War in Ukraine. The European Working Class Must Act

Richard Mellor

Afscme Local 444, retired
GED/HEO

2-28-22

 

The Russian Invasion

The starting point with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the poorest country in Europe,  must be a call to end the war and the occupation. "Troops Out" as the Irish used to say with regards to the British Army in the north. Here in the US there is a significant outpouring of sympathy for the Ukrainian people in response to the invasion.  This is a natural response to brutality, unless of course, the invading force is the US which is the world’s leader when it comes to invading sovereign nations seeking regime change. In that case, the rallying cry is “support Our Troops”, a purposely vague term if there ever was one. The anti-Russian sentiment is significant and in the US mass media, Putin is a monster.

 

If we are to believe the mass media, Putin and Russia won the US election imposing the degenerate Trump on the American people and the world. The power of the significantly weaker world power that Russia is compared to the US, to direct the trajectory of US society for the past period, makes one wonder how they lost the Cold War.

 

I have to say, it is somewhat nauseating here to listen to people who are praying for the people of Ukraine as US bombs rain down on Yemen dropped by its proxies in the region. The wearing of colored armbands of the Ukrainian state and no doubt bumper stickers and flags will appear on cars; this is from many people who couldn’t point to Ukraine on the map.  

 

This expression, in some cases mere self-aggrandizement, is insulting to all the innocents of imperialist slaughter, including the million or more Iraqi’s that died at the hands of the US war machine and those US workers whose limited opportunities make the military the best option. I don’t recall much sympathy for the residents of Fallujah the Iraqi city that was devastateed after its residents killed four US mercenaries. The people of Fallujah have children to this day that are born deformed due to the use of chemical weapons by the US forces. Depleted uranium weapons were also used by the US in Iraq.

 

So while it is crucial that US workers oppose Russia’s brutal invasion, it is equally important that we reject nationalism and break from the usual practice of parroting the US mass media’s US state department propaganda and lies about defending democracy. Instead we should emphasize that in this confrontation between two competing imperialist forces we oppose both sides, Russia, the Ukrainian regime and the U.S. in the form of NATO. It will be, as is always the case, working class people that die. It will be working class communities that are destroyed. *

 

NATO is not a defensive force it is an offensive one and its policies are dominated by the US. In sum, NATO, with the US at its head, is a force for defending and expanding the interests of western capital. Putin is many things, and he is undoubtedly interested, along with China, in increasing the influence of these two capitalist powers. Whether state capitalist, or gangster capitalist and numerous other titles attributed to these regimes, they certainly have abandoned any claim to being socialist. I am not here to argue that point. But both countries are not wrong about what NATO really is and we live in the belly of this beast, a beast that has intensified its assault on US workers and the middle class. Let’s not lose sight of that.

 

The present crisis in Europe is a product of the changing balance of forces between the world’s major powers, China and the US in particular. Condemning NATO’s expansionary policies is not supporting Putin or Tse. But appealing to the politicians, theoreticians and mass media of the present capitalist regimes or their proxies, is akin to the sheep appealing to the wolves for leadership. It is a dead end. Capitalist powers competing for a larger share of the world’s resources is not our business.

 

The only force in society that can counter this deepening crisis of global capitalism is the working class, the vast majority of humanity that live through the sale of our ability to work (labor power) and not the profit of capital. The video above is heartwarming as Russians come out in support of the Ukrainian people and against Putin’s war; a risky business in Russia.

There have been protests throughout the world, this a very positive development and needs to grow. It is not enough however. I was at the anti-war demonstration in London against the bombing of Iraq, there were by some accounts two million people there, regular folks. There were millions around the world doing the same thing but still the US thumbed its nose at us all including the UN and destroyed a country, continuing policies that have destabilized the entire region and caused a massive migration crisis as people fled US bombs.

 

The European workers are organized and have a revolutionary history. There should be protests and strikes throughout Europe; this should have happened when the Greek working class directed Syriza and its leader Alexis Tsipras to reject the austerity measures European capital advocated through the Troika and instead fight back. Many opportunities are lost as workers are generally ahead of our leaders.

 

In Europe, many of the workers’ organizations are led by self-proclaimed socialists, communists and others who describe themselves as anti-capitalists. These leaders will not act because in reality they are anti-capitalist in name only, it is a concession to the pressure from below and the revolutionary potential of the workers they claim to represent. But they do not see an alternative to capitalism and bow to its imperialist relation, they plead for a friendlier, less aggressive version and so-called liberal wings of the ruling classes, but there is no such thing. The drive to war is built in to the system.

In the last analysis they do not see, as Marx stressed, that the working class is the most revolutionary class in this era and that the emancipation of the working class must be an act of the working class itself, internationally, not simply in one country. Capital is international, it does not respect borders, and neither must we. It is no wonder such a simple slogan as “Workers of All Countries Unite” along with those who penned it, are so demonized. 

 

Given the players in the present situation, there is a genuine danger that things could get out of hand, even by accident. Despite the industrial working class shifting from Europe and the US to Asia and the southern hemisphere, the necessity of transforming society will not be possible without US workers settling accounts with the US capitalist class, the most powerful of them globally.

 

It’s fine to share concern and feelings for the sufferings of the Ukrainian people at the moment, but it’s hypocritical if we are silent in face of the crimes of our own violent regime and its role in creating the situation.

 

Outside of all the debates about who is worse US imperialism, China, Russia etc. the main point is that as far as workers are concerned they are all our enemies and their workers all our allies. As we protest our own government’s role in all of this we must add our voices to the call for the end of the occupation and the young workers of Russia who are being killed and the Ukrainian workers who are fighting to defend their national borders to fraternize, have their own truces and build a stronger unity that can link with all European workers in a struggle against war and capitalism. We must recognize that NATO is not a force for peace and demand it be dismantled.

 

The movie Joyeux Noel details the events in WW1 in 1914 when British and German troops came out of their trenches and fraternized on Christmas day. They played football and sang carols together. This occurred on a number of occasions and the officers that permitted it were punished. This is what we need to see, a united working class show of resistance and strength.

 

Here in the US workers have no political voice, no independent political party of our own. Both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party are warmongering parties of US capitalism and cannot serve the interests of working people. The refusal of the leaders of organized labor to build one or break from their support of US foreign policy which has committed crimes against humanity by any standard, undoubtedly holds back the development of a genuine working-class movement and political party that would transform the balance of class forces in the US and show a way out.

 

It will take some shocks to breach that dam. But capital will not halt its slide in to the abyss taking us with it. It will force workers to take a stand as our backs are pushed further against the wall. We are experiencing in the US increased rumblings within and without organized labor, strikes, protests and actions in the workplace. The climate crisis is beyond denial except for a few in the lunatic fringe. Our infrastructure is crumbling as the thugs in Congress call for more billions for Ukraine and other regions of the world where competition for global plunder is contested.

 

For myself, I am convinced the US working class and our class globally will struggle to resolve the crises of capitalism but whether it will be timely or successful nothing is guaranteed; leadership is crucial in moments like these. Without success and the global working class rising to the task history has set for us, our grandchildren have no future.

 

Society needs new managers.

 

 

* The US Department of Defense, through project 100,000 lowered the entry requirements for the US army to allow more black men in to the historically racist US military. Arming black men was not popular at all, but more fodder was needed for the Vietnam intervention. See Tauré Read, Toward Freedom The Case against Race Reductionism p113. Verso