Bill Beach's response to Wayne Price's article "Should Anarchists Defend
Ukraine? ---- War is the health of the state. It automatically sets in
motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for
passionate cooperation with the government for the coercion of the
submission of minority groups and individuals who have no greater herd
feeling. The machinery of government determines and enforces the drastic
punishments; the minorities are either intimidated into silence or
slowly brought to their senses by a subtle process of persuasion which
may seem to them to be really converting them. Of course, the ideal of
perfect loyalty, perfect uniformity, is never really attained. The
classes upon whom the amateur work of coercion falls are tireless in
their zeal, but often their agitation, instead of converting them,
merely serves to strengthen their resistance. Minorities are viewed with
a gloomy air, and some intellectual opinions are bitter and satirical.
But on the whole, the nation during war achieves a uniformity of
sentiment, a hierarchy of values, culminating in the undisputed pinnacle
of the state ideal, which could not have been produced through any other
agency than war.
Randolph Bourne in The State (1918) 1
The division in the anarchist movement between anti-militarists and
natopolitan anarchists 2 has been deepening since February 2022.
Natopolitans continue to support the arming of the Ukrainian state, the
escalation of hostilities, both in terms of weapons and scale, despite
the number of Ukrainian deaths, despite the threat of nuclear conflict,
despite the reality of this war and its endless suffering inflicted on
the working class in Ukraine. In this way, they wage war against
anarchism - here, there, and everywhere. 3
If only the Natopolitan anarchists were as honest as Peter Kropotkin
during the First World War. His position was that of all imperialisms,
the German one was the most abhorrent, and therefore he sided with the
imperial alliance that would bring about its defeat. The Natopolitan
position is an "anarchism" even more degraded than Kropotkin's, because
they often fail to acknowledge the existence and never the decisive role
of American imperialism (and its EU client states) in causing this war.
If they wanted to be true to Kropotkin's lesser evil position, they
would support the Russian state as it worked to bring about the downfall
of the most powerful and deadly empire in existence. 4 This would mean
that they at least maintained some healthy antagonism towards their own
ruling class.
Instead, one cannot shake the impression that the natopolit anarchists
are nothing more than good liberals 5 who believe that when Russia has
violated international law in its invasion of Ukraine, given that there
is no possibility of reparations, they should come to the aid of the
world policeman (the United States), just this once, in this most moral
war, just until the Russian Hitler is pushed back. In order to mask the
contradiction between their submissive liberal nature and their
anarchist self, they have been spreading a number of myths since
February 2022. Wayne Price is a typical example of this breed of
natopolit anarchists, which is why it is useful to consider some of his
statements published in the pages of "Black Flag".
The people
Price impersonates Malatesta (in his works on the Libyan and Cuban
struggles for independence) to support the "Ukrainian people" who are
under attack by the Russian state:
What light do Malatesta's views shed on the war in Ukraine? Surely he
would oppose an inter-imperialist war between Russia and the United
States and their NATO allies - if it ever came to that - just as he
condemned World War I. Russia is an imperialist aggressor. Ukraine is a
weak, poor, and non-imperialist state. 6
This phrase does not stand up to reality. In reality, the "Ukrainian
people" is a weapon in the class war, a nationalist project of the
Ukrainian state, which since 2014 has been outlined in a harsh
ethno-nationalist way. The Maidan coup initiated a project of ethnic
dilution - to be part of the Ukrainian people, you cannot have multiple
identities and legacies, be it Soviet, Russian, etc. Being part of the
Ukrainian people increasingly also meant that you had to be
anti-Russian, and the last people to fight the Russians were the Bandera
heroes of World War II, or so the myth goes. Therefore, Ukrainians (and
their supporters) should ignore the fact that the Banderas were also
fascists who willingly participated in the racial supremacist genocides
of the Nazis. Therefore, with the beginning and escalation of the war in
Donbas, the legacy of the Banderaites (in its soft and hard versions)
was equated with the project of Ukrainian self-determination 7 .
This state project for an ethnically pure Ukraine is imposed at home and
projected abroad, based on ethnic distinction and cleansing. This is why
fully commissioned SS officer Yaroslav Hunka (living out his days
peacefully at the age of 98) received a standing ovation in the Canadian
parliament in the presence of Zelensky on September 22, 2023. 8 This is
why the Azov Battalion (an organization banned as "neo-Nazi" by the US
Congress and various EU countries) was greeted as a "hero" in the
British parliament in May 2024, where Boris Johnson posed for a photo
with their Nazi flag. 9 The point I am making here is not that all
Ukrainians are Nazis, but that these Nazis who are currently shaping the
Ukrainian national project are our Nazis .
There is a complete continuity with the years after World War II, during
which the CIA and NATO worked to Naziify Ukraine. First, by sheltering
Bandera in West Germany (until the KGB killed him) and fomenting
anti-Soviet armed resistance, and then through another fascist, Mykola
Lebed, held in the United States. The CIA project was called AERODYNAMIC
and in 1970 was renamed QRPLUMB/QRDYNAMIC 10 . It continued until 1991,
when Ukraine was officially sought by NATO for integration into the
military alliance. 11 Regarding this project to build a pure Ukrainian
people, one had to ignore the fact that the anti-Russian President
Poroshenko spoke Russian at home and that Zelensky had to learn
Ukrainian to address the nation (this led to laughable blunders while
learning the language at work). The current Supreme Commander of
Ukraine, Syrsky, is an ethnic Russian born in Russia, whose parents and
brother live in Russia. All three men underwent ethnic reassignment in
order to serve the Ukrainian state. As of 2019, Russian, Belarusian, and
Yiddish have been banned from public life. 12 19 million
Russian-language books have been withdrawn from libraries , 13 with the
goal of destroying 100 million of them. 14
It should be clear that there is no pure-blooded fascist Ukrainian
people, but a state project to destroy the rich array of diverse
traditions and peoples. When anarchists support the myth of a single
Ukrainian people, they support this ethno-nationalist and fascist
project. They weaken any local initiative that opposes it. In NATO
countries, they weaken anti-militaristic initiatives, strengthen state
control over truth-telling about the war, and assist the state in
criminalizing dissent.
The other meaning of the phrase "Ukrainian people" is that of a unified
population, without class or regional differences. Even in 2022, this
myth was obvious, but with the third year of war, the fracture in
Ukrainian society cannot be ignored. An estimated 6.4 million Ukrainians
have left the country, including about 650,000 men of fighting age. 15
The remaining men continue to evade conscription en masse. Pursued by
state gangs in the streets, they hide in their homes. Fleeing, they
drown while trying to swim across the Tisza River to Romania. 16
Conscription evasion through corruption is so widespread and a
scandalous one that in 2023 the Ukrainian state was forced to dismiss
all military conscription chiefs. 17 This reveals the class struggle
within the mythical unity of the Ukrainian people. It is always the
working class that is sent to fight in the ruling class's war. That is
why the ruling class stands in Kiev and abroad, remaining untouchable,
while the middle class buys its way out of military service. Listen to
the words of the Ukrainian anarchist group "Assembly" from Kharkiv in
August 2022:
We must understand that the national unity of Ukrainians around
Zelensky's power is based solely on the fear of an external threat. 18
Here's what they say in an interview in February 2024:
"Assembly" is an online newsletter, and if we can help the defectors in
any way, it is only by giving them a political justification for their
actions, so that they do not suffer from remorse, but rather take pride
in their refusal to choose between serving Vladolf Putler or Francois
Zevalier, the personifications of the darkest reaction possible only in
today's Europe, the refusal to choose between the occupation colonial
expedition and the defense of what has been seized by the Ukrainian
ruling class since 1991. 19
In contrast, Wayne Price's words sound rather hollow:
It is true that Ukrainians are not anarchists or socialists; they accept
their state and capitalism. Does this mean that anarchists should punish
them by refusing to defend them when they are attacked by a powerful
enemy who slaughters them and destroys their cities? 20
The Assembly's position is anarchist, and Price's smacks of the full
patronizing and proselytizing zeal of liberal imperialism, which hides
behind the endorsement of the myth of national self-determination. To
perpetuate this myth, Price must also uphold the myth of the people's army.
The People's Army
Two days after the Russian invasion, the BBC presented us with a
spectacle of Ukrainian women being taught how to make Molotov cocktails.
21 This publicity stunt seemed to be aimed at such gullible people as
Wayne Price. At the time, the Ukrainian army was the greatest NATO proxy
ever formed, trained, and equipped. Its success on the ground did not
depend on guerrilla warfare, as became glaringly obvious in the months
that followed.
Soon after, Natopolitan anarchism emerged, another manifestation of
NAFO. 22 The takeover of much of the Western anarchist movement and
scene was a victory for the militarist project. A good example of this
is the group Good Night Imperial Pride, which raises funds for snipers,
drones, etc. for so-called "anarchist fighters" integrated into the
Ukrainian army. GNIP is popular on the internet, promoted by anarchist
groups, and even had a stand at the London Anarchist Book Fair in 2023.
23 Only someone completely deranged by "virtue-alarmism" (insincere,
pragmatic public actions and statements aimed at supporting socially
approved opinions, but motivated by a desire to improve one's own image
- note) could believe that his crowd-funded donation to the "Ukrainian
anarchist cause" would tip the scales when all the state economies of
NATO countries are sending money and materials on an unprecedented
scale. 24 Those unfortunate anarchists who were blinded by the
psychopathy of NAFO ended up dead in the meat grinders of Bakhmut and
Avdiivka - circles of hell imposed on the Ukrainian working class by the
Ukrainian state. For them, NAFO was the main line to the consequences of
their actions. They deserved better than the elders of the NATO-police
anarchists who had misled them.
Wayne Price is parroting the White House press secretary when he writes:
Russia does not wage war through proxies, but engages in direct
aggression. Ukrainians do not wage war through proxies either. They are
the ones who shed their blood, fighting directly against the invaders in
their country. Whatever the US pays for arms, Ukrainians pay with their
lives. Whatever the motives of the US and its NATO allies, and even
whatever the motives of the Ukrainian state, the people have a vested
interest in expelling the occupiers and mass murderers. The fact that
they take arms from Western governments does not mean much - they need
arms, and where else can they get them? 25
As if it were a last-minute search for ammunition, as if NATO had not
been involved in training and supplying the Ukrainian army since 1991.
26 As if Ukraine had not already made an important contribution to NATO
missions, notably in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, as George W. Bush
emphasized in 2008 when he justified Ukraine's accession to NATO. 27 As
if the CIA had not installed 12 secret bases facing Russia after the
Maidan coup. 28 As if the aspiration for NATO membership had not been
written into the Ukrainian constitution in 2019, erasing Ukrainian
neutrality. 29 As if NATO generals were not directly involved in
choosing Russian targets. 30 As if all this did not make Ukraine a de
facto member of NATO, if not de jure. A persistent myth of
NATO-political anarchism is that anyone who points out the fingerprints
of American imperialism denies "Ukrainian independence." As if the world
hegemon, with nearly 800 military bases around the world, cares about
national sovereignty, even of its so-called allies (which is why it
forcibly separated Germany from Russia by blowing up the Nord Stream gas
pipeline). 31 To cover up the truth about this US-instigated conflict,
the NATO anarchists perpetuate the myth of Ukrainian independence and
popular resistance.
The reality of war is forced conscription, and conscription is slavery.
It is supported by nationalism and patriotism (both parasitic on the
real need for self-determination), which are weapons against the working
class. Here are a few words from the Assembly group again about the
reality of conscription in Ukraine:
Kharkiv is a prison where the lights go out at 9:00 p.m., roughly
speaking. If in 2020, according to the then mayor Kernes, the average
age in Kharkiv was 35 years old, then at the beginning of the full-scale
war there were mostly pensioners, and now the average age of the
population is about 50 years old. Although this is only a visual
impression from public places, because men of draft age (in Ukraine it
is from 18 to 60 years old, and leaving the country is prohibited for
most of them) often do not risk leaving their homes and try to move
around the streets only by car. Depression, alcoholism and complete
sadness. The ship has long been at the bottom, but the passengers have
locked themselves in their cabins and think that there will be enough
air there until someone saves them... 32
If the average age on the streets of Kharkiv is 50, the average age on
the front in February 2024 is 43. 33 This is because young men are dead,
hiding, or have fled. And Zelensky is lying when he says the death toll
is 31,000. 34 The scale of this lie is monstrous. The real numbers are
being carefully guarded, but the casualties are probably closer to
500,000, as the former head of Ukraine's Interior Ministry, Yuriy
Lutsenko, recently stated. 35 After monitoring the front lines daily, I
estimate that the number of dead is close to half a million, and that
there are as many or more seriously injured. Ukrainians know that these
conscripts died from suicide drones or drone grenades falling from the
sky, in minefields, from thermobaric "flamethrower" bombs, from white
phosphorus, from cluster bombs, from FAB floating bombs with a capacity
of 500 to 1500 kg of explosive, under artillery fire and cruise missile
strikes, in tank battles, from helicopter missiles, in rifle battles,
under grenade fire, sniper fire, etc. etc. etc. etc. The soil is so
disfigured that it looks like the surface of the moon, villages and
towns are empty concrete shells, forests have been burned to the ground.
The NATO anarchists never talk about the front line. About the videos of
mobilized Ukrainians praying for their lives under FPV drones or
crawling through the mud with their legs severed. At best, they will
post a link to that glamorous and chilling photo shoot organized by the
Ukrainian state, in which veterans with amputated limbs are dressed in
evening gowns and made to pose with a porn star 36 .
Instead of a self-organized people's army, Zelensky's vision for Ukraine
is a fully militarized, garrison state similar to Israel. His plan for
the country after the war is as follows:
We will definitely become a "greater Israel" with its own face. We will
not be surprised that in all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there
will be representatives of the armed forces or the National Guard, there
will be people with weapons. I am sure that in the next ten years the
issue of our security will be number one. 37
Instead of supporting its population, the Ukrainian state is waging
class warfare, undertaking neoliberal shock reforms under the guidance
of IMF moneylenders. As an Open Democracy article puts it:
Instead of focusing on adapting the economy to the needs of the war, the
Ukrainian authorities launched a massive privatization program. Taking
advantage of martial law and restrictions on demonstrations, the
government also repealed labor laws and pushed through a number of other
unpopular measures. 38
While natopolit anarchists like Wayne Price convince us to stand behind
the Ukrainian people (which is a fiction) and the Ukrainian state (only
until it defeats the Russians), the Ukrainian state is waging a class war.
Preservation of the puppet war
And while there is no doubt that Ukrainians are struggling to survive
amidst the hell of civil war, invasion, and class warfare, it is also
clear that US hegemony rests on the support of its client states. That
is why, in April 2024, after months of delay and politicking, the US
Congress approved $95 billion in funding for its client states: Ukraine,
Israel, and Taiwan. 39 Much of this funding is in the form of loans or
concessions to the US arms industry at home. But a significant portion
of it is earmarked for the efforts of puppet Ukraine to weaken and, if
possible, disintegrate Russia. 40 As has been repeatedly stated in the
US Senate:
The United States is helping Ukraine and its people so they can fight
Russia there and we don't have to fight it here. 41
This (along with the above overview of NATO's conquest of the Ukrainian
state) would be a succinct enough statement of the policy, financial
support, and strategy of supporting Ukraine as a puppet power. But it is
not enough for the NATO anarchists who parrot the US state line that
this is supporting a weak state fighting against unchecked Russian
imperial aggression that will march unhindered through Poland and the
Baltics. The argument always shifts from US interests and the
maneuvering of the Ukrainian state to a strictly temporal (invasion that
began in February 2022) and spatial (Ukraine is a small, sovereign
state) picture. That is why, despite claiming that "the US-Vietnam war
is a mirror image of the Ukraine-Russia war," Wayne Price loudly
protests that this war is also a puppet one. Instead, he paints a
textbook picture of what an inter-imperialist conflict would look like:
This analysis would change under different circumstances. It would
become primarily a war between imperialist countries, if, for example,
the US sent its army into Ukraine to fight the Russians, or if missiles
were exchanged back and forth between Russia and NATO countries. Then we
would have to oppose both sides, because the main issue would be war
between imperialist powers. But that has not happened. 42
The reason that direct war is something that both camps want to avoid,
and which did not happen during or after the Cold War, is the presence
of correspondingly large nuclear arsenals. This is why the puppet wars
(Korea, Vietnam, Congo, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, etc.) between the US and
the USSR have historically been the preferred weapon for weakening the
other side. 43 To fail to understand this is to misunderstand the whole
nature of the world order. It is certainly key to understanding the
nature of the war in Ukraine, its course, and its potential outcome.
The danger of nuclear escalation is why NATO is doing everything it can
to exacerbate the situation by covering its tracks (by concealing the
involvement of its troops, continuing to deny its role in determining
targets and its oversight, shifting responsibility to the Ukrainians),
and Russia is doing everything it can to destroy the Ukrainian army
rather than seize territory. This is a dangerous game, made even more
unpredictable by the high stakes for all three countries: the possible
defeat of Russia (which it sees as an existential threat, making its
resort to nuclear weapons more likely), the inflamed ethno-nationalism
that underlies the Ukrainian national project and led to the loss of
Crimea and the Donbas (with an ongoing strategy of expanding the
conflict in Russia and drawing NATO directly into the theater of war),
and the declining and increasingly desperate global hegemony of the
United States in the context of the so-called transition to multipolarity.
What is the role of anarchists?
Asked in April 2022 about his recommendations to leftists and
progressives in the US regarding the war in Ukraine, Noam Chomsky said:
First of all, as leftists we must oppose all imperialism, oppose the
overthrow of governments, aggression and violence. And as rational and
moral human beings we must focus our attention, energy and activity on
what we can do. For the most part these are the actions of our own
government, which is the world leader. World champion in opposing
sovereignty, in aggression, in violence and intervention, in terrorism,
etc. We must oppose the Russian imitation of our actions. What can we do
about this? Well, I think it is very clear. There are two
options:[...]One option is the one we accept. To fight to the last
Ukrainian[...]and to ensure that[...]Putin and his entourage are backed
up to the wall, that they have no way out, no way out, which is why they
will have the reason to destroy Ukraine and move on to a world war[...].
There is another option. Let's abandon the policies, our official
policies[...]Let's move towards accepting a status for Ukraine similar
to that of Mexico, Austria and Finland for decades[...]let's withdraw
the threats to Russia[...]let's move towards some kind of Minsk II-style
agreement for a high level of autonomy for the eastern region, perhaps
within the framework of a federal agreement. Accept the reality that,
whether you like it or not, Crimea is off the table, it's no longer an
option for negotiations. That's ugly, but the alternative is to continue
our efforts to destroy Ukraine and move towards international war. Those
are the options. The world is not a pretty place. You don't get to elect
Martin Luther King as the head of every government. 44
The situation is much worse now, the number of victims is higher, and
the risk of Ukraine ceasing to exist and a wider conflict is growing
with each passing day. 45 The basic facts, however, remain the same. You
do not have to agree with Chomsky's entirely feasible pragmatism to see
that he is right to start by confronting the role of one's (imperial)
state. This is something that natopolit anarchists are appalled by. For
example, Wayne Price takes up the slogan addressed to the US government
during the Vietnam War years, "Out Now!" and, in a fit of inspiration,
declares:
Of course, there will be negotiations, but the main issue remains: the
Russian military must leave Ukraine, all of Ukraine, every square inch.
"Out now!" 46
I can assure him that the Russians are not listening. By taking the line
of the American state, Price acts as its intermediary in the anarchist
movement. He fails to notice the irony: if he once opposed the actions
of his government, he now welcomes them. He is joined by "left"
celebrities such as Slavoj Žizek and Paul Mason, other diligent lackeys.
Standing behind the ruling class and its puppet war has a chilling
effect on the movement, with the NATO anarchists quashing, persecuting,
and suppressing the voices of anti-militarists. The continued beating of
the drums of war and the repetition of the mantra that Ukraine can and
must win act as a lifeline for the crumbling Western imperial core and
reduce the already reduced room for maneuver for anarchists in Ukraine
and NATO countries. 47
Instead, we should dust off the 1915 Manifesto Against War, signed by
Emma Goldman, Erico Malatesta, Alexander Berkman, and others. It
contains basic truths about resistance to militarism, the ruling class,
and inter-imperialist conflict. As well as a warning of impending war
when the US empire targets China:
There has never been and there is no doubt-and today's horrific events
strengthen this certainty-that war is constantly emerging in existing
society, and that armed conflict, whether specific or general, in the
colonies or in Europe, is the natural consequence and necessary,
inevitable fate of a regime based on the economic inequality of
citizens, relying on the unbridled clash of interests, and placing the
world of labor under the close, painful supervision of a minority of
parasites who possess both political power and economic might. 48
It would be easy to outline the shape of anti-militaristic efforts in
NATO countries. Putting them into practice is a more serious task, but
it awaits us:
* To oppose the imperialism and militarism of our countries and to
increase the opportunities of others to do so. No to nationalism. No to
a return to national or military service, no to conscription. No to
support for the US in its war policies through Israel (towards the
Middle East), Ukraine (towards Russia) and Taiwan (towards China).
Undermining support for the wars of the ruling class.
* Let us undermine NATO (and the militarization of the EU) by telling
the truth about its wars. No to NATO bases, no to US missiles in our
neighborhoods, no to nuclear weapons. No to weapons factories in our
cities, no to arms sales - let us oppose the military-industrial
complex, its profits, and its influence over the state.
* Let us support all organized and unorganized Ukrainian groups against
Bandera's nationalism and ethnic division, against predatory capitalists
(Western or native), against military conscription.
* To support resistance to Russian nationalism and to oppose the various
neo-Stalinists who see Russia as an anti-fascist and anti-imperialist
force. Moscow and Washington are two sides of the same coin.
* To maintain and build international ties across the conflict lines,
between Russia, Ukraine and NATO countries, including recent Russian and
Ukrainian emigrants.
* Let us rediscover the traditions of anti-militarism and promote a new
anti-militarist culture everywhere we go.
Notes at https://www.anarchy.bg
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
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A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Ukraine? ---- War is the health of the state. It automatically sets in
motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for
passionate cooperation with the government for the coercion of the
submission of minority groups and individuals who have no greater herd
feeling. The machinery of government determines and enforces the drastic
punishments; the minorities are either intimidated into silence or
slowly brought to their senses by a subtle process of persuasion which
may seem to them to be really converting them. Of course, the ideal of
perfect loyalty, perfect uniformity, is never really attained. The
classes upon whom the amateur work of coercion falls are tireless in
their zeal, but often their agitation, instead of converting them,
merely serves to strengthen their resistance. Minorities are viewed with
a gloomy air, and some intellectual opinions are bitter and satirical.
But on the whole, the nation during war achieves a uniformity of
sentiment, a hierarchy of values, culminating in the undisputed pinnacle
of the state ideal, which could not have been produced through any other
agency than war.
Randolph Bourne in The State (1918) 1
The division in the anarchist movement between anti-militarists and
natopolitan anarchists 2 has been deepening since February 2022.
Natopolitans continue to support the arming of the Ukrainian state, the
escalation of hostilities, both in terms of weapons and scale, despite
the number of Ukrainian deaths, despite the threat of nuclear conflict,
despite the reality of this war and its endless suffering inflicted on
the working class in Ukraine. In this way, they wage war against
anarchism - here, there, and everywhere. 3
If only the Natopolitan anarchists were as honest as Peter Kropotkin
during the First World War. His position was that of all imperialisms,
the German one was the most abhorrent, and therefore he sided with the
imperial alliance that would bring about its defeat. The Natopolitan
position is an "anarchism" even more degraded than Kropotkin's, because
they often fail to acknowledge the existence and never the decisive role
of American imperialism (and its EU client states) in causing this war.
If they wanted to be true to Kropotkin's lesser evil position, they
would support the Russian state as it worked to bring about the downfall
of the most powerful and deadly empire in existence. 4 This would mean
that they at least maintained some healthy antagonism towards their own
ruling class.
Instead, one cannot shake the impression that the natopolit anarchists
are nothing more than good liberals 5 who believe that when Russia has
violated international law in its invasion of Ukraine, given that there
is no possibility of reparations, they should come to the aid of the
world policeman (the United States), just this once, in this most moral
war, just until the Russian Hitler is pushed back. In order to mask the
contradiction between their submissive liberal nature and their
anarchist self, they have been spreading a number of myths since
February 2022. Wayne Price is a typical example of this breed of
natopolit anarchists, which is why it is useful to consider some of his
statements published in the pages of "Black Flag".
The people
Price impersonates Malatesta (in his works on the Libyan and Cuban
struggles for independence) to support the "Ukrainian people" who are
under attack by the Russian state:
What light do Malatesta's views shed on the war in Ukraine? Surely he
would oppose an inter-imperialist war between Russia and the United
States and their NATO allies - if it ever came to that - just as he
condemned World War I. Russia is an imperialist aggressor. Ukraine is a
weak, poor, and non-imperialist state. 6
This phrase does not stand up to reality. In reality, the "Ukrainian
people" is a weapon in the class war, a nationalist project of the
Ukrainian state, which since 2014 has been outlined in a harsh
ethno-nationalist way. The Maidan coup initiated a project of ethnic
dilution - to be part of the Ukrainian people, you cannot have multiple
identities and legacies, be it Soviet, Russian, etc. Being part of the
Ukrainian people increasingly also meant that you had to be
anti-Russian, and the last people to fight the Russians were the Bandera
heroes of World War II, or so the myth goes. Therefore, Ukrainians (and
their supporters) should ignore the fact that the Banderas were also
fascists who willingly participated in the racial supremacist genocides
of the Nazis. Therefore, with the beginning and escalation of the war in
Donbas, the legacy of the Banderaites (in its soft and hard versions)
was equated with the project of Ukrainian self-determination 7 .
This state project for an ethnically pure Ukraine is imposed at home and
projected abroad, based on ethnic distinction and cleansing. This is why
fully commissioned SS officer Yaroslav Hunka (living out his days
peacefully at the age of 98) received a standing ovation in the Canadian
parliament in the presence of Zelensky on September 22, 2023. 8 This is
why the Azov Battalion (an organization banned as "neo-Nazi" by the US
Congress and various EU countries) was greeted as a "hero" in the
British parliament in May 2024, where Boris Johnson posed for a photo
with their Nazi flag. 9 The point I am making here is not that all
Ukrainians are Nazis, but that these Nazis who are currently shaping the
Ukrainian national project are our Nazis .
There is a complete continuity with the years after World War II, during
which the CIA and NATO worked to Naziify Ukraine. First, by sheltering
Bandera in West Germany (until the KGB killed him) and fomenting
anti-Soviet armed resistance, and then through another fascist, Mykola
Lebed, held in the United States. The CIA project was called AERODYNAMIC
and in 1970 was renamed QRPLUMB/QRDYNAMIC 10 . It continued until 1991,
when Ukraine was officially sought by NATO for integration into the
military alliance. 11 Regarding this project to build a pure Ukrainian
people, one had to ignore the fact that the anti-Russian President
Poroshenko spoke Russian at home and that Zelensky had to learn
Ukrainian to address the nation (this led to laughable blunders while
learning the language at work). The current Supreme Commander of
Ukraine, Syrsky, is an ethnic Russian born in Russia, whose parents and
brother live in Russia. All three men underwent ethnic reassignment in
order to serve the Ukrainian state. As of 2019, Russian, Belarusian, and
Yiddish have been banned from public life. 12 19 million
Russian-language books have been withdrawn from libraries , 13 with the
goal of destroying 100 million of them. 14
It should be clear that there is no pure-blooded fascist Ukrainian
people, but a state project to destroy the rich array of diverse
traditions and peoples. When anarchists support the myth of a single
Ukrainian people, they support this ethno-nationalist and fascist
project. They weaken any local initiative that opposes it. In NATO
countries, they weaken anti-militaristic initiatives, strengthen state
control over truth-telling about the war, and assist the state in
criminalizing dissent.
The other meaning of the phrase "Ukrainian people" is that of a unified
population, without class or regional differences. Even in 2022, this
myth was obvious, but with the third year of war, the fracture in
Ukrainian society cannot be ignored. An estimated 6.4 million Ukrainians
have left the country, including about 650,000 men of fighting age. 15
The remaining men continue to evade conscription en masse. Pursued by
state gangs in the streets, they hide in their homes. Fleeing, they
drown while trying to swim across the Tisza River to Romania. 16
Conscription evasion through corruption is so widespread and a
scandalous one that in 2023 the Ukrainian state was forced to dismiss
all military conscription chiefs. 17 This reveals the class struggle
within the mythical unity of the Ukrainian people. It is always the
working class that is sent to fight in the ruling class's war. That is
why the ruling class stands in Kiev and abroad, remaining untouchable,
while the middle class buys its way out of military service. Listen to
the words of the Ukrainian anarchist group "Assembly" from Kharkiv in
August 2022:
We must understand that the national unity of Ukrainians around
Zelensky's power is based solely on the fear of an external threat. 18
Here's what they say in an interview in February 2024:
"Assembly" is an online newsletter, and if we can help the defectors in
any way, it is only by giving them a political justification for their
actions, so that they do not suffer from remorse, but rather take pride
in their refusal to choose between serving Vladolf Putler or Francois
Zevalier, the personifications of the darkest reaction possible only in
today's Europe, the refusal to choose between the occupation colonial
expedition and the defense of what has been seized by the Ukrainian
ruling class since 1991. 19
In contrast, Wayne Price's words sound rather hollow:
It is true that Ukrainians are not anarchists or socialists; they accept
their state and capitalism. Does this mean that anarchists should punish
them by refusing to defend them when they are attacked by a powerful
enemy who slaughters them and destroys their cities? 20
The Assembly's position is anarchist, and Price's smacks of the full
patronizing and proselytizing zeal of liberal imperialism, which hides
behind the endorsement of the myth of national self-determination. To
perpetuate this myth, Price must also uphold the myth of the people's army.
The People's Army
Two days after the Russian invasion, the BBC presented us with a
spectacle of Ukrainian women being taught how to make Molotov cocktails.
21 This publicity stunt seemed to be aimed at such gullible people as
Wayne Price. At the time, the Ukrainian army was the greatest NATO proxy
ever formed, trained, and equipped. Its success on the ground did not
depend on guerrilla warfare, as became glaringly obvious in the months
that followed.
Soon after, Natopolitan anarchism emerged, another manifestation of
NAFO. 22 The takeover of much of the Western anarchist movement and
scene was a victory for the militarist project. A good example of this
is the group Good Night Imperial Pride, which raises funds for snipers,
drones, etc. for so-called "anarchist fighters" integrated into the
Ukrainian army. GNIP is popular on the internet, promoted by anarchist
groups, and even had a stand at the London Anarchist Book Fair in 2023.
23 Only someone completely deranged by "virtue-alarmism" (insincere,
pragmatic public actions and statements aimed at supporting socially
approved opinions, but motivated by a desire to improve one's own image
- note) could believe that his crowd-funded donation to the "Ukrainian
anarchist cause" would tip the scales when all the state economies of
NATO countries are sending money and materials on an unprecedented
scale. 24 Those unfortunate anarchists who were blinded by the
psychopathy of NAFO ended up dead in the meat grinders of Bakhmut and
Avdiivka - circles of hell imposed on the Ukrainian working class by the
Ukrainian state. For them, NAFO was the main line to the consequences of
their actions. They deserved better than the elders of the NATO-police
anarchists who had misled them.
Wayne Price is parroting the White House press secretary when he writes:
Russia does not wage war through proxies, but engages in direct
aggression. Ukrainians do not wage war through proxies either. They are
the ones who shed their blood, fighting directly against the invaders in
their country. Whatever the US pays for arms, Ukrainians pay with their
lives. Whatever the motives of the US and its NATO allies, and even
whatever the motives of the Ukrainian state, the people have a vested
interest in expelling the occupiers and mass murderers. The fact that
they take arms from Western governments does not mean much - they need
arms, and where else can they get them? 25
As if it were a last-minute search for ammunition, as if NATO had not
been involved in training and supplying the Ukrainian army since 1991.
26 As if Ukraine had not already made an important contribution to NATO
missions, notably in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, as George W. Bush
emphasized in 2008 when he justified Ukraine's accession to NATO. 27 As
if the CIA had not installed 12 secret bases facing Russia after the
Maidan coup. 28 As if the aspiration for NATO membership had not been
written into the Ukrainian constitution in 2019, erasing Ukrainian
neutrality. 29 As if NATO generals were not directly involved in
choosing Russian targets. 30 As if all this did not make Ukraine a de
facto member of NATO, if not de jure. A persistent myth of
NATO-political anarchism is that anyone who points out the fingerprints
of American imperialism denies "Ukrainian independence." As if the world
hegemon, with nearly 800 military bases around the world, cares about
national sovereignty, even of its so-called allies (which is why it
forcibly separated Germany from Russia by blowing up the Nord Stream gas
pipeline). 31 To cover up the truth about this US-instigated conflict,
the NATO anarchists perpetuate the myth of Ukrainian independence and
popular resistance.
The reality of war is forced conscription, and conscription is slavery.
It is supported by nationalism and patriotism (both parasitic on the
real need for self-determination), which are weapons against the working
class. Here are a few words from the Assembly group again about the
reality of conscription in Ukraine:
Kharkiv is a prison where the lights go out at 9:00 p.m., roughly
speaking. If in 2020, according to the then mayor Kernes, the average
age in Kharkiv was 35 years old, then at the beginning of the full-scale
war there were mostly pensioners, and now the average age of the
population is about 50 years old. Although this is only a visual
impression from public places, because men of draft age (in Ukraine it
is from 18 to 60 years old, and leaving the country is prohibited for
most of them) often do not risk leaving their homes and try to move
around the streets only by car. Depression, alcoholism and complete
sadness. The ship has long been at the bottom, but the passengers have
locked themselves in their cabins and think that there will be enough
air there until someone saves them... 32
If the average age on the streets of Kharkiv is 50, the average age on
the front in February 2024 is 43. 33 This is because young men are dead,
hiding, or have fled. And Zelensky is lying when he says the death toll
is 31,000. 34 The scale of this lie is monstrous. The real numbers are
being carefully guarded, but the casualties are probably closer to
500,000, as the former head of Ukraine's Interior Ministry, Yuriy
Lutsenko, recently stated. 35 After monitoring the front lines daily, I
estimate that the number of dead is close to half a million, and that
there are as many or more seriously injured. Ukrainians know that these
conscripts died from suicide drones or drone grenades falling from the
sky, in minefields, from thermobaric "flamethrower" bombs, from white
phosphorus, from cluster bombs, from FAB floating bombs with a capacity
of 500 to 1500 kg of explosive, under artillery fire and cruise missile
strikes, in tank battles, from helicopter missiles, in rifle battles,
under grenade fire, sniper fire, etc. etc. etc. etc. The soil is so
disfigured that it looks like the surface of the moon, villages and
towns are empty concrete shells, forests have been burned to the ground.
The NATO anarchists never talk about the front line. About the videos of
mobilized Ukrainians praying for their lives under FPV drones or
crawling through the mud with their legs severed. At best, they will
post a link to that glamorous and chilling photo shoot organized by the
Ukrainian state, in which veterans with amputated limbs are dressed in
evening gowns and made to pose with a porn star 36 .
Instead of a self-organized people's army, Zelensky's vision for Ukraine
is a fully militarized, garrison state similar to Israel. His plan for
the country after the war is as follows:
We will definitely become a "greater Israel" with its own face. We will
not be surprised that in all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there
will be representatives of the armed forces or the National Guard, there
will be people with weapons. I am sure that in the next ten years the
issue of our security will be number one. 37
Instead of supporting its population, the Ukrainian state is waging
class warfare, undertaking neoliberal shock reforms under the guidance
of IMF moneylenders. As an Open Democracy article puts it:
Instead of focusing on adapting the economy to the needs of the war, the
Ukrainian authorities launched a massive privatization program. Taking
advantage of martial law and restrictions on demonstrations, the
government also repealed labor laws and pushed through a number of other
unpopular measures. 38
While natopolit anarchists like Wayne Price convince us to stand behind
the Ukrainian people (which is a fiction) and the Ukrainian state (only
until it defeats the Russians), the Ukrainian state is waging a class war.
Preservation of the puppet war
And while there is no doubt that Ukrainians are struggling to survive
amidst the hell of civil war, invasion, and class warfare, it is also
clear that US hegemony rests on the support of its client states. That
is why, in April 2024, after months of delay and politicking, the US
Congress approved $95 billion in funding for its client states: Ukraine,
Israel, and Taiwan. 39 Much of this funding is in the form of loans or
concessions to the US arms industry at home. But a significant portion
of it is earmarked for the efforts of puppet Ukraine to weaken and, if
possible, disintegrate Russia. 40 As has been repeatedly stated in the
US Senate:
The United States is helping Ukraine and its people so they can fight
Russia there and we don't have to fight it here. 41
This (along with the above overview of NATO's conquest of the Ukrainian
state) would be a succinct enough statement of the policy, financial
support, and strategy of supporting Ukraine as a puppet power. But it is
not enough for the NATO anarchists who parrot the US state line that
this is supporting a weak state fighting against unchecked Russian
imperial aggression that will march unhindered through Poland and the
Baltics. The argument always shifts from US interests and the
maneuvering of the Ukrainian state to a strictly temporal (invasion that
began in February 2022) and spatial (Ukraine is a small, sovereign
state) picture. That is why, despite claiming that "the US-Vietnam war
is a mirror image of the Ukraine-Russia war," Wayne Price loudly
protests that this war is also a puppet one. Instead, he paints a
textbook picture of what an inter-imperialist conflict would look like:
This analysis would change under different circumstances. It would
become primarily a war between imperialist countries, if, for example,
the US sent its army into Ukraine to fight the Russians, or if missiles
were exchanged back and forth between Russia and NATO countries. Then we
would have to oppose both sides, because the main issue would be war
between imperialist powers. But that has not happened. 42
The reason that direct war is something that both camps want to avoid,
and which did not happen during or after the Cold War, is the presence
of correspondingly large nuclear arsenals. This is why the puppet wars
(Korea, Vietnam, Congo, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, etc.) between the US and
the USSR have historically been the preferred weapon for weakening the
other side. 43 To fail to understand this is to misunderstand the whole
nature of the world order. It is certainly key to understanding the
nature of the war in Ukraine, its course, and its potential outcome.
The danger of nuclear escalation is why NATO is doing everything it can
to exacerbate the situation by covering its tracks (by concealing the
involvement of its troops, continuing to deny its role in determining
targets and its oversight, shifting responsibility to the Ukrainians),
and Russia is doing everything it can to destroy the Ukrainian army
rather than seize territory. This is a dangerous game, made even more
unpredictable by the high stakes for all three countries: the possible
defeat of Russia (which it sees as an existential threat, making its
resort to nuclear weapons more likely), the inflamed ethno-nationalism
that underlies the Ukrainian national project and led to the loss of
Crimea and the Donbas (with an ongoing strategy of expanding the
conflict in Russia and drawing NATO directly into the theater of war),
and the declining and increasingly desperate global hegemony of the
United States in the context of the so-called transition to multipolarity.
What is the role of anarchists?
Asked in April 2022 about his recommendations to leftists and
progressives in the US regarding the war in Ukraine, Noam Chomsky said:
First of all, as leftists we must oppose all imperialism, oppose the
overthrow of governments, aggression and violence. And as rational and
moral human beings we must focus our attention, energy and activity on
what we can do. For the most part these are the actions of our own
government, which is the world leader. World champion in opposing
sovereignty, in aggression, in violence and intervention, in terrorism,
etc. We must oppose the Russian imitation of our actions. What can we do
about this? Well, I think it is very clear. There are two
options:[...]One option is the one we accept. To fight to the last
Ukrainian[...]and to ensure that[...]Putin and his entourage are backed
up to the wall, that they have no way out, no way out, which is why they
will have the reason to destroy Ukraine and move on to a world war[...].
There is another option. Let's abandon the policies, our official
policies[...]Let's move towards accepting a status for Ukraine similar
to that of Mexico, Austria and Finland for decades[...]let's withdraw
the threats to Russia[...]let's move towards some kind of Minsk II-style
agreement for a high level of autonomy for the eastern region, perhaps
within the framework of a federal agreement. Accept the reality that,
whether you like it or not, Crimea is off the table, it's no longer an
option for negotiations. That's ugly, but the alternative is to continue
our efforts to destroy Ukraine and move towards international war. Those
are the options. The world is not a pretty place. You don't get to elect
Martin Luther King as the head of every government. 44
The situation is much worse now, the number of victims is higher, and
the risk of Ukraine ceasing to exist and a wider conflict is growing
with each passing day. 45 The basic facts, however, remain the same. You
do not have to agree with Chomsky's entirely feasible pragmatism to see
that he is right to start by confronting the role of one's (imperial)
state. This is something that natopolit anarchists are appalled by. For
example, Wayne Price takes up the slogan addressed to the US government
during the Vietnam War years, "Out Now!" and, in a fit of inspiration,
declares:
Of course, there will be negotiations, but the main issue remains: the
Russian military must leave Ukraine, all of Ukraine, every square inch.
"Out now!" 46
I can assure him that the Russians are not listening. By taking the line
of the American state, Price acts as its intermediary in the anarchist
movement. He fails to notice the irony: if he once opposed the actions
of his government, he now welcomes them. He is joined by "left"
celebrities such as Slavoj Žizek and Paul Mason, other diligent lackeys.
Standing behind the ruling class and its puppet war has a chilling
effect on the movement, with the NATO anarchists quashing, persecuting,
and suppressing the voices of anti-militarists. The continued beating of
the drums of war and the repetition of the mantra that Ukraine can and
must win act as a lifeline for the crumbling Western imperial core and
reduce the already reduced room for maneuver for anarchists in Ukraine
and NATO countries. 47
Instead, we should dust off the 1915 Manifesto Against War, signed by
Emma Goldman, Erico Malatesta, Alexander Berkman, and others. It
contains basic truths about resistance to militarism, the ruling class,
and inter-imperialist conflict. As well as a warning of impending war
when the US empire targets China:
There has never been and there is no doubt-and today's horrific events
strengthen this certainty-that war is constantly emerging in existing
society, and that armed conflict, whether specific or general, in the
colonies or in Europe, is the natural consequence and necessary,
inevitable fate of a regime based on the economic inequality of
citizens, relying on the unbridled clash of interests, and placing the
world of labor under the close, painful supervision of a minority of
parasites who possess both political power and economic might. 48
It would be easy to outline the shape of anti-militaristic efforts in
NATO countries. Putting them into practice is a more serious task, but
it awaits us:
* To oppose the imperialism and militarism of our countries and to
increase the opportunities of others to do so. No to nationalism. No to
a return to national or military service, no to conscription. No to
support for the US in its war policies through Israel (towards the
Middle East), Ukraine (towards Russia) and Taiwan (towards China).
Undermining support for the wars of the ruling class.
* Let us undermine NATO (and the militarization of the EU) by telling
the truth about its wars. No to NATO bases, no to US missiles in our
neighborhoods, no to nuclear weapons. No to weapons factories in our
cities, no to arms sales - let us oppose the military-industrial
complex, its profits, and its influence over the state.
* Let us support all organized and unorganized Ukrainian groups against
Bandera's nationalism and ethnic division, against predatory capitalists
(Western or native), against military conscription.
* To support resistance to Russian nationalism and to oppose the various
neo-Stalinists who see Russia as an anti-fascist and anti-imperialist
force. Moscow and Washington are two sides of the same coin.
* To maintain and build international ties across the conflict lines,
between Russia, Ukraine and NATO countries, including recent Russian and
Ukrainian emigrants.
* Let us rediscover the traditions of anti-militarism and promote a new
anti-militarist culture everywhere we go.
Notes at https://www.anarchy.bg
_________________________________________
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