by - Russian troops out of Ukraine
- NATO battle troops and missiles out of Eastern Europe
- Solidarity with the Ukrainian people and the Russian anti-war movement
- Defend the democratic rights of the Russian minority within Ukraine
A Statement by Reform & Revolution (a Marxist caucus of Democratic Socialists of America)
Tensions in Eastern Europe have been increasing over the last decades, as Western imperialism has continued to expand its sphere of influence, which recently led to the outbreak of open war.
On February 24th Russia launched a devastating attack against Ukraine. Ukrainian cities have been bombarded from the air while Russian troops carry out a ground invasion. As casualties mount, tens of thousands of civilians are scrambling to flee the country.
Putin’s brutal war opens up a nightmare scenario for the peoples of Ukraine. But the consequences of his adventure will also sharply rebound against the ordinary people of Russia in the form of casualties and widespread economic suffering.
The Western media is in full propaganda mode, issuing an endless stream of stories all designed to portray Russia as the “aggressor” in this conflict and Putin as an evil madman. This is an utterly superficial analysis.
No doubt, there is clear aggression in Russia’s brutal invasion, but that’s not the whole story. US Secretary of State James Baker promised Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on February 9, 1990 that NATO would expand “not one inch eastward.” However, NATO broke these assurances and expanded among former Eastern Bloc countries, right up to Russia’s borders.
Since 2018 NATO has recognized Ukraine as an “aspiring member,” which the Russian state perceived as a provocation and a fundamental threat to their interests. Russia also points to the discrimination that Russian speaking minorities in Ukraine have faced.
So both sides — Russia and the US — are able to frame their aggression as defensive. But beneath the surface, at root, this is a conflict between US/NATO and Russian imperialism over domination of Ukraine and the wider region.
While both Putin and Biden want to avoid a wider war, there is a real danger that events will spin out of control. Russia’s invasion has greatly intensified tensions globally and will have unpredictable consequences, as the US and NATO countries are currently building up their military forces in countries neighboring Ukraine.
Biden and the US ruling class were humiliated by their defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq. They see a rising China increasingly challenging their power and prestige in the world, and the US is trying to assert its “leadership” over the Western world by posing as defenders of the democratic rights of the Ukrainian people.
Both the US and China are seeking to use the war in Ukraine to maneuver for advantage in their global competition over markets, resources, and spheres of influence. The threat of a major conflict over Taiwan looms on the horizon.
Inter-imperialist conflicts will inevitably occur again and again under capitalism — a global system of nonstop competition between rival national elites over power and resources. The struggle against war and imperialism requires a struggle from below by the international working class to overthrow capitalism and its rival ruling classes and to establish a democratic socialist world.
Working-class people across the world and socialists must reject both Russian and US imperialism. In the US our first obligation is to oppose our own government’s imperialist policies, and demand the withdrawal of US troops and missiles from Europe along with the dissolution of NATO.
Toward a Global Peace Movement
When Putin invaded Ukraine, large peace protests erupted onto the streets of cities across Russia, including St Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, and Nizhny Novgorod. This popular outcry against the Russian invasion is a welcome answer to Putin’s cynical posturing where he claims to represent all of the people of Russia.
Ordinary people all around the world should follow this example. We need a global grassroots anti-war movement to resist imperialist aggression and defend the democratic rights of all peoples to live in peace and determine their own destiny.
This must include the right of self-determination, whether that takes the form of regional autonomy or the formation of an independent state, as long as the democratic rights of all minorities are respected.
Ukraine has the right to determine its own fate and not live under the heel of Russia. All the minorities living within the state of Ukraine also have the right to self-determination, including the Russian-speaking minorities concentrated in the eastern regions. The mixed-language population of the east and south of Ukraine also have a right to equality, regional autonomy, and a federal state (as Ukraine would have become under the Minsk II Agreement).
US Hypocrisy
Many on the US left (such as Bernie Sanders, AOC, Cori Bush, and Ilhan Omar) have now started to echo the framing of the mass media that this was an unprovoked attack by Russia and that the US “must” try to stop Putin. If this outcry is really a question of moral outrage at an occupying force entering another people’s country, why is the US media and political establishment silent when it comes to the brutal occupation of the West Bank or the siege against Gaza?
What about the US’s military support for the Saudi Arabian monarchy, which is carrying out a catastrophic war in Yemen that has led to the deaths of over a quarter million civilians? Is it not a violation of Cuban sovereignty for the US to operate the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba against the wishes of the Cuban government?
In reality, all the declarations about “freedom” and “democracy” from the US government and its media apologists are utter hypocrisy. US imperialism only cares about human rights or the “territorial inviolability” of a country when it suits their geo-political interests. The US occupation of Afghanistan was only ended after 20 years because it was an unwinnable war for the US; they never acknowledged that imperialist occupations are unacceptable on principle.
The US government claims to defend democracy, yet the US has backed undemocratic coups all over the world, including as recently as 2019 in Bolivia, 2009 in Honduras, and 2002 in Venezuela. US wars have killed hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, and countless other places.
Disband NATO
Wars between nuclear powers have been assumed in the past to be impossible or at least highly unlikely. The events in Ukraine have revealed the real danger of escalating tensions spiraling out of control and potentially resulting in direct military confrontations between major powers.
NATO was originally launched as a Western imperialist military alliance against the USSR. Based on its stated purpose, NATO should have become superfluous after the end of the Cold War. Instead, since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Stalinism, NATO has expanded throughout Eastern Europe and continues to operate as a US-dominated force to defend the interests of Western imperialism. This is a constant threat to people all around the globe. NATO should be disbanded; its primary purpose is protecting western capitalist interests, and its expansionism is a major cause of the current war.
Furthermore, socialists call for bringing home all US troops and closing all 750 US military bases around the globe. We need jobs and education, not war and occupation.
A Socialist or Progressive Policy?
The emergence of a new socialist movement, including the growth of DSA to 95,000 members and a socialist delegation in Congress, has been a major step forward for the left internationally. However, Bernie Sanders and the Squad (including the four DSA members in Congress) have not put forward a clear anti-war or socialist policy in relation to the Ukraine crisis. This is a continuation of the opportunist positions they have taken on a number of issues. This was most glaringly shown when Jamaal Bowman voted for billions in US military aid to Israel and when AOC abstained on providing Israel with additional aid for its “Iron Dome.”
Sanders and the Squad are now echoing the approach of progressive Democrats as articulated by Pramila Jayapal, the Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Their policy has been couched in terms of opposing Russian aggression while raising vague concerns about Biden’s policy.
This is not a socialist approach based on the interests of working people internationally. Socialists in Congress must first and foremost unambiguously oppose the belligerent, aggressive policy of the Biden administration.
Socialists, especially those in Congress, need to explicitly and clearly oppose Biden’s sanctions on Russia, which will overwhelmingly hurt working-class people, not the elite. This is all the more necessary given that all of these representatives endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020 and are members of the Democratic Party, which is currently running US foreign policy.
Socialists should place no trust in diplomacy between the capitalist governments of the US, Russia, or Ukraine.
Instead, DSA’s elected representatives should use their platforms to promote peace protests in the US, rally support for the Russian peace movement, and agitate to bring home all US troops, close US military bases abroad, and to shut down NATO.
DSA and the Left in Congress should also oppose the cost of Biden’s policy being imposed on ordinary workers and middle-class people here at home in the form of dramatically higher gas, energy, and other consumer prices. Our job is to mobilize the anger that will inevitably erupt over this around a class-struggle program that demands lowering consumer prices, cracking down on price gouging by corporations, implementing price controls, and taking the big energy companies into democratic public ownership to be able to rapidly re-tool them for renewable energy.
Wars, climate change, and poverty have been forcing people to flee their homelands, and now this new war is making the already existing global refugee crisis even worse. Biden has essentially continued Trump’s border policies, and now he is supplying tons of military equipment to Ukraine — yet he won’t allow refugees to enter the US? This is unacceptable. The billionaires and large corporations who profit from wars and global exploitation have to pay to help refugees and create jobs and affordable housing for all — for both refugees and those born in the US.
Instead of financing troops and bases all around the globe, the US needs to fund Medicare for All, union jobs, and a just transition to a carbon neutral economy by 2030. The US needs to use its resources to overcome the devastation wrought by racist, imperialist policies and contribute to a new world built on solidarity, cooperation, and democratic planning of how we use the earth’s resources. In short, we need a democratic, eco-socialist world.
A fundamental transformation of US society along democratic socialist lines is the best contribution to global peace, equitable development, and environmental sustainability that we can fight for here in the US, as part of an international working-class movement.
Let’s build a strong global anti-war movement!
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