Protecting lives, denazification, a general strike

We publish below the statement of the Left Opposition collective in Ukraine on the war in the east and the steps it believes are needed to bring it to a halt. Posted originally in Ukrainian by gaslo-info on 15 June 2014. Translated by Marko Bojcun

  It is necessary above all to protect the inhabitants of populated centres from the war. The next steps should be the removal of neo-Nazis from the warfare on both sides, for they are now the ones primarily responsible for inciting the war. Getting out of the social crisis generated by oligarchs’ omnipotence has the potential to overcome the root causes of this confrontation.

One can have different views on what happened on the Kyiv Maidan this winter and the evolution of this mass movement, as well as on people’s democratic right to national self-determination and autonomy. However, one cannot tolerate there being victims among the civilian population, nor can one not see that the utilization of heavy weaponry in densely populated regions of Donetsk and Luhansk brings new victims. Both sides of the conflict admit to the use of artillery and trench mortars. It does not matter to the dead whether bombing an apartment building was intentional or not, nor which side in the conflict is more often targeting housing districts.

It is imperative to cease fire before discussing any kind of political questions about the future constitutional order of Ukraine. We demand the immediate cessation of fire and the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from populated areas. Negotiations about a ceasefire, the release of hostages (the populations of entire cities are now held hostage) and the creation of humanitarian corridors should be held now directly with commanders in the field. Such issues can be negotiated even with the worst terrorists, such as Strelkov, Abver and Bes, if they can indeed ensure the ceasefire. Meanwhile, we categorically oppose any political discussions with the terrorists. Issues concerning the future state organization and the formation of new representative government bodies can be discussed only with the representatives of local communities and not with the visiting militants.

De-escalation of the conflict is possible only when the supply of arms, presently falling in large numbers into the hands of uncontrolled semi-autonomous detachments, will be stopped, and new mercenaries from other countries and regions will be prevented from entering Ukraine. Such mercenaries do not respect the interests of the local population and are rather more interested in continuing the war “until final victory” than in seeking compromise and a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Therefore, we demand from the governments of the Russian Federation and Ukraine to ensure the effective protection of state borders and to prevent the infiltration of arms and any armed people onto the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Furthermore, it is necessary to bring to a halt the use of Ukraine as a playing card in the contest between the USA, EU and Russia as they strive to re-divide their zones of influence on the continent. The peaceful citizens of Ukraine are the ones who are paying the price for this. Therefore, alongside our condemnation of Russia’s actions we also demand the cessation of any involvement by the Western states in stoking up this conflict.

Responsibility for the infiltration of fighters onto the territory of Ukraine lies with Russia

Responsibility for halting the supply of modern weaponry and foreign mercenaries to the region lies in the first instance with the Russian Federation. At the same time the Government of Ukraine must bear the responsibility for preventing the entry of semi-partisan “volunteer battalions” of dubious status and authorisation into the zone where the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) is underway. The volunteer battalions “Ukrayina”, “Azov” and others often conduct provocative actions that serve only to foster the consolidation of the local population around the terrorists, who are then accepted paradoxically as their defenders. These battalions, like the Russian mercenaries, are politically motivated to carry on the war.

The main factor that complicates the political resolution of the crisis and undermines trust in state institutions in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts is the presence on both sides of the confrontation of ultra-right nationalists and even frankly open neonazis. In the ATO leadership, especially in the command and staff of the Ukrainian “volunteer battalions” there are members of the ultra-right nationalist and xenophobic Svoboda party (Sich battalion батальйон „Січ”) and the Right Sector. Often these are people with openly nazi views (we have learned that the “Radical Party of Oleh Liashko” has merged with the ill-reputed “Social-National Assembly”).

We demand the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), the President and the Government of Ukraine remove members of radical nationalist organisations from the operation of the ATO, that they remove them from the zone of the ATO, disarm and disband the units concerned and undertake a lustration of neonazis (denazification) in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the interior ministry organs and the Procuracy. Additionally, representatives of the Svoboda party should be removed from official positions in the Government of Ukraine.

We call upon the world community to demand that the governments of the USA and the EU member states cease supporting the Government of Ukraine until radical nationalists are removed from official positions in the Government and the Armed Forces, law enforcement bodies and the Procuracy.

 

At the same time we must point out the considerable number of Russian radical nationalists and frankly open Nazis in the leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR). In particular we see in these self-proclaimed entities’ leading positions a lot of citizens of the Russian Federation who only recently were members of neo-nazi organisations that have since been banned there, such as “Russian National Unity”/ (Русское национальное единство) and others.

Neo-nazis from the Social-National Assembly are fighting on the side of Ukraine, and anti-Semites and imperialists are fighting on the side of Russia.

The following “insurgents’” websites are revealing:

http://iks2010.org/ Imperial Cossack Union (Имперский казачий союз)

http://antisionizm.info Anti-Zionism (Антисионизм)

Therefore, we call upon the residents of eastern Ukraine, the local councils in Luhansk and Donestsk oblasts, community organisations and trade unions to work by all acceptable means for the removal at least of Russian neonazis and radical nationalists from the leadership of the self defense detachments of the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR. It is necessary to declare non-confidence in the Russian neonazis who are at this moment attempting to declare themselves the representatives of the population of eastern Ukraine.

We also call upon the world community, in the first instance upon the citizens of the Russian Federation to put pressure on the Russian state authorities in order to compel the Russian Federation to acknowledge the presence of Russian neonazis in Eastern Ukraine and to cease giving them moral and material support.

We also call upon the Russian and Ukrainian mass media to stop whipping up nationalist hysteria and to turn people’s attention instead to the fascists on both sides of this confrontation.

We call upon the representatives of local communities of Eastern Ukraine and the Government of Ukraine to join in a public political dialogue, the first subject of which should be the transparent, democratic re-election of the local councils. The question of admitting observers from Ukrainian and international organisations should be decided. In our view community and trade union organisations should take on the responsibility for ensuring adherence to the terms of an agreement between the sides in the conflict in the Donbas. On the one hand they are independent of the oligarchs, and on the other they are clearly delineated from radical nationalist organisations, of both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian orientation.

It is no secret that the representatives of civil society and workers’ trade union organisations have until now taken practically no part in the events occurring in this industrial region. At the same time, where workers’ organisations have dared to take the situation under their own control they did not allow disorder or the escalation of violence. For example, the strike committee in Krasnodon, Luhansk oblast prevented any violence from taking place during the general strike there. The independent workers unions in Kryviy Rih have experience in forming their own self-defense detachments, which played an important role in preventing provocations and force being used during the protests on the Maidan of Kyviy Rih Basin. Workers’ organisations and the miners’ self defense detachments could become the most active force capable of restoring order in the Donbas.

Without a doubt Ukraine and its inhabitants are being used as small change in the geo-political contest between the imperialist powers for spheres of influence, resources and markets. However, the reasons for the emergence of the mass movements of the Maidan and the anti-Maidan, notwithstanding their very different characteristics, lie not so much in the influence of external forces or the forces of corruption inside the country as they do in the oligarchic socio-economic system, in the carefully built political and state institutions which over decades have been under the full control of the business oligarchy. It is the oligarchs, who pay practically no taxes in Ukraine and systematically plunder the country’s wealth and take it abroad, who brought the country to a social explosion. This explosion took place under nationalist slogans because of the lack of a sufficiently strong workers’ movement. At the same time the slogans of social justice were the key ones for the majority of participants in those mass actions on the Maidan and the anti-Maidan.

By agreeing to co-operate with the IMF the Government betrayed the social aspirations of the Maidan

Social peace will be impossible to achieve in Ukraine until the social crisis is resolved. This crisis has sharpened unbelievably in the wake of the hryvnia’s devaluation and the fall in production in most sectors of the economy triggered by the instability. The government and the oligarchs who stand behind it, instead of seeking ways to resolve the crisis, are using the military threat and the ATO as cover for their anti-social policies. Tenders for military orders which are taking place according to a simplified procedure – these are multi–million orders for private corporations and an opportunity for state officials to steal public funds. But the oligarchs are increasing their profits not just by enriching themselves through contracts to deliver military supplies. Most of the export-oriented firms of the mining and metallurgical complex have taken advantage of the devaluation of the hryvnia to improve their financial position. Profits have doubled in many enterprises. Which is not surprising considering that they pay the workers in hryvnia and sell their products for hard currency.

And alongside that, whilst knowing full well that they are already robbing the workers and provoking a social explosion the oligarchs can’t restrain themselves from grabbing even more. Despite the fact that Ihor Kolomoisky, governor of Dnipropetrovsk, officially acknowledged the need to increase workers’ pay by at least 20%, most enterprises are in no hurry to use some of their super profits to compensate for the workers’ losses in their real income. The situation is unfolding in Kryviy Rih in such a way that the oligarchs’ stubbornness may well provoke a general strike in this million-strong city. As the likelihood of mass strikes grows all the more, it becomes more difficult to say what kind of character they will assume. Will the miners dare to pose the question of resolving the situation in the country as a whole, and not just the either own pay and self defense?

A general strike demanding a doubling of wages will deal with the social crisis

A general strike could become a real lever to influence all sides in the conflict and ensure a swift halt to the war in deed, not just in words. The question is whether the workers can organise themselves effectively enough and to put forward relevant demands, that is general political demands. In such an eventuality an important factor will be the ability of the workers’ self defense to safeguard the strikers from the pressure of the state and the oligarchs. Indeed, one cannot exclude the possibility that attempts will be made to use “volunteer battalions” not against the separatists but against the independent workers movement in all oblasts.

We demand from Ukrainian, Russian and Western businessmen who control enterprises in Ukraine that they stop profiting from the crisis and immediately raise workers’ pay in their enterprises to a level that equals at least the real wage in 2007-08.

Cancellation of Ukraine’s debt to the IMF is also part of the solution: this crippling financial burden imposed by foreign creditors does not permit us to deal with our domestic problems.

Considering all this, we support the general direction of the statement adopted recently in Minsk http://www.criticatac.ro/lefteast/zimmerwald-2014-stop-the-war-in-ukraine/ . We understand very well and completely support the desire of left activists in Ukraine and neighbouring countries to express their class position and their internationalist anti-war position. The problem with this statement is that it is not so much the expression of an agreed position as it is the result of a rotten compromise. It is written in such a way as to hide the absence of an agreed position by using general and vague phrases which each of the signatories can interpret as they wish – often in direct contradiction to one another.

From this flows the second shortcoming of the statement: the eclectic and unrealistic nature of its stated demands. So, in the first point it calls for the withdrawal of Ukrainian armed forces from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and in the second it calls for the full disarmament of the armies of the DNR and LNR. It is not clear whether the local population actually supports handing over all the functions of government exclusively to some small bands that are under no-one’s control, to say nothing of the evident unreality of such a scenario.

Therefore, we call for the formation of a powerful anti-war movement whose concrete, general demand should be an immediate cease fire and a cessation in the use of heavy weapons. We hope this slogan can be and will be supported by the public at large in all oblasts of Ukraine as well as abroad.

London demonstration in support of Kryviy Rih miners

14 June 2014

A demonstration organised by the Ukrainian Socialist Solidarity Campaign took place today at the Chelsea Football Club stadium in London where EVRAZ, the corporation employing the Kryviy Rih miners was holding its shareholders’ annual general meeting. John McDonnell, Labour MP joined the demonstration.

The demonstrators picketed one of the main entrances to the stadium and distributed information leaflets to passersby. Cars passing down the road honked their horns in support of the action.

John McDonnell MP handed over the Kryviy Rih miners’ notice of dispute addressed to EVRAZ CEO Aleksandr Frolov

The demonstrators attempted to deliver a copy of the notice of dispute from the miners to Aleksandr Frolov, EVRAZ CEO who was attending the shareholders’ meeting, but security guards prevented them from approaching the stadium. However, they did accept the letter from the hands of John McDonnell MP to pass on to  Frolov.

The shareholders did not attempt to leave the Chelsea Football Club through the entrance picketed by the demonstrators.

The purpose the this action was to exert pressure on the EVRAZ employer to meet the Ukrainian miners’ demands for an increase in their pay which has been eroded by 30-50% by devaluation of the Ukrainian currency. The devaluation, the rapid increase in retail prices for basic necessities and the imminent hike in energy prices for households and communal services demanded by the IMF have all stoked up social tensions. Unless the employer meets the miners half way they are threatening to mount mass protests and call an all out strike.  

 

Copied below is a new appeal letter from the the miners of Kryviy Rih. The original can be found here on the Left-Opposition site:  http://gaslo.info/?p=5290

Despite the escalation of the socio-political situation in our country, the oligarchs still refuse to meet the workers half way. More than a month has passed since the branch of the independent trade union of miners at the Sukha Balka enterprise addressed the administration with a reasoned demand to increase workers` wages. Having based our arguments on official documents, we convincingly demonstrated to the administration that the enterprise is now receiving a surplus profit from export production as a result of a reduction in miners` real wages caused by the drastic devaluation of the hryvnia and an increase of retail prices. The enterprise has doubled its profits exactly in line with this reduction of real wages by 40-50 percent. In order for real wages to stay at the same level as we had last year it is necessary to increase the wage rates by at least 1.5-2 times. Meanwhile, prices continue to rise rapidly. We are already receiving bills for electricity with a 30 percent increase over the previous rate. The administration has no arguments to contradict these obvious facts.

 

However, while the dialogue concerning the wages increase has already began at some enterprises of the Kryviy Rih Iron Ore Basin, (for instance at the Kryviy Rih Iron-Ore Mining enterprise (KZhRK) where wage rates have been raised by 15-25 %), the administration of the Sukha BAlka enterprise does not even try to initiate any sort of contact with their workers. Indeed, enterprise officials have been evading negotiations from the very beginning. Our official appeals are constantly ignored. In his letter dated May 22, 2014, General Director of Evraz Sukha Balka, A. V. Davidov, informed us that a wage increase “could result in the increase of production costs and prices for the product,” having in fact ignored the key demand of our trade union. Therefore, the administration is not willing to give up getting a surplus profit which they are practically stealing from miners` pockets while they continue to stall.       

Resentment is growing among the miners. Over a thousand workers at the Frunze and Jubilee   mines personally signed up to their support our demands.  Miners feel strongly, and if there is no adequate increase in wages we will turn to mass protests, and possibly to an all-out strike.  Thus the responsibility for increasing social tensions rests entirely on the stubbornness and inappropriate behaviour of the administration who do not seem to realize their actions are pushing the miners towards radical solutions.

For the sake of preserving peace and social stability in Ukraine we urge all on whom it depends to ensure that the management at Evraz Sukha Balka immediately increase wages!  The independent trade unions and our miners’ self-defence have always been the guarantors of peace and security in our city and have prevented any violence! 

We really hope to avoid social unrest and violence today!

 

Oleksandr Bondar, Head of the branch of the Independent Union of Miners of Ukraine at the EVRAZ Sukha Balka plc

Yurii Samojlov, Co-ordinator of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine in Kryviy Rih, Head of the Independent Union of Miners of Ukraine in Kryviy Rih.

What compromise are we prepared to make to save lives in the Donbas?

Zakhar Popovych, member of the Left Opposition, Kyiv

Published originally on the website Haslo: http://gaslo.info/?p=5298

Translation by Marko Bojcun

Only the lazy aren’t talking about the need to stop the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). The speediest possible halt to the armed conflict has even become even the official position of the Ukrainian authorities. The issue, however, is that some people see the halt to the ATO coming with the ultimate victory of the Ukrainian government’s army, which at this moment has a clear advantage in numbers and arms. In our view, such a “victory” is not possible right now without massive civilian casualties in the region. And even if it is achieved, it will lead to the growth of a completely justifiable hatred on the part of the local population not just towards the pro-government army but in general to the Ukrainian state itself.

A Ukrainian authority established by way of terror will not be strong and will never be accepted by the eastern Ukrainians as their own. But it is precisely down this path that extremists on both sides of the conflict are pushing us. In the end this particular path leads to the complete loss of faith in these regions in Ukrainian state institutions and the de facto disintegration of the contemporary Ukrainian state. This is precisely the scenario that anti-Ukrainian forces want to see; they want to prove above all the incapacity of the contemporary Ukrainian state and the inability of Ukrainians to exist as a political nation.

Armed confrontation taking place right now around Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and other cities of the Donbas bring civilian casualties every night. You will find no writing on each piece of shrapnel that has wounded or killed a civilian just who set that mine. However these mines are continually exploding very close to residential quarters; they systematically get them them inside occupied buildings, although of course in most cases they are not intended to hit peaceful residents. One can readily believe that ATO forces have on no occasions fired directly at residential buildings, however in a densely populated place in the Donbas it is impossible to avoid accidental casualties altogether. In the same way one could argue over whether the armed formations of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics are directing their mortar fire at residential buildings or not. The fact remains that mines are getting into them, and most likely from both sides of the conflict.

Therefore the first demand that conscious Ukrainian citizens should make is an immediate ceasefire. An immediate cessation in the use of heavy weapons and air forces on both sides in populated centres. The first task to be agreed, if necessary with the devil, is to prevent casualties among the civilian population, people who have now become hostages of the terrorists. In this situation it is simply necessary to conduct negotiations even with those we consider to be the worst terrorists.

Such questions as a ceasefire and creating a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid can all be agreed with, among others, the real “field commanders” of the terrorists – Girkin-Strelkov, Abwehr, Bis, others. At the same time, the release of hostages and the conditions under which the terrorists will leave Ukraine are the only questions that ought to be negotiated with them. On the other hand, any questions concerning political decision making should be considered solely with representatives of the local communities and not with fighters who have come here from abroad.

It is necessary to hold discussions with the representatives of local communities about withdrawing the army from population centres and creating security buffer zones around Ukrainian military encampments. The question can also be raised about returning Ukrainian military units to their permanent bases, but there can be no question about removing all Ukrainian military forces from the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Units of the armed forces of Ukraine have been here ever since the armed forces were created, which happened right after we gained our independence. Service men and women with their families have lived here in garrisons and nearby settlements for decades. To demand that these people, most of whom have nothing at all to do with any nationalist organisations, be resettled is absolutely unacceptable.

Negotiations should be conducted in the context of organising open and democratic elections to local councils. In particular a decision will be needed to allow election observers from Ukrainian and international organisations. Its no secret that a significant portion (if not the majority of the urban population) does not trust the Ukrainian army. Naturally, people are frightened and find themselves under the influence of lying Russian propaganda. However, there are also objective reasons for such mistrust. There are many members of Ukrainian ultranationalist and even openly neo-nazi organisations in the ranks and leadership of newly formed Ukrainian military units. And unfortunately the Government has been relying all the more on such units, which are more inclined to decisive action, which still do not have a clear status or clearly defined authority. The actions of such semi-autonomous battalions are often provocative and tend to consolidate the local population around the terrorist groups, which are then regarded, paradoxically, as their “defenders”. Without a doubt an important step on the road to peace in this region would be the removal of these “volunteer” Ukrainian battalions from the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk, their disarmament and disbandment.

It is no secret either that organised workers have until now taken practically no part in the events taking place in this industrial region. At the same time, in places where workers’ organisations were bold enough to take the situation under their own control, as happened for example in Krasnodon, Luhansk oblast, the strike committee not only took control of the whole city, but also prevented any violence during its general strike. The independent unions of Kryviy Rih have experience in forming their own self defense brigades. They played an important role in preventing provocations and violence during their protests on the Maidan in the Kryviy Rih Basin.

We think that trade union representatives, which are independent of the oligarch-owners on the one hand and clearly distanced from radical nationalist organisations, both pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian, on the other hand, can also become the guarantors of agreements made between the conflicting sides in the Donbas. Therefore we call upon the independent trade unions and strike committees to form their own self defense brigades and use all acceptable means to bring these sides to an immediate ceasefire. Possibly, workers’ delegations from Dnipropetrovsk could become effective mediators in normalising this situation, and be much more helpful in the ATO zone than the Azov and Dnipro (special volunteer) battalions.

 

 

 

To build the home called solidarity an interview with Vitaliy Dudin

Vitaliy Dudin is a member of the Left Opposition in Kyiv and pro bono lawyer for the independent trade union Zakhyst Pratsi (Defense of Labour).

Recorded in Kyiv on 24 May and translated by Marko Bojcun

Q. How do you characterise the politics towards Ukraine of the Russian Federation on the one hand and of the USA and the European Union on the other, if indeed you consider the latter to be a united bloc?

A. The politics of the Russian Federation towards Ukraine is particularly aggressive. It is exerting such pressure that accordingly legitimizes any actions taken by the USA. Everyone who is more or less aware of the situation here can see the Russian Federation is attacking human rights and the rights of workers in particular. And so this state is viewed as an authoritarian, pro-fascist state. We know what a powerful neo-nazi movement is active in Russia, and when they caricature and accuse Ukraine of fascism this is absolutely unconvincing coming from the mouth of the Putin regime, which is not constrained by any values. This is an aggressive, imperialist power both towards its own citizens and towards Ukraine. It is intervening today into the affairs of Ukraine. It has annexed Crimea in defiance of international law.

As for the USA, we should note it now has a carte blanche to strengthen its influence in Ukraine because it can appear as the peacemaker which wants to save Ukraine from Russian aggression. While at the same time it asserts its own priorities, to get Ukraine to implement neo-liberal economic reforms and to push Ukraine towards membership in NATO or tighter integration with NATO.

Q. How would you characterise the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s republics?

A. The so-called Donetsk People’s Republic is an artificial creation supported solely by the arms of the people who control its territory. There has been no legitimate referendum which can fully express the will of the people living there. Resting on the small number of votes they actually canvassed they are attempting to strengthen their influence. They are strengthened by the Russian agents working on the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics.

I cannot regard these creations as progressive. Their class essence is directed against the toilers of Ukraine, leading to a split between the toilers of the east and the rest of Ukraine. While we should be uniting our forces against the neoliberal government of Ukraine which collaborates with the oligarchs they are proposing to isolate themselves. In no way can that serve the interests of the workers’ movement.

Q. What do you think of the claim that these republics are creatures of the old Yanukovych regime, that they were initiated to save the old regime when it became clear it was collapsing here in Kyiv?

A. This separatist movement is based on three supports. First the revanchism of Yanukovych and of the Party of Regions’ structures which reside on this territory. Second, the real influence of the Russian Federation and its agents. And third, there is a protest from below by members of the lumpen proletariat and by some public sector workers who are dissatisfied with the imposition of austerity policies at a time when everything is rosy for the oligarchs. These are the three key forces, and unfortunately the last one, third, is the weakest. And so the influence of social demands on the further development of this movement is not apparent.

Q. Does the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) of the Kyiv government help or hinder the stabilisation of the situation in the eastern oblasts?

A. It was clear to me from the very start that the ATO is a bloody adventure (avantiura), fruitless, but fostering a split in Ukrainian society. The methods by which the ATO has been implemented shows that the people carrying it out don’t want to solve the problem but to aggravate it. Rather than abandoning its anti-social orientation this government has started saying that the people living in the eastern regions are not patriotic enough. Instead of sitting down right away to negotiations they took to mounting aggressive military actions.

And as a result the conviction arose among people in the east that they really are fighting a fascist regime supported by the oligarchs which doesn’t want to enter into negotiations with them but which threatens them with force in the same way as Yanukovych did. The words “ultimatum”, “terrorists” and “restoring order” are the typical words used by Yanukovych. And the new government quickly turned to the same approach as Yanukovych’s and thinks it has the right to dictate to everyone with the use of force.

If you read the messages of the Cabinet of Ministers on the site Uriadoviy kurier (Government courier) in March and April this year, or the statements coming from the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) or (Acting President) Oleksandr Turchynov, you will find only the language of ultimatums.

I also take the view that this military operation could have been carried out much more effectively at the very beginning of the crisis, in March, had it been directed against individual separatist leaders. But it subsequently became clear that they really need to deepen the crisis so as to be able to steer the society more firmly. So that the society seeing this big threat of separatism and pro-Russian terrorism could be more easily manipulated.

We have many casualties now, terrible losses for the population. We have our government taking in volunteers from neo-nazi groups to serve in the armed forces’ campaign in the east. And later these same armed forces will be used to enforce order on the streets of towns and cities across Ukraine.

Q. What position do you as socialists take towards the Kyiv government, bearing in mind that Ukraine is under threat from the Russian Federation?

A. In order to correct its course we should consistently criticise this government, pointing out that this government objectively expresses the interests of the oligarchs. At the same time we stand opposed to the Russian Federation’s covetous desires. We don’t want to be liberated by Russian tanks and automatic rifles. The working people of Ukraine alone, carrying forward their struggle on all fronts through their own organisations, trade unions and parties, should work out the problems of their own government.

As for its legitimacy, our government is just as legitimate as the government of Yanukovych was. And it is just as illegitimate, too, because it doesn’t represent the people. And by what procedures power was taken, well that doesn’t concern us that much. Some people protest that Yanukovych was driven out illegally; such people simply justify in advance the terrible human costs that would have been incurred had he not been ejected by revolutionary means. There was no other way to deal with the old regime.

For the new government to claim to be representative there must be parliamentary elections conducted in a democratic way. It should include lowering the threshold of electability (for party lists elected on a proportional basis) to 1 percent so that all new political forces which appeared on the wave of the Maidan can take part in the legitimization of the new government authority.

Second, limits on election funding and the provision of some public funding are needed so that all candidates have equal opportunity, so that the truth wins out and not those with the greatest wealth. And the voters must have the right to recall the deputies they elect, including parliamentary deputies. And then we can say our government is truly becoming more democratic. Today it differs little from the Yanukovych regime. So whether we support it or not, it nevertheless exists.

And I will say once again that the Russian Federation has no right at all to make any assessment of our government. I am not saying that all the arguments being made by the Russian Federation should be taken as lies. No, there really is some truth there: they do say that the Ukrainian government is working with neo-nazis. And there is the Svoboda party, which itself is not completely neo-fascist, but is ultra-conservative and nationalist. This party has pro-fascists elements in it who work with European and Russian neo-nazis. The Russian Federation is right when it says the oligarchs and the neo-nazis co-operate in the Ukrainian government. But that doesn’t mean we can improve the situation by returning to the Yanukovych regime.

Q. Can the presidential elections bring anything positive? Will they bring democratic legitimacy to the government? Are there any candidates you support?

A. As far as law making is concerned these elections will bring about a stabilisation. There will be less doubt on the part of the European Union and the criticisms of the Russian Federation will be less convincing. Because, after all, a president will have been elected according to the rules.

I think that Petro Poroshenko will win, possibly even in the first round. We cannot support him because his victory will require the entire country to work for the wealth of one person. Possibly, it will lead to a clearer recognition on the part of workers of their own class interests because they will see that “the state cares not for us”, as the Internationale says (“Держава дбає не про нас”). Perhaps the class character of the state will become clearer for people to see, that by their work they are enriching the oligarchs.

At this point in time, however, it is hard to understand who in fact is directing our state So when there is less chaos than now, when we have a clear relationship between the people (narod) and the president, then we will have a more conscious and predictable political struggle. The completion of the presidential elections will objectively foster better conditions for the birth of a workers’ movement. Regardless of how reformist this may sound the conditions we live in today are very unfavourable. The chaos works against us.

Q. Are there any signs are of a rebirth of the workers movement in Ukraine today?

A. There is hope for such a movement. Those people who went through the Maidan now know they can influence developments in society. But they also see that this revolution brought them no results. They can now apply the experience they gained on the Maidan to advance their own interests.

And some focal points have appeared – Kryvyj Rih is one of them, where the miners were the majority of the activists on their Maidan. That core of activists fought the criminal gangs and the police who were sent against them. We can also see a new centre of the independent workers’ movement appearing in Krasnodon. In Kyiv, too, there have been actions by tram workers for social and economic demands, including payment of their wages in arrears. They were supported by the leftists, and not by any of the bourgeois parties.

We can see that the people are tired of simply being the spectators of political games played by the bourgeois elites. On the other hand, the separatists and the banderivtsi (Ukrainian nationalists) see no particular advantage for themselves in these actions by workers. We would like to believe that people will indeed stop being passive observers of this conflict, and will become the makers of decisions that they themselves require.

When the Yanukovych regime was still in place here were illusions about its pro-Russian disposition, because indeed there were times like last December when it did display such a disposition and other times when it did not… Indeed, his pro-Russian disposition figured in his election to the presidency in 2010, and his period in office thereafter was considered to have been dominated by the pro-Russian vector. And that restrained the independent workers movement: people thought they were impoverished because our state was pro-Russia, not because the oligarchs were in power. And if the state became pro-Ukrainian then things would get better.

But our new president will be an oligarch and the whole system of power will have a more clearly visible liberal and pro-oligarchic character. And the task of he leftists is to carry the fight to that state which is hostile the workers’ interests.

Q. Tell us about the most recent developments in Kryviy Rih.

A. We can’t say it’s the most favourable time for the development of the workers’ movement because the Russian intervention leads everything to be divided up into black and white. This is very good for the Ukrainian oligarchs who are defending Ukraine’s independence. War is good for them: war means new state orders, and tenders that take place with just one bidder. Kolomoyskiy, Poroshenko and company are getting access to billions of public money for the goods they supply to the Ukrainian army. Some people portray them as though they are doing good deeds. In reality, however, they are taking care of their own economic interests. In these conditions many people are convinced we should not bother them or impede their class interests because no matter how tough it is for the workers we should all keep sailing along in the same boat.

Indeed we came across such an illustration after the Kryviy Rih miners’ first action when Mykhailo Volynets, leader of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KFPU) announced that the main enemy is Russian capital in the form of the corporation EVRAZ controlled by Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire. Naturally, we don’t accept that position because the workers’ movement will only succeed if it stands up for class interests, not political ones. And the workers in all the mines should be fighting together for proper working conditions everywhere. The oligarchs should share what they have. Then there will be no reasons for civil conflict.

We cannot preserve their wealth and at the same time materially benefit the workers. And that’s why there are wars. Because the people do not appear today as an independent political force. They are pitted one against the other: they are recruited as soldiers either to the pro-Russian terrorists or to pro-Ukrainian self defense forces. That means this terrible situation will persist.

We believe its impossible to divide oligarchs into good and bad ones. And that’s why we supported the actions of the Kryviy Rih miners who demanded doubling the wages of workers both at the enterprises owned by the Russian multi-billionaire Roman Abramovich and at the iron ore enrichment plant owned by Akhmetov and Kolomoiskiy. The owner of the enrichment plant declared that he was raising wages by 20 percent, and so the workers, he said, should back off. But that concession was forced out of him. It doesn’t mean the oligarchs have recognized the justice of the workers’ demands. They just want to improve their image. Their profits are growing even faster now; they sell their production for dollars, whose value has almost doubled in the exchange rate with the hryvnia (Ukrainian currency). At the same time the real income of the workers is falling because they are paid in hryvnia.

So let’s be honest here, there needs to be same radical demands put on all the oligarchs and the benefits should go to all their workers. We are for co-operation with the Confederation of Free Trade Unions (FNPU) and the Independent Union of Miners of Ukraine (NPHU). We recognise their leaders as they were democratically elected. But the priority for us is to take account of the wishes of the work collectives, the actual members of the union. And we expect that the leaders will develop positions that accord with those of their base organisations. We have instances today where the rank and file workers are more pro-active than their leaders. It sometimes happens the other way around as well. However, we in the Left Opposition are committed to working with the rank and file.

Q. Tell us about the situation in Western Ukraine.

A. Developments in Western Ukraine give us some cause for optimism. People are fed up with Svoboda. They can see that the nationalist ideology don’t allow them to resolve the problems faced by their communities. They give them populist slogans and nothing more. People are beginning to realise en masse that they need an alternative, and more and more movements are appearing to challenge the corruption practiced by officials belonging to Svoboda, and their xenophobia which is splitting the country.

Q. What are the signs of opposition to Svoboda?

A. In Lviv, a left nationalist movement has sprung up that is composed of people who previously stood on ulta-right positions. These people have evolved to the left and they are criticising the governments in Lviv and Ternopil oblasts for their xenophobia and defence of big business interests. Well known businessmen have been cutting down forests and destroying parks for commercial development with the connivance of Svoboda members in government. In Lviv they are destroying an historic part of the old city with the approval of Svoboda. There are going to be more labour disputes in this region with those employers who support Svoboda and Bat’kivshchyna, their allies.

Such developments give us great hope that one section of Ukrainians have been immunised against this rightist populism. I’m sure that people in Central Ukraine will be paying all the more attention now to the west of the country. Having had illusions about them in the past they are shocked to learn this is a corrupt party, which claims in Kyiv that it defends parks there from developers. And look at what is happening in Lviv that contradicts their decorative façade: Svoboda sends its deputies and a hundred football fanatics to disperse protesters at the sessions of Lviv City Council.

I get upset to hear people from Eastern Ukraine speaking about the independence of Donetsk as their way of protecting themselves from the banderivtsi and from the residents of Western Ukraine in general. People in Western Ukraine itself are already struggling against these ultra-right politicians. They are struggling in their own way, criticising them over quite concrete problems, but at least they are doing it.

People may have different interpretations of history, but most of them understand that to emphasise them without pause is damaging to the general interests of the workers, the ordinary citizens. The workers in the eastern region are saying they don’t want to live in the same country as the banderivtsi, who live in the western region. I think this is an incorrect position to take. Rather, we all need to unite in our struggle against the authorities rather than retreating into separate rooms and creating artificial republics.

Q. What do you have to say about the whole debate over fascism and anti-fascism?

A. It angers me as an anti-fascist and left activist that the Russian Federation, which is intervening in Ukraine, is playing the anti-fascist card. It amounts to the argument that the Ukrainian government is pro-fascist, so let’s go help the Ukrainians with Russian tanks and automatic weapons. This is nothing more than a cover for aggression.

The Russian government cannot give an objective assessment of our government because it is itself infected with the viruses of xenophobia and authoritarianism. Just recently they kidnapped an anarchist in Crimea, transported him to Moscow and charged him with organising violence protest. This person was engaged solely in peaceful protest; he is a student union activist. He constitutes no threat at all, neither to the Ukrainian nor the Russian government. But as we see the Russian government is aggressive, even considering ideas to be dangerous if they don’t accord with its own ideas. In that case it applies the strictest controls.

We are insulted when it acts in the name of anti-fascism because we know that it has nothing to do with internationalism, nor with the victory of the Soviet people in the Second World War. The Russian authorities openly support football fanatics’ organisations, legitimise neo-nazis, includs them in the political process by calling them nationalist leaders, whereas they are truly racists, xenophobes and neo-nazis.

We also know that clandestine far right terrorism has is origins in Russia.   Russia developed the model and provided transit for it abroad. More than ten anti-fascists have been murdered there. Fortunately, the more radical far right organisation in Ukraine have been kept on the margins, and so ultra-right terrorism has not emerged in Ukraine, at least not yet. I don’t know how the situation will change after the government began including far-right volunteers in its military campaign.

But all the same the system in Ukraine was not under the control of radical nationalists. To accuse the Ukrainian authorities of being pro-fascist is a blatant lie. Sure, Svoboda is represented in the government, but their ministers do not make policy for the government, but have to work under the dictate of Bat’kivshchyna, liberal-conservative party.

Anti-fascists around the world should not support the separatist movement. Nor should they uncritically relate to the so-called anti-Maidan. Very strict demands must be placed on the anti-Maidan: its members must reject xenophobic rhetoric which is present there. In their ranks there are antisemites, Black Hundreds, people of ultra-right, pro-Russian views. How can anyone work with them to fight Ukrainian fascism? Ultra-right and pro-fascist forces have a tight control over the anti-Maidan, and behind them stands an aggressive, authoritarian Russian Federation which is ready to use any language and make any claims in order to justify its aggression, including “anti-fascism”.

If we really do want to combat fascism in Ukraine then we should unite the workers of the east, the centre and the west in a common struggle against the Ukrainian authorities. To build the home called solidarity Ukraine should remain united in the struggle against the oligarchs, regardless of whether they are Ukrainian or Russian. Ukraine must fight consistently against the xenophobia of our native neo-nazis and Russian xenophobia which is produced by the Russian state machine, by the radical movements in Russia and the anti-Maidan.