In Ukraine, the war triggered by the invasion of the country by the Russian army is still raging. Some want to present this war as the glorious resistance of all people of Ukraine against Russian fascism, others as Russia’s legitimate response to NATO imperialism.
The truth is that in war it is always the same people who die; those who are too poor to escape, who don’t have the money or the connections to escape forced enlistment, forced today to go and line the trenches to defend the interests of yesterday’s exploiters, who will exploit them again tomorrow. In short, proletarians – people like you and I who have no other choice in life than to go every day to sell their time and their body to enrich the bosses of all countries. The war rages beyond the borders, those who do not die under the bombs, will suffer the famine caused by the sanctions and the economic repercussions, even thousands of kilometers from the front line.
While part of the Russian state apparatus seems determined to continue the war regardless of the loss of life, the capitalists in power in Ukraine have declared martial law. Those who help themselves in the shops, for food or to supplement the basic necessities of life are severely punished, humiliated, sometimes executed. Those who are still working under the shelling see their wages reduced to nothing in the name of patriotic effort. The Russian capitalists send Russian, Belarusian, Ossetian or Chechen soldiers to die and kill for their profits. Some of the soldiers are conscripts, forcibly enlisted and sent to fight.
In the face of this situation demonstrations have been held in great quantity and frequency throughout Russia. Belarusian railway workers have sabotaged railway tracks to prevent logistical supplies to the front lines. Workers at the airport in Pisa, Italy, refused to load weapons for Ukraine. Despite the fierce repression, proletarians are rising up against this war which is not theirs.
The Western countries and those of NATO, which after having plundered, invaded, and bombed nearly the whole world in the name of progress and then of democracy, can again pass themselves off as the side of peace and reason.
The Russian state, lagging behind the capitalist economy, is embarking on a war of expansion: a dramatic situation for those who perish beneath the bombardment, but an opportunity for the capitalists! A reorganization of the world energy market is now necessary against the backdrop of a green economy. A forced but welcome plan for European and North American capitalists, since the potential investments and profits are colossal.
This reorganization will go far beyond the energy question, the blocs are being reorganized, the appeal to the nation or to sovereignty is no more than a pretext for the necessary renewal of competition between states threatened by recession, and more importantly between their workers.
The nationalist ideological veneer seeks to galvanize the masses to work even harder and for less pay in order to support the war effort and to make the workers forget that their interests are the same as those on the other side of the trenches.
The Ukrainian migrants are purportedly parceled out hospitably by country and according to their qualifications. In reality, it is a Red Cross tent that will be their waiting area before being transferred into another mode of exploitation.
“We are at war”, it is with this phrase that Macron opened the COVID episode before raising Resilience as the watchword for the nation. In line with the militaristic discourse produced by States around the world since the beginning of the pandemic, to make us accept another tightening of the belt. Here, like everywhere else, prices are SKYROCKETING! This hike in prices, already well underway before the beginning of the conflict, finds a convenient justification in the confrontation taking place in Ukraine. For those who lead us, we should turn down the thermostat, reduce our consumption of this or that, and continue to work hard while paying two euros a liter for gasoline!
Let’s not forget that war between states is the capitalist peace by other means. We do not reclaim peace, which is dear only to democrats because it enables accumulation. Against the horror of this society where everything is based on profit, we want class war!
Against the deadly noise of the bombs, and the media brouhaha that seeks to lead us to the ballot box, let’s sharpen our knives, let’s take to the streets, the strike, the blockades: let’s go on the offensive against exploitation!
A$AP Revolution