold War (1945-1991) was the period of major technological innovation as the two sides competed with each other. Had the Soviet-Union been a genuine union of workers councils, then it would have been able to surpass western countries like the United States of America. But the USSR was hindered by a parasitical caste of bureaucrats who wanted total control. The parasites of the Communist Party of the Soviet-Union gave themselves privileges and status, while working class people were left with breadcrumbs. Leaders like Leonid Brezhnev lived in luxurious houses, while the average Soviet worker could not even buy a car. Stalinism did gave workers a glimp of what is possible under a nationalized economy.

Today the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is still remembered by former Soviet citizens as something positive (seen on this You-Tube channel). This is exploited by nationalist dictators like Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko. The Belarussian dictator used nostalgia for Soviet stability to win the first presidential elections in 1994. Lukashenko restored the symbols of Soviet Belarus (minus the hammer and sickle) and kept almost all aspects of Soviet life intact. This made him popular in the 1990’s, because in Russia millions ended up in poverty due to free market fundamentalism. Boris Yeltsin became the most hated man in Russia and when he gave up the presidency to Vladimir Putin, nobody was sad to see the drunken Russian leader go.

Western capitalist commentators use the USSR as a Red Scare weapon. They claim that Soviet life was grey, backward, terrible and inferior to the way of life under western capitalism. These propagandists never talked to people who actual lived under Stalinism. Yes in 1992, many had illusions about capitalism and fully believed the lie that they would all own cars, mansions, enough money for a luxurious life. This is what capitalists (and their western governments) told workers they would get, if their governments privatized the economy and open it up for western ”investment”. At the end of the 1990’s, this lie was exposed as capitalism created only massive poverty.

Capitalist barbarity has resulted in deep nostalgia towards the grey, but stable Soviet life. Capitalism may created more choices, but made many basis products too expensive for ordinary workers. At the same time we must not forget that the USSR was not destroyed by western governments nor by capitalists. The parasites of the Communist Party of the Soviet-Union destroyed the USSR as they embraced the god of free market capitalism. In the end, Leon Trotsky was right. The return of capitalism was a logical result of the Stalinist bureaucracy deciding to abandon their Marxist-Leninist façade on 25 December 1991.

Vladimir Putin abuses the Soviet-Union to justify his great Russian chauvinism. For Putin and his imperialists, the USSR was a great Russian state. The use of the Soviet flag by Russian imperialist forces in Ukraine does not mean that Putin is a internationalist or a Marxist. For these Russians the Soviet flag is a reminder of a time when Moscow ruled over Ukraine. They wish for Ukraine to be subjugated as it was under czarist and Stalinist times. This is why the use of the Soviet flag is a major paradox. Because the USSR was founded in direct opposition to Russian imperialism and capitalism.

Revolutionary socialists say that the foundation of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics on 26 December 1922 was a major blow to capitalism. For 70 years it could not exploit workers, land and resources of 22.402.200 km² of this world. The ruling class always hated the idea that they had lost Russia. When China also turned against capitalism in 1949, the capitalists lost control over another 9.597.000 km² of the planet. The return of capitalism in both Russia and China is not because of its supposed superiority as we often hear in the west. It returned because the parasites of the ruling Stalinist/Maoist bureaucracies decided to dump their facades and join the capitalists in exploiting workers, land and resources.

Today we can defeat capitalism again as Lenin and the Russian Communist Party did in 1922. It is in fact much easier compared to 100 years ago. Workers today are more educated, they have all learned to read and write. Why then is capitalism still ruling supreme? This is due to indoctrination, misinformation and the fact that the political left-wing fails to provide a socialist alternative. Left-wing parties/groups like the Democratic Socialists of America, are not able to brake with the power structures of capitalism due to their reformism, the misguided social-democratic believe that they can reform the system from within. Too many leftists fail to understand that a revolutionary brake with capitalism is needed.

But there is hope. A new generation is growing in understanding that the system cannot be changed. The generation born into the 21 century is less if not dependent on traditional media outlets like television or newspapers. If a young girl in Sweden is able to rally millions against climate change, what can young people do if they understand that more is needed. Greta Thunberg seems to realize that you cannot save the climate under capitalism. If she can persuade millions of young people that socialism is the alternative, then the capitalists should be very worried. It would require a clear understand of what socialism is as our idea is misinterpreted by almost all political propagandists.

Socialism is not big government or total government. It is not about more taxes for working class people or a deeply bureaucratic government making your life a hell. This is not what we call socialism. For revolutionary socialists, socialism is the democratic rule of working class people over the state, economy and society. We do not believe that the current state/government can be made to work for workers. We need to brake up the state/government and transform them into organizations of the working class. This is why Lenin choose to abolish all elements of the Czarist state, while the Stalinists simply took over states and renamed them. Socialism cannot be build on existing capitalist states, economies and societies. This is why we call for a revolutionary change.

100 years ago, the Soviet-Union was the first state that claimed to be socialist. Although it never became socialist, the USSR inspirited millions to fight and oppose capitalism. However it also mislead millions into a lie, an illusion that was not real socialism. When the Stalinist façade collapsed, many self styled anti-capitalists abandoned their struggle for socialism in deep disillusion. Today only a few dogmatic Stalinists support the communist parties in Vietnam, Laos, Cuba and China. These ”communist” parties are not allies of the working class in the struggle against capitalism!

In the struggle against capitalism we can learn from the Soviet-Union, but also not forget that this state failed to become socialist. We need mass workers parties on a socialist program in all countries of the world. This is what International Socialist Alternative tries to build in at least 30 countries of the world.

We call on a all youth and workers to join us in the struggle for a world free from capitalist exploitation, pollution and destruction.

Russian imperialists withdraw from Kherson

The Russian imperialists have decided to abandon the city of Kherson. Moscow decided not to stay in the city and fight the Ukrainian army. The city of Kherson is the capital of the Kherson Oblast and was occupied by the imperialists on 2 March 2022. Called the Fall of Kherson, the city came under control of Volodymyr Saldo, who betrayed Ukraine and joined the Russian ”Empire”. Saldo was mayor of Kherson city between 2014 and 2015. Like all collaborators, he fled to the empire Vladimir Putin. The liberation of the city is a major propaganda boost for Ukraine, although the imperialists in Russia claim that they will return.

On 11 November after almost 8 months of Russian occupation, Ukrainian troops liberated Kherson city. The Russian occupiers had looted the city and stole whatever they could transport. But those who remained welcomed the Ukrainian army as liberators. With the liberation of Kherson, the Russian imperialists have been dealt a massive defeat. It shows us that Ukraine is able to fight back and defeat an army most believed to be better. Western imperialism claims that their weapons give Ukraine the edge over Russia. Although this is partly the case, many armoured vehicles used by Ukraine are ”donated” by the Russian army.

Russia lost a lot of material in Ukraine. Many tanks and armoured vehicles were captured in the last months and since Ukraine knows how to use them, they are repaired and send back into the fighting. In response the Kremlin is now sending vintage T-55 tanks (production year 1956) to the front. These outdated tanks are no match for modern anti-tank weaponry. It shows that Vladimir Putin has the same mentality as the czars and Joseph Stalin. For these tyrants the life of a ordinary Russian soldier means nothing. They are cannonfodder for Russian imperialism.

With the Ukrainian flag flying over Kherson city again, the battle is won. The war against Russia is not over. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy keeps begging the western world for weapons to fight. His western slave mentality shows us that his government is willing to subjugate Ukraine into the hands of western powers like NATO. Zelenskyy has already called for NATO/EU membership, which would require massive privatizations and deregulation of the Ukrainian economy. The European Union demands free market capitalism in all of its member states.

Revolutionary socialists do not support the western weapon shipments to Ukraine. Although the guns from Washington and Brussels help the Ukrainians, the main reason why they are winning is because of the Russian army. The imperialist army of Vladimir Putin is not motivated to fight. Their soldiers lack moral, material and a good command structure. Russian soldiers complain about clothing, weapons and poor leadership. This explains why Ukraine is winning as their soldiers have high moral and a command structure that works on trust, while the Russian leadership is build on mistrust and top-down centralism.

We reject political slogans like ”national unity” and ”NATO cooperation”. Capitalism uses them to control the minds of working class people. The politicians of the ruling class fear an increase in class struggle as more and more workers suffer from the massive inflation. Prices are sky rocking and many will end in up in relative poverty. As of now relative poverty is around 21% for the whole EU, with Romania and Bulgaria leading the race. In those countries 1/3 of all workers cannot participate in society and benefit from the activities and experiences that most people take for granted, due to having not enough income each month.

With the increasing prices for food, gas and heath, it is likely that more and more western people will experience relative poverty. Even those who never experienced it before. Spain, Greece and Italy are countries with a large population that is struggling. In the near future we could see 30% of all working class families living in relative poverty again. Revolutionary socialists say that workers need a program to fight inflation and the capitalist system. We need democratic control over the means of production and an end to speculation and market fundamentalism.

Tyrannical friends of western imperialism

Western nations claim to stand for ”freedom and democracy”, two words that have little meaning since the western world is deeply in love with authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Regimes who have a pro-western position are never criticized and are allowed to buy American/European technology. While Russia, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela are under western embargo’s, authoritarian states like Turkmenistan, Saudi-Arabia, Thailand and others are free to buy whatever they want from the west.

Russian imperialism is to be opposed. What the imperialists from Moscow are doing in Ukraine is a crime against the working class. But the massive sanctions to hurt the Russian working class are unfair, since Turkey has done the same thing the Kremlin is doing since February 2022. Turkish imperialists have invaded and occupied a large part of northern Syria since 2016. With NATO weaponry, Turkey stole over 8.800 km2 that belongs to the Autonomous Administration of North East Syria.

NATO allowed Turkey to invade and install their puppet government. There were no massive sanctions against dictator Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The reasons for that are clear. Western imperialism had recognized the Syrian Interim Government since 2012, the very government that is now a puppet of Ankara and who is de-jure the force who is in power, in the Turkish occupation of northern Syria. Western imperialism has kept silent about this fact. Since they did not recognized the Kurdish led Autonomous Administration, Turkish imperialism was free to invade and occupy northern Syria.

The totalitarian Republic of Turkmenistan is led by Serdar Berdimuhamedow. He is the son of dentist turned dictator Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who in turn became Great Leader after Saparmurat Niyazov died in 2006. Turkmenistan is a nationalist dictatorship that grew out of the local Stalinist autocracy. It was Niyazov who became the Kim Il Sung of Central Asia and like Kim he had his own holy book and personal ideology called: Ruhnama (Book of Souls).

In all essence, Turkmenistan is a dictatorship build on the Berdimuhamedow family. But because it has oil and is friendly to the USA, it is allowed to buy American products. While North Korea, Cuba, Iran and Venezuela are under embargo’s, the U.S government has no problem selling Made in the USA to a totalitarian society like Turkmenistan. At the same time, the USA is arming the State of Qatar, which build its FIFA football stadiums on the bones of 6500 workers, who died building them!

We all know the stories of slave labour in that Arab absolute monarchy. Qatar is a slave state much like the United Arab Emirates, who also build their infrastructures on Pakistani and Bangladesh workers. Still, the western world does not mind that military and civilian technology is sold to bloody absolute monarchies. All the armies of the monarchies in the Arab peninsula are made up with weapons of American/European origin.

The Saudi Royal Army is the backbone of the absolute Islamic theocracy that is the Kingdom of Saudi-Arabia. It’s ground forces are made up of 590 M1A2S and 1.500 M60A3 tanks. These tanks are used in Yemen with no regard for civilian life. The Saudi intervention in the Yemeni civil war has already resulted in over 8.6720 civilian deaths by airstrikes alone. American made F-15C/S/SA cause death and destruction. Over 211 are in the service of the totalitarian monarchy together with over 70 Eurofighter Typhoons.

On 21 November the (Blood)State of Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup. In order to build in the stadiums, hotels, roads and infrastructure, the Qatari hired workers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Why? Because they are cheap labour and can be massively exploited through the Kafala system. Workers work long hours and get very little protection from the sun and dangerous elements. Between 2010 and 2017, it is reported that 6500 workers died. Because they are not ethnic Arab and not citizens of the State of Qatar, the absolute monarchy takes not responsibility.

The corrupt FIFA leaders did not care about the massive lose of lives. Only now in the 2022 do they dare to say that it was wrong to give Qatar the honour of hosting the football cup. Too little, too late we revolutionary socialists. Qatar is a brutal absolute monarchy build on massive exploitation of slave workers. 88% of all people living in that bloodstate are not even citizens and are paid very low incomes (around 200 dollars a month). But western imperialism does not care, they arm Qatar and play along with their FIFA game, because the absolute monarchy is loyal to western imperialism since 1916.

In Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand is a loyal ally of western imperialism. The country is a brutal dictatorship under Prayut Chan-o-cha, who took power in a military coup. His junta ruled Thailand from 2014 until 2019, oppressing anybody who stood against the army. Although the military junta was dissolved three years ago, freedom of speech was never restored. The country remains a dictatorship under Prayut as he build up a civilian façade around himself. Western imperialism knows that Thailand is their ally in the region and therefore the Thai dictatorship is never criticized nor rejected by western leaders.

Workers of the world need to reject western imperialism and fight for a socialist alternative. Rejecting imperialism from the west means not that we must become supporters of lesser imperialist forces. Russian imperialism (as part of the eastern imperialist camp) deserves our rejected too. Russia and China wish to compete with western imperialism and they care not about workers nor their suffering. The imperialists from the east do not play by a democratic façade, as seen in Ukraine we know of the brutality of eastern imperialism.

Revolutionary socialists of International Socialist Alternative call for a socialist alternative to the imperialist camps. No to western imperialism, no to their dictatorial allies like the Saudi and Erdoğan regimes. We need independent political parties of the working class. Trusting established left-wing forces is not enough, worse many (centre) leftists join western imperialists out of this backward idea that the west stands for ”democracy and liberty”. Let us fight the imperialists and their allies, for a united socialist world free from capitalism and conflict!

Capitalists sound the drums of war

Since the start of 2022, western imperialism claims that Russia will invade Ukraine. Proof of such is not given by the imperialists in Washington DC and Brussels. Russia claims that they are not invading Ukraine, but the USA is saying that an invasion of the former Soviet republic is imminent. The Americans have not been able to provide anything that could indicate that the Kremlin wishes to conquer Ukraine. Should Vladimir Putin decide to invade, he risks serious damage to Russia both military, financially and socially. Although the Russian Army could conquer all of Ukraine, the costs would be very high.

Despite 8 years of a pro-western government, working class Ukrainians are still suffering from low wages, deep inequality and capitalist barbarism. Since the 1990’s, only a few rich (like former president Poroshenko) benefited from the return of capitalism. At the end of the 20th century over 55% of all Ukrainians were living in poverty, thanks to the capitalist politics of ex-Stalinist leaders like Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma. They privatized the Soviet Ukrainian economy and created a wild west for capitalists to exploit millions

Kuchma ruled Ukraine from 1994 until 2005. Like Kravchuk before him, Kuchma sold off billions to greedy capitalists and created poverty for millions. Both men were members of the elitist Stalinist caste of parasites, who ruled Soviet Ukraine. They changed colours after the failed 1991 Soviet coup in Moscow. Kravchuk and Kuchma embraced the bourgeois symbols of the first capitalist Ukrainian state and installed them as state symbols on 24 August 1991.

Today in early 2022, the number of Ukrainians living with low incomes is around 45% of the total population. Covid-19 has hit the country hard, but even before the virus came millions had to struggle each month due to low incomes. The capitalist system and the corrupt government are to blame. Oligarch president Petro Poroshenko used anticommunism and Ukrainian nationalism to hide the fact that his politics only benefited the superrich. He lost the election in 2019 to a comedian.

Now the western imperialists are trying to provoke the Russian bully. This is not a good idea since Moscow is all about keeping NATO from closing in on them. The Kremlin is paranoid and might resort to violence in order to keep NATO out, they already took Crimea and parts of Donbass. Among ethnic Russians in Ukraine, there is support for Putin because the Kremlin has build a massive propaganda machine around them.

Crimea under Ukraine was neglected and under control of pro-Russian politicians long before the Euro-Maidan. The peninsula was not given much attention by the capitalist rulers in Kiev. Ethnic Russians felt abandoned and betrayed. They voted for pro-Russian candidates in elections like Viktor Yanukovych, despite that these figures always worked with oligarchs against ordinary workers. Since Ukraine lacks a genuine left-wing opposition, the Communist Party of Ukraine was often said to be left-wing.

This is however not correct! The Communist Party of Ukraine fully supported the capitalist government of Yanukovych (2010-2014) and sided with the Kremlin in almost all foreign manners. Like the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Communist Party of Ukraine is a social-conservative party that stands against women’s rights, gay-rights and migrant workers. For them the state-capitalist model of the Communist Party of China is the way forward. Proofing to us revolutionary socialists the anti-Marxist nature of the CPU.

Now the western world is sounding the drums of war against Russia. This is clear indication of modern day imperialism fight against each other for control. Western imperialism faces off eastern imperialism. With eastern imperialism we mean the state-capitalist dictatorships of Russia and China, who are the dominating force in Asia. We revolutionary socialists say that peace cannot be build by forces loyal to imperialism. Not the USA, Russia, China, EU, NATO or even the United Nations.

Peace can only be created by ending the very system that is driving the drums of war each time and that is capitalism. The enemy is not the Russians nor the Americans, the enemy is not the average Russian soldier or Ukrainian soldier. The enemy of working class people are those who control the means of production, who own television networks and mislead working class people. We talk here about people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg. Together these capitalists own over 1.000 billion U.S dollars in wealth, while 689 million people live in extreme poverty on less than 1.90 U.S dollars a day!

As International Socialist Alternative explains:

“The main enemy is at home,” German revolutionary Karl Liebknecht said in 1915. He meant that the working class of one country should not fight against the working class of another country, because they have the same interests, while they have nothing in common with their own ruling class. It is for this reason that members of the ISA, whether campaigning against western imperialism in the US, or facing arrest in Russia for opposing the Kremlin’s role in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine are all united in opposing the calls for war over the Ukraine, refusing to support either Russian or Western imperialism, or Chinese, German, or any other imperialism, and calling for united working class struggle against the warmongers and the capitalist system they represent.

Ukrainian workers are pushed into this new Cold War. The USA is sending troops to eastern Europe, while the Kremlin has surrounded Ukraine with 130.000 troops. Russian soldiers are also stationed in Belarus were dictator Lukashenko welcomed them. He said that Belarus would stand with Russia in any conflict. He has little choice since the dictator has isolated himself and can only turn to Russia to aid. Meanwhile western viewers are told each day that Russia is about to attack Ukraine.

In Russia, the state controls most media outlets and does not tell the story that way. They portray Russia as under siege by foreign forces. Ukraine is portrayed as ”failed” and under ”foreign” control. Russians are so mislead into thinking that an attack on Ukraine is justified to defend Mother Russia. The reality is that Ukraine is not a puppet of the west. Its government is pro-western but it is not part of NATO. We socialists say true peace cannot be build by capitalist politicians in service of a minority of owners.

We demand the full nationalization of the war industry and the the overthrow of the ruling political elites and their replacement by democratic structures of the workers and oppressed. Ukrainian workers must link up with Belarusian and Russian workers to fight against their common enemy. The very capitalist system that is pushing for war and death. As the German revolutionary: Karl Liebknecht once said, capitalism is war, socialism is peace.

Western workers must reject the war drums of the USA and the EU. Opposing the national European governments and their ”support Ukraine” line. Supporting the corrupt Ukrainian government is not helping its working class. Sending western arms to Kiev is not ending the war, it is only fuelling the Russian state propaganda about ”Ukraine under foreign control”. Therefore we revolutionary socialists take no side. We reject western imperialism and eastern imperialism, no support to Biden or Putin.

A capitalist war always means profit for the owners of the war industry. Billions were made during the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military industrial complex grew very rich between 2001 and 2022, because the USA used billions in tax money to buy expensive weapons. Many young American soldiers died in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to defend the freedoms at home. They died because American imperialism wanted to steal the wealth of nations like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Russia has been rearming itself since 2008. Billions are wasted each year by the Kremlin to build up the Russian Armed Forces. Although the poverty level is lower in Russia compared to Ukraine, the inequality is very high. The Russian 1% control 71% of all monetary wealth. This oligarchy is able to own so much because Vladimir Putin (who is part of this rotten state-capitalist model) allows it. Putin does not care about ordinary workers, he lives in luxury like all capitalist exploiters of the world!

The Kremlin is not afraid to go to war. But going fully on the offensive to capture a whole nations is new to them. They only attacked Georgia in 2008, because the Georgians attacked pro-Russian separatists who are under the protection of Russian ”peacekeepers”. Invading the separatist held parts of Donbass is a possibility. The so called ”people’s republics” in Donetsk and Lugansk are a façade and client states of Russia in all but name, much like Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

Workers of the world must reject the war propaganda and stand against the capitalist system that will profit from a war. The peace movement must be build up by working class people with no illusions that the current rulers will care. They cannot trust bourgeois pacifists who do not see that capitalism is the main reason for wars. Workers of the world have always been sacrificed by warmongers and the military industrial complex. This is why the working class has nothing to lose but their chains.

We reject the new Cold War

Revolutionary socialists reject the new Cold War between the capitalist west and the capitalist east. Unlike the first Cold War between the capitalist world and a none-capitalist world, this conflict is different. It is no longer a struggle of one so called ”anti-imperialist” camp against the powers of world capitalism. The new Cold War is a rivalry between major imperialist world powers. The USA and EU are the old imperialist regimes, while Russia and China are standing up to the old imperialists. This however does not mean that the state-capitalist regimes in Beijing and Moscow are anti-imperialist. They too want to control parts of the world and by using nationalism they prepare their people for a confrontation.

In the first Cold War (1945-1991), revolutionary socialists stood between the imperialist camp of the United States of America and Western Europe on one side and the Stalinist camp led by the Soviet-Union and Eastern Europe on the other side. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) called itself the bastion of socialism against world capitalism. In reality the USSR was a totalitarian state, build on the degeneration of the Russian Revolution.

While the People’s Republic of China also claims to be socialist, it was never in the Soviet camp. Moscow and Beijing became enemies after the 1956 Sino-Soviet break up. Western imperialism failed to see this and wrongly saw the whole Stalinist world as a monolith controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet-Union. In reality many Stalinist regimes were nationalist and ruling communist parties not put in power by Stalin, were very independent like the Chinese Communist Party.

After the Soviet-Union (USSR) collapsed in December 1991, world capitalism believed itself to be the winner of the Cold War. This was portrayed in the media and in history-books. In reality, world capitalism did not saw the collapse of the USSR coming. Yes, the Soviet-Union was failing economically, but few in 1989 believed the whole Stalinist system would crumble so fast between 1989 and 1991. Revolutionary socialists were among the few who knew that it was a possibility. Leon Trotsky himself predicted a return to capitalism by the very people who claimed to be ”communists”.

He was proven right when the Stalinist leaders of the USSR removed the red banner and replaced it with the czarist tricolour. Under Boris Yeltsin they destroyed the Soviet economy and brought massive poverty to millions. Western capitalism did not care about this fact, they loved the so called ”victory of capitalism” and completely ignored the human tragedy in the former Soviet states. Ethnic nationalist conflicts, massive increase in prices and job loses meant poverty, thanks to the neoliberal shock therapy.

The rise of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping is a product of nationalist resistance to the elitist western leaders who considered themselves and their system supreme. Putin raised himself up to become the prime minister of Boris Yeltsin in 1999. He loved the Soviet-Union because it was a Russian led state and a force of power. He cared nothing about the communist ideology and the ideas on which the USSR was founded. Xi is very much like Putin.

Xi Jinping came to power when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was ruled by theocrats like Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. Under these leaders, the PRC became the world producer of almost anything. Made in China is printed on almost all consumer products as of 2022. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had abandoned the revolutionary dogmatism of Maoism under Deng Xiaoping and accepted a state-capitalist model by the 1980’s. Hu Jintao ruled as a moderate leader who build positive relations with the capitalist western world.

The ”Socialist Harmonious Society” model of leaders like Hu Jintao failed completely. Inequality grew massively as China now produces more millionaires and billionaires then the USA. Xi Jinping feared for the absolute rule of the CCP and by 2012 he got himself elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. In 10 years, Xi turned China into a hard-core nationalist state with the CCP spreading Chinese nationalism on a level equal to the right-wing Kuomintang regime of Chiang Kai Shek.

Nationalism also means standing up to western imperialism. The PRC is in direct competition with the western world and this is not liked by Washington and Brussels. They call it ”Chinse aggression” when Beijing fights them with their own methods. Meanwhile the Russian imperialists are standing up to NATO in eastern Europe. Vladimir Putin knows that his regime is build on the same right-wing nationalism as that of Xi. He needs to keep his population in line by portraying his government as ”strong” and willing to ”challenge” western dominance.

Some leftists make a huge mistake by siding or defending the imperialist ambitions of Moscow and Beijing. Unlike the first Cold War, this new Cold War is not about oppose imperialism. China and Russia wish to compete with the capitalist west for influence and control over world resources. Putin does not want that countries like Ukraine and Moldova join NATO. Although we agree that the imperialist alliance is not good for working class people, we reject the Russian aggression towards these countries.

For Ukrainian nationalism, the aggression coming for Moscow is golden propaganda. Anti-Russian hysteria is dominate in Ukraine since 2014. With Putin boosting his army, the Ukrainian bourgeoise is spreading the lie that all who oppose the Ukrainian state must be allies of Moscow. Comedian turned president Volodymyr Zelensky can use this anti-Russian hysteria to hide the fact that he changed nothing for Ukrainian workers. Zelensky has already lost -20% in the Ukrainian approval rating.

Revolutionary socialists take no side in the conflict between west and east. We reject both camps as imperialist and capitalist. Although the state-capitalist regimes claim they stand against western aggression, they only wish to compete with the west. The hypocrites in Washington DC and Brussels do not like this. They wish not to be removed from the position as capitalist rulers of the world. Revolutionary socialists therefore reject the idea that this new Cold War is a struggle between liberal democracy and authoritarianism.

Western imperialism has no problems with authoritarian regimes who side with them. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is one of the biggest Asian allies of the western world. Despite being a ”communist” dictatorship on the same level as China, Vietnam is never criticised nor attacked as much as Beijing is. Also the pro-western Arab absolute monarchies remain good friends of western leaders. Therefore the American and European boycott of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games is a hypocritical move.

There is a new Cold War, a conflict of the old imperialist countries vs the new ones. Russia and China wish to be respected as imperialist powers. They are not accepted because the western world wishes to be the only major power on this planet. In Africa, China is building relationships while Russia makes sure that many former Soviet republics remain under dictators friendly to the Kremlin. Workers have nothing to gain by siding in this new Cold War. This conflict is fought over their shoulders for the profits of capitalists.