Russia now a isolated reactionary dictatorship

The Russian Federation is now a isolated dictatorship. It was never a free society, but the façade of a democracy is now fully gone. ”Czar” Putin the First has introduced a law that bans the spreading of ”fake news” about the invasion Ukraine. Calling it an invasion is now a crime and you can risk being send to prison for 15 years. This is why most foreign journalists are now leaving the empire of Vladimir Putin. They now that they cannot work anymore in a state that has such undemocratic laws. Meanwhile the Russian working class is about to feel the effects of the massive sanctions against their reactionary government.

One group of Russians who are targeted by world sanctions is the oligarch class. These ultra-capitalists started off as loyal communist party bureaucrats in the 1980’s under Mikhail Gorbachev. When this last Soviet leader started with market reforms, these soon to be oligarchs learned how to behave as brutal capitalists from the western world. When the Soviet-Union collapsed in December 1991, the western trained bureaucrats took their chances and took control over privatized enterprises. While millions ended up in poverty, they grew very rich and became the true rulers of the early Russian Federation.

Boris Yeltsin was their puppet. He allowed them to grow rich and fat. Oligarchs of the Yeltsin era included scum like:

• Boris Berezovsky
• Mikhail Fridman
• Vladimir Gusinsky
• Mikhail Khodorkovsky
• Vladimir Potanin
• Alexander Smolensky
• Pyotr Aven
• Vladimir Vinogradov
• Vitaly Malkin

These billionaires got their wealth because they knew how to make a profit, in a time when the former Soviet working classes were sacrificed on the altar of world capitalism. After 1999, Vladimir Putin took over the role as protector of these oligarchs. However unlike Boris Yeltsin he demanded loyalty to the state from them. Those who refused were targeted as ”corrupt” and ”unpatriotic”. Most oligarchs sided with the new boss in the Kremlin. Putin allowed them to remain rich as long they politically supported him.

The western capitalist world is now imposing sanctions on Russia. But it will hit ordinary Russian harder then the oligarchs and the Kremlin, especially students who study out side Russia. They are now cut off, since their Russian bank accounts cannot be used anymore inside Europe. Airliners like Aeroflot lost access to airplane parts from Boeing and Airbus. Like Cubana de Aviacion and Iran Air, Aeroflot is now under an embargo. This shows that the western world does not care about ordinary workers. They will never take the wealth from all oligarchs (and big capitalists) to improve the lives of working class people, because capitalism does not allow it.

Russia was never a free society politically. But it had more personal freedoms under Boris Yeltsin. It was Vladimir Putin who rebuild the authoritarian state. Since most Russians hated the corrupt government of Yeltsin, few objected to the abuse of powers, the arrests and torture of political opponents. Putin however carried out his authoritarian counter-revolution slowly, so that the western world did not take notice until 2014. It was when Russian troops took Crimea that the world began to see Russia as a state that does not care about international borders (much like the USA).

Revolutionary socialists knew this long before the capitalist media in the western world started to speak about it. In 2005, president George W. Bush of the USA was close to Vladimir Putin. Bush was in Moscow during the parade honouring the victory over Nazi Germany. The 2008 attack on Georgia signalled that Moscow was ready to go over borders. At that time only American imperialism had dared to attack and invade countries.

The Euro-Maidan uprising in Ukraine led to the rise of nationalist Ukrainian governments. The oligarchy in the former Soviet republic was able to get one of their own installed as president. Petro Poroshenko ruled as a corrupt anti-Communist leader who enforced a brutal policy of equalizing communism with fascism. Soviet monuments he allowed to be destroyed be far-right mobs. Soviet street names were all changed and even the Russian language was attacked. Moscow used these undemocratic moves to spread fear among the ethnic Russian population in the Donbass and Crimea.

When Russian troops illegally invaded Crimea they were welcomed by many. A majority of Crimean’s are ethnic Russians and had enough of the anti-Russian hysteria coming from Kiev. Also the oligarchs in the Ukrainian capital had neglected Crimea. Most roads, buildings and infrastructures dated from the late Soviet period. However the return of Crimea to Russia did not result in massive improvements. The Kremlin has started to prosecute the Tatar minority and those Ukrainians who opposed the annexation.

Putin does have its army of propagandists. In the western world it has people like George Galloway. People like him are stuck in the idea of campism, that you must always defend the Russians because they are ”victims of western imperialist aggression”. Leftists like Galloway make a big mistake when they follow the line of Putin and do not condemn the imperialist invasion of Ukraine. Russia maybe not a world imperialist power, but it is a regional imperialist power and by invading Ukraine they have proven that fact. Still, people like George Galloway keep defending the Kremlin!

In a recent video on You-Tube, Galloway says that the demands of Moscow are simple and that Putin does not wishes to remove the Ukrainian government. He claims that Russia only wants Ukraine to become neutral and does not join NATO. Although neutrality is not wrong, it is not up to a foreign force to dictate what a country does or does not do. It is not up to a bully like Vladimir Putin to say what Ukraine must do on the threat of an military invasion. Russian imperialists have killed 10.000 people at a minimum as of 7 March 2022, while George Galloway says that Russia’s demands are so ”minimal”

This is the problem with anti-imperialists like Galloway. They only oppose western imperialism and do not criticize eastern imperialism. People like Galloway wrongfully think that only American/European imperialism is a major danger to the world. We revolutionary socialists think that all imperialist powers are a danger. Western imperialism is indeed the most powerful one, but regional imperialists like Russia and China are challenging the west. They do not do that out of a sense of fighting imperialism. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s threats against Taiwan show this!

With the sanctions in place, Russia is about to become even more isolated then the Republic of Turkmenistan. This is a major irony, that the North Korea of Central Asia is free to buy and trade with the western world while the creator of Turkmenistan (The USSR created Turkmenistan in 1925) is cut off. Revolutionary socialists do not think that the sanctions will work. They will hit the working class of Russia, while the oligarchs and Putin remain rich and wealthy. Yes, they might lose some money, but ordinary Russians will lose a lot more.

Working class people must oppose the war internationally while also not falling for the hypocritical anti-war line of western capitalist governments. Western imperialism does not oppose war, invasions and militarism. NATO supports 70% of the world’s dictatorships. NATO member Turkey invaded and occupied the northern parts of Syria since 2019. There are no massive sanctions on Turkey for illegally occupying northern Syria.

We revolutionary socialists say:

• No to war in Ukraine! For the right of Ukrainians to decide their own future, including the right of self-determination for minorities!
• Withdraw Russian troops now!
• No to US/NATO imperialism and militarism
• No to the EU’s racist refugee policies! Open safe and legal routes for all refugees. Demand access to decent housing, health services and work or benefits for all!
• No illusions in diplomacy by the war-mongers. Build a massive anti-war and anti-imperialist movement linking up workers and youth over borders.
• For an internationalist working class socialist alternative to capitalist conflict that leads to war and destruction.

Lukashenko invading Ukraine?

The Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has shown us a map of what seems to be the Russian invasion plan. Although it is not clear if the map he showed is a true battle plan, what is shown is that Russia plans to divide Ukraine and take the separatist: Prednestrovian Moldovan Republic (Transnistria). This unrecognized breakaway state stands between Moldova and Ukraine. It was created by Soviet loyalists in September 1990 at the time when Moldova declared itself independent from the USSR. Does Moscow wishes to take this separatist republic too? Lukasheko might also be sending troops to support the Russian imperialists in conquering all of Ukraine.

Russian troops are invading Ukraine from Belarus, this is a fact. The Republic of Belarus has allowed the Russian ”Empire” to use its borders with Ukraine to attack it. Dictator Alexander Lukashenko now appeared on Belarusian state television with a huge map. On it you can see that Ukraine is divided into four regions, are these to be the occupation regions under Russian control? Shown also is a move towards the Prednestrovian Moldovan Republic (Transnistria). Will the imperialists from Moscow also take this part of Moldova?

Moldova like Ukraine used to be part of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. It declared independence and was ruled sometimes by pro-western politicians and sometimes by pro-Russian politicians. Politics in Moldova are similar to those in Ukraine. The Bloc of Communists and Socialists is the pro-Russian section which combines economic left-wing ideas with right-wing social conservatism. Moldovan ”communists and socialists” are anti-LGBTQ, which is a remnant from the Stalinist period. The pro-western section is led by neoliberals, greens and pro-European conservatives. They now control the Moldovan government.

The Prednestrovian Moldovan Republic shares many elements with the separatist republics in the Donbass region of Ukraine. Transnistria was founded in September 1990 by Soviet loyalists who opposed the Moldovan Popular Front and pro-independence Stalinists. A war started between the nationalist government and these Soviet loyalists in 1992. After the Soviet-Union broke up, these loyalists abandoned their ”communist” façade and declared Transnistria to be a bourgeois republic, although the hammer and sickle flag remained. In 2017, the unrecognized breakaway state adopted the czarist tricolour as second national flag.

Should the Russian imperialists take Transnistria then they could also be a war with Moldova. With Belarus willing the join Moscow in their conquest of Ukraine, we could see a massive war in eastern Europe not seen since the Yugoslav wars of 1992-2001. There are reports that Belarusian troops are already in Ukraine, supporting the Russian invasion. Alexander Lukashenko has denied this, but this picture of him with a detailed battleplan does proof that he knows Putin’s plan. It could also be a false picture to mislead western analysts.

Meanwhile the invasion is getting grim. Cities like Kiev and Kharkiv are under massive assault. A Russian artillery shell hit the central government building in Kharkiv. 10 people were killed and many more injured. All windows got blown out and some floors collapsed. This shows that the Russian imperialists are willing to attack civilian buildings. The Russian military is lying to the world when they say that they do not wish to attack civilian targets. Meanwhile the EU has banned the You-Tube account of RT and Sputnik, two major Russian news networks.

Although RT and Sputnik are propagandists for the Putin regime, banning them is very wrong. Because when western imperialism invaded Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria the propaganda networks of the west were not shutdown. The whole attitude of western countries is hypocritical since they never cared about ordinary Ukrainian workers. Until the invasion, the fact that Ukraine (like Russia) is ruled by oligarchs who buy politicians, meant nothing for western governments.

Western imperialism does not support Ukraine, it only claims to do so in order to win over the Ukrainian capitalist government. Reality remains that there is massive inequality and poverty thanks to capitalism. This is never reported on the western networks, who have championed pro-western politicians like Volodymyr Zelenskyy as ”good for the country”. In reality, the popularity of the former comedian was dropping. The Russian invasion has saved Zelenskyy’s image as he is now a leader under siege. Until 24 February only 31% of the population supported him and his government, now this is 90%!

A week has passed and Belarus might join Russia in conquering Ukraine. Lukashenko might have no choice since his dictatorship relies fully on Putin. Win-out the support from the Kremlin the Belarusian dictator faces a very angry population. Because Belarusian workers have not forgotten the days when state forces arrested and tortured over 32.000 opponents of Lukashenko and his autocracy. If led by a genuine revolutionary party, it could mobilize the working class in overthrowing him.

Vladimir Putin knows this, but the ”czar” in the Kremlin too is facing a population that is not happy. With all the sanctions many Russian workers are suffering. Many oligarchs are getting blocked and isolated, their children are rejected from western bourgeois society and this does not sit well. Although the reactionary ”Communist” Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and far-right ”Liberal-Democratic” Party of Russia (LDPR), support the imperialist invasion, the Kremlin should not feel at ease.

Lukashenko has ordered 4.500 Belarusian troops towards the border. It remains unclear if Belarus joins Russia in conquering Ukraine. Since Putin kept Lukashenko alive, he could now demand (behind the scenes) that Belarus joins Russia in overthrowing the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. As of March 2021, Ukraine says that it already killed 7.000 invaders, this might be an overestimation because Russia claims to have killed 2.500 Ukrainian defenders. The USA thinks that both sides have killed around 1.500 soldiers each.

All out war, stop Russian imperialism

Four days have past since the Russian imperialists started their invasion of Ukraine. It has been a long time since a relative free society became under attack from a autocratic dictatorship. Ukraine is not a full democracy and there are many elements of state corruption, but the country is not a autocracy like Russia and it does not deserve to be invaded. Vladimir Putin is lying to his people, because the world is not buying the lies about ”removing a fascist junta” from power.

Ukraine is led by a weak capitalist government, a government led by a ex-comedian who failed to end the low wages and deep inequality. The Ukrainian oligarchy remains the true rulers of the country despite Volodymyr Zelenskyy profile of a western leader. The invasion and war has raised the popularity of the president. Zelenskyy can now portray himself as a leader under siege, a leader fighting for the independence of his country. His counterpart is led by illusions about restoring the might of an empire that was destroyed in February 1917.

Vladimir Putin hated the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, he hated the idea that Lenin and the Bolshevik Party saw Ukraine and Belarus as equals, not subjects. For Russian chauvinists like Putin, all these countries should be under Russian control. This is why Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus promotes the Russian language and wishes to be a colonel in the Russian Army. Lukashenko (like Putin) does not believe in a Belarus independent of Moscow. This is why he allowed Putin to use his country as a base of operations.

Russian chauvinists could never accept that the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917. That Russia lost countries like Finland, Belarus and Ukraine. Although Stalin created the Central Asian Soviet republics in the 1930’s, he knew that in reality these Central Asian republics would never be genuine equal to Soviet Russia. After 1991, Russia lost Central Asia, Belarus and Ukraine. Chauvinistic Russians like Putin saw their independence as a embarrassment to the Russian nation. This is why Putin called the collapse of the USSR, the worst disaster of the 20th century.

In the first three days of war, the Russian imperialists failed to capture Kiev or Kharkiv, these large cities remain under Ukrainian control. Major advances have been made in the north and south, the imperialists also captured the Chernobyl powerplant. Still the Ukrainian army is fighting hard to keep the Russians out. For them this fight is for the survival of their nation. They know that a Russian occupation will result in massive repression and loss of civil liberties.

Revolutionary socialists have criticized the anti-communist laws of 2015 and the tolerance of far-right symbols. Despite all this, Ukraine is not run by fascists. It is led by a weak bourgeois government that uses the far-right to attack the left-wing and the ideas of socialism. This is why we give no political support to the government, we do support the right of Ukrainians to fight back. It is very possible that the government in Kiev will be overrun by the Russian imperialists in the coming days or weeks.

Should Volodymyr Zelenskyy be captured, the working class needs to keep fighting. Vladimir Putin claims that he is fighting fascism, in reality he will need the Ukrainian far-right. Because a puppet government of the Kremlin will need to play on far-right nationalism, anti-democracy, anti-socialism, anti-LGBTQ and hatred of the western world. This means that Putin will need to install a government that follows a far-right agenda since only that ideology can work as his puppet.

There are enough Ukrainians who are far-right and share Putin views on women, democracy, socialism, liberalism and homosexuality. If the invaders can defeat the Ukrainian government, then a deal between the Ukrainian far-right and the Kremlin is a possibility. In return for a pro-Russian government, the far-right could be given freedom to enforce totalitarian rule on the Ukrainian working class. Vladimir Putin would bring about the rule of fascism, the very thing it claims to fight against.

This is why we call on the working class to organize the resistance. Zelenskyy has won more popularity, but since he remains in Kiev he could be captured or killed. The Ukrainian army is still outnumbered and cannot defeat the Russian invaders in numbers. A resistance led by the workers, under democratic control of local councils can do a lot of damage. Ukrainians need to know that the fight against the imperialists needs to go further. As the Russian section of International Socialist Alternative explains:

Even if the war was now to stop in some way or other — by the complete takeover of Ukraine, or the defeat by the Ukrainians of the Russian army, the world, let alone this region will never be the same. Only by building an independent workers’ struggle linking up workers and youth in Ukraine, Russia and in the western countries can stop this war. But we need to go further — if we want there to be no more wars, economic crises, climate change we need to get rid of the system that causes them. We need to fight against capitalism and establish a world in which all nations and peoples have the right to self-determination, a genuinely democratic and voluntary socialist federation.

On day three, the imperialists are slowly moving forward. Mariupol is the first larger Ukrainian city under direct assault. Russian soldiers and armed forces of the separatist republics have captured parts of Mariupol . However the whole city is not yet under Russian control. Before the invasion over 450.000 people lived in Mariupol, now many are forced to flee. Elsewhere there is strict curfew as the Ukrainian government fears that enemy saboteurs and snipers are been send to take up positions and wait for the main invasion force to arrive.

Kiev and Kharkiv also face attacks, but the Ukrainian army have kept the Russian imperialists out for now. Revolutionary Socialist Media stands with the Ukrainian working class and supports the line of the Russian section of International Socialist Alternative. ”They say: No to the war in Ukraine! Troops should return home. Build an anti-war movement in the workplaces and universities!” Many brave Russian workers have stood up to their imperialist government. Many are arrested and face prison, because you are not allowed to demonstrate win-out government approval.

We give no support to western imperialism and their sanctions. Because sanctions do not work on Vladimir Putin. He and his oligarchy will remain rich and wealthy. In Stalinist times, Russia was also not part of the world financial system. Yes, the sanctions will hurt, but the Russian ruling class has survived since 2014. It will be the ordinary workers who suffer from sanctions. What Ukraine needs is a united front of all workers against the ”czarist” regime. This can only work by appealing to workers in Russia and Belarus.

The Lukashenko and Putin regimes are dictatorial, but they are not almighty. Had the uprisings against Lukashenko been led by a revolutionary party it would have overthrown him. Instead the protesters relied on bourgeois liberals, who did not dare to organize an actual revolution. It allowed the Belarusian government to use massive repression. Now Alexander Lukashenko has allied himself fully with Putin, he even changed the constitution to allow nuclear weapons to be stationed in Belarus.

Russia attacks Ukraine – war begins!

The Russian imperialists have invaded Ukraine and not just the separatist republics in Donbass. Explosions have been heard all across Ukraine and Russians tanks have attacked from Belarus. We revolutionary socialists condemn this imperialist attack, although we give no political support to the corrupt capitalist government in Kiev. We stand with the working class of Ukraine, who has the right to stand up to this military aggression from Moscow. We call on workers of Russia to denounce the criminal attack on Ukraine and demand all Russian forces to be withdrawn.

In the morning of 24 February 2022, Ukrainians woke up the sounds of explosions. Russians rockets attacked military installations as the Russian ”Empire” started its military invasion. Troops from the separatist republics in the Donbass region took part in this massive planned invasion, together with forces stationed in Belarus and Crimea. Vladimir Putin told the world that the Americans were right and that he was started a war against Ukraine. This exposes the Russian dictator as a crazy warlord who believes that Ukraine is a Bolshevik creation.

Revolutionary socialists denounce the imperialist attack on Ukraine by Russia. At the same time we give no political support to the corrupt oligarchy in Kiev and their NATO allies. This invasion would not have been possible had the Euro-Maidan movement of 2014, not enforced this anti-Russian hysteria. Far-right mobs were free to destroy Soviet monuments and with the banning of the Russian language, the Kremlin saw a opportunity to destabilize and now invade Ukraine.

Russian imperialism got a perfect argument, first to support ethnic Russians to fight against the Kiev government and now they use great Russian chauvinism to deny that Ukraine is a nation. Vladimir Putin claims that Lenin created Ukraine, because he gave lands to the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic with a ethnic Russian majority. It only exposes the Russian ”czar” as a full blood supporter of Russian imperialism and the desire to rebuild the old czarist empire by war.

The Bolsheviks believed in the right of self determination of all nations. This is why the Soviet-Union was originally build as a voluntary union of socialist republics. It was Joseph Stalin who opposed this idea from the first moment he became People’s Commissioner of Nationalities of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic in 1917. Stalin worked to ensure that Russian interests were always above other interests. He hide this under a cloak of internationalism as the USSR he claimed was led by Soviet Russia.

By the time Lenin died in 1924, great Russian chauvinism became more and more powerful. After the Stalinists purged the All-Union Communist Party and turned it into a totalitarian party, they soon enforced Russian as the dominate language. By the 1930’s, the Soviet-Union forced none-Russian nationalities to use the Cyrillic alphabet. We saw this in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and many other Soviet republics.

After Stalin died, the politics of great Russian chauvinism did not die. In fact, Russian became the administrative language of all Soviet republics. Russian culture and traditions became dominate and were enforced until the late 1980’s. It was in the last years of the USSR that the none-Russian people’s demanded independence and freedom from the dominating ”Russian” Soviet-Union. Right-wing nationalists used the Soviet period to turn many ex-Soviet republics against Russians as a whole.

Ukraine was not deeply anti-Russian until the Euro-Maidan of 2014. Because the government of Petro Poroshenko allowed far-right mobs to destroy Soviet monuments, the Russian government became deeply opposed to the politics of Ukraine. They also hated the fact that Poroshenko wanted Ukraine to join the western imperialist side against Russia. This is why the Kremlin armed, trained and supported the separatists in Donetsk and Lugansk.

After 8 years, the Cold War in East Ukraine has turned into a Hot War. The Russian imperialists demand that the Ukrainian army surrenders and returns home. Off course this is foolish, no soldier will surrender to a foreign army. Ukraine is not a failed state nor is it under control of foreign forces as the lying Kremlin claims. There is no ”fascist junta” in control of Kiev as the Russian UN representative says. All lies spread by Vladimir Putin to mislead and brainwash the Russian working class into supporting his war.

Russian and Ukrainian workers will be the ones who suffer. Ukrainians now face real danger as their country is under attack. Russian workers will face more poverty as the international world will turn against Russia. Putin does not care about that, he believes that his empire has the right to take control over Ukraine. Revolutionary socialists say that this war is not in the interests of the working class. Therefore they must reject it. In Russia over 500 anti-war activists have already been arrested in the last 24 hours .

The Kremlin does not tolerate opposition to their war plans. It is therefore up the working class of all countries to stand up. No support to the imperialist invasion, but also no support to the other imperialist side. NATO is no friend of Ukrainian workers, it is not a military alliance for freedom and democracy. We stand in solidarity with all workers who dare to stand up. In Russia and Belarus this means arrest, torture and jail. Because the dictatorships of Putin and Lukashenko are the enemies of freedom of speech.

Can the Ukrainian army keep the Russian imperialists out? The reality is that only since 2014 the army has undergone modernization. Russia has been rebuilding its army since 2008 and has advanced much more compared to Ukraine. But there is hope, because many Russians do not wish this conflict. They also do not have the means to occupy all of Ukraine, for that the Kremlin would need 350.000 occupying troops. It is much likely they will try to install a puppet Ukrainian government.

The only class who can stop the war is the working class. This war is not in the interest of workers and youth. It is about geopolitical and economic imperialist ambitions. Revolutionary socialists of International Socialist Alternative say:

• No to war in Ukraine! For the right of Ukrainians to decide their own future, including the right of self-determination for minorities!
• For the return of Russian troops to the barracks in Russia and the withdrawal of all NATO troops from eastern Europe .
• No confidence in any of the “peace keeping” imperialist forces involved
• No illusions in diplomacy by the war-mongers. Build a massive anti-war and anti-imperialist movement linking up workers and youth over borders
• For an internationalist working class socialist alternative to capitalist conflict that leads to war and destruction

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.

30 years since the collapse of the Soviet-Union

The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was dissolved on 25 December 1991, by the very members of a party that was banned by the Soviet government since August of that year. Capitalists did not destroy the Soviet-Union, the former members of the Communist Party of the Soviet-Union (CPSU) did that. On 8 December 1991, the Belovezh Accords dissolved the union. The accords were signed by only three Soviet republics. By the year 1992, the Soviet-Union was no more and world capitalism celebrated its so called ”victory over communism”.

Now 30 years later we can say that capitalism did not won the Cold War. As we revolutionary socialists said in the 1930’s, the Stalinist system would inevitable lead to the restoration of capitalism. In Asia, the Stalinist states indeed introduced capitalism win-out giving up on their single party states. Countries like China, Vietnam and Laos have all embraced the market while claiming to remain ”socialist”. In Nepal, the monarchy was replaced with a bourgeois republic, while the ruling Stalinists and Maoists did not build socialism.

Stalinism was a perversion, a degeneration that came out of the Russian civil war. Although named after Joseph Stalin, the system survived his death in March 1953. Stalin was the face of a totalitarian bureaucracy that ruled over the working class like parasites. His extreme cult of personality and disregard for even his loyal comrades led to his removal from Soviet life after 1956. Classic Stalinism only survived in North Korea were it evolved into the absolute monarchy of the Kim dynasty.

The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR) is called a ”communist” state by the capitalist world and history. This is false as it was neither a class less and state less society nor a workers controlled country. Communism was never build, not even socialism. Despite claims by Stalin and his successors, the working class never had any political or economic control. In the last year of his life, Vladimir Lenin understood this and tried to fight the growing power of Stalin. His early death in January 1924 prevented this.

Leon Trotsky and the Left Opposition took on the task of fighting the bureaucracy led by the centrist and right-wing (who supported the NEP market economy) of the communist party. However by 1927, democratic processes were all eliminated as the centrists (early Stalinists) and rightists expelled the Left Opposition and banned their ideas. The Soviet government organized a massive repression of Bolsheviks, who dared to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution with critical slogans of Stalin.

By 1929, Stalin expelled the right-wing from the All-Union Communist Party (party name from 1925 until 1952) and his centrist faction made Marxism-Leninism (Stalinism) the state/party dogma. The Stalinists took some ideas of the Left Opposition on collectivisation, but in their brutality they introduced famine and massive deaths. Trotsky was expelled by the time Stalin began with his collectivisation program and could only criticize from exile.

From 1927 until 1991, Marxism-Leninism (Stalinism) was the official ideology/dogma of the USSR. Even those who used the ideas of Lenin to criticize the injustice of the state, were called an ”enemy of socialism”. But socialism was never build, the state did not tolerate workers self-management nor were the soviets (councils) freely elected. Workers knew the reality, but could do nothing as they lived in a totalitarian system.

Although the system was relaxed a bit after 1956, the state was considered supreme. This anti-communist idea was brutally enforced by the Communist Party of the Soviet-Union (CPSU), who’s members were given many privileges not available to ordinary workers. This is how the CPSU kept its members loyal, not because of ideology but by privileges. These elitists remained dogmatic loyal. Going against the party-line meant that you could lose it all.

After two Soviet leaders died of sickness and old age, the CPSU had become a gerontocracy. The leading politburo was installed by Leonid Brezhnev in the 1960’s and its members remained there for almost 20 years. Brezhnev himself was unable to govern after 1980, but as General Secretary he was vital for all political decisions. The average age of a politburo member by the time Brezhnev died was 70+. His successors Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko all died before the year 1985.

There were many jobs that were not really productive for society. Since the state claimed that there was no unemployment, millions did meaningless work. Meanwhile the state propaganda kept saying that they had build socialism and a society free from exploitation. By 1985, the reality could not be kept away. Soviet technology was leaping years behind that of the western world. Since the Soviet-Union gave little attention to consumers products, these ”Made in the CCCP” were often of inferior quality.

The Soviet economy stagnated since the 1970’s. It was unable to complete with the capitalist world, due to the undemocratic nature of the state and the conservative nature of the ruling caste. Nothing was allowed to change and planners had little freedoms. Workers themselves had little motivation to work as they had no input nor control. They were told over and over that the USSR was a ”socialist workers utopia”, few believed these lies!

Capitalist propagandists claim this was because of the planned economy. In reality it was because workers had no saying in what they produced. They knew that their cars were bad, but they had no input in the production, just as under capitalism. Their state managers were the bosses and even they were forced to obey the national planners, who themselves were subjugated to the politburo led by inflexible and deeply conservative men. On 11 March 1985, the CPSU elected Mikhail Gorbachev who was 56 years old, a young face compared to the old guard.

Gorbachev tried to use market elements to save the Soviet-Union. His Glasnost and Perestroika was an attempt to give more economic freedoms to national planners and state managers. Beside economic changes, the new Soviet leader also hoped to bring a period of openness. That however led to the rise of nationalism and massive criticism of the single party state. By 1988, Glasnost and Perestroika had resulted in the rise of nationalist groups in many Soviet republics. Fuelled by ethnic nationalism they called for independence from Moscow.

The Soviet government lost control over the situation and the CPSU became paralyzed. Little by little the dogmatic old Stalinists were replaced by younger members, who were eager to embrace capitalism. Leaders like Boris Yeltsin choose to walk away from the communist party in 1990, while others like Saparmurat Niyazov waited until the whole system collapsed. It is ironic that the last politburo of the CPSU was made up of leaders, who all became nationalist dictators in many ex-Soviet republics after 1991.

On 19 August 1991, the old Stalinist guard tried a coup d’état attempt against the Soviet government. The coup was supported by conservative elements who feared the destruction of the union. By trying to keep the Marxist-Leninist (Stalinist) façade alive they doomed the USSR. The working class rose up against the plotters of the State Committee on the State of Emergency. After only three days the coup leaders surrendered. Russian president Boris Yeltsin took this opportunity to ban the CPSU in Soviet Russia.

Mikhail Gorbachev left the office of CPSU General Secretary, but remained President of the Soviet-Union until 25 December 1991. His last months were meaningless as he had no real power. The Soviet red flag flew next to the czarist tricolour on the Kremlin, which was reintroduced on 22 August as the flag of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. Yelstin ended the Soviet façade by signing the Belovezh Accords which formally dissolved the union in December of 1991.

30 years later we can conclude that capitalism and nationalism have failed. Older workers in Russia and many former Soviet republics have nostalgic feelings towards the USSR. This is because capitalism has created more inequality and poverty compared to the deeply flawed Stalinist system. Despite all problems and political repression, the Soviet-Union gave millions a glimpse of what is possible if the economy is not under capitalist control. We revolutionary socialists understand this, but we say that a return to the failed methods of Stalinism is not the alternative.

What is needed is genuine democratic socialism. A society under democratic control of the working class. The Soviet-Union was an inspiration, but not a role model. Capitalist propagandists use the USSR as a weapon against the political left. Any rejection of the market dictatorship is equalled to Stalinist oppression they say. Millions of workers still believe these lies, because too many leftists dogmatic supported the Soviet-Union and praised it as ”socialist”.

This works in favour of the capitalist establishment. Right-wing dictator Vladimir Putin praises the Soviet-Union, but only because it was a ”Russian” state. Other Russian right-wingers love the USSR because it competed against the western world. We revolutionary socialists support the idea of a nationalized economy, but reject the dictatorial single party state and bureaucratic methods. We stand for democratic control from below, workers self-management and participation of all in the planning of the economy.

Deaths at the Polish-Belarussian border

People are dying due to cold at the Polish-Belarussian border. Many migrants out of the Middle East are stuck on the border between the reactionary Polish government and the dictatorial Belarussian government. Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus is using desperate people to attack the European Union, who imposed sanctions on his autocratic regime. Many refugees and migrants from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and other parts of the Islamic world have fled to Belarus in the understanding they could travel to Germany or Britain. But right-wing Poland does not want them, they are stuck on the border between the EU (Poland) and the regime of Lukashenko, who only uses them as pawns.

Who is to blame? Right-wing Europeans blame the migrants, the refugees, the men, the women, the children. ”They are to blame for coming to Europe” they say. In reality the European Union is to blame. Capitalist governments in Poland and the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia) gave full political support to the criminal invasions and interventions into the Islamic world by Western imperialism since 2001. Therefore the governments of these countries shares in the blame for the refugee crisis and the fact that many try to flee countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.

Right-wing populism is in power in many eastern European countries. Because the established left-wing failed (social-democracy) right-wing populism took power while blaming socialism for their own capitalist politics. They claim to stand for ”the people”, in reality the governments of Poland and Hungary divide workers to keep them under capitalist rule. This is possible because social-democracy ruled no differently then liberal or conservative governments. After the collapse of Stalinism, many Stalinist communists became social-democrats on paper and embraced neoliberalism.

Yet none of them stopped the free market fundamentalism that was introduced after 1990. Neither social-democrats or their liberal allies stopped the inequality that capitalism created. It resulted in the rise of right-wing populist leaders like Viktor Orban, who hides his reactionary conservatism under a cloak of populism and nationalism. Reality is that there is no socialist alternative in Poland and Hungary. Anti-socialist stigmatization of the 1990’s resulted in many workers having been brainwashed with lies about socialism . They wrongfully think that the Stalinist regimes were socialist, this is repeated over and over by the capitalist media each day.

In reality the movement against Stalinism did not call for capitalist restoration. There were no slogans for the privatization of the economy or the return of exploiters, speculators and stock markets. Workers wanted to be free from the single party system that ruled by fear and police brutality. Now the capitalist regimes in Poland and Hungary are also slowly moving back to that era. Viktor Orban is not facing a genuine left-wing challenge. Worse, the opposition against him has now selected a conservative politician to be their candidate. This shows how weak the liberal opposition in Hungary is.

These right-wing regimes also spread hatred of migrants, specially Muslims. They need this fictional enemy in order to divert attention away from the fact that under their leadership, inequality remains very high. Many young workers are leaving eastern Europe. They rejected the racism, antisemitism and growing authoritarianism of leaders like Viktor Orban. Since coming to power, Orban has spread hatred of Muslims and Jews. Liberal billionaire George Soros is called an enemy of the state, due to his humanitarian and political involvement in the European refugee crisis, by the Hungarian state media controlled by Orban.

Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus knows that the right-wing governments of Poland and the Baltic countries reject migrates from the Islamic world. After the EU imposed sanctions on his regime, the Belarussian dictator came up with a devilish plan. He ordered his state owned airliner Belavia, to transport desperate refugees from the middle east into Belarus. Then they were to send to the border with Poland and dumped there. He knows that Poland would close the border trapping thousands. The migrants do not want to live in Poland, their target is western Europe. Yet Polish borderguards tell them that Poland “is full”!

Now there is a humanitarian crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus. Migrants who flee the civil wars caused by imperialist interventions are trapped. Winter is coming and at least ten migrants have already died due to cold. Responsible are both Poland and Belarus. Lukashenko is to blame for sending these people knowing that Poland would not allow them in, but Poland is to blame for closing the border to people who flee wars they supported. Poland shares responsibility since their soldiers fought for Western imperialism in Iraq and Afghanistan, which caused this refugee crisis.

Western imperialism started this crisis when they started to pay millions to the Afghan Islamic fighters who fought the Soviets. These Islamists overthrew the Republic of Afghanistan in 1992 and installed a Islamic regime, that became a brutal emirate in 1996. The Taliban were overthrown by Western imperialism, but returned after the puppet of the western world collapsed in August 2021. Now many Afghans will try to flee the totalitarian regime of the Taliban, a product of imperialism. Both Poland and Hungary supported the invasion of 2001 and were part of the ISAF and RS missions of NATO.

Migrants who flee wars caused by Western (American and European) imperialism deserve to be given free access to Europe. Poland is a major hypocrite by closing its borders. Refugees deserve not to be used as pawns in the right-wing conflict between Poland and Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko is a tyrant who plays with human lives. In 2020/2021 he used police and army to crush the demonstrations against his regime, arresting 32.000 people. It is thanks to the Committee for State Security (KGB), Militia (police) and Army that the dictator can remain in power. The KGB tortured over 1.700 arrested demonstrators.

It is unacceptable that men, women and children are left in the cold, while right-wing regimes in Warsaw and Minsk battle over them. The European Union is blaming Russia while Belarus blames the EU. Revolutionary socialists fully oppose the governments of both the European camp as the Belarus/Russia camp. Russian imperialism is in direct competition with European imperialism. It does not care about humans as we have seen at the border. It is estimated that over 4.000 migrants are camping in the freezing climate of eastern Poland. Ten of them have already died, many more are at risk. Lukashenko will let them die, while blaming the EU.

We demand that the border is opened and that all refugees are given protection and a place to stay. Western imperialism created this crisis when they destabilized the middle east and Afghanistan since 1978. We stand in full solidarity with all working class people fleeing war and poverty. What is needed is socialism in all parts of the world. A democratic socialist economy under the control of workers by workers. Belarus is not a socialist society, despite the use of Soviet symbolism. Lukashenko is a state-capitalist dictator who needs to be overthrown in a proletarian revolution. Liberal methods have failed, only democratic self-organization by the working class can put an end to his regime!

Why Lukashenko is still in power?

Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus is still in power. Despite massive protests against the dictatorial regime in 2020, the dictator is still ruling over the country. Why did the massive protests against him did not succeed in removing him? Why were liberal leaders like Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya not able to triumph? Although many workers supported the protests, there was no revolutionary party to lead them. Also the liberals (who were spearheading the protests) used typical bourgeois-democratic methods and faced a stonewall of state repression like mass arrests, massive layoffs and a state bureaucracy who remained loyal to Alexander Lukashenko. Now in early 2021, we can conclude that the liberal method failed. Working class Belorussians cannot trust people like Tsikhanouskaya, who do not wish the working class to take an independent role in the overthrow of the dictator.

In the last months, the protests against Lukashenko slowed down. Although the liberals now want to overthrow Lukashenko they have no idea how. Western imperialism is not stepping in for them and Russia is making sure Lukashenko is staying in power. Revolutionary socialists argue that workers should organize democratically and make demands for a Constitutional Assemble that can change the country from a centralized presidential dictatorship into a genuine democracy. We would argue for a socialist democracy, although that is up to the will of the majority of the Belorussian working class. The fact that the protests have decreased is positive for Lukashenko, who’s state media will claim that the opposition is losing support. However it gives the working class of Belarus also time to reflect on the mistakes made by the liberal leaders of the first protest wave.

Belarussians are looking for alternatives. This is something the liberal (pro-western) leaders do not like. They are already portraying revolutionary socialists on the left as ”supporters of Alexander Lukashenko”. This bashing tactic proofs how far they have degenerated. Belarus lacks a genuine left-wing opposition. Fully active in the opposition is the ISA (International Socialist Alternative) and some anarchist groups. Others like the Belarusian Left Party (A Fair World) took a panic position and told workers not to participate in the protests. They fear the oppressive nature of the state and the cruel KGB, which has arrested and tortured at least 10.000 protesters. The sectarian Communist Party of Belarus fully supports Alexander Lukashenko out of nostalgia for the Soviet period. Also the Stalinist party is pro-Russia and since the Kremlin supports Lukashenko, the Communist Party of Belarus supports Lukashenko like almost all communist parties of the former Soviet-Union.

International Socialist Alternative is active in Belarus and has faced the repression of the state. One of its members was arrested and jailed for 15 days in one of the worst prisons in Belarus. Others were far less lucky. Over 10.000 have been tortured by KGB officers, this shows that the Belarusian state has not changed its cruelty since Soviet days. The liberal opposition who led the first wave of protests in 2020 is now demoralized. Their attempts to use none violence failed and now that they call for the overthrow of the dictator, they have no plan and no organization. Why? Because liberals do not look towards the working class. This class has the potential to remove Alexander Lukashenko, but only if its is organized. Liberals do not want a organized working class, because it is a danger to the interests of world capitalism, which the liberals support. This is why they now bash revolutionary socialists as ”supporters of Lukashenko”, because we criticise them!

Why is there a difference between the 2014 Ukrainian protests and the 2020 Belarusian protests? First the Ukrainian protests which overthrew the pro-Russian Yanukovich, were led by right-wing nationalists. These nationalists are anti-Russian and sided with western imperialism. Belarusian society is not that nationalist, because 70% of its people speak Russian at home. Only a minority can speak the native language both at home and in public. Many Bolsheviks in 1919 opposed the creation of the Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic, they believed that Belarus was so close both culturally and linguistically to Russia, that there was no need for a independent Belarus. Lenin however disagreed and supported the creation of the Belarusian SSR. When the Soviet-Union collapsed in 1991, the new Republic of Belarus never developed a far-right nationalist camp such as in Ukraine. Alexander Lukashenko also did not promote Belarusian nationalism.

The Euro Maidan of 2014 in Ukraine also succeed because the ruling state bureaucracy turned against Yanukovich. This is absent in Belarus, were state bureaucrats have no nationalist desires to see Lukashenko gone. It was because of Lukashenko that they kept their privileges. During Soviet times it was the state bureaucracy that was given better wages, houses and private cars. All these privileges remained after 1991 and Lukashenko made sure he kept these state bureaucrats at his side. By portraying the protests of 2020 as ”organized by the western world” Lukashenko was able to scare many in siding with him. Because Ukraine after 2014 remains a corrupt hell hole. The pro-western regime in Kiev has changed nothing for working class people. Even now the popularity of that comedian president is declining very fast. Also, the main symbol of the Belarusian protests is used as a propaganda weapon, by the Lukashenko regime.

You see the white-red-white flag flying as the main protest symbol in Belarus. Just as in Libya in 2011, we revolutionary socialists do not think that using a symbol of a previous regime is ”revolutionary”. In Libya, we saw the use of the former monarchist flag as a ”revolutionary flag”, although it was sure not revolutionary historically. The flag of the Belarusian protestors is that of the first Belarusian People’s Republic. This republic was set up after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. It was a typical bourgeois state that worked in favour of the capitalist elite in this part of the Russian Empire. When the Imperial German Army left Belarus in November 1918, the Belarusian People’s Republic collapsed. Their flag returned in 1991 after the ruling Stalinist bureaucracy decided to dump their Marxist-Leninist façade. The white-red-white flag was used from 1991 until 1995. It was Alexander Lukashenko who decided to restore the 1951 Soviet flag, minus the hammer and sickle.

For many Belarusians the white-red-white flag is seen as a symbol of freedom, although very few understand the history of their flag. Not only was it a symbol of a failed capitalist state, it also served as symbol for the fascist supporters of Adolf Hitler. Alexander Lukashenko claims that the white-red-white flag is a ”fascist” symbol. But this is only partly true, the white-red-white flag is used by both anti-communists, fascists and liberals in opposition to the modified 1951 Soviet flag (minus the communist symbolism). Revolutionary socialists do not support this flag, although we participate in the protests and movement to remove Alexander Lukashenko. What is needed is independent working class action! The lack of organization is partly why the dictator stayed in power. He could rally a whole bureaucracy around him, plus the use of a brutal security police (KGB). Also the official trade unions are all linked to the government and act as a police force for the state. This is a remnant from the Soviet period.

This is also a reason why Lukashenko stayed in power. With support from the state bureaucracy, the KGB, the Militia (police), army, official trade unions and state media, the protestors stood isolated. Also anybody who is linked to the protestors was fired from their job. This is how the state cut-off the Belarusian working class from those who called for protests and strikes. Sacking critical workers is a key tactics by dictatorships like Belarus. Although often called a typical Soviet country, Belarus does not have a planned economy. Only 45% of the Belarusian Gross Domestic Product is produced by state owned enterprises. It is however true that 75% of all industrial output is controlled by companies with some connection to the state. The neoliberal IMF/World Bank has tried to impose austerity and almost succeeded between 1991 and 1994. Lukashenko rejected the capitalist shock therapy enforced by the criminals of the IMF/World Bank. It helped him win the first and only democratic election in 1994. After winning the presidency, Lukashenko did not carry out mass privatizations unlike Boris Yeltsin in Russia.

There is opposition to capitalist rulers in eastern Europe. Putin in Russia is facing massive rejection because of his corruption and hidden wealthy, exposed by the Anti-Corruption Foundation of Aleksej Navalny. Alexander Lukashenko might have won the first round, but he is rejected by a majority of workers in Belarus. Fear may keep him in power for now, but not forever. Elections in both Russia and Belarus are a façade, they are no tool for democratic changes. This is why we need independent working class action, to bring about revolutionary changes. Only a united working class of the world can overthrow the capitalist system and its corrupt leaders. This is what International Socialist Alternative (ISA) is trying to build. In Belarus we have begun to build up a socialist organisation that fights for the establishment of a genuine socialist society, under control of working class Belarussians.

Belarus: Only the working class can defeat Lukashenko

After weeks of protests against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator remains in power. With support from Russia and the state-bureaucracy it is clear that he will not abandon political power win out mass struggle. Demonstrations are not enough, strikes are needed. All of Belarus must come to a halt, this is the only way the regime can be forced to drop the old man. However the end of Lukashenko will not solve problems, the masses need to link his removal to an end of privatization, the contract system and pension reforms, as well as to restore free and quality health care and education. Because Belarus is a very unequal society due to capitalism! 

Despite the use of Soviet style symbols in the Belarusian flag and state emblem, the country is not a socialist republic. The state may control key sectors, but only 47% of the country’s GDP is produced by state owned enterprises. A majority of businesses are private and controlled by capitalist interests. Like Russia, the Belarusian capitalists need to be on good terms with the ruling dictator and his thugs, otherwise the state could remove them as Vladimir Putin did. Capitalists who are not ”patriotic ” (loyal to the state) are called vultures and exploiters, while those who are pro-Lukashenko are hailed as ”patriotic entrepreneurs”.

Because the opposition is using the 1918 flag of the German puppet state in Belarus, the state media has branded them: ”movements controlled by foreign interests”. Revolutionary socialists argued against the use of the 1918 flag. The German puppet state was not independent at all. Its bourgeois flag however became a symbol of nationalist opposition to the Soviet-Union. In 1941, the German occupiers of Belarus allowed this flag to be used, this is why Alexander Lukashenko calls the opposition flag a ”symbol of collaboration and fascism”. This is partly true as anticommunists, nationalists and fascists used the 1918 flag.

The Stalinist ”left-wing” stands 100% behind the dictator. They claim that Alexander Lukashenko kept many foreign capitalists out of Belarus. In reality the dictator has conducted a mass privatization program using golden shares to maintain state control, introduced brutal pension reforms and a tax on the unemployed and put workers on precarious annual contracts. Now Belarus is forced by Russia to accept the Union rules set up in 1999, allowing Russian capitalists easy access to Belarusian markets. The arguments of the Stalinist ”left” are empty and do not reflect reality. They hold on to fake symbolism which does not help the workers, who struggle with low income.

However the none-Stalinist left-wing is also not fighting with the masses. They say it is too dangerous to challenge the state. These people who are organized in the Green Party and Belarusian Left Party-Just World, remain on the sidelines while many brave working class people are now demonstrating for weeks. Their absence is why the demonstrations remain leaderless and unorganized. It allows the regime wait out, while arresting key people who are the loudest. Over 7.000 are now in KGB jails, they could be held here for months win-out a trial. This is how the old Soviet KGB worked and the Belarusian Committee for State Security has not changed its methods.

Revolutionary socialists are siding with the masses. We stand with clear socialist demands. We call for a democratic and accountable national strike. Self-defense needs to be coordinated on an internationalist basis, defending the right of self-determination of Belarus, while opposing attempts to divide people on nationalist lines. Links need to be built with work collectives and university groups. Lukashenko can be defeated with mass opposition were ever he goes. At the same time we must have no illusion. If the ruling state bureaucracy fears losing its privileges and power, it will result to violence. Mass arrests will be replaced with state terror. Therefore working class people must be ready to fight back.

If there is no left-wing alternative to the political vacuum, then the pro-western sections of the opposition will try to fill it. Then European flags will show up and we will have a Belarusian Maidan. The Ukrainian government has banned communist parties and Soviet symbols, while glorifying the far-right who fought with Hitler. All this under the approval eyes of the EU. This is not what many in Belarus want, but the pro-EU sections are willing to go so far. Right-wing nationalists can use the anti-Lukashenko mood to spread hatred of socialists, communists and leftists. A Belarusian Maidan will solve nothing as shown in Ukraine. A socialist alternative is what the country needs. It can be build if the left-wing is willing to fight for it. Right now this is not yet the case!

A positive sign is that many are bravely defying the authoritarian state. Despite that thousands now being tortured in KGB jails, many more are on the streets. Even after weeks the movement is not slowing down. Still with no program or alternative, the movement could be highjacked by right-wing nationalist elements if the left-wing does not intervene. Socialism is the only alternative for Belarus, not the Stalinist façade supported by the Communist Party of Belarus (pro-Lukashenko). Other communist parties also support this façade out of nostalgia towards the former Soviet system. A system that still rules more or less. The state bureaucracy has its origins in the Stalinist elite of the USSR, despite dropping all references to Marxism since 1991.

The movement against Alexander Lukashenko is on a crossroad. A socialist direction can result in the overthrow of the hated dictator. However a nationalist road can alienate many and a pro-EU road leads directly towards more inequality as we have seen in Ukraine. Revolutionary socialists call on workers to build a mass party for themselves. A workers party on a socialist program that can win future democratic elections and build a socialist Belarus as part of a new wider federation of democratic socialist states.

 

Down with Lukashenko!

The game is up for dictator Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. Since 1994 has this authoritarian president ruled over the ex-Soviet republic. He does not even pretend to be a democrat, Lukashenko openly claims that he is leading a dictatorship. The regime he build is more or less a continuation of the Stalinist-Soviet bureaucracy. Because the old Stalinist elite had no problems working under a guy like Lukashenko. He won their support with his rejection of neoliberalism and the restoration of the 1951 Soviet flag and emblem in 1995. However after 26 years of absolute power, the working class of Belarus has enough. Enough of fraudulent elections, enough of the brutal KGB, who is arresting, jailing and torturing critics of the government. 

The symbol of the opposition is the white-red-white flag of the first Belarusian state. This flag was also used by Belarus between 1991 and 1995. For many this symbolizes the period before Alexander Lukashenko, a period the opposition praises as a time of freedom. Revolutionary socialists disagree with them. Because the use of the white-red-white flag as a freedom banner is incorrect. The flag was set up by bourgeois nationalists in 1918, who wanted to set up an ”independent” Belarus state. Their state however was only independent on paper. With the collapse of the German Empire in November 1918, the first Belarusian bourgeois republic also fell. The flag of this first Belarusian People’s Republic became a symbol of anticommunist opposition to the Belarusian Socialist Soviet Republic founded in 1919.

With the collapse of the Soviet-Union imminent after the failed August coup in 1991, the Stalinist bureaucracy decided to follow a proposal of the anticommunist nationalists to replace the 1951 Soviet flag with the white-red-white 1918 flag. The flag and emblem of the German puppet-state (anticommunist Belarus) was in fact restored by (Stalinist) ”communists” themselves on 9 September 1991. Alexander Lukashenko is right however about the history of the 1918 flag, now flying as a symbol of opposition against his regime. The white-red-white flag is not only a symbol of bourgeois nationalism, but also used by fascist collaborators during the second world war. This fact is not seen by the demonstrators in 2020. They see the 1918 flag as a symbol of independence and freedom, although historically this is not correct.

Revolutionary socialists understand the desire to see a country free from dictatorship. At the same time we warn against the pro-western opposition. They never had much support until a completely neutral Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya came forward. She was never part of any opposition party and unlike the Euromaidan of 2014 in Ukraine, there are no massive EU flags flying at demonstrations in Belarus. This is indeed a positive thing, because the European Union has tolerated Lukashenko, even flirted with him to keep Belarus away from Russia. Tsikhanouskaya has stated that she has no political ideology, only that she wants to be a provisional leader who restores free elections. Lukashenko has denounced her, but the working class has shown that he is now rejected by his own nation.

Lukashenko is supported by a minority. His base of support is the state bureaucracy, the army and Committee for State Security, the famous KGB. These three pillars kept him in power for 26 years. It is the state bureaucrats who fake elections, the army who protects him and the KGB arresting, jailing and torturing Lukashenko’s critics. There are enough pictures on the internet about the wounds inflicted by the KGB on critics. These pictures are living proof of the brutality of the secret police in Belarus. This is not new, the KGB is in fact still the same agency created in 1954. Even in the period between the collapse of the USSR and the rise of Lukashenko, the KGB remained as a instrument of repression. Working class Belarusians always feared the agency for its abuse of human rights.

Only political parties loyal to the president have won seats in the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus. The biggest of them is a political organisation with no clear ideology. The party Belaya Rus owns 68 out of 110 seats in the House of Representatives, they are the YES men/women of Lukashenko in parliament. Another mouthpiece of the dictator is the Communist Party of Belarus, who support the state-capitalist leader only because of his opposition to the western world. While over 400.000 demonstrate against Alexander Lukashenko, he was able to rally only 10.000 people from across the country. They were rushed in buses to the capital for a propaganda show. It failed as their numbers dwarfs the many who now take a stand against the government.

Belarus has kept many aspects from the Soviet period. Lukashenko did this to keep the state bureaucracy at his side and to use the alienation of millions towards the restoration of capitalism in Russia and other ex-Soviet republics. Belarus in 1992 started to make plans for massive privatizations. However the election of Lukashenko delayed them as the new president rejected the idea of quick deregulation. Despite the claims by some in the west, that Belarus remains a ”socialist republic”, the reality is that under Lukashenko the state only controls 47% of the national GDP. Key sectors maybe under state ownership, but many enterprises are controlled by capitalists loyal to the president. Trade unions also remain tools of the state as they were in Soviet times.

In 2002, Alexander Lukashenko restructured the Soviet: Leninist Communist Youth League under the name: Belarusian National Republican Youth League (BRSM). This new youth league is almost a direct clone of the former Leninist Communist Youth League, minus the communist ideology. This is what Lukashenko did in Belarus. He used symbols and names from the Soviet period and reused them, minus any references to communism. In Belarus you seem state symbols that look like those in Soviet times, minus the hammer & sickle, Marx or Lenin. The Belarusian National Republican Youth League is ordered to promote patriotism and to instill ”moral values” into the youth of Belarus. This is how the state-capitalist regime tried to control the youth, it failed in the end.

Many youth are in rebellion and the official BRSM website is now offline (as of 18 August 2020). It seems the state sponsored youth group has decided to go silent. Meanwhile the Stalinist: Communist Party of Belarus remains loyal to their state-capitalist dictator as do many communist parties. Their failure to understand why Belarusian workers strike proofs the inability of Stalinist communists to be the revolutionary vanguard of the working class.  As more and more people reject the president, the state suddenly released over 6.000 political prisoners. However this has not slowed the resistance. Strikes go on across the nation. Workers openly defied Lukashenko as he came to talk to factory workers. They shouted ”LEAVE” and called him a liar. It is a clear signal that the old man is no longer in control of what is happening.

The central question remains, will Lukashenko step down? As long as the state bureaucracy, the army and KGB support him this will not happen. They might resort to violence to keep their leader in power. Russia has already offered support to crush those who demonstrate against the fraudulent elections. Revolutionary socialists say that the strikes should be extended and run by elected strike committees until Lukashenko goes and all political prisoners are released. The strike committees should be linked up and include student and resident representatives to organize a revolutionary constituent assembly to decide how the country should be run in the interests of the working class.

Europe and Russia wish to see a regime that is friendly to their interests. Those interests are capitalist and do not serve the Belarusian working class. The masses who are on strike need a political party that represents them. At this moment all major parties have been loyal to Alexander Lukashenko. His time is up however and the future of Belarus lies with the masses. If the strikes are organized and inclusive, then the state-bureaucracy will have no choice but to capitulate. For 26 years Lukashenko has abused his position as president. He won elections that were not free, he used the KGB to arrest and torture people. His pseudo-populism and fake nostalgia towards the Soviet-Union are now useless.

Our demands are clear:

• Dismantle the dictatorship
• Fight capitalism
• Build a workers democracy in Belarus