In Imperialist Conflict Our Solidarity is with the Working Class

Video image released by the Russian defense ministry on 2 February, of Russian and Belarusian armored vehicles during a joint military drills at Brestsky firing range, Belarus

Anarchist Communists Meanjin By Iswed Tiggjan

Discussing the Ukraine Conflict

Imperialist tension has continued to rise in Eastern Europe as Russia and NATO appear determined to compete for hegemony in Ukraine. Despite assurances from the Ukrainian government that conflict is unlikely, western media has continuously beat the drums of war in order to ensure their citizens are primed for another proxy war should Russia decide to invade.

On paper Russia claims that its current posturing is due to security concerns, most pertinent being NATO’s continued drive to expand towards its borders. Of particular concern is the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO, with Putin appearing to desire a guarantee that such an event will not occur. Concurrently the US and other NATO countries are positioning themselves as the defenders of human rights and the capacity for countries to choose their own international diplomatic relations. On paper both positions could be taken as reasonable demands. To fully understand the situation however we have to look a little closer at the reality of imperialist relations.

Since the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO  has sought to expand its reach throughout Eastern Europe serving to threaten and isolate Russia in an endeavor to stop it from being capable of again asserting itself as a global superpower capable of threatening Washington’s strength.

To quote from our British comrades in the Anarchist Communist Group (ACG):

“With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of republics emerged that had separated from the Russian Federation. Among these was Ukraine, the largest in terms of landmass and the most important in terms of industrial development, an industrial development that had reached its climax under Stalin and his successors.

The fall of the Soviet Union seriously weakened Russia but thanks to rising oil prices coupled with the rise to power of Putin, it began to re-assert itself. It was determined to control and influence the surrounding countries on its borders, both for defence reasons and to re-affirm its control over those regions which it had established after World War Two.

The political-military alliance it had established with its satellites, the Warsaw Pact, was dissolved. However, the corresponding political-military alliance developed by the United States and the Western European powers, NATO, was not wound up and remains an instrument of both the USA and various component Western countries. In fact, NATO sought to increase its influence and has intervened in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya. Despite promising the Russian regime that it would not expand its influence east of what was East Germany, it has invested its forces in the countries surrounding Russia, including the Baltic States.

NATO is an aggressive military machine, not a body there to passively defend the West. It has intervened in Libya, in Afghanistan and Iraq. It actively seeks to recruit not just former Soviet republics like Ukraine and Georgia into its alliance, but also so called neutral countries like Finland and Sweden, both very close to Russia. It demands that each component country of NATO spends at least 2% of its Gross Domestic Product on military expenditure.”

Here we can see that the interest of NATO in Ukraine is far from humanitarian and has everything to do with defending western hegemony against rising rival imperialist powers. But how do we understand Russia’s actions?

Here we can again benefit from the work of our comrades in the ACG:

The Putin regime is massing large numbers of troops on Ukraine’s borders for a number of reasons. The domestic situation is far from healthy and the Covid pandemic has aggravated this. Putin is wary of growing discontent and hopes that his belligerent attitude will unite the Russian masses behind him and make them forget their economic woes. This is a gamble, as the Russian masses are in general not keen to engage in warfare with their fellow Slavs in Ukraine, and remember the disastrous consequences of the war in Afghanistan, when Russian troops sent in to save the pro-Russian regime there were bogged down for years with massive casualties.”

It remains likely that neither NATO nor Russia truly want to escalate the current tensions into a full-blown war. To an extent both sides have already gained what they wanted from the conflict. Biden has taken full advantage of the opportunity to increase NATO troop presence in Eastern Europe, and will surely use this to pressure US aligned nations for further militarisation. For Russia this is a significant step in their road to regaining the global reach of the Soviet Union. Now Russia can claim to have not only outplayed the US in  the Syrian proxy war, but to have stood toe-to-toe with the US empire without blinking, drawing a clear line in the sand. Russia has further made clear to the west it’s confidence in it’s developing military might, and it’s willingness to use it. However while neither side desires the conflict to escalate, the reality is that during heightened imperialist posturing war can often be sparked through a single mistake or miscalculation on either side, regardless of intentions.

For their part Ukrainian anarchists from the magazine Assembly remain skeptical of the West’s predictions of war stating that

“It may surprise you, but we know almost no one here who is interested in such news, and even fewer who take it seriously. For the most part, people are worried about exorbitant energy bills that are leading to more and more houses having their heating switched off, and enterprises to working or going into the shadow sector precarising their workers. Ukrainian gas is mostly exported to Europe, while energy carriers for power plants are bought from Russia and the occupied part of Donbass. So you can imagine why we would be skeptical about these horror forecasts from the Western press”

Assembly goes on to point out that the greatest deterrent to state powers falling into a new large-scale war is the threat that such a war holds to the entire capitalist order.

“…before 1917 [that is the Russian Revolution] there was 1914, when all of Europe thought that a small victorious war would last a couple of weeks, only to result in a world-revolutionary wave ending in 1923. With this in mind, we can see why the imperialist politicians and corporations are wary all the more that a military clash in the very centre of Europe will again lead to a comparable social explosion in their countries (at least in the USA — taking into account the rise of revolutionary struggle there during the last years). So the world leaders intend to divide spheres of influence peacefully and rattle their weapons just to facilitate their negotiations.”

Ukrainian anarchists of the Autonomous Workers Union mobilising in 2014

While we agree with our Ukrainian comrades in their belief that the memory of the First World War and the workers’ revolutions it created remains a powerful deterrent, many governments also remember the capacity for war to build their short-term popularity and support, particularly when the capitalist order sees little threat of a revolutionary working class on the horizon. The First World War at the end of the day was the inevitable result of dividing “spheres of influence peacefully” having reached its limit.

If war does break out the outcome would be devastating for the Ukrainian and Russian people, and potentially the entire planet should NATO decide to intervene in a manner larger than the proxy wars of the past 30 years. Even should war be avoided in this conflict, the weakening of US hegemony and the rise of competing (proto) imperialist blocs in China and Russia means that the prospect of a large-scale imperialist war is now increasingly on the horizon.  In such a situation it would be essential to avoid the trap of campism in which one side is chosen as being deserving of support. Our solidarity can never be with states engaging in war to serve their interests and the interests of their capitalist classes. Our solidarity can only ever go to the workers of every country across the globe. Both NATO and Russia must be opposed, and should war eventuate, our job is not to pick a side but to work to end the war as quickly as possible. Should war break out then the spectre of 1917 needs to be made a reality again. The best defence against imperialist wars will always be a powerful, militant working-class and the fear of revolution that brings.

There are 25 Comments

"Our solidarity can only ever go to the workers of every country across the globe."
and all those workers who support one side or another of said war? don't be delusional enough to think that all "workers" are anti-war, or even anti-authority. this 19th century logic is pathetic today, even if it wasn't then.

"The best defence against imperialist wars will always be a powerful, militant working-class and the fear of revolution that brings."

wow. just... wow. yes, world powers are SO afraid of a working class revolution. are you fucking kidding me?

"the working class" - another identity-group label intended to cover so many disparate and conflicting perspectives as to become meaningless. just as there is no singular "black experience" or perspective, there is no singular "working class" experience or perspective. making such a blanket statement of solidarity with such a wide range of individuals, conditions and perspectives, is absurd.

Word game semantic whining is so deeply boring. Whaaaa they said -identity group-
they should have said -the exploited- or the rebellious or something equal generalized?
Talk about creating ways to sabotage a war and create anarchy rather than throwing a fit over your preferred words being used

Whining about whining is even more boring. 'Working class' is indeed a meaningless term. So just get over it.

As soon as I read or hear the word 'worker', my eyes glaze over, and I know what's coming is some commie shit advocating for more work. And what's with the red and black flags? Our we still living in 1936? Fuck all symbolic tribalism.

because the alleged working-called also has fascists, racists, and bigots. anarchists and communists love to use the working class as an identity as if they are a pure class of people instead of viewing people as individuals, I will never support the working class just because they are considered the working class if we are going to destroy class-divide and create a classless society, why the fuck would I want to blindly support any working class, I support individuals

This anarchist communist group, that the Iswed Tiggjan thinks they're "benefiting" from with their "insight and work" is them literally just blindly believing and parroting claims by rando US officials about Russia amassing their army on the border of Ukraine. Russia supposed plans to invade Ukraine is a claim rando US intelligence officials have made numerous times without a shred of proof. The amassing of the Russian military and plans to invade isn't the case and even uber nationalist Ukrainian government rejected that notion, and they're practically US puppets. Side explanation: the US backed a coup in Ukraine back in 2013-2014 to remove Viktor Yanukovych because he rejected a deal with the EU, that would've placed harsh austerity demands of the IMF on Ukraine and forced an alliance with NATO, so he was removed. The US also armed the neo-nazi Azov Battalion at that time that were fighting against the pro-Russia separatists in the Donetsk/Donbass region. In response to the US backed coup, Russia backed the separatists in the Donetsk region and recognized them as independent from Ukraine.

The author's other comrades, the Assembly of Ukrainian anarchists, refer to the Donetsk region as "occupied" by Russia, but that's not the case. The people in that Donetsk region made an agreement with the ultra nationalistic Ukrainian government in 2015, that they'll reunite with Ukraine providing they have a large degree of local autonomy. Ukraine has since made it clear they have no intention of following through on that agreement and the neo-nazi Azov Battalion has been shelling that region ever since. So, these Ukrainian anarchists "Assembly" are oblivious to what's going on.

The US and Biden have been the ones acting belligerent towards Russia by just making shit up without any proof whatsoever that this ACG appears to blindly believe. Biden has repeatedly threatened Russia that if Russia responds in anyway to Ukraine and the neo-nazi Azov Battalion's shelling of the Donetsk region and going into the Rostov region of Russia, then that'll be used as proof Russia is acting belligerent. The Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline plays a role too since when it was about to be activated, Biden began his campaign to start a war with Russia. Trump stalled the US plans of starting shit with Russia due to his incompetence and the US is now trying to make up for the 4 years they lost. Ukraine is just being used to instigate a war with Russia. Russia has an abundant supply of natural resources and the US wants those natural resources.

Things aren't going well for Biden domestically. There's covid and Biden promoting eugenicist policies, inflation run amok, unemployment, and social issues. When things aren't going well domestically for some ruler of a nation, they'll try to start a war to distract the population and as an attempt to unit the population behind them. This article mention Putin's regime is doing that, but fails to realize that's far more true about Biden. I've noticed some anarchists and/or leftists seem quite hesitant to forcefully and openly oppose Biden like they did with Trump. It's weird. I thought the eugenics shit and going fullblown Monroe Doctrine would've been enough to refer to Biden as a regime. The only "analysis or insight" this article gives is pointing out the obvious. No shit the US and Russia are imperialists and engaging in proxy wars. The line near the end about the best defense against imperialist wars is militant working class action is a bit deluded. Same as the bit about if a war breaks out, revolution needs to be made reality again like 1917, while not realizing the circumstances were entirely different. Presumably, Iswed Tiggjan means a worldwide revolution. Who knows?

Ukraine just declared a state of emergency. So, either war’s about to break out or some trucks are honking in the capitol.

Iswed Tiggjan, citing the Anarchist Communist Group of Britain, takes the basic anarchist position of opposition to both US and Russian imperialism. They see the end of imperialist wars, exploitation, and oppression as eventually requiring international revolution. Good for them.

Tim (who doesn't say if they regard themselves as "anarchist") takes a standard pro-Russian position, as does much of the campist radical left. They seem to think that Biden is trying to start a shooting war with Russia. They seem to be sure that good old Putin will definitely not invade any part of Ukraine. While vaguely accurate in the imperialist evil of the US state, they are unmoored from reality. Yes, the US is imperialist, the biggest in the world despite its decline. But it is not the only imperialist power, nor is imperialism the only evil (as demonstrated by oppressive but non-imperialist national regimes, such as Myanmar or Cuba).

My only disagreement with I.T. and the British ACG is that they do not refer to struggle for self-determination by the Ukrainian people. This is relevant to the complaints that I.T. and the ACG focus on the working class, without mentioning other oppressions and issues. While the working class has great potential power, the domination of a people by another nation's regime is also an important issue in leading to popular resistance and possible revolution. While I do not think that Ukrainine working people should fall into the trap of supporting the enemy of their enemy, I support their right to make their own decisions.

all you dudes posturing as if this were 1914...

Wayne, as usual, is completely off his (Rudolph) Rocker. he wants to support some anti-nationalist struggle that's couched in nationalist terms, just like his former comrades in Love and Rage, with their (unintentionally?) absurd Anti-Imperialism (tm) from their final statement of principles before their eventual and inevitable three-way split.

Here's a news flash for you, Wayne: there's no struggle for the self-determination of Ukrainian working people. that ship sailed in 1921.

"While I do not think that Ukrainine working people should fall into the trap of supporting the enemy of their enemy, I support their right to make their own decisions."

Way to exclude the unemployed, Wayne. Horrible.

Several of the posters here sneer at the very idea of Ukrainian working class revolution and/or a national democratic struggle against Russian occupation. It is easy to sneer and to point to the history of defeated revolutions of various sorts. But what then? If we reject both Russian imperialist aggression and US/NATO imperialist "defense," AND any kind of revolution--what is left? Does your "anarchism" mean only a nihilistic defeatism?

No, it means creative new non-Statist relationships and the advancement of new individual aesthetics.

What does this word mean in the context within which you are using it?

Values in the broadest sense, concerning life, labor, ettiquette/manners, not so much the "art" field which has hijacked and claims to be the sole agency for its realization. There can b e beautiful a tions and desires also.

I am writing a manifesto called "A Creative and Aesthetic Insurgency" which ponders on an alternatice approach to achieving a Stateless and property-less environment.

Wayne, the anarchist-nihilist isn't concerned with "defeatism," defeat, or victory. the anarchist-nihilist understands the meaninglessness of these concepts and chooses to fight anyway. can you say the same for the faithful "fighters" who fill the pews of your red church? when faced with unfavorable odds and crushed optimistic spirit do your red revolutionaries continue forward, forward, forward like joyful destroyers beneath the black edge of death to conquer life? i think not.

"defeat" is only a concern for someone who has something to lose.

in the immortal words of the great nihilist radio personality Zhon Jerzan, "spring is right around the corner. be a nihilist!"

Renzo Novatore was a fucking fascist. Leaving aside the reactionary stuff he’s said about women, take a look at this quote right here…

“Every society seeks to confine me to the august limits of the permitted and the prohibited. But I do not acknowledge these limits, for nothing is forbidden and all is permitted to those who have the force, and the valor.”

All is permitted to those who have the force, and the valor? Like rape/murder for instance? No? Why not tho? If I want to have sex with someone and the other person doesn’t and yet I have the force and the valor, then what’s to stop me from acting on my “wild, unbound desire”? How does this not fit right in ideologically with fash like Ragnar Redbeards “might makes right”?

Another poster here, wow, I'm gonna delete a few Renzo essays I have, urrgh, so he's really just a machismo soaked narcissist posing as an individualist. At least he never carried through ever for rape, it was a fantasy of his, and maybe most of his stuff is not real.

what text is that from? link it

i’m also interested in fully discussing in depth every single reactionary stuff he’s said about women, not leaving it aside. so please share those links as well. these things should not be overlooked.

firstly learn what the word fascist means. novatore was not a fascist but he fought against (and likely killed) quite a few. also learn what the word reactionary means.

and tell us, great moralist, what stops you from committing those heinous acts? what is it really? what do you propose be done to stop those others with the "force and valor (strength of mind)" to commit those acts? tell us.

you absolutely know that novatore (via martucci's account) was not using this conversation as a justification of rape or murder (there you go with your slash again). you can not be so dumb to not have read the surrounding text or have such a non-knowledge of novatore's passion and love for the writing of nietzsche or stirner and their lengthy writings on power, property, ownness, and the free individual. i refuse to believe anyone that can figure out how to troll anarchists all day is that dumb or poorly read.

of course there's the great possibility that you're not an anarchist at all and just here to troll as some sad way to fill the empty void in your life.

the "whud about rapists and murderers" card that you boot lickers always try to play when an egoist or nihilist or individualist anarchist that refuses to worship at your red throne of power enters the conversation is utterly boring and it's in fact the same argument that has been used against anarchists of all flavors since the beginning.

try harder.

21:08 here, thx moo, luckily I retrieved the Novatore files from trash bin, and my affection for the individualist poet-warrior has been re-invigorated.

worst part? there's an interesting and important discussion underneath all that bad faith trolling: one that I usually only bother having with people I actually know because of the online toxicity.

Renzo is pointing to a fundamental truth of power, one that every anarchist should probably explore, at LEAST philosophically haha I don't care for the framing of "force and valor" but he was very chest thumpy in his delivery, ya know...

Like others said, this is a lame accusation. You can also rape-jacket anyone who's into "going accordingly with your desires" or just "total freedom"... Like no, on paper and at paper-thin level this doesn't exclude me from, say, grabbing young girls, yet we know how any true individualist and intentionalist would never cross another indivudal's border.

I'd like those rape and fash accusations thrown at Renzo to be substanciated, as there's much, much better grounds for equating anarcho-lefties like you with cowardly smear-campagners who always hide behind allegations, never to be discussed or confronted... from the safety of their communal rented apartments.

Wayne sounds a lot like that other old anarchist Kropotkin when he supported the Allies in WWI, guaranteeing his precipitous slide into irrelevance...

the idea that there's a Ukrainian working class revolution in the offing at this moment is sheer fantasy, and a particularly horrific one given the current circumstances. but you sure did let the cat out of the bag this time, Wayne: "a national democratic struggle" is precisely what all nationalists of all stripes call their gangster operations. whether it was the paleo or neo-fascists in the Maidan fiasco or the way the Russians are calling this invasion a denazification campaign, every single one of the players is using your favorite non-anarchist slogan. the best you can do is support some "national democratic struggle"?! you've thereby admitted that there's no possible Ukrainian working class struggle happening, and isn't likely to happen in the near future either with people running around defending their national democratic rights.

it's only "Russian imperial aggression" if you ignore the way that Ukraine was expanded in the mid-1950s, with Donbass and Crimea being incorporated into Ukraine despite their non-Ukrainian majority (Russians, almost all adherents to the Russian Orthodox Church as opposed to the Ukrainians who are adherents of their own Ukrainian splinter). for Russians, this campaign is being waged to protect Russians and is about redrawing the map that was redrawn by Khrushchev 70 years ago. i'm NOT saying that war (this one or any other) is justifiable, but to simply dismiss this one as "imperial aggression" is a laughable ignorance of history -- which makes perfect sense coming from the pro-war Wayne.

but anyway, the fact is that there's no self-organized combatively anti-capitalist Ukrainian working class to look to for a revolution, so all of Wayne's fantasies about internationalist nationalists fighting some good fight is just laughable wishful thinking disguised by socialist-anarchist jargon. it's disgusting and embarrassing.

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