Statement about the situation in Ukraine from AWU (Autonomous Workers Union).

Civil war began in Ukraine yesterday. A less than peaceful demonstration clashed with 
state defense forces and divisions formed by the adherents of the current government near 
the Vekhovna Rada (Parliament). On February 18, police, together with the paramilitaries, 
arranged a bloodbath in the governmental quarters during which numerous demonstrators were 
killed. Butchers from the special divisions finished off arrestees. Deputies of the ruling 
Party of Regions and their bourgeois lackeys from the ?Communist? Party of Ukraine fled 
from the Parliament through an underground tunnel. The vote for constitutional amendments, 
intended to limit presidential power, did not take place after all. After their defeat in 
the governmental quarters, demonstrators retreated to the Maidan. At 6 P.M., the Ministry 
of Internal Affairs and the Internal Security Bureau (SBU) declared an ultimatum to the 
protesters, demanding their dispersal.

At 8:00 P.M., special police forces and paramilitaries, equipped with water cannons and 
armored vehicles, began their raid on the barricades. Police, the special divisions of 
SBU, as well as pro-governmental troopers made use of their firearms. However, the 
protesters managed to burn down one of the armored police vehicles, and it turned out that 
governmental forces were not the only ones in possession of guns. According to the data 
released by the police (on February, 19, 4 p.m.), 24 people were killed: 14 protesters and 
10 policemen. Thirty-one policemen received gunshot wounds. Even if their estimate of 
losses on the side of the police is accurate, the number of victims among the protesters 
was definitely diminished. Maidan?s medics cite at least 30 killed.
One gets an impression that President Yanukovich was certain that by morning the 
resistance would be crushed, and so arranged for the Opposition leaders to meet with him 
at 11 A.M. on February, 19. As the negotiations did not take place, we can conclude that 
the government?s plan had failed. During the unsuccessful operation to clear off the 
Maidan, the citizens of several western regions occupied administrative buildings and 
chased away the police. At the moment the police, as an institution, do not exist in 
L?viv. According to the SBU, protesters have captured 1500 firearms. In less than 24 
hours, the central government lost control over a section of the country. Right now, the 
only solution may be the stepping down of the President, however, that would mean that he, 
his family, and their multiple acolytes and dependents, which form a rather large group in 
the ruling government, would lose their source of profit. It is likely that they will not 
accept this.
In the event of Yanukovich?s victory, he will become a ruler for life, and the rest will 
be doomed to a life in which they face poverty, corruption, and the abolition of their 
rights and freedoms. Rebellious regions are now experiencing massive restorations of ?the 
constitutional order.? It is not improbable that the suppression of such ?terroristic 
groups? in Galicia will have the character of ethnic cleansing. Mad Orthodox radicals from 
the Party of Regions have, for a long time, seen the conservative Greco-Catholics as the 
aids of ?Eurosodom.? Such an ?antiterrorist? operation would be carried out with the 
assistance of the army, as the Minister of Defense, Lebedev, has already announced.
Today, Ukraine experiences a tragedy, but the real horror will start when the government 
breaks down the opposition and ?stabilizes? the situation. Signs of the preparation of a 
mass-cleansing operation became noticeable as far back as early February, when criminal 
cases were opened against the Maidan self-defense divisions as illegal military 
formations. According to Article 260 of the Criminal Codex, members of such divisions may 
face imprisonment for 2 to 15 years. This means that the government was planning to put 
more than 10 thousand citizens behind bars. In the regions, as well as in the capital, 
special ?death divisions? are acting as a supplement to the usual police forces. For 
example, responsibility for burning alive a Maidan activist from Zaporozhye was claimed by 
such a ?death division,? calling itself ?Sebastopol Ghosts.? They announced that they are 
ready to subject Maidan participants in the East to similar treatment.
In the event of the Opposition?s victory life would be far from perfect as well. Although 
fascists form the minority of the protesters, they are quite active and are not the 
sharpest tools in the shed. A few days of truce in mid-February lead to conflicts between 
the rightist groups, resulting in several pointless and violent confrontations, as well as 
attacks on ideological ?heretics.? Besides the fascists, old and experienced 
Oppositionists will also attempt to seize power. Many of them already have some experience 
with working in government and they are no strangers to corruption, favoritism, and the 
use of budget funds for personal purposes.
The ?concessions? that the Opposition is demanding in Parliament right now are pitiful. 
Even the Constitution of 2004, that they are trying to restore, gives too much power to 
the President (control over the riot police and special forces is one example), and the 
proportional electoral system, with closed listings, hands parliament over to the control 
of a group of dictator-like leaders, who can be counted on the fingers of one hand. 
Together with the President they will rule without obstructions.
Their second demand ? the appointment of a Cabinet of Ministers composed of Opposition 
leaders ? is altogether shameful. Are people risking their health, freedom, and life for 
the sake of someone becoming a prime-minister, and someone-else getting an opportunity to 
control the flow of corrupt-money? This is the logical outcome of preferring pathos-ridden 
conversations on ?the nation,? and focusing on vertical structures tied to the same hated 
politicians, instead of developing ground-up organizations around financial and material 
interests. This is the main lesson that Maidan is yet to learn.
However, we will be able to apply this lesson in practice only if the current government 
loses the battle.
The Opposition inside and outside of the Parliament is broken into multiple hostile and 
competing factions. If it wins, the ensuing regime will be unstable and lacking in 
coherency. It will be as bourgeois and repressive as was the Party of Regions before their 
first show of force against the protesters in November.
The guilt for the spilled blood is partially on the EU which gladly receives money from 
the corrupt scumbags in Ukraine, Russia, and several African countries, while diligently 
neglecting to check the source of such ?investments.? It is only after seeing the dead 
bodies of the victims of such ?investors,? that it gets so very sentimental and full of 
humanitarian pathos.
This is not our war, but the victory of the government will mean the defeat of the 
workers. The victory of the Opposition also does not promise anything good. We cannot call 
the proletariat to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the Opposition and its interests. 
We think that the extent of participation in this conflict is a matter of personal choice. 
However, we encourage all to avoid being drafted to serve in the internal military forces 
controlled by Yanukovich, and to sabotage by all means available the actions of the 
government.
No gods, no masters, no nations, no borders!
Kiev organization AWU (Autonomous Workers Union).