N° 25- juin 2022 The war in Ukraine has been going on for two months already leaving a trail of destruction, millions of refugees and displaced persons, loss of human lives and a nagging question: where does this seemingly limitless escalation lead us?
This war wanted by the Russian Federation, which intends to establish its political and territorial domination over Ukraine, is increasing in intensity and is causing great concern about its expansion into a major world conflict, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has just declared.
From the beginning we have analyzed and characterized this war as the expression of the clashes within imperialism(1) and especially the great capitalist powers and their alliances – the USA and in tow within NATO the European countries and the EU, against those who question their supremacy and especially against the rising force represented by China and its allies, including Russia, with an energy potential that is a major stake for all. We also underlined the long and disastrous consequences that this conflict causes for all peoples(2).
In a context of exacerbated clashes between capitalist multinationals for the control of raw materials, markets, communication channels and the labor force to ensure their profits, war in all its forms is a means of existence assuring them, particularly in the field of armaments, considerable profits. Thus, for 2021 the record of 2,000 billion dollars devoted to armaments has just been exceeded and all military budgets are rising sharply. Day by day, the consequences of war draw a tragic picture with thousands of civilian and military victims and massive destruction. The military intervention, the war launched against Ukraine – a sovereign and recognized state –, by the Russian Federation even adorned with the concept of "denazification" of Ukraine and of support for the so-called People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk controlled by Russian power, has no other goal than territorial control of part of Ukraine. This war, fueled by nationalism in both Russia and Ukraine, also serves as a pretext to muzzle the democratic forces and strengthen the powers of the predatory bourgeoisies that were formed after the fall of the USSR by the grabbing of social property. In this movement religion is called to the rescue in a well-known alliance of what is called "the Cross and the Sword" rule. Thereby the Orthodox churches confirm that they are an unfailing ideological support for the power of the Ukrainian and Russian bourgeoisies!
While the condemnation of the military action of Russia must be pronounced, the imperialist alliance that is NATO cannot be absolved of its responsibilities. It has a heavy record of interventions against the peoples: let us remember Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya… In Europe, its expansion to the East up to the borders of the Russian Federation clearly marks the desire to modify the balance of power in Europe to the detriment of Russia for the benefit of the USA. This is so true that the involvement of the USA in the war in Ukraine is openly commented on by its leaders as a means of weakening Russia particularly in the energy field, opening up a large European market dominated until now by Russia.
The visit to Kyiv on Sunday April 24 by A. Blinken, US Secretary of State and L. Austin, Secretary of State for Defense, the new heavy equipment delivery commitments, the direct participation of US forces in intelligence and military training, the meeting in Germany on a US base of the 40 countries which participate in the armament of Ukraine, all this constitutes a new assumed escalation of which extent the 4 billion dollars of armament already granted to Ukraine testify. Therefore with the warmongering declarations of the Russian Federation and the objective of continuing the occupation of part of Ukraine, everything shows that the conditions for an elevation and a widening of the conflict are here.
In view of this what is to be done and immediately? Our demand is clear, the military intervention in Ukraine must stop, the war must stop immediately. But make no mistake, this demand must be a political battle of the peoples because we cannot and we must not trust the imperialists to stop the war, they have too many interests in it which are neither those of the workers nor of the peoples. Our demand for an end to the conflict has nothing to do with a pacifism which would consist in imploring the imperialists for a “capitalist peace”. For us, peace and disarmament are inseparable from the struggle for social change: for socialism!
(1)https://www.sitecommunistes.org/index.php/monde/europe/1787-ukraine-stop-a-cette-guerre-dont-les-consequences-pesent-et-peseront-lourd-et-longtemps-pour-les-nations-et-les-peuples
(2)https://www.sitecommunistes.org/index.php/monde/europe/1787-ukraine-stop-a-cette-guerre-dont-les-consequences-pesent-et-peseront-lourd-et-longtemps-pour-les-nations-et-les-peuples