In the early hours of the morning of Thursday, February 24, the Russian army targeted from several land, air and sea fronts the military infrastructure, air force facilities and military airports of Ukraine in the cities of Odessa, Kharkiv and Kiev.
The war between Russian and Ukrainian governments is part of a larger global conflict, that is, Ukraine is merely a stage for the showdown between big bourgeois powers. The mainstream media speak of the return to the Cold War and the “fight between democracy and dictatorship.” The Cold War era ended three decades ago. Separated parts of the defunct Eastern bloc are now free market capitalist states busy exploiting workers and, for the most part, NATO members. The “great Russia” aspiration of the Russian nationalism has long since been revived and challenged the US-led world order. China too is pursuing its own economic and political goals as a rival to the United States and a new economic ally of Russia. The working people in Ukraine and Russia are now falling prey to the goals hidden behind those reactionary confrontations.
The immediate goal of Putin’s Russia is to deny Ukraine the chance to join NATO, topple its current government, replace it with a ‘friendly’ government, and thereby restore its own sphere of influence in the breakaway republics of the former Soviet Union. Another goal that Russia may gradually achieve is the annexation of Ukraine to Russia. The more fundamental goal of the ambitious Russian nationalism of which Putin is presently the standard bearer is to firmly establish its position as a decisive superpower in the equations of a multi-polar world.
On the opposite front, the United States is trying to make up for its weakened global position through a policy of containment of China and Russia, expand NATO, weaken Russia economically, create a rift between Russia and China, and between Russia and Europe, in particular. The United States has no plans to go to war against Russia and, despite strong condemnations, may welcome Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as an opportunity to weaken Russia’s economic and political position, further isolate it, and re-establish itself as the world’s biggest power. The first result of the current invasion will be the re-uniting by Western governments around the United States and NATO, the cancellation or temporary suspension of Nord Stream 2 by Germany, and putting the Chinese government in a contradictory position. It is in this climate of global conflict and militaristic intimidation that China is laying out its claims over Taiwan more seriously than ever.
We consider the belligerence of the imperialist powers to have no purpose other than to shape and redefine a new bourgeois world order, and consider this particular case, i.e., the current war, that is, the militaristic terrorization of the Ukrainian people by the Russian government, as reactionary and against the interests of the world working class. Putin, Biden, Macron, Schultz, Johnson, and Zelensky are merely agents representing the interests of the various factions of a single, international class – the bourgeoisie. The interests of the workers are not, and will not be, represented either in the wars or in the peaces made by the factions within the bourgeois class itself. In the current crisis, therefore, we stand not on the side of the governments, not on the side of the nationalist goals and policies of one side or the other, but on the side of the workers in Russia, Ukraine and the countries of the region against the capitalist governments. The economic sanctions imposed by the Western powers, i.e., the US and its European allies, are not only a non-deterrent to Putin’s Russia in this war, but they are, as far as the former is concerned, in effect, weapons of mass destruction aimed at the working people in Russia, and, as far as the latter, make-shift tools, as it were, in the hands of the Russian ruling elite to justify their repressive rule. In a nutshell, we consider the impositions of such sanctions inhumane, pure and simple.
We call on the working class in Russia and Ukraine not to become allies of one side or the other in the reactionary war between the governments of Putin and Zelensky. This is not the war of workers and oppressed people; it is a war of the capitalists. The working classes in Ukraine and Russia, given their long history and common interest, must raise the banner of war against their own bourgeoisie and turn their guns towards the ruling elite in their own country.
This war, which has already led to widespread suffering and displacement, has no justification and must be stopped immediately. This war is totally against the working class and every freedom-demanding movement in the world today. This war will cause great setbacks, will prepare the ground for the advancement of religion, fascist organizations and fanatical forces, and will cause displacement and hardship upon millions of deprived masses. The working class and its communist leaders must, as a united front, confront the reactionary goals of the capitalist war with their own socialist solutions.
Under the present circumstances, it is of vital importance to realize the common fate of the working classes as well as the freedom-loving people in Russia, Ukraine, Europe and the United States. Such realization is the first step in the direction of forming an independent, class front line against the reactionary war of the bourgeois governments in order to bring it to a conclusion conclude in favor of the world working class.
Workers! Rise up against the imperialist war!
No to the capitalists’ war!
Long live the international solidarity of the working class!
Freedom, equality, workers’ rule!
Worker-communist Party of Iran – Hekmatist
Feb. 25, 2022
