YRMs Intervention in Anti-Kuchma
Movement
Centrism & Bolshevism in Ukraine
In early 2001 Ukraine was gripped by an acute political crisis
after a former member of the political police, Mykola Melnychenko, leaked tapes
implicating President Leonid Kuchma in the grisly murder of Georgy Gongadze, a
journalist who had been a thorn in the side of the regime. Melnychenkos
tapes, which the government initially dismissed as forgeries, graphically
revealed the murderous brutality and venality of Kuchmas
administration.
Kuchma was elected in 1994 on a promise of aligning Ukraine
closely with Russia, but once in office, he made an abrupt turn and joined
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Georgia and Moldova in a NATO-sponsored alliance aimed
at undercutting Russian influence in the region. As a reward for its
independence from Moscow, the U.S. has doled out more than $2 billion to
Ukraine. Kuchma won reelection in 1999 pledging to continue to balance between
NATO and the Kremlin, but this time his deteriorating domestic position forced
him into Vladimir Putins embrace.
The nascent Ukrainian bourgeoisie is divided between those who
favor an orientation to Moscow, and others who look to the U.S. and the
European Union. Despite Russias economic implosion during the past
decade, its per capita GDP is still almost three times that of Ukraine, and
Kievs dependency on Moscow for energy has given Russian oligarchs the
leverage to buy up large chunks of the Ukrainian economy.
The spectacular revelations on Melnychenkos tapes galvanized
Kuchmas pro-Western bourgeois opposition under the banner of
Ukraine Without Kuchma. In December 2000, a tent city was set up in
Kievs Independence Square where fascists and various reformist leftists
huddled together. The participants in this foul lash-up included members of
Workers Resistance (affiliated with Peter Taaffes Committee
for a Workers International), Red Wolves (a grouping linked to
Alain Krivines United Secretariat of the Fourth International), the
Socialist Party, the Social-Democratic Party, the Green Party, several
pro-Western bourgeois parties, the right-wing nationalists of the Ukrainian
Peoples Movement and the fascistic Ukrainian National Assembly/Ukrainian
National Self-Defense.
Kuchma was supported by pro-Russian elements of Ukraines
proto-bourgeoisie. Also in his camp was the Workers Revolutionary League
(formerly known as the Socialist Youth of Ukraine, an affiliate of Sheila
Torrences orthodox Healyite tendency), along with the far-right Social
National Party of Ukraine (which is linked to Jean-Marie Le Pens National
Front) and the fascist thugs of Stepan Banderas Trident.
In early February 2001, as anti-Kuchma protests gained momentum,
the European Union called for an inquiry into Gongadzes murder. This was
a clear signal that Brussels thought it was time for Kuchma to go, but the
president refused to budge. On 6 February several dozen masked
anarchists, obviously members of the state security police,
attacked the tent city. The same day leftists and fascists clashed at an
anti-Kuchma rally. On 10 February, on the eve of a major demonstration, Kuchma
fired the heads of the security police and the presidential guard in a
desperate attempt to deflect criticism. The next day only 5,000 protesters
turned out to march in Kiev.
Kuchma avoided the protest and spent the day in Dnipropetrovsk
meeting with Russian President Putin who agreed to allow Ukraine to reunite its
energy grid with Russias, thus significantly lowering energy costs.
Putins backing, and the relatively small turnout for the 11 February
protest, emboldened Kuchma to order the immediate removal of the tent city.
Viktor Yushchenko, a former governor of the central bank, who was
prime minister during the crisis, was the Wests preferred candidate to
succeed Kuchma. The call for Ukraine Without Kuchma was popularly
understood as a demand for Yushchenko to assume the presidency.
Earlier, in January 2001, Kuchma had Yuliya Tymoshenko, the
countrys deputy prime minister and energy minister, arrested and charged
with corruption. Tymoshenko was one of Yushchenkos closest
allies, and her difficulties clearly demonstrated the limits of Western
influence in Ukraine. The NATO powers would prefer a strong and
independent Ukraine on Russias southern flank, but are
unwilling and unable to provide the capital to revive Ukraines moribund
economy.
The following text is a translation of a leaflet, dated 14
March 2001, that was distributed in Kiev by the Young Revolutionary Marxists
(YRMnow the Ukrainian section of the IBT).
Tasks of Revolutionary Marxists
The greatest honor for a genuine revolutionist today is to
remain a sectarian of revolutionary Marxism in the eyes of
philistines, whimperers and superficial thinkers....
We must first entrench ourselves on principled positions,
take a correct starting point, and then proceed to move along tactical lines.
We are now in the period of principled self-clarification and merciless
demarcation from opportunists and muddlers. This is the only avenue to the
highway of revolution. Leon Trotsky 12 June
1929
Revolutionary Marxists in Ukraine today are confronted with a
difficult set of strategic and tactical problems. It is quite clear that
revolutionaries cannot be involved in the openly bourgeois (and
fascist-infested) Ukraine Without Kuchma movement (recently
redubbed the National Salvation Forum).
Yet we are not indifferent to Kuchmas murderous bonapartism
nor his other attacks on democratic rights, including those of his fellow
oligarchs. While we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all
leftists and workers imprisoned by the bourgeoisie in the class war, we are
only concerned in the case of bourgeois figures charged with corruption, etc.
that all proper legal procedures are observed and their democratic rights
protected. This is why we support the call for an independent investigation of
the Gongadze murder. We recognize that there is a real danger that either
Kuchma, or his bourgeois rivals, could attempt to solve their problems through
some sort of military coup. The proletariat has a vital interest in taking
steps to prepare for such an eventuality. The creation of strike committees and
workers defense squads in each workplace could make the oligarchs think
twice about using the police or fascists against the workers.
An item included in the 16 February issue of the LRCIs
[League for a Revolutionary Communist International] e-mail newsletter,
Workers Power Global Week, raised similar concerns:
In the near future a coup detat by Kuchma or
Yushchenko is possible or at least sharp confrontations on the street with the
police and/or the fascists.
This is quite correct. Yet comrades of the YRM have found in
discussions with RV-MRM [LRCI supporters in Kiev], that the LRCI considers us
sectarian for failing to side with the supposedly more
democratic Yushchenko/Tymoshenko wing of the bourgeoisie against
Kuchmas wing. This attempt to find a lesser evil element
among the capitalists can only disorient the Ukrainian workers in the present
situation. And the LRCI is only one of many organizations making this
mistake.
The current situation presents real opportunities for
strengthening revolutionary influence within the workers movement, but a
political prerequisite is that we maintain fidelity to the fundamentals of
Marxism, and never lose sight of the historic irreconcilability of the
interests of workers and capitalists. We must also recognize that the victory
of the counterrevolutionaries in Moscow in 1991, and the destruction of the
bureaucratized Soviet economy, has led directly to our present impasse. Under
capitalist restoration the Kuchmas, Tymoshenkos, Yushchenkos and their ilk have
all enriched themselves at the expense of working people.
Capitalist restoration has been a complete social catastrophe for
most people in Ukraine and throughout the former Soviet bloc. Today there can
be no illusions in the prospects of life under capitalism. The workers
movement, which has now had a decade of experience with the ravages of
capitalist restoration, confronts a deeply discredited and increasingly
unpopular administration, which sits atop an unstable and seriously divided
ruling class. Neither wing of the bourgeoisiethose oriented toward the
West or toward Moscowcurrently appears capable of mobilizing substantial
popular support.
While the workers are hostile to the regime and the rival blocs of
bourgeois exploiters and thieves, they have not, to date, been particularly
combative. This is partly a product of the desperate economic conditions that
require ordinary people to concentrate on mere survival. But it largely
reflects the fact that the main organizations of the workers movement,
particularly the CPU [Communist Party of Ukraine], have pursued a policy of
inactivity and petty parliamentary maneuvers. Their hostility to Kuchma has
abated as he has warmed to Putin, who the former Stalinists in the CPU
leadership apparently view as some sort of friend.
Ukraine Without Bourgeoisie and Fascists: A
Balance Sheet
In addition to establishing a clear political demarcation from
revisionists, revolutionaries seek to unite with others who may have very
different political programs in common struggles for shared practical
objectives. In the language of Leninism this is the policy of a united
front.
The recent activity of the YRM and its involvement in the
For Ukraine Without Bourgeoisie and Fascists initiative has had
both strengths and weaknesses and only through making a frank assessment of
this experience, and of what we have learned from it, can we learn from our
mistakes to better equip ourselves for revolutionary activity in the
future.
Let us begin by acknowledging the correct criticism raised by the
LRCI comrades of the demand in the 23 February text initiating the bloc which
called for Condemnation of neo-fascist terror attacks on workers and
leftist activists, and prohibition of nazi parties and organizations. The
call for the prohibition of fascist groups fails to make clear that
the fascists must be physically driven off the streets through aggressive
united action by workers and the oppressed. We do not know of any of the groups
signing the common text that would waste their breath calling on Kuchma to ban
the fascists (some of whom are among his few remaining supporters). However the
way this demand is formulated is clearly open to this interpretation and so it
must be rejected.
There is also a more general problem with the presentation of the
issues in the statement of the bloc. The Communist International under Lenin
and Trotsky drew an important distinction between a bloc for action (a united
front) and a bloc of politically disparate groups to issue common propaganda. A
bloc for propaganda between organizations that are not preparing to
fuse can only confuse people who will naturally tend to conclude that the
participants cannot have any very serious differences among themselves. It can
be fatal for Marxists to confuse their banner in this fashion with those of
their reformist or centrist bloc partners. In signing the declaration For
Ukraine Without Bourgeoisie and Fascists the YRM failed to make this
important distinction.
The YRM played an important role in initiating this bloc, and in
the concrete circumstances that confront society today, it was necessary and
correct to attempt to group together those who oppose Kuchma and his
capitalist opponents for common actionparticularly for active
self-defense against the fascists who inhabit both camps. But we were mistaken
to sign a statement that suggests that the participants in this bloc share a
strategy for achieving, Liberation of Ukraine from the IMF, oligarchs,
bourgeois and their lackeys, and from betrayers of the working
people.
If all the participants had such a level of agreement then it
would be irresponsible in the extreme to maintain our separate organizations.
The only reason we are not in a common organization today is because we do
not have such a far-reaching level of agreement. Thus a slogan that
obscures this fact is not appropriate for a united front and can only serve to
blur the very important distinctions that separate the various political
tendencies.
To illustrate this, we shall use the comrades of the LRCI as an
example. While we both oppose any moves by Kuchma to use the state authorities
to restrict the democratic rights of his opponents, including, for example, the
dispersion of the inhabitants of the tent city on Independence Square, we
disagree fundamentally with the LRCIs conception that in a confrontation
between the Kuchma and Yushchenko/Tymoshenko bourgeois gangs, the workers have
an interest in the victory of the latter. Similarly, we disagree with the
LRCIs decision in Moscow in 1993 to support the Rutskoi/Khasbulatov wing
of the capitalist restorationists against their erstwhile ally Yeltsin. In that
situation, as in this one, the working class had no interest in the victory of
either side in the struggle for power between qualitatively similar groups of
capitalists.
Kuchma versus Yushchenko/Tymoshenko: No Lesser
Evil
There are points in history where elements of the exploiters may
come to blows and the workers movement does have an interest in
the victory of one side over another. One such example was in 1917 when General
Kornilov sought to crush the Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky and
potentially open the way for a restoration of the monarchy. The LRCI comrades
have argued that this conflict is analogous to our situation today. But this is
mistaken.
The Bolsheviks understood that a victory for Kornilov would lead
directly to military dictatorship, the crushing of the workers movement
and the eradication of the democratic gains won through the February
Revolution. Kerensky had thrown Trotsky into jail, was hunting for Lenin, and
sought to crush the Bolsheviks and their proletarian supporters. Yet Kerensky
depended on support from the Mensheviks and other reformist elements in the
workers movement who Kornilov would also have destroyed along with the
Bolsheviks. Therefore when Kornilov attacked Kerensky, the Bolsheviks
militarily defended him against the counterrevolutionaries. The defeat of
Kornilov laid the basis for the overthrow of Kerensky and the victory of the
October Revolution a few weeks later.
The lesson of this experience is not that, in general, Marxists
should look for a lesser evil in conflicts among capitalist
factions, but rather that we must judge each situation on the basis of the
overall interests of the workers movement. In the United States, for
example, genuine Marxists have long been distinguished from Stalinists and
reformists by their refusal to support either of the twin parties of
imperialist ruleDemocrats or Republicans. This, not the Kerensky-Kornilov
episode, is an appropriate analogy for the current wrangle between the Kuchma
and Yushchenko/Tymoshenko bourgeois gangs. There is no lesser evil and
therefore workers have no interest in the victory of either.
In the August 1991 coup in Moscow, conversely, workers across the
USSR had a vital interest in the defeat of Boris Yeltsin and the forces of
capitalist restoration. Without giving any political support to the treacherous
and incompetent Stalinist bureaucrats it was necessary to militarily support
the last-ditch attempt by Yanayev/Pugo who, however incompetently, attempted to
preserve the status quo against the openly pro-imperialist,
capitalist-restorationist forces led by Yeltsin. In that instance, to their
shame, comrades of the LRCI mounted the barricades alongside the Yeltsinites
and proclaimed the triumph of the counterrevolutionary restorationists a
victory for democracy.
The Basis for United Action Today
A united front should have a simple, action-oriented
program based on common objectives shared by the participants. At the same time
there must be freedom of criticism for all participants. This
permits revolutionaries to unite in action with reformists and others around
concrete issues, while also criticizing the political inconsistencies or
contradictions of their partners. It is obviously urgently necessary to prepare
for united action against the sinister bands of fascists.
Given the current precarious situation and the danger of
repression, the fight against the fascists must be linked to the needs of the
workers movement to defend itself. This is why we call For
workers defense squads to smash the fascists and defend democratic
rights. The fight to crush the fascist scourge is closely linked to the
necessity to protect and expand the rights of working people against the
exploiters and their thugs. Workers with very different political orientations
also have a common interest in creating strike committees, which could prove
vital in carrying out coordinated actions. As such committees spread from one
enterprise to another, they will naturally require some sort of organizational
framework for coordinating their activities, on a local and, ultimately, a
national scale, as the workers councils of 1905 and 1917 did throughout
the Czars empire.
For Revolutionary Regroupment!
The YRM is only one of a number of ostensibly Leninist groups
currently active in Kiev. We believe that it is vitally important to engage in
political struggle with other left currents as part of the process of
clarifying areas of agreement while clearly demarcating genuine Marxism from
every shade of revisionism, reformism and muddleheaded centrism. Only in this
way will it be possible to lay the basis to unite revolutionaries from very
different backgrounds into a disciplined party.
The critical task posed at this moment is to regroup serious
subjectively revolutionary militants and create an organization with sufficient
social weight to effectively intervene in the struggles of the working masses.
This can only be done on the basis of clear programmatic agreement and an
authentically Marxist strategic line, based on the recognition of the
fundamental historical incompatibility of the interests of the workers and all
wings of the exploiters.
The only solution to the profound social and economic crisis that
grips Ukraine today lies through a struggle to reappropriate the factories,
mines, transportation and distribution facilities and organize production on
the basis of human need, not profit. This requires the creation of an
authentically Bolshevik Party, modeled on that of Lenin and Trotsky, capable of
leading the struggle for proletarian power.
Down with Kuchma/Yushchenko! Break with the Bourgeoisie!
Defend Democratic Rights! For United Action to Smash Fascist Terror! For
Workers Self-Defense Squads! For Strike Committees in Every
Workplace! Return to the Road of Lenin and Trotsky! |