International

From Mark Langabeer (Hastings and Rye Labour member)

The attention of Britain’s media has recently returned to the attritional war in Ukraine. The on-going conflict in the middle-east seems to have taken a backseat, as far as the media is concerned. There appears to be an acknowledgment that the Russian army are making gains in the eastern part of Ukraine. This has forced Ukraine’s backers, principally the US, to supply long-range missiles so that the Ukrainian forces can attack deeper into Russian territory.

Many commentators describe this as ‘upping the ante‘ , and threatening a direct conflict between  NATO and Russian forces. WW3 and ‘Armageddon time’ is the general fear. 

In my opinion, this conflict has a reactionary character. Putin has imperialist ambitions which are a threat to the dominance of Western Imperialism. This conflict has become a proxy war between the two. The working class, both in the Ukraine and  Russia will not be the beneficiaries of this war. It’s also a setback for all the workers , internationally. That being said, the Ukrainian state does have the right to self-determination. Association with Russia should only be done on a voluntary basis, not by coercion.

Most Ukrainians look to the west

There was already conflict in the eastern part of Ukraine because of the overthrow of the former president, who was pro-Moscow. However, he still had the support of the mainly Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the East. They were described as ‘Russian separatists’ in the western media. Most Ukrainians looked to the west for solutions to their pressing problems. They have seen perceived gains from other former nations of what was described as the Eastern Bloc. They wish to join institutions like the EU and since the invasion, NATO.

Anecdotally, and as a comment on the state of Ukraine, I’ve been receiving emails from young female Ukrainians, seeking relationships with western men, which I immediately delete, of course. I’m old and my wife and I are in poor health and unlikely to separate! It reminds me of mainly middle-aged men who seek relationships with women from poor nations because they seem more attentive to their needs than previous wives. It’s part of the exploitative nature of capitalism.

It all seems a pretty depressing state of affairs. However, as the saying goes, ‘out of evil comes good’. Imperialist wars are often catalysts for social change. The Russian revolution, was an attempt to transform society along socialist lines.

Closer to home, Labour’s landslide victory in 1945 came right at the end of WW2. This was particularly the case among soldiers, returning home from the war. I know this because my father was one of them. They were determined that they would not go back to the inequalities of the pre-war period.

[the featured photo is of the results of a Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukraine]