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In a recent statement concerning the admission of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions into the Russian Federation, the CC of the Revolutionary Communist Youth League of Russia (Bolsheviks) points out:
«People have made their choice, an unambiguous choice. Today we are signing treaties on the admission of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, the Kherson Region, and the Zaporozhye Region into the Russian Federation,» President Vladimir Putin said during the ceremony of the regions’ accession to Russia on September 30.
The Lugansk and Donetzk Republics (LPR and DPR) proclaimed their independence from Ukraine on May 12, 2014, during the armed conflict in Donbass following the seizure of the Crimean peninsula by special units of the Russian army. On the same day, the authorities of the Donetsk People’s Republic asked the Russian authorities to consider the possibility of the DPR becoming part of the Russian Federation. Later, a joint statement by representatives of the republics Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego said: «The DPR and LPR unconditionally consider Crimea to be part of Russia. Moreover, our republics would also like to become part of the Russian Federation in an ideal scenario.»
Whereas at the beginning of the armed conflict in Donbass, the newly formed republics were in reality the result of the will of the people, however, after a while, the tide of people’ demands for justice crashed, not least due to of influence of Russian state agencies. Shortly thereafter, the social justice oriented resistance commanders in Donbass were assassinated under mysterious circumstances: Alexei Mozgovoy, Pavel Dremov, and Arsen Pavlov («Motorola»). At the same time, instead of protecting the newly formed republics, Russia took no action during the eight years of conflict in southeastern Ukraine, except for the low-intensity support of the people’ s units with humanitarian aid, weapons, and ammunition. Gradually, the pro-people nature of the republics faded away; positions in the DPR and LPR were occupied by pro-Russian officials and representatives of the region’s large bourgeoisie. In eight years of bloodshed, the Russian government has achieved a weakening of socialist sentiment in the Donbass. The once «people’s republics» had given up. Russia became the only factor protecting the republics from invasion by the Ukrainian army and repression by its Armed Forces and the Security Service.
Thus, the «people’s republics» of the DPR and LPR, which emerged in 2014 on the wave of the rise of «miners and tractor drivers,» by 2022 had turned into puppets of the Russian Federation, a shock fist of Russian imperialism in Ukraine. In the republics alone: political freedoms have been curtailed, the economic situation is disastrous, and people on the streets are being grabbed into «militias» by mobilization. At the same time, local pro-Russian oligarchs continue to enjoy a life of leisure, and their incomes and fortunes continue to grow.
The Special Military Operation in Ukraine (SMO) began on February 24, 2022, two days after Russia officially recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The Russian state, under the pretext of protecting the people’s interests of the inhabitants of Donbass, unleashed an imperialist war, in which Russia, supported by China, the largest imperialist of the Asia-Pacific region, on one side, and the NATO bloc, on the other, clashed. Ukraine became the staging ground for the promotion of the interests of the bourgeois groups.
On September 30, there was an official ceremony of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya regions joining the Russian Federation as its administrative units. The political decision was made on the basis of referendums held shortly before. The purpose of the referendums was to protect Russia’s imperialist interests in the region. There are no honest referendums under capitalism, just like there are no honest elections. The Russian government traitorously condemned the inhabitants of the DPR and LPR to eight years of suffering and the horrors of war, in order to seize these regions as prey at the right moment, catching on to the situation.
And while the openly pro-Russian sentiments of the population of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics have been evident since the early 1990s, the residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine found themselves facing a choice in which «both are worse». The referendums took place in a situation of control of the territories by Russian armed forces, under conditions of continuing hostilities. We cannot consider free the will of a population forced to hide in basements from bombardments, living at gunpoint under the weight of the army boot.
The opinion of citizens living outside the actually controlled territory of the DPR and LPR was not taken into account at all, since a significant part of the territories of these areas is occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
There is no doubt that with regard to the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine, the Russian Federation has committed annexation — the seizure of territory for vested interests.
«ANNEXATION, the outwardly formalized, according to the requirements of bourgeois international law, seizure by a state of territory not previously belonging to it. In order to justify acts of annexation in international relations, popular «will» is sometimes staged in the form of plebiscites among the population of annexed territories. These pseudo plebiscites represent falsification of popular will, since they are carried out under military occupation by the state which carries out annexation» (definition of annexation in the Soviet Military Encyclopedia, vol. 1, 1932).
Thus, the Russian Federation has demonstrated the invasive nature of the SMO.
Residents of the territories that became part of Russia in the new bourgeois state can expect an increase in the retirement age, social insecurity, and political powerlessness, namely all the things citizens of the Russian Federation have to deal on a daily basis.
In the future, different outcomes are possible. One way or another, the actions of the Russian authorities will lead to an escalation of the conflict, which means new burdens and hardships and new bleeding for the workers. If the current political regimes and economic system persist, any outcome of the war will be a defeat for the working class. A continuation of the war itself would bring new victims and devastation to the workers.
The crisis can only be overcome by socialist revolution and the overthrow of capitalist domination. Only by taking power into its own hands may the working class organize the defense of its homeland, take care of civilians and refugees, and recover the economy of the country. Only by overthrowing the domination of their own and the overseas capitalists are the people of the two countries able to agree with each other on peace and friendship.
RKSM(b) appeals to all communist and youth organizations of foreign countries: do not believe that bourgeois Russia is fighting NATO imperialism. We are facing a battle of two imperialisms: the old, mature one and the young, audacious one. Between them you cannot choose, you cannot guess which of them is «better»: both are worse. And both, in their greedy rampage, are putting the planet on the threat of a new world war.
No support for NATO and Russian imperialism! Down with the puppets of capital, leading their countries and peoples to ruin!
Whereas at the beginning of the armed conflict in Donbass, the newly formed republics were in reality the result of the will of the people, however, after a while, the tide of people’ demands for justice crashed, not least due to of influence of Russian state agencies. Shortly thereafter, the social justice oriented resistance commanders in Donbass were assassinated under mysterious circumstances: Alexei Mozgovoy, Pavel Dremov, and Arsen Pavlov («Motorola»). At the same time, instead of protecting the newly formed republics, Russia took no action during the eight years of conflict in southeastern Ukraine, except for the low-intensity support of the people’ s units with humanitarian aid, weapons, and ammunition. Gradually, the pro-people nature of the republics faded away; positions in the DPR and LPR were occupied by pro-Russian officials and representatives of the region’s large bourgeoisie. In eight years of bloodshed, the Russian government has achieved a weakening of socialist sentiment in the Donbass. The once «people’s republics» had given up. Russia became the only factor protecting the republics from invasion by the Ukrainian army and repression by its Armed Forces and the Security Service.
Thus, the «people’s republics» of the DPR and LPR, which emerged in 2014 on the wave of the rise of «miners and tractor drivers,» by 2022 had turned into puppets of the Russian Federation, a shock fist of Russian imperialism in Ukraine. In the republics alone: political freedoms have been curtailed, the economic situation is disastrous, and people on the streets are being grabbed into «militias» by mobilization. At the same time, local pro-Russian oligarchs continue to enjoy a life of leisure, and their incomes and fortunes continue to grow.
The Special Military Operation in Ukraine (SMO) began on February 24, 2022, two days after Russia officially recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The Russian state, under the pretext of protecting the people’s interests of the inhabitants of Donbass, unleashed an imperialist war, in which Russia, supported by China, the largest imperialist of the Asia-Pacific region, on one side, and the NATO bloc, on the other, clashed. Ukraine became the staging ground for the promotion of the interests of the bourgeois groups.
On September 30, there was an official ceremony of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya regions joining the Russian Federation as its administrative units. The political decision was made on the basis of referendums held shortly before. The purpose of the referendums was to protect Russia’s imperialist interests in the region. There are no honest referendums under capitalism, just like there are no honest elections. The Russian government traitorously condemned the inhabitants of the DPR and LPR to eight years of suffering and the horrors of war, in order to seize these regions as prey at the right moment, catching on to the situation.
And while the openly pro-Russian sentiments of the population of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics have been evident since the early 1990s, the residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine found themselves facing a choice in which «both are worse». The referendums took place in a situation of control of the territories by Russian armed forces, under conditions of continuing hostilities. We cannot consider free the will of a population forced to hide in basements from bombardments, living at gunpoint under the weight of the army boot.
The opinion of citizens living outside the actually controlled territory of the DPR and LPR was not taken into account at all, since a significant part of the territories of these areas is occupied by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
There is no doubt that with regard to the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine, the Russian Federation has committed annexation — the seizure of territory for vested interests.
«ANNEXATION, the outwardly formalized, according to the requirements of bourgeois international law, seizure by a state of territory not previously belonging to it. In order to justify acts of annexation in international relations, popular «will» is sometimes staged in the form of plebiscites among the population of annexed territories. These pseudo plebiscites represent falsification of popular will, since they are carried out under military occupation by the state which carries out annexation» (definition of annexation in the Soviet Military Encyclopedia, vol. 1, 1932).
Thus, the Russian Federation has demonstrated the invasive nature of the SMO.
Residents of the territories that became part of Russia in the new bourgeois state can expect an increase in the retirement age, social insecurity, and political powerlessness, namely all the things citizens of the Russian Federation have to deal on a daily basis.
In the future, different outcomes are possible. One way or another, the actions of the Russian authorities will lead to an escalation of the conflict, which means new burdens and hardships and new bleeding for the workers. If the current political regimes and economic system persist, any outcome of the war will be a defeat for the working class. A continuation of the war itself would bring new victims and devastation to the workers.
The crisis can only be overcome by socialist revolution and the overthrow of capitalist domination. Only by taking power into its own hands may the working class organize the defense of its homeland, take care of civilians and refugees, and recover the economy of the country. Only by overthrowing the domination of their own and the overseas capitalists are the people of the two countries able to agree with each other on peace and friendship.
RKSM(b) appeals to all communist and youth organizations of foreign countries: do not believe that bourgeois Russia is fighting NATO imperialism. We are facing a battle of two imperialisms: the old, mature one and the young, audacious one. Between them you cannot choose, you cannot guess which of them is «better»: both are worse. And both, in their greedy rampage, are putting the planet on the threat of a new world war.
No support for NATO and Russian imperialism! Down with the puppets of capital, leading their countries and peoples to ruin!
8.10.2022
rksmb.org
