Open response to some of the main points of an article by Erdogan A with MLG

 'An Open Letter On Putin's War On Ukraine'; to the website “Selected Marxist-Leninist Writings”. 13 March 2022

by Marxist-Leninist Currents Today 

Introduction

Download as PDF - It is quite long - these are the excerpts 

We give below an open response to some of the main points of an article by Erdogan A with MLG, titled “Imperialism - in Ukraine Particular”. This can be found at: https://neodemocracy.blogspot.com/2022/03/imperialism-in-ukraine-particular.html (March 2, 2022).

The viewpoint of ‘Marxist-Leninist Currents Today’ was put in two articles, written before the open war. However, they anticipated a possible – perhaps even likely - Russian invasion of Ukraine, which occurred on February 24th, 2022. Our viewpoints are at: http://ml-today.com/2022/02/11/imperialist-danse-macabre-over-the-peoples-of-ukraine/ (Feb 11 2022); and

http://ml-today.com/2022/02/06/theses-ukraine/ (Feb 6, 2022).

“Imperialism in Ukraine Particular” by Comrade Erdogan has a very different viewpoint from our own, but from within the ML-ist movement. We feel it necessary to comment purposes of mutual clarification. Erdogan defends and supports President Putin, and Russia in its current war, considering it as a progressive war. In broad terms Erdogan argues it diminishes the power of the main imperialist world force of the USA; and that it has an anti-fascist character. We disagree with both these central matters.

While our response specifically addresses Erdogan, it is broader in scope. Admittedly, in only a quick and brief survey, the Marxist-Leninist movement seems severely split.

Therefore, we first briefly note different perspectives in the Marxist-Leninist movement.

Views of the Marxist-Leninist Movement on the Current War in Ukraine

Several organisations who refer to themselves as Marxist-Leninist, support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At first blush, in general this camp appears dominated by a pro-CPC and Maoist orientation. We accept this may not be invariable.

See for example1 the positions of the ‘Russian Communist Workers Party (Bolshevik)’ March 3, 2022 ‘Statement on Ukraine Events’; as translated by ‘Red Patriot', for The League of Young Communists USA which follows the Party of Communists USA; https://redpat.org/2022/03/russian-communist-workers-party-bolshevik-statement-on- ukraine-events/

Also another Russian party - the Communist Party (KPRF) of Gennady Zyuganov has largely followed Putin, although as outlined below, this is contested within the party: David Broder, 'We Spoke to Russian Socialists Who Are Protesting Vladimir Putin’s War'; https://jacobinmag.com/2022/03/russian-socialists-protest-putin-war-ukraine- antiwar-dissent (Accessed March 13)

Or see groups linked to Harpal Brar (UK) such as: Lalkar (“Russia stands firm against the latest imperialist provocation over Ukraine”, January-February 2022; at: http://www.lalkar.org/article/3852/russia-stands-firm-against-the-latest-imperialist- provocation-over-ukraine ; or, CPGB (ML) “Russia demands security guarantees to stop NATO expansion”, Feb 1, 2022; https://thecommunists.org/2022/02/01/news/russia-security- guarantees-stop-nato-expansion-ukraine-usa/

CPGB (ML) ‘Kiev junta facing defeat as Russia roots out fascist militias from Ukraine’, March 1, at https://thecommunists.org/2022/03/01/news/ukraine-kiev-junta-facing-defeat-russia-roots- out-fascist-militias/

Also, sites linked to Jose Maria Sison, February 26. 2022, “US & NATO Mastermind And Engineer Armed Conflict Between Russophobe Ukrainian Regime And Russia (Regarding Us & NATO Violations Of Original Minsk Agreement And Minsk Agreement), A Commentary by Chairperson Emeritus, International League Of Peoples’ Struggle”; at https://neodemocracy.blogspot.com/2022/02/commentary-by-jose-maria-sison-on.html Or for example the views of the Communist Party of Philippines (February 23, 2022, Marco Valbuena, ‘On heightened US provocations against Russia in Ukraine and effects on oil prices“, at: https://prwcinfo.wordpress.com/2022/02/23/on-heightened-us-provocations-against- russia-in-ukraine-and-effects-on-oil-prices/)

Conversely, organisations who take a pro-Party of Labour Albania line appear, again in general, to condemn the invasion.

This might be exemplified in the ‘Declaration of the European Meeting of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations - Intensify the fight against the policy of war! At:

https://pceml.info/actual/index.php/internacional/1032-intensificar-la-lucha-contra-la- politica-de-guerra and translated at: https://revolutionarydemocracy.org

See also: Communist Platform – for the Communist Party of the Proletariat of Italy, ‘An imperialist and reactionary war across the board -Let us mobilize to refuse any involvement! February 26, 2022; at: https://revolutionarydemocracy.org

And “Ukraine: No to the reactionary imperialist war’; February 25, 2022, Communist Workers' Party of France; translated at https://revolutionarydemocracy.org

And finally: American Party Of Labor, ‘We Reject Biden And Putin’s War’; February 22, 2022 at: https://theredphoenixapl.org/2022/02/22/american-party-of-labor-we-reject- biden-and-putins-war/

We accept this is a very brief survey. However, our main purpose is to address Erdogan's major points. We begin with how the world toilers determine whether to support a war.

1. The defining characteristic of wars in the era of the proletariat – the “class which conducts the war”.

Erdogan opens his article with this quotation from Fydorov (his emphasis):

“In our time the legitimacy and justice of wars can be approached only from the standpoint of the proletariat and its liberation struggle…Marxists- Leninists adopt a concrete attitude to every war, depending on the class aims pursued by the belligerents. The champions of the pacifist ideology hold that the preaching of peace alone leads to an abolition of wars without struggle. Therefore, the pacifist ideology is not dangerous to the militarists, it can be used by the reactionary classes to blunt the vigilance of the masses."

We are not familiar with Fyodorov, nonetheless that quotation is quite close to the formulations of both Lenin and Stalin. For example:

“What is required of us is the ability to explain to the masses that the social and political character of the war is determined not by the “good will” of individuals or groups, or even of nations, but by the position of the class which conducts the war, by the class policy of which the war is a continuation, by the ties of capital, which is the dominant economic force in modern society, by the imperialist character of international capital, by Russia’s dependence in finance, banking and diplomacy upon Britain, France, and so on. To explain this skillfully in a way the people would understand is not easy; none of us would be able to do it at once without committing errors.”2

For Lenin ‘good will’ cannot explain war, which depends upon underlying political relations, because:

“War is the continuation of politics. Everything depends on the system of political relations before the war and during the war.”3

“War is the Continuation of Politics by Other” (i.e., Violent) “Means”.

This famous aphorism was uttered by one of the profoundest writers on the problems of war, Clausewitz. Marxists have always rightly regarded this thesis as the theoretical basis of views concerning the significance of every given war. It was precisely from this viewpoint that Marx and Engels always regarded different wars.” 4

We will not multiply the possible number of quotations from Lenin on this. However, the corollary is that characterising the war requires careful consideration of the character of the Russian state and its' current President – Vladimir Putin.

Therefore, we explicitly ask five questions:

(i) What is the class character of Russia and its President? ... p.3

(ii) How did Putin seal his Presidency in Chechnya? Cutting Putin's war teeth... p.10

(iii) What do the prior wars of the post 1991 Russian state Georgia, Syria - teach us about the current war? .... p.16

(iv) Can Putin be trusted when he claims he fights against fascism in Ukraine? p.19

(v) Finally, what does the unfolding international situation hold? p. 22

Of these (i) and (ii) seem to us the most important demanding more detailed responses.

2. Rebuttal to Erdogan

(i) What is the class character of Russia and its President?

We will argue that Putin played a major role in the robbing of state resources that had been built up the prior socialist state Putin never repudiated this. Instead, Putin led the process and enriched himself by it. To display the intimate links of Putin with the profiteering and looting of the proletariat's state owned resources, a minimal but adequate detail is necessary. It should show the structural changes in the Soviet economy and class relations, since the Khrushchevera.

***

2 (iii) What do the prior wars of the Russian state Georgia and Syria - teach us about the current war?

Our main argument to condemn the war launched by Putin rests as we have said on the evident reality that the Russian state is a capitalist imperialist state; and that Putin is an anti-working class dictator. Do his prior war actions - beyond Chechnya which we examined above - help to justify his war today in Ukraine? We believe not.

Georgia

Erdogan twice quotes an interesting article by the late Armenian-Turkish ML-ist Garbis Altinoglu’s on Georgia. [We have placed Altinoglu’s article first published on his ‘Facebook’ pages, in a translated version at ‘Marxist-Leninist Currents Today’.51]

The quotations cited by Erdogan are quoted below. We take the liberty here to also place two portions – in italics – for our own emphasis:

"The revolutionary vanguard of the working class and consistent democrats and internationalists cannot in principle take sides in this inter-imperialist conflict for spheres of influence, raw materials, markets and military-political supremacy.

They know that war is inherent in capitalism and imperialism, and that real and lasting peace can only be achieved by the world-wide victory of proletarian revolutions and the overthrow of the capitalist-imperialist system.

And they know that the crisis in the Caucasus can only be resolved with the progress and victory of a struggle to be waged under the leadership of the revolutionary parties of the working class and under the banner of proletarian internationalism.

On the other hand, they (Marxist Leninists) say that the USA and NATO, or to put it more clearly, the neo-fascist axis of the USA-Israel-Britain constitute the most aggressive bloc and that this bloc, which is the main enemy of the working class and peoples of the world, is the main instigator and executive of the wars of aggression. And therefore, they (Marxist Leninists) can never ignore the fact that it is the main task of the working class and the peoples to weaken, isolate and neutralize this axis.

Despite the reactionary and imperialist nature of their regimes, Russia and China are already on the defensive, and their attempts and counterattacks against the efforts of the US-NATO axis to encircle, regress and isolate them serve to preserve the current peace in today's tactical phase and complicate (make it difficult) the outbreak of a new world war in which nuclear weapons will also be used.

Therefore, the revolutionary vanguard of the working class and consistent democrats and internationalists, while condemning their imperialist and expansionist policies, they welcome Russia's repelling of the attack by the US- Israel-Georgia axis."

51 at Link MLC Today

 

We have drawn attention to two sentences:

The very first sentence quoted from Altinoglu, italicised - is clearly a line derived directly from Lenin. It is important enough to put alone:

“The revolutionary vanguard of the working class and consistent democrats and internationalists cannot in principle take sides in this inter-imperialist conflict for spheres of influence, raw materials, markets and military-political supremacy.”

We believe that Erdogan misinterprets Altinoglu, whose article aims to provide an overview of the Russo-Georgian war. It appears to us that Erdogan highlights Altinoglu's final sentence:

“While condemning their imperialist and expansionist policies, they welcome Russia's repelling of the attack by the US-Israel-Georgia axis."

This is the sentence that is 'cherry-picked by Erdogan. Of course, Altinoglu here correctly assessed the result of the Georgian conflict. But his conclusions, have already and first emphasized that we: "cannot in principle take sides in this inter-imperialist conflict".

2 (iv) Can Putin be trusted when he claims he fights against fascism in Ukraine?

As Putin himself threatened in his earlier “history speech” on February 21: “Do you want decommunization? Well, that suits us just fine. But it is unnecessary, as they say, to stop halfway. We are ready to show you what real decommunization means for Ukraine.” 54

We accept fully that Putin is an expert on decommunization. But on what grounds can we trust the words of Putin - when he says he enters Ukraine to 'fight fascism'? In his later speech of Feb 24th, attempting to justify launching the Russian invasion, Putin says this:

This brings me to the situation in Donbass. We can see that the forces that staged the coup in Ukraine in 2014 have seized power, are keeping it with the help of ornamental election procedures and have abandoned the path

of a peaceful conflict settlement. For eight years, for eight endless years we have been doing everything possible to settle the situation by peaceful political means. Everything was in vain.”

“We had to stop that atrocity, that genocide of the millions of people who live there and who pinned their hopes on Russia, on all of us. It is their aspirations, the feelings and pain of these people that were the main motivating force behind our decision to recognise the independence of the Donbass people’s republics.  I would like to additionally emphasise the following. Focused on their own goals, the leading NATO countries are supporting the far-right nationalists and neo-

Nazis in Ukraine, those who will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for freely making a choice to reunite with Russia.”55

There is no doubt that in the Maidan so-called Orange Revolution, the USA was promoting fascists in Ukraine and the coup leadership. Indeed we wrote clearly on this:

"in the Maidan events of 2006 and 2013 the Ukranian state was splintered. Tymoshenko (and a later successor Petro Poroshenko) adopted racist and restrictive policies against Ukranian Russian speakers. In an interregnum the pro-Russian Donetsk gangster Yanukovich became PM. However his government baulked at ever more egregious demands of the IMF and the EU. Tymoshenko, brought down Yankuovich’s government, in tandem with the US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland (whose recorded indiscretions (“Fuck the EU”) spoke volumes). Maidan 2.0 was a coup, that was clearly fueled by the USA and the EU. Nuland openly boasted that “the US had invested over

$5 billion USD in Ukranian democracy”. Moreover both the USA and the EU were setting up several ‘NGO’s. These poured money into the Orange supporters, led by George Soros (110 million between2004- 2014; and the EU gave 1.3 billion Euros 2007-2014." 56

In 'realpolitik' terms this process, and the Eastward expansion of NATO - was denigrated...

*** 

2. (v) What does the unfolding international situation hold?

To conclude, we cannot see anything other than an on-going re-division of the world between two great blocs that are in opposition.

The USA and NATO - and now completely on side is the European Union.

Germany is in especial the 'swing' state inside the EU - but has now come fully on board. The former junior partners in imperialism in the First and Second World War - Canada and Australia - are fully on side. The recent AKUS alliance has welded components of these together specifically targeting China. 62

In opposition is an evolving block led by Russia and China - but it seems with India, at times and South Africa. The status of the so-called BRICS (including also Brazil and South Africa) are still being defined.

The fact that one side - the first is at the moment apparently so much stronger, does not indicate automatic support for the second. Indeed Lenin vividly put it this way:

"it is not the business of socialists to help the younger and stronger robber (Germany) to plunder the older and overgorged robbers. Socialists must take advantage of the struggle between robbers to overthrow all of them. To do this, socialists must first tell the people the truth". 63

What has Putin's miscalculation in this invasion led to, even as we enter only the third week of the war? A simple catalogue would have to include - at minimum - these major effects:

i) Extraordinary further suffering, and deaths of the civilian population and most vulnerable sections of the Russian-Ukrainian and Western Ukraine population by a devastating war;

ii) A naturally and only to be expected outpouring of a nationalists drive of the Ukraine - potentiating the hold of extreme right-wing nationalism in Ukraine - and heightening the popularity of pro-Western manipulators such as Zelensky. Even if Putin succeeds in short term goals of occupying even a part of Ukraine, there will be an on-going guerrilla war. Massive arms inputs into Ukraine will be used against the Russian soldiers.

iii) By an unwarranted and false equation between Putin's Russia and the Former Soviet socialist state of the USSR - the anti-socialist rhetoric and mythologies. have been heightened.

iv) Welded the USA EU and NATO forces to an even greater and dangerous extent than had been possible before;

v) A key swing state in EU - the locomotive of European economies, Germany - has come off the fence and put its heft behind the USA and NATO - at least for now. Its cancelling of NORDSTREAM 2 - marks a major step. Its embrace of funding at massive levels for its army in support of NATO - is a new dramatic reactionary milestone.

vi) Ensured the financial and trading isolation of the Russian state - with huge effects upon the Russian people. these will take more time to unfold into effects, but will have the potential forward advance of the Russian people in their own struggle against Putinite dictatorship and oligarchy.

The struggle goes on. However - most alarmingly - it goes on without any of the relevant countries having a united and strong Marxist-Leninist party. This reflects terribly on the whole Marxist-Leninist movement.

Response to the critique - On the assessment and conclusions regarding Ukraine question- Response to MLC
https://neodemocracy.blogspot.com/2022/03/on-assessment-and-conclusions-regarding.html