The Left’s Difficulty Responding to Russia’s War on Ukraine 

An Opportunity to Clarify DSA’s Internationalism and Anti-Imperialism

By Dan La Botz

Dan La Botz is a writer and activist living in Brooklyn, New York. He is a member of both DSA and Solidarity and a co-editor of New Politics (newpol.org). His latest book is his first novel, Trotsky in Tijuana (trotskyintijuana.com).

Russia’s war on Ukraine summons all of us in the United States and around the world to demonstrate our compassion for the victims and our solidarity with the Ukrainian resisters. It also provides an opportunity for those of us in DSA and the rest of the left to clarify our views on internationalism and anti-imperialism, overcoming the confusion that has hindered us so far in responding appropriately. 

As is well known, the US left at first found it difficult to respond to the war. Some would not criticize Vladimir Putin or Russia (some even supported Russia), others would criticize the invasion, but declined to support the Ukrainian resistance, while others seemed to be drawn into the wake of President Joseph Biden and the Democratic Party, with no message of their own. 

I believe DSA’s initial confusion about the war arose from several sources. First, Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign for president as a “democratic socialist,” which gave the initial stimulus to the rapid growth of what was virtually a new DSA, put an overwhelming emphasis on domestic politics, not foreign policy. Attracted by the Sanders campaign, many new DSA recruits had little experience with, knowledge of, or interest in international affairs. Yet, most DSA-ers had a healthy desire to oppose US imperialism, which is, after all, the first responsibility of American socialists. 

“Socialist Camp”? 

There was, however, another source of confusion. The US left had for decades been dominated by left organizations — communists, Maoists, and some Trotskyists — who to varying degrees had been supporters of the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, North Korea, or Cuba. These old left groups had supported those states, seeing them as the “socialist camp.” 

When communism fell in the Soviet Union in 1991, as China was transformed into a communist-capitalist hybrid, many coming out of the old left and new young associates still supported those states. They also supported the governments of Iran and Syria as anti-imperialist because they opposed the United States. 

Those countries were now seen as the “anti-imperialist camp.” The fact that those regimes — all of which were authoritarian — were considered anti-imperialist, made it virtually impossible for those in that political milieu to support internal opponents of those regimes, whether they were fighters for democracy, feminist activists, or worker organizers. That is, anti-imperialism trumped international solidarity with workers and the oppressed. Some members of DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) and of its International Committee (IC), and others came to adopt this ideology, which much of the genuinely anti-imperialist DSA membership accepted, as long as there was no alternative. 

Russian War Shattered “Campist” Position

The Russian War on Ukraine has suddenly shattered that “campist” position. Putin has made it clear that he wants to restore the glory of the czarist and Soviet empires and that he thinks Ukraine, a former colony, has no right to exist. In the eyes of imperialism, does any former colony ever have the right to exist? 

Russia was clearly the aggressor in what is a war between a great imperial power and a former colony asserting its national sovereignty. To anyone who examines the issue, it is clear that NATO did not start this conflict and that Ukraine is not run by Nazis as Putin claims. NATO’s threat has not grown substantially since 2004. Russia has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal and its security clearly doesn’t depend on Ukraine. And while there are neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine, they are a small minority, and there are far more in Russia. In any case, Putin’s actions have made it quite clear to all that the United States is not the only imperialist power and that anti-imperialists need to support Ukraine in its resistance to the Russian invasion.

How to Support Ukrainian Resistance?

All of this, of course, raises many questions. How does one support the Ukraine resistance? How do we support Ukraine’s right to national self-determination, but also support the country’s socialist and working-class movement against their capitalist class? How do we as socialist opponents of US capitalism and imperialism criticize Biden and the Democrats? Where do we stand on Ukrainians’ demands — including the demands of Ukrainian Americans — for a no-fly zone or for NATO intervention? For the first time, the “new DSA” has an opportunity to have a serious discussion on foreign affairs informed by both our internationalism and our anti-imperialism.

We have already seen a positive turn in some DSA chapters. Central Brooklyn invited Denys Pilash, a Ukrainian democratic socialist, to speak to a regular chapter meeting. Boston DSA has invited another Ukrainian socialist, Hanna Perekhoda, to speak later this month. These Ukrainian activists are calling upon us for international solidarity. How do we respond?

For one thing, DSA’s NPC needs to organize a national discussion of the Russian war on Ukraine and to encourage the participation of other Ukrainians, like Pilash and Perkhoda. DSA needs at least for the moment to make the Ukraine war a top national priority, putting it ahead of other electoral, legislative, and local actions around other issues. Housing, labor, feminist, anti-racist, and LBGTQ organizing work remains vitally important — but if Russia wins in Ukraine it will mean a defeat for democracy and social movements everywhere. If the situation in Ukraine leads to a Russia-NATO conflict and nuclear war, it is all over. We are done for, the whole human race.

An Anti-War Movement in the Street

DSA also needs to build an anti-war movement in the street. We all remember that when the Black Lives Matter demonstrations started growing in 2020, local chapters and individual DSA members joined in. But DSA’s national leadership failed to mobilize the entire organization to join the movement, and we had no clear and consistent political presence in it. We should not let that happen again. We need to join and build the anti-war movement and raise within it our political ideas. 

DSA emphasizes electoral politics above all, and we desperately need leftwing, socialist politics in America, but many DSA members seem to have an aversion to the street. I have gone to Ukrainian anti-war demonstrations in two cities — New York and San Diego — and saw no DSA participation. While we will not agree with the Ukrainian Americans’ calls for a no-fly-zone, we need to be in solidarity with Ukraine and to raise our own position. (More about this below.)

The Russian war against Ukraine should also be taken up by DSA elected officials. There are four DSA members in the US Congress: Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman. We should insist that our representatives support material aid to Ukraine –including canceling Ukraine’s international debt. At the same time, we should demand they propose cuts in the US military budget, and in the long run put forward resolutions to dismantle NATO. We should ask DSA elected officials and other progressives we have supported to endorse anti-war demonstrations and help us to mobilize our members to participate in them.

Support Ukraine’s Resistance

All of this, of course, should be based on DSA’s position on the war.  What should that be? Here is a suggestion: We recognize Ukraine is an independent nation and support it in resisting Russia. We believe Ukrainians have the right to get arms to defend their nation and their people wherever they can. We believe that all nations should open their doors to Ukrainian refugees and to all other refugees from wherever they come. We support the struggle of workers, feminists, LGBTQ people, and Ukraine’s ethnic minorities such as the Roma and the Crimean Tartars. We support the democratic socialist organizations in Ukraine and their fight both to defend their country and to fight against the Zelenskyy government’s neoliberal policies. We stand for building an international anti-war movement. 

We oppose Russia, the immediate aggressor, as well as NATO, which represents the interest of capitalist governments and of Western imperialism. We will fight to cut the military budget and end the development, stockpiling, and testing of nuclear weapons, all of which must be destroyed. We in DSA will organize nationally, on the regional and local level, and as individuals to build the anti-war movement through education, protests, and independent political action. With an expected shortfall in global grain production, we must pressure the US government to help those who in the Global South will face hunger. Similarly, we must urge a turn to green energy rather than to more fossil fuels. 

Above all, we have to emphasize internationalism. We stand with the Ukrainians against Russia and with all other underdogs against bullies, with the former colonies against the imperial powers, and with working people and the oppressed. 

We have a big job ahead of us and the time to begin is now.