Marxists and the Ukrainian War

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Amid the overwhelming war propaganda, Marxists must firmly oppose all imperialist forces and fight for internationalism and worker solidarity - a critique of the International Marxist Trend (IMT)

Per-Åke Westerlund

Among the several recent articles by Alan Woods, the leading figure of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), one of them has the subtitle "Russian Atrocities - Real or Fake?", which is a typical "sympathetic to Putin" performance of thinking.

Marxists take a class stand against imperialist wars. We support workers and the oppressed in defending their rights. We expose all kinds of lies and condemn the murders committed by the US and Russian imperialists. But that's not Woods' approach. Rather than condemning all the imperialist powers, he was entirely focused on understanding and justifying the actions of the Russian military, which he believed was stronger.

His most recent article only mentioned U.S. imperialism, not Russian (or Chinese) imperialism. His every word, every word, did not keep a distance from the Kremlin. Nor does he use class definitions or regimes in his description of the war, referring only to the terms "Russians" and "Ukrainians."

Day 1 - Is the war over?

Woods has been echoing the Moscow propaganda from day one of the war. As the war began, he wrote: "Although it is too early to say that the war is over, no one can doubt that Russia will achieve all its declared goals in a very short time. To determine the exact mood of the Ukrainian people It's not easy. Anyway, the east will be different, there are a lot of Russian speakers; the west has always been more nationalistic."

And "there are also reports that Russian forces have entered Ukraine, claiming that Ukraine's border forces 'have not offered any resistance' to Russian forces."

Any member of IMT can now see reality and clearly understand what Woods could not see or understand on February 24. The resistance of the Ukrainian population to the Russian invasion was extremely strong, as was the country's Russian-speaking population. In Mariupol, now almost completely flattened by explosives, artillery and missiles, more than 80 percent of the population speaks Russian. Since 2014, opposition to the influence of the Russian regime has grown.

Woods uses the word "nationalism" in a negative tone (and refers only to Ukrainian nationalism, not to the role of the equally reactionary Russian nationalism), while Marxists take a more mature view of national issues. Marxists are staunch supporters of national rights, including the right to self-determination — and expose how the ruling class fails to truly realize national rights. As Lenin said when speaking of the peoples of ex-tsarist Russia (at the time he was paying particular attention to Ukraine), in order to achieve real unity of the working class across national borders, it is necessary to do everything possible to fully defend the rights of nations.

In his first related article, Woods believes that Kyiv will be captured and that there will be a regime change that Putin wants. He continued: "Do we support the interests of Putin and the Russian oligarchs he supports? No, Putin is not a friend of the working class, whether in Russia, Ukraine or elsewhere. The invasion of Ukraine is just a continuation of his own cynical and reactionary intentions. ."

"But that's not the question we should be asking ourselves at this time. The question is: Can we stand in the same camp of American and British imperialism in any form?"

The key question here is: Who are "we"? Can an international organization that professes itself Marxism feel that it is a wrong question whether "we" should support Putin? To say that "criticizing Putin will bring socialists into the same camp of US imperialism" is completely contrary to the basic principles of the internationalist stand of the working class. To underestimate the reactionary nature of Russian imperialism (and its Chinese allies) and to refrain from mentioning the conflict between global imperialisms is a fundamental mistake for anyone calling themselves a Marxist, and we should not take it lightly.

"Russians" show restraint?

After more than a month, Woods did not admit any mistakes, but intensified his original position. He wrote: "But the people of the West never got the full picture. Contrary to stupid propaganda, the Russians did not blow up everything in front of them, but showed restraint to reduce civilian casualties - hence the very high number of civilian deaths reported. Low."

Woods himself has no intention of giving the full picture. Should we applaud the "low" civilian death toll? Mass graves have now been discovered, and thousands of people have died in Mariupol alone. Combined with the Russian army preparing for a massive attack in the Donbas region, the number of civilian deaths will rise sharply.

For Woods, however, the blame does not lie with those who attacked with artillery and missiles: "It is a well-documented fact that the Ukrainian army often places artillery in residential areas next to schools and hospitals to attract Russian fire."

"The same is true in Kyiv, where residential areas are regularly hit by Russian missiles, not because they were intended to be bombed by Russian forces, but because Russian missiles were shot down by Ukrainian missiles and landed in populated areas."

One small detail: The Washington Post source he cited in the latter article said these things happened "sometimes."

Woods turned to "the latest reports of alleged Russian atrocities in Butcha, one of the villages where Russian troops were recently evacuated."

"To identify the perpetrator of any crime, the first question to ask is: Who benefits from it?"

"Committing a massacre and then having the victim corpse on the street to be found by the enemy doesn't seem like the most likely tactic for the Russians, after all, they have absolutely no way to benefit from it."

Throughout history, however, it is not uncommon for reports of imperialist troops to commit similar terrorist crimes and lose their support or reputation as a result. In well-documented cases such as the abuse of prisoners of war by US imperialism in Iraq and the use of chemical weapons in Vietnam, Woods' logic is not the "most likely strategy" either. Anyone who has seen photos of Russian terrorist bombings in Syria or Chechnya will not doubt the ability of the Kremlin to create massive terrorist attacks that cause mass casualties and destruction.

Even Woods ends his article with this warning: "Time will tell who's lying and who's telling the truth."

When commenting on the war itself, Woods continued to be "sympathetic to Putin." First of all, this sentence can be said to want to be promoted first: "The West's statement that the Russian army encountered difficulties at first may have some truth." Then there are the words of praise: in "Forcing the Ukrainians to disperse their troops in many ways, mainly to defend the capital." Kyiv", "the Russians performed well and succeeded".

Woods claimed that the Russian army's initial attack on Kyiv, which has now been abandoned, was just a feint at the beginning of the war. He said that, with the exception of Kyiv, the city was not the goal, citing the famous Prussian general Clausewitz: "It is not always necessary to conquer all his (enemy) territory, and it may not be enough to occupy his territory completely. "

Clausewitz is of course right, but to say that conquering territory "isn't always necessary" is by no means the same as saying that Putin never intended to occupy a larger area than he was aiming for until his previous strategy failed. . Woods' claim that the Russians are "exactly" doing what Clausewitz says is necessary to win—destroying enemy forces rather than occupying cities—justifies Russian atrocities. All facts show that Putin initially expected a quick victory for the Russian army and control of the whole of Ukraine.

But Woods said: "It is clear that the Russian army is making progress" and "the truth is that the Russian army is not retreating at all." Indeed, Putin and his generals have ordered a regroup to the Donbass and are preparing for a major offensive. What kind of resistance the Ukrainian army can mobilize is also a question.

In trying to analyze military strategy, Woods' mistakes stem from exaggerating the Russian military's superiority, including Putin's so-called "tactics." But we can only truly oppose Western imperialism if we act independently on the basis of the international working class and have no illusions about other imperialist regimes or countries.

relapse

Woods' mistake this time was just a relapse. In 1989, before he split from the Committee of the Workers' International (CWI, the predecessor of the International Socialist Road ISA), he claimed that the Soviet Union had withdrawn from Afghanistan because their mission had been accomplished, ensuring the stability of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. This is a complete misreading of the reasons behind the Soviet retreat - rooted in the crisis and corruption of the Stalinist ruling bureaucracy. Contrary to Woods' predictions, the Kabul regime collapsed in 1992.

Woods showed a tendency to underestimate ethnic issues, such as still talking about the concept as if "Yugoslavia" still existed. He was slow to recognize the collapse of Stalinism and the restoration of Soviet capitalism. Now, 30 years after the fall of Stalinism, he still seems to believe, like parts of the left, that the Russian regime has a different national character.

Marxist analysis begins with an analysis of global developments, not a superficial "sympathy" or a defense of one side in an imperialist war. Especially in the midst of the overwhelming war propaganda, it is the real task of Marxists to firmly oppose Russian aggression, NATO militarism and Zelensky's capitalist regime, and to advocate and build internationalism and workers' solidarity.