Liga Communista and classconscious.org have launched an appeal for groups and individuals to sign an open letter to be distributed on May Day 2022 against the imperialist NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and for the right of Russia to defend itself against imperialist encroachment.
The open letter hopes to build on the momentum of the panel initiated by the two groups held on March 26th “Marxists speak out against the conflict between Russia and imperialism”.
As the imperialist offensive deepens in Ukraine and the drive towards WW3 accelerates, it is an essential political task for anti-imperialist forces to also deepen our collaboration. We must work together to build the socialist leadership of a genuinely anti-war movement that is built upon the twin goals of fighting imperialism and building socialism.
To sign the letter please send an email to: Cl************@pr********.com or
Some of the groups involved in the March 26th panel are putting out a call for joint actions on May Day through marching in a united front style bloc together at May Day marches. This is a separate political initiative. To join this initiative please email ma********@pr********.com .
OPEN LETTER FOR MAYDAY
On May Day, the international day of solidarity of the workers of the world, the following groups and individuals proclaim our united opposition to the greatest threat to the global working class: imperialist war. We declare our refusal to accommodate ourselves to the war drive of world imperialism against Russia. We hoist on our banners today the following:
• Down with NATO’s proxy imperialist war in Ukraine!
• for the right of Russia to defend itself against imperialist encroachment!
Those on the Left who seek to emulate the propaganda of the ruling class by reducing this global conflict to a national struggle for Ukrainian “self-determination” ignore the following:
Although Russia has been a capitalist state since 1991 it is not an imperialist power in its own right. Imperialism is more than when one state employs military force against another. Imperialism is a stage of capitalism represented by the dominance of finance capital. Russia is not part of the “imperialist club” but a relatively backward, dependent capitalist economy.
The military operation of Russia in Ukraine is a desperate effort to stop it from being used as a spearhead in the long held plans of western imperialism to turn Russia into a semi-colony to loot its vast internal resources. Ukraine’s integration into the NATO war machine was well advanced before Russia launched its defensive military operation. Russia faced the prospect of its entire western border becoming part of the NATO alliance and a staging ground for the deployment of advanced weaponry, including nuclear weapons, missile defence systems and troops aimed squarely at Russia.
The 2014 Maidan Coup led by fascist shock troops on the ground and guided by US imperialism, installed an effective puppet government in Kiev. Since the coup this government has not only been a direct tool of US imperialism, but has violently suppressed all Leftists, ethnic Russians, and other minorities. The repression provoked a bloody civil war in Ukraine as residents of the Donbass established the Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk to defend themselves from the violently Russophobic Kiev regime and its fascist attack dogs.
This is why we reject the policy of “revolutionary defeatism” being advocated by many centrist Marxist tendencies. It is not enough to just oppose NATO intervention in Ukraine. Opposition to imperialism means extending support to those in it directly in its cross hairs. This means offering support to both the Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and to the Russian state. Russia has the right to defend its sovereignty by militarily force against imperialism’s proxy war.
We are also committed to the genuine independence of Ukraine. However this cannot be achieved under the aegis of an imperialist war alliance that is using Ukraine as pawn.
We oppose the proxy war in Ukraine because it is part of imperialism’s drive to World War 3. The efforts to subordinate Russia through sanctions, war and regime change, are part of US imperialism’s ever more reckless efforts to maintain its global hegemony and reverse its economic decline against both its imperialist rivals in Europe and rising China. The rivalries are fuelled by the ongoing capitalist economic crisis deepened by the Covid19 pandemic. A NATO victory in Ukraine would not lead to peace but only advance imperialism’s war plans against China.
A war between NATO and its allies against either Russia or China risks wiping out billions of lives in a nuclear war and unleashing horrors that would dwarf the worst infernos of the 20th century.
On May Day we recommit ourselves not only to resistance to imperialism but to building an independent movement of the working class internationally to overthrow capitalism through world socialist revolution. The signing and sharing of this statement on May Day is aimed at starting to rebuild concrete links between the genuinely anti-imperialist Marxist forces as part of this process.
The struggle against imperialism must be forged into a struggle against the capitalist system and all the capitalist ruling classes! War will only truly end when there are no more nation states or classes!
Workers of the world unite!
Groups that have already signed include:
ABC de Luta (Brazil)
Anti-Imperialist Aotearoa (Aotearoa/New Zealand)
Bolshevik Group – (South Korea)
Classconscious.org (Australia/USA)
Communist Party of the Brazilian People.
Communist League (Brazil)
Consistent Democrats (Great Britain)
Fração Trotskista – Vanguarda Proletária (Brazil)
Frente Revolucionária dos Trabalhadores/FRT (Brazil)
Frontiera Vermelha (Brazil)
Komite Esperansa (Marxist Educational Movement – East Timor)
Militant Trend Bolshevik (Argentina)
New Communist Party – Great Britain
David Ajetunmobi, on behalf of Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association, NATA
Partido Comunista dos Trabalhadores Brasileiros/PCTB (Brazil)
Partido Obrero Socialista (Costa Rica)
Planning Beyond Capitalism (US)
Red Line, Group for Workers’ Counterattack (Greece)
Revolutionary Communist Action (Greece)
Socialist Fight (Great Britain)
Socialist Party of America (US)
Socialist Unity Party / Partido de Socialismo Unido (US)
Socialist Workers League (US)
Young People’s Socialist League (US)
US Friends of the Soviet People
Individuals that have already signed include:
Mark Andresen – Great Britain
Marcelo Bastos – Brazil
Irene Bolger—Australia
Joana Marisa Borges Boaventura – Brazil
Anthony Hubert Codjoe, Ghana
Chang-Won Kim – South Korea
Issac Cohen – Great Britain
Mark Copestake – Great Britain
Andy Coombes (UNITE member) – Great Britain
JM Considine – Switzerland
Botagoz Datkhabaeva – Kazakhstan
Moises Delgado – US
Alex Jordan Dillard – US
Will Eberrle—Switzerland
Jane Elliott – Great Britain
David Fox (Australia)
Mike Gimbel – Retired Executive Board member, Locak 375, AFSME, AFL-CIO, US
Angie Graham – Great Britain
Jim Greenhow – Great Britain
James Hall – Great Britain
Karen Harris
Louise Hart – Great Britain
Clive Healiss – Great Britain
Mahanama Heller – Australia
Elizabeth Hoskings – Great Britain
Paul Humphries – Great Britain
Diana Isserlis – Great Britain
Tim Lauby – US
Kathy McGonaghie – US
Candice McKenzie – Australia
Myung-Seok Kim – South Korea
Márcia do Amaral Miranda – Brazil
Luís César Nunes – Brazil
Kevin O’Connor – Great Britain
Greg Rosen – US
Mohammad Basir Ul Haq Sinha, – Bangladesh
We must all rise up against the proxy war being perpetrated in Ukraine. As will all wars we are lied to about what is really happening and who they real perpetrators are. While these evil doers make their evil plans and carry them out,innocent people die.
I do not belong to any of the organisations shown above and have far reaching and strong ideological disagreements with them over many issues. However I fully endorse the subject matter of the petition.