Ukrainian socialist says left should condemn Russian occupation and support arms shipments to Ukraine

“Denouncing the Russian occupation and supporting the sending of weapons to Ukraine is minimal for any leftist who believes in freedom,” says Vladyslav Starodubtsev of the Ukrainian Democratic Socialist Movement party.

Vladyslav Starodubtsev claims that after the Russian invasion he decided to stay in Ukraine instead of leaving his country to show that socialists like him could be useful in times of war.

“We work in the humanitarian field with refugees in western Ukraine, we buy and deliver medicines, military equipment or weapons,” Starodubtsev told the BBC’s Spanish service BBC Mundo. Said.

His party, Sotsyalnyi Rukh (Social Movement), is a Ukrainian democratic socialist organization that defines itself as against capitalism and intolerance.

• Destruction in the ‘hero city’ of Irpin, which hinders the advance of Russian troops in Ukraine

And in recent days, he has tried to persuade leftist groups in the West, from Spain’s Podemos to Venezuela’s Trotskyists, to support sending weapons to Ukraine against Moscow’s forces.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, some left-wing parties, leaders and governments have refrained from condemning him as publicly as others and instead highlighting the responsibility of the United States and NATO in the crisis.

“Even Russian socialists don’t make the same mistake as Western socialists” and “(Russian socialists) oppose the occupation,” Starodubtsev says.

Here are key excerpts from a phone call by a 19-year-old Ukrainian socialist and a council member of his party with BBC Mundo:

BBC News Mundo – How is it there?

Vladyslav Starodubtsev – It’s pretty stable. There was panic in the first days, but there was also an effort to organize and help. People traveled miles to join the army. Now it has stabilized and everything is back to normal. People are used to sounding sirens and bombing and trying to lead a normal life like pre-war.

BBC News World – What do you think about the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Starodubtsev – The Russian occupation is absolutely unjust and terrible. Some are trying to say that Russia is defending itself against NATO. But this has nothing to do with reality.

In reality, this is a battle of radical Russian nationalism, which believes that Ukrainians have the right to decide how they should be, how they should live. This is a war of Russian imperialism.

BBC News World – Your party opposed the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. How do you evaluate the reaction of Russia to the invasion of Ukraine?

Starodubtsev – This answer has two dimensions. First, the military intervention and everything related to it, the way it campaigned in the media, its appeal to Europeans, etc. In that sense, Zelensky has done a great job. He motivated everyone, showed leadership in the war. He made the right military decisions. He did a great job bringing everyone together in this fight.

However, his answer has a second dimension: the social dimension, which defends the stability of the Ukrainian people. Here the answer is much worse.

In times of war, the government is trying to promote its anti-labor reform, reforming the labor law to allow 60 hours a week to work, and that workers can be fired for no reason. They also push for welfare cuts and debt reform that puts all the necessities of war on the poor while protecting jobs and companies. In that sense Zelensky was terrible.

BBC News World – Did ideology play a role in how you and others in Ukraine responded to the Russian occupation?

Starodubtsev – As socialists we have been against Russian imperialism from the very beginning.

But ideology unfortunately played a role on the western left in defending Putin’s policies and imperialism against Ukraine.

BBC News World – Some on the left in the West have blamed the Russian invasion for “expansionism” in their country, which they refer to as the US or NATO. How do you evaluate this argument?

Starodubtsev – I think this argument is absolutely wrong. It is western-centered thought: transferring all the problems of the West to other regions.

In fact, Ukraine itself sought to join NATO because of this existential threat from Russian imperialism, radical Russian nationalism on its borders. To say that this is US or NATO pressure on Ukraine is absolutely wrong.

The war began about eight years ago in the Donbass region, when the Russian army invaded Ukrainian territory and took Crimea.

After that, no one felt safe in Ukraine. Everyone was afraid of the Russian invasion.

What the western left fails to understand is that its problems with NATO have nothing to do with the situation in this region. This is definitely different.

BBC News World – Leaders and leftist organizations in the West have also criticized the arms supply to Ukraine, saying it undermines peace and supports war. do you agree?

Starodubtsev – We are absolutely in favor of sending weapons to Ukraine. Our activists are joining the army and are currently fighting on the front lines. And we try to provide them with everything they need.

War and aggression cannot be stopped with words. If the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian resistance do not have weapons to defend themselves, there will be no Ukraine, the Ukrainian people will not have the right to determine their politics, economy, culture and way of life.

I believe that those who oppose sending weapons to Ukraine are against the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and the right of Ukraine to defend itself.

To reach any compromise or peace, the negotiators must have the power and without it there will be no peace, there will be war to the end as Putin initially wanted.

So sending weapons to Ukraine is not only the right thing to do for self-determination, it’s also the right thing to do if you’re looking to save lives and stop the war as quickly as possible.

BBC News World – Why do you think some leftists in the West seem more willing to criticize the US and NATO in this war than Putin and Russia?

Starodubtsev – Disillusioned with the United States and its policies in general, they try to find something anti-American to support.

It’s like they’re stuck with that traditional notion that has little in common with leftism and socialist thinking, but which is blatantly anti-American.

These people have predominantly Soviet nostalgia, nostalgia for a bipolar world. And Ukraine, Georgia etc. They have some hatred towards people who became independent nations after the collapse of the USSR, such as the USSR.

BBC News World – Are you saying that the right thing for the left is to support the Ukrainian people and reject Russia’s actions rather than blaming the US and NATO?

Starodubtsev – Yes, definitely. Condemning the Russian occupation and expressing support for arms shipments to Ukraine is minimal for any socialist, any leftist who believes that the people should have freedom, the right of the people to determine their destiny. Minimum value for everyone on the left.

BBC News Mundo – And what do you think of the idea that Russia is trying to “seaize” Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin said to justify the invasion?

Starodubtsev – Completely wrong. We have a problem with the far right in Ukraine, especially on the streets and a little bit in the army. But they have little impact on Ukrainian politics and daily life.

They have a very special role as political bandits, especially for oligarchs and some companies. Now. Most countries have such a thing.

In Ukraine there is the Azov battalion, which is part of the Army. And the Ukrainian army is apolitical, so they can not do anything: they obey strict orders.

As for other organizations, political parties or neo-Nazis, they have no influence on Ukrainian politics.

We have far less of a problem with the far right than in the European Union, and especially in Russia, where the Russians are the masters of this union, which justifies everything with its ethno-nationalist ideology of uniting Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians into a single ethnic group. This is the same as fascism.

BBC News World – Is your position shared with other leftist organizations in Ukraine? Or are there differences depending on who you talk to?

Starodubtsev – There are pro-Russian leftists in Ukraine and Russia. But I don’t find it appropriate to call them leftists. They are Stalinists from the Communist Party of Ukraine. The same is true of banned parties, which claim to be left but are in fact right-wing conservative and pro-Russian nationalist groups that mostly support racism, sexism, patriarchy, homophobia and even antisemitism.

In other words, these parties are more united on the right than on the left. The only thing they have in common with the left is their name.

The same thing happens in Russia: some Stalinist organizations. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation supports the occupation. However, those who are progressive in the independent left oppose the Russian occupation with one voice.

Even Russian socialists who do not have such ties to the government oppose the Russian occupation and support sanctions and arms shipments to Ukraine. Even Russian socialists do not make the same mistake as Western socialists: they are in favor of guns and sanctions.

BBC News Mundo – Left governments in Latin American countries such as Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela are allies of Russia and have refused to condemn Russia for invading Ukraine. What would be your message to these governments?

Starodubtsev – I believe most of these governments are not left-wing but authoritarian, anti-democratic, and repress their own people, especially in places like Venezuela or Cuba. They too have problems with NATO, the unjust blockade of Cuba, and a sticky situation.

I will probably say something to these countries, not their governments, but their people: If they want to help Ukraine, they must oppose Russian imperialism and its authoritarian government, and they want to bring democracy or social progress to their country. Because these countries are dependent on Russian imperialism. And they are in favor of supporting Russia because they have no other choice.

Therefore, it is important that the peoples of these countries oppose their governments and their government’s links with Russia in order to promote democratic and socialist policies in their countries.

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