Controversy has erupted in the aftermath of the recent UCU congress, around a motion that was passed concerning the union’s position on the Ukraine conflict.
The motion put forward an internationalist position: correctly characterising this war as an inter-imperialist conflict; condemning the role of both NATO and Russian imperialism; and calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops, as well as an end to British arms sales to Ukraine.
While we don’t agree with every dot and comma of the motion, particularly the pacifist illusion that this conflict can be ended through a “peaceful resolution”, we defended the motion from attempts to water it down.
One of our comrades took the floor to put forward a class-based, internationalist position: clarifying that victory for either side in this conflict can only spell the further domination of Ukraine by this or that gang of imperialists.
Echoing the words of the German communist Karl Liebknecht, this comrade pointed out that “the main enemy is at home”; that the task of the workers here in Britain is to overthrow our own imperialists and warmongers. The task of toppling Putin is something for Russian workers – not ourselves – to deal with.
‘Kremlin shills’?
Like a red rag to a yellow-and-blue bull, our contribution sent rabid pro-imperialist supporters of the Ukrainian government into a frenzy on social media. A cacophony of screeching condemnation reverberated around their online echo chamber.
One figure who joined this fracas was Paul Mason, a ‘left’ commentator who has gained notoriety for his renegacy and warmongering.
In a feat of falsification that would make Joseph Stalin blush, Mason accused members of the International Marxist Tendency of being Putin-sympathising, genocide-denying Kremlin shills, who “salivate” at the prospect of a Russian victory.
This is blatantly false. From day one of the conflict, the IMT has consistently condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a reactionary move by an imperialist power trying to assert its interests in the region.
In the IMT’s statement on the Ukraine war, published soon after the conflict broke out, we wrote:
“Russia is a regional power, whose policies can only be described as imperialist. The real reason for Russia’s war in Ukraine is the attempt to secure spheres of influence and the national security interests of Russian capital…
“We cannot support either side in this war, because it is a reactionary war on both sides. In the final analysis, it is a conflict between two groups of imperialists. We do not support either of them. The people of poor, bleeding Ukraine are the victims in this conflict, which they did not create and do not desire.” (Our emphasis added.)
The comrades of the IMT in Russia, in very difficult conditions, have maintained an intransigent internationalist position of opposition to their own ruling class – which is more than can be said of our critics. The Russian Marxists are fighting tirelessly to overthrow their rulers in the Kremlin.
Role of NATO
But condemning Russia alone does not exhaust the matter. Pointing the finger at bogeyman Putin does not get us one step closer to understanding the real reasons behind this war.
The western imperialists in NATO, with the United States standing at their head, ultimately prepared the ground for this conflict. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has continued to strengthen and advance its position in Eastern Europe.
Despite assurances made at the time by the ruling classes of US, Britain and Germany that NATO would not expand one inch to the east, NATO has continued its steady march towards Russia’s borders. The western military alliance now includes Poland and the Baltic states within its ranks.
High-ranking figures in the American state understood that pushing for Ukraine’s membership in NATO was “the brightest of all red lines” and would be viewed as a “direct challenge to Russia’s interests”.
And yet the western imperialists continued to stick their noses where they didn’t belong. In 2014, the US was involved in the coup which deposed the government of Yanukovich (a reactionary government in the pocket of the oligarchs) in favour of a right-wing, pro-western, anti-Russian government (also in the pocket of the oligarchs).
The new NATO-backed government then proceeded to launch a war against the people of the Donbas who had risen up against it. When Ukrainian soldiers fraternised instead of fighting, the government in Kyiv relied on neo-Nazi paramilitaries to conduct its ‘anti-terrorist’ campaign.
This is the real starting point of the current conflict. The question of ‘who fired the first shot’, or which regime is ostensibly ‘more democratic’ is secondary. What we have at hand is a drawn-out process of imperialist tensions rising, driven by the logic of capitalism: the search for new markets and spheres of influence.
Class collaboration
Mason can slander the IMT as ‘Russia apologists’ all he wants. The facts speak for themselves. In reality, it is Mason who is an apologist for western imperialism, which is seeking to rally workers behind its own warmongering ruling classes.
We stand for the full unity of the working class, which has no nation, as Marx pointed out long ago. Any argument in favour of rallying around the flag, ‘saving democracy’, and ‘uniting against Putin’ can only serve to divide the working class along national lines.
Such demands, parroted by liberal ‘lefts’ like Mason, only sow illusions in the motivations that lie behind the ruling class’s decisions. The result is open class collaboration.
In the case of Paul Mason, this has led to open support for strengthening NATO, the world’s most powerful and reactionary imperialist military alliance.
Self-determination
Others, including a former member of Zelensky’s administration, Tymofiy Mylovanov, have condemned this motion for being “against freedom and self-determination of Ukrainians”.
This is certainly rich, coming from a politician who has bragged about overseeing the “largest scale privatisation process” in the history of modern Ukraine. In just six months of his leadership, close to one thousand state-owned enterprises were sold off to the highest bidder (typically a foreign multinational).
Given that a majority of Ukrainians oppose privatisation, we are inclined to doubt Mr. Mylovanov’s concerns about the “self-determination of Ukrainians”.
Let us be clear. Marxists are absolutely in favour of the freedom of all nations from imperialist domination. This includes support for the right to self-determination.
This is a democratic right that Marxists have long defended. Back in 1917, for example, the Bolsheviks oversaw the creation of the first Ukrainian state in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
There can be no talk of self-determination whatsoever, however, as long as Ukraine remains in the hands of the rapacious oligarchs who have bled the country dry.
These gangsters are tied by a thousand threads to the western imperialists on one hand, and to the Russian imperialists on another. And neither section of the Ukrainian capitalist elite have the interests of ordinary Ukrainians at heart.
Ukraine is merely a plaything in the hands of the imperialist powers. The ruling classes in the West are pouring billions into the Ukrainian armed forces to keep the slaughterhouse running, while refusing to commit themselves directly to the conflict.
The western imperialists are willing to fight to the last drop of blood – the last drop of Ukrainian blood, that is. Their real aim has nothing to do with the interests of the Ukrainian people. What they want is to weaken their rival, Russia.
Genuine self-determination for the Ukrainian people can only be achieved on the basis of a revolutionary struggle against capitalism across the world.
That means workers in Britain overthrowing our imperialist ruling class at home; Russian workers overthrowing Putin and the Russian imperialists; and Ukrainian workers overthrowing their own gang of warmongering oligarchs. This is what genuine – class-based – internationalism looks like.
Leadership
This motion was passed by delegates at the UCU conference. This shows that workers reject the chauvinism thrown in their faces by the likes of the Tories, Starmer, and Mason; and that they are seeking an internationalist alternative.
The passing of this motion shows that workers also reject the stinking lie that there is ‘no money’ to fund education and other public services.
The Tories are lavishing billions on arming Ukraine, in a sorry attempt to project Britain’s ‘power’ on a world stage. This money could instead be used to meet the demands of striking workers overnight, if it was in the right hands.
Scandalously, however, the general secretary of the UCU, Jo Grady, issued a public statement saying that she is “deeply disappointed in the motion”. What’s more, she plans to oppose the motion at the next meeting of the union’s leadership.
This is not the first time that Grady has overturned the democratic decisions of her members, having also manoeuvred against the rank-and-file push for an escalation in the union’s current dispute with the university bosses.
It’s no coincidence that Grady is both soft on the bosses and on imperialism too. These go hand in hand: examples of how the pressure of bourgeois public opinion finds its way into the movement of the working class.
This should come as a warning to the workers’ movement. Leaders who fall in line with the interests of British imperialism will sooner or later fall in line with the bosses and Tories too.
This is why we must fight to build a revolutionary leadership, based on internationalism and the unity of the working class.
