VANGUARD - Expressing the viewpoint of the Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
For National Independence and Socialism • www.cpaml.org
(Above: Bucha main street after Russian invasion. Photo: Oleksandr Ratushniak Creative Commons Share Alike 4.0)
A webinar held under the auspices of the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organisations (ICOR) was held recently. Contributors from Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Palestine, Australia, Turkiye, South Africa, Uruguay, Tunisia, and Cameroon shared 3-minute presentations on the situation in their respective countries. The following contribution came from Andriy, a socialist Ukrainian. We publish it for our Australian readers – eds.
I greet everyone on behalf of the working people of Ukraine, who have been fighting the hardships of a bloody war and imperialist aggression for the second year already. Every day some people are killed by missile and bomb attacks by Russian imperialism. Houses, cities, and the environment are destroyed. Huge territories are mined, and people are dying from this as well. And a crime that affects not only our country, but the whole Europe, and the Black Sea region, is the destruction of the Kakhovka reservoir dam, which led to the flooding of large territories and the death of dozens of civilians, collapsing thousands of residential buildings and other civil infrastructure.
In addition, dangerous accidents are possible at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the largest one in Europe. This can lead to more serious consequences for the country and the entire region than even the Chernobyl disaster. Putin's interventionists can easily arrange such an accident, and the Western imperialists are interested in this issue only from the point of view of their plans in Ukraine and Europe, and not in terms of harm to ordinary people. The bourgeoisie cares about their "business", their pocket, and not about millions of workers.
In such conditions, the majority of workers are busy with the problems of everyday survival – many of them have lost their homes, and unemployment is high, real incomes of the people have fallen significantly.
And some words about the war. The interventionists still have great power, and the supply of Western weapons is also growing. It is difficult to say how long the war will last, but, apparently, at least one year more. One of the factors is the US elections: both the pre-election campaign and the election results can affect Washington’s activity in Ukraine, the dynamics of military support etc. In any case, even now, after one and a half years of the war, this is a bloody horror in the middle of Europe. And this is a direct consequence of imperialist contradictions and capitalism as it is.
There is no doubt that the danger of war on a world scale is growing before our eyes. The imperialists are endangering the lives of entire continents and of all mankind for the sake of their selfish interests. Therefore, the United Anti-Imperialist Front is of particular importance, and meets the real interests of the working people worldwide, in whatever country they may be. This will make it possible to coordinate the struggle on a global scale, the struggle against imperialism and militarism.
Down with any imperialism!