Russian Maoists have legitimate concerns — but we can't support Russia's invasion

 By Steve Otto

Just recently I read a response to those who have come up with statements condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This message was left for the blog of Communist Party of Ecuador, Red Sun / Partido Comunista del Ecuador - Sol Rojo. Like many of us they have condemned Russia's invasion.

The Message read:

 

"Dear comrades, your opinion suffers from incomplete and false information. Please read this:

http://maoism.ru/en/21071"

 

Then I turned to that address and read their response. Among their concerns are:

 

 

§               Ukraine’s ongoing attacks on the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR), where, by the way, almost a million citizens of the Russian Federation live;

§               NATO’s continued expansion to the east;

§               President Zelensky’s statement on the possibility of withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Budapest Memorandum).

 

These are legitimate concerns. But in my opinion they do not justify the kinds of death and destruction the average Ukrainian has been enduring. To justify any war is difficult. The only wars I can really support are wars of liberation. Despite all of the above concerns, I just don't find that kind of justification.

Then there is this argument:

 

" Many base their criticism of the SMO on an analysis of Putin’s speech of February 21 as anti-communist. Let me explain. Undoubtedly, Putin is an anti-communist – like any other bourgeois identity. The difference here is the same as between petty disorderly conduct and gangsterism."

 

 

We have all seen the excuse :"so and so is anti-communist but not as anti-communist as the other guy." Is this any real excuse to support a bourgeois politician? I don't think so. It certainly does not give the kind of support we would need to switch sides and support President Vladimir Putin and Russia.

As with the Communist Party India (Maoist) and others, including this blog, we have addressed the expansion of NATO and our opposition to it. For example The Red Sun Maoist say:

 

"This war of aggression by Russian imperialism against Ukraine is the result of its struggle for hegemony with Yankee imperialism after decades of encirclement of Russia by Yankee imperialism, with its "allies" in NATO and its constant attempts to destroy the capabilities Russian nuclear. This is the other contradiction that is expressed in current developments, that is, the inter-imperialist contradiction."

 

But they also point out:

 

"...Consequently, in the present case, the point is that, with the Russian imperialist invasion of Ukraine, the nation-imperialism contradiction has become the main contradiction in Ukraine. Therefore, it is possible, and moreover necessary for us, that the different classes of this country, except for a small number of traitors, temporarily unite in a national war against imperialism. The complex situation between the imperialist (super)powers, the oppressed nations and the rotten regimes of the sellouts, in combination with the extensive propaganda of the different parties involved, which has been going on for years, harbors the possibility of losing the orientation. We must beware of this and clearly emphasize the class character and the main contradiction without losing sight of the third contradiction,"

 

As with other members of the left, especially communists, we have all criticized NATO. Most of us recognize the right of the people of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) to self determination. But it would be a disaster for us to endorse what Russia is doing in Ukraine.

It is impossible to invade a country and not kill civilians. There are no clean wars and many of us, including my blog, have pointed out that the same atrocities have taken place in countries the US has invaded, such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

We knew there was something phony about the US taking up the cause of Ukraine's citizens from the beginning. So we are not surprised to see the US and its allies trying to use this to expand NATO and US and European imperialism. There is a real possibility that this war can spill over the present borders to nearby countries.

I have supported wars of liberation in such counties as the Philippines, India and Peru. But this war is not about liberation. As I have said before, there simply are no good guys to support here. There may be some communists and progressive in Ukraine fighting the Russians. But for the most part, the resistance is bourgeois. Some leftists have accused the Ukraine leadership of supporting Nazism. It doesn't matter to me. Ukraine was a bourgeois government over all and we have no need to support it or call for its return. But endorsing the Russian invasion is something we just can't do and we should not do it.