European elections, vote against austerity

On 22 May 2014, people across Europe are allowed to vote for the European parliament. 766 MEP's are up for re-election including the only genuine fighter for workers and poor: Paul Murphy. He replaced Joe Higgins in 2011 after Joe was elected into the Irish parliament for the Socialist Party. Murphy is a young man, but he has proven himself to be a working class fighter. His opponents call him ''outdated'' and ''dangerous'', but Paul Murphy is the only true working class vote for Irish workers. In the UK, workers should vote for the No2EU coalition. Socialists and trade unionists created this coalition in 2009 to oppose the European Union and to fight austerity. Unfortunate in other European nations, there are almost no socialist candidates to choose. Workers are left to vote either on pro-capitalist social democrats or the main parties of capitalism, including liberals, conservatives and far-fight nationalists!

The European Union is not a union of people's, but a union in serve of capitalism. In 1992, the European Community decided to create a political and economic union. Out of these talks came the European Union or EU. The treaty of Maastricht led to the birth of the EU, it also led to the creation of the euro currency. One of the obligations of the treaty for the members was to keep sound fiscal policies, with debt limited to 60% of GDP and annual deficits no greater than 3% of GDP. Only France, Denmark and Ireland held referendums on Maastricht ratification. The Danish people reject it with 51%, so Denmark was not obliged to participate in the third phase of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, meaning they did not changed their national currency to the euro in 2002!

The goals of the new union was to create a common market economy in Europe. By removing national laws on trade, the European Union became a free trade zone in which capitalists could easy transfer money, people and products. Although the EU created this common market and free trade between European nations, nothing was done to change income inequality. Workers from Southern Europe were still paid less then workers from Northern Europe. Right-wing political parties say that national governments must enforce austerity politics, in order to lure capitalist enterprises to their nations. But after Poland and Eastern Europe joined the EU, many capitalists moved their production work out of Western Europe. Workers in Poland earn an average wage of 681 euro's a month, in Romania and Bulgaria workers earn even lesser. Average wage in Romania is only 395 euro's a month. Bulgarian workers earn 330 euro's a month on average. This is why capitalists moved their production work to these cheap labour nations. A worker in the Netherlands, France and Scandinavia costs about five times the wage of a Bulgarian worker!

On the political level the European Union is not a pure democracy. Although it has a parliament, the true decision makers are concentrated into the European Commission. This commission is not elected by the European Parliament. Leader of the European Commission since 22 November 2002 is José Manuel Barroso, a former Maoist revolutionary now turned Christian conservative. Barroso acts as the face of the European Union. He is the man who enforces right-wing austerity plans on Greece and other European nations, who are in deep problems because of economic mismanagement by their ruling class and political leaders!

Revolutionary socialists reject the EU because it was created as a capitalist economic union. The European Union is portrayed as something for Europeans, but in reality it only serves businesses. Most European nations still have their own social security system which is superior in Northern Europe and almost none-existing in Eastern Europe. Workers are very good protected in Scandinavian nations, but left to the mercy of their employers in Eastern Europe. Workers in France are paid on average 2.100 euro's after taxes. Compare this to nations like Croatia were workers are paid 700 euro's. Romania and Bulgaria are the nations with the lowest average wage. Workers rights are often violated in these nations, because those governments are very pro-capitalist. After 40 years of living under Stalinist rule, many East European workers still have difficulties working under market demands. Because of low wages and poverty, many young workers choose to leave Eastern Europe to find their luck in Western European nations. East European workers face discriminated and racial hatred by West Europeans, who are mislead into thinking that East Europeans would steal their jobs!

Capitalists in Western Europe profit from Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian workers. After arriving in Western European nations, these foreign workers are then put to work under bad conditions. But the capitalist bosses do not care, they make millions of euro's while their workers are forced to work long hours for wages common in their homeland. In the Netherlands the minimum wage for 40 hours of work is 1.400 euro's a month before taxes. But many capitalists pay their foreign ''guest'' workers much less. Because many capitalist bosses use intimidation tactics and because many need money for their families, few dare to fight against the exploitation of their labour. This is classic capitalist exploitation, hiring foreign workers and paying them below the national minimum wage line, in order to increase profits!

Joe Higgins, a revolutionary socialist from Ireland fought against the capitalist bosses of GAMA Endustri. This enterprise used Turkish workers and paid them below the Irish minimum wage. He and others claimed that many Irish companies were exploiting foreign workers and in some cases, not paying overtime rates. In March 2005, Higgins and a delegation of Turkish ex-employees of GAMA Endustri, travelled to Amsterdam where they discovered that GAMA had been secreting up to 30 million euro's in unpaid wages!

This is what the European Union is allowing. Therefore we revolutionary socialists reject the European Union. We want another Europe, a socialist Europe united by workers not by capitalists. On 22 May, Irish workers must re-elected Paul Murphy for the Socialist Party in Ireland. British workers must vote on the No2EU coalition to protect workers in Britain against EU austerity. In other European nations, workers should vote on socialist/communist political parties that reject the EU. Unfortunate many right-wing nationalists are able to profit from the fact that many nations lack genuine workers parties. Social democratic and old labour parties are offering no alternatives, as they fully support the EU and José Manuel Barroso!

The far-right in France, the Netherlands and Hungary is growing. Front National ( France ), the Party for Freedom ( Netherlands ) and Jobbink ( Hungary ) benefit from the massive anger against EU enforced austerity. Because the political left-wing is not offering socialist alternative, many workers turn towards charismatic right-wing leaders like Geert Wilders ( PVV ), Marine Le Pen ( Front National ) and Gábor Vona ( Jobbik ). In the Netherlands, Islamic Moroccans are hated by the nationalists of the PVV. Wilders called recently for ''Less Moroccans'' in the Netherlands. Marine Le Pen still fights the battles of her father; Jean Marrie Le Pen, for a white dominated France. Right-wing nationalism in Hungary has grown since the collapse of the Stalinist; People's Republic of Hungary. Ethnic minorities are blamed for high crime rates and poverty, caused by capitalist exploitation of Hungarians. Jobbik supporters have shown their hatred of Jews as well, Gábor Vona called them a ''danger to national security''!

Revolutionary socialists for a socialist Europe. A Europe under control of workers councils. Some socialist political parties believe that they can build a more human and social society in their own nations, win out Europe. These parties are still mislead by the Stalinist concept of socialism in one nation. Capitalism however is internationalist and therefore socialism must be internationalist. The problem is that many socialist and communist parties are still trapped in this Stalinist believe, that you can build a fair society inside your own borders. Workers of Europe must unite under the banner of a genuine democratic; European Socialist Federation. A voluntary federation supported by a majority of all European workers. Because the current EU is not voluntary created, there were never referendums in all European nations in 1992, only France, Denmark and Ireland held referendums on the ratification of the Maastricht treaty!

On 22 May we call for a leftist socialist vote against the European Union, for a socialist Europe under the control of ordinary people not bankers and unelected commissioners. Far-right forces are gathering strength, because the left-wing is lacking socialist ideals. Ireland shows us that a genuine Socialist Party can elect its people into parliaments. Therefore Paul Murphy must be re-elected into the European parliament as a fighter for workers and young people, against capitalism and European austerity!

 REJECT THESE RIGHT-WING LEADERS! 

South African elections, VOTE WASP

National elections in South Africa, the first after the death of Nelson Mandela. His African National Congress still enjoy's the support from the majority of the working class and will likely win again. But the party is slowly losing support, because after 20 years of ANC rule the working class has not become the masters of the South African economy. ANC leaders are not popular but because of the historic struggle against Apartheid, many voters still feel loyalty to the party of Nelson Mandela. There are two new leftist opposition parties to the ruling African National Congress. The Economic Freedom Fighters and the Workers and Socialist Party. Both the EFF and the WASP fight against the capitalist system, yet both parties have a different view of socialism and the way to reach it!

When we look at the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Workers and Socialist Party, we already see a major difference. The EFF is build up like an army, its leader called ''Commander in Chief'' and his supporters wear military style uniforms. Julius Sello Malema is the ''Commander in Chief'' of the Economic Freedom Fighters. He founded this political ''movement'' in august 2013, after he was expelled from the African National Congress for his opposition to the government of Jacob Zuma. Also as leader of the ANC youth, he held radical racial viewpoints as he called for a South Africa for blacks only!

Malema is also a supporter of Robert Mugabe, the dictator of Zimbabwe. Like Mugabe, the ''Commander in Chief'' of the EFF has been called a black supremacist. In 2011, Malema was convicted of hate speech by a South African court, a proof that he cannot be trusted. Yet the Economic Freedom Fighters support their ''Commander in Chief'' unconditionally. The official ideology of the EFF is a mixture of Marxism-Leninism ( Stalinist tradition ), black nationalism, anti-imperialism and Pan-Africanism. Because so many black workers are poor, the EFF is able to recruit many young blacks. They are true believers in what Julius Sello Malema is saying. Revolutionary socialists say that Malema's EFF is not a socialist alternative. The EFF is a top-down military-style movement. Their icons are leaders ( like Mugabe ) who are no alternative for workers and poor people. Leaders who are authoritarian and dictatorial, such people are no icons for workers to look up to!

The Workers and Socialist Party was not founded by one man. It was created by mine workers and members of the Democratic Socialist Movement. After the ANC and their puppet trade unions told the police to open fire on striking mine workers, many realized that the ANC was no longer the party of the working class. Striking committees and members of the DSM decided to build a new party for workers, a party on a socialist program. The Workers and Socialist Party has selected Moses Mayekiso to be its candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. Mayekiso joined the African National Congress in 1990 and became a central committee member of the South African Communist Party ( SACP ). He was part of the welcoming committee for Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from Victor Verster prison. Mayekiso now stands in opposition to the ANC and SACP because they betrayed the original socialist principals, on which the struggle against Apartheid was founded!

For this election, the WASP stands on the following principals! 

• Scrap the ANC’s neo-liberal National Development Plan – for a democratic socialist plan of production and development!

• Nationalisation under democratic working class and community control, the mines, the banks, the commercial farms, the big factories and big businesses– compensation only in cases of proven need (e.g. small shareholders and pension investments)

• Integrate all nationalised industry into a democratic socialist plan of production whose priority is the social needs of the majority not the private wealth of the elite!

• For a living minimum wage of 12.500 ZAR a month ( 1.142 U.S. dollars )

• To end labour broking, make all contract workers permanent!

• To end all retrenchments; re-employ all retrenched mineworkers with experience 
recognised!

• Massive investment in mining communities to provide decent housing, electrification, sanitation, roads, recreational facilities and other basic services for all!

• Struggle for the nationalisation of 100% of the mining industry immediately and place it under democratic worker and community control integrated into a society-wide democratic socialist plan of production!

These demands are rejected by the capitalist ANC, because they would ''harm'' the competitive nature of South African capitalists. But this is exactly what the ANC has done for the last 20 years, supporting the markets over workers, supporting the old white ruling class and new black capitalists. Mine workers have rejected the government of Jacob Zuma, the current ANC leader who lives in a luxurious compound, while millions of black workers live in poverty in South Africa. 

A big problem remains the unconditional loyalty of many black workers towards the ANC. They still feel loyalty to a party who has betrayed them since 1994. Even Nelson Mandela carried out the demands of the white ruling class and the IMF between 1994 and 1999. His successor Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki was a true capitalist politician. Under Mandela the ANC government was only moderate capitalist, but Mbeki completed the transformation of the African National Congress into a bourgeois capitalist party. Although Jacob Zuma was called more leftist then Mbeki, it proofed to be another ANC election stunt. Jacob Zuma plays the role of a populist during elections, but rules as a corrupt capitalist leader!

Many whites in South Africa vote on the Democratic Alliance ( DA ). This party is founded in 2000 and came out of the Democratic Party, the liberal democratic opposition to the racist; National Party. The DA is a liberal centrist party, fully supportive of capitalism and the rule of the markets. Unlike the ANC who still claims to be a leftist people's party, the Democratic Alliance always has been a party for the bourgeoisie. Leader of the DA is Otta Helene "Helen" Zille, a white anti-Apartheid fighter and mayor of Cape Town between 2006 and 2009!

A party who split from the ANC is the Congress of the People or COPE. The party split from the ANC in 2008 and got 7,24% in the last elections. But COPE is promoting capitalism and disavowed itself from any connection to Marxist socialism. The so called Congress of the People has also indicated that it would be willing to ally itself with the Democratic Alliance, the main liberal party of South Africa. This is why they are offering no alternatives, as COPE is just as capitalist as the ANC!

The Inkatha Freedom Party is a conservative party. Founded and led since 1975, by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the Inkatha Freedom Party rejected the leftist ANC during the struggle against Apartheid. The party allied itself with the Apartheid government, because Buthelezi was a Homeland leader and depended on the South African state and economy. His IFP and the ANC became bitter rivals during and after the end of Apartheid. Today the IFP can be called a conservative party that supports federalism!

Revolutionary socialists call for a vote on the Workers and Socialist Party. The Economic Freedom Fighters of Julius Sello Malema may attract many young and poor voters, but their top-down movement and elements of black nationalism will alienated white workers. Also Malema cannot be trusted as a revolutionary leader. He faces charges of tax evasion to the tune of 16 million ZAR after it was revealed that he was linked to companies that obtained lucrative contracts from locale governments. If the EFF takes power then South Africa will become a top-down centralized state, much like Zimbabwe. Malema may nationalize the economy, but a bureaucratic planned economy cannot work. You need workers self-management and decentralize planning. These elements are alien to Julius Sello Malema, who rules the EFF as ''Commander in Chief''.  

The Workers and Socialist Party offers a genuine democratic socialist alternative. WASP politicians ( if elected ) will live on a average workers salary and donate the rest to social movements. They will stand for a socialist South Africa, free from capitalist exploitation and poverty. Unlike the EFF we do not use ethnic nationalist rhetoric or praise dictatorial leaders. The Workers and Socialist Party is a workers party, build by mine workers and socialist activists!

We call on South African workers 
to vote on the WASP!

Capitalist greed leads to deaths

Capitalist greed is said to be part of the human way of thinking. According to those who own our media and our economy. The media ( owned by capitalists ) spread this lie since capitalism was created. Those who oppose the dogma's of greed are called ''stupid'' or ''communist scum''. When revolutionary socialists talk about the evil of capitalism, supporters of the markets react by saying that ''communist'' states killed more people then capitalism. A classic lie used to put the crimes of Stalinist governments on the shoulders of Marxists. Although stalinism killed a lot of innocent people many victims died because of economic mismanagement. We can look at the Soviet famine of 1932 caused by Stalin or Mao's Great Leap Forward. Stalinist collectivization's has indeed caused deaths, but death at the hands of capitalist greed is far more common!

In a classic capitalist state the money rules, this is called a plutocracy it defines a society or a system ruled and dominated by the small minority of the wealthiest citizens. The United States of America is a plutocracy, as all political power is centralized into two capitalist political parties. Both the Democratic Party and Republican Party fight for power. Millions of dollars are used to fight each-others opponent, but in the end both parties support the demands of Wall Street and the American capitalist class. Elections in the USA are all about show, a giant entertainment show used to portray the USA as a democracy. We see this in North Korea too, were massive propaganda is used to brainwash the people into believing their nation is socialist. In a way the Americans and North Koreans do not differ so much. Both nations are led by corrupt and greedy people!

History is filled with examples of people dying because profits were put before safety. A classic example of this is the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912. The Titanic and her sister-ship the RMS Olympic were build to carry 2.200 passengers and crew. However the ship only carried lifeboats for 1.200 people. Safety regulations were outdated because ship companies like the White Star Line, Cunard Line, Hamburg-America Line and the Norddeutscher Lloyd were in a competitive race. No national government decided to update the regulations, because the transatlantic market was a huge source for profits. The owners of Titanic and Olympic also believed that more lifeboats on the boat-deck, would be a hinder for rich first class passengers. So the number lifeboats was matched to the outdated regulations. 1.500 people had to die first before the rules were changed!

Capitalism always puts profits before human safety. Alaska Airlines Flight 261 went down in January 2000, because of poor maintenance on the MD-80 aircraft. The company ordered the ground crew to limit maintenance checks, to keep the aircraft flying longer. Capitalist greed resulted in the deaths of 88 people, when a vital component of the tail broke sending the aircraft into a spiral. Had there been more maintenance checks this crash could have been prevented. But Alaska Airlines wanted to keep its profits high, so they kept the aircraft flying often!

South Korea is also a plutocracy. When we look at this Asian nation we think to see a modern democratic state, but this is just a show. Under all those modern buildings lies a system of deep political conservatism with classic capitalist greed, which puts profits before safety. Capitalists hate it when governments tell them follow safety regulations. In South Korea the government has always been on the side of those who own businesses. Since 1948, the Republic of Korea has been ruled by pro-capitalist leaders. Dictator Syngman Rhee ruled with iron fist, but was forced out of office by massive protests in 1960. South Korea then became a military dictatorship until 1987. After the end of the Cold War, the Korean ruling class allowed more freedom of speech, but only for those who supported the Republic of Korea and the capitalist system! 

Korean Air is the airliner of South Korea. Between 1970 and 1999 they lost 16 planes with the loss of over 700 lives. The airliner was very unsafe because the government of South Korea did not enforced strict safety regulations, this allowed the airliner to put profits before safety. In 1969, Korean Air became a private enterprise and was sold to the Hanjin Group, a powerful capitalist holding company. Like most Asian capitalists, the owners of Hanjin wanted nothing more but high profits. Since the government of South Korea remains a tool of them, regulations are often ignored. This led to another ship disaster, which caused the death of many school childern.

The MV Sewol was a Japanese build ferry and owned by the Cheonghaejin Marine Company, who renovated the ship in 2012. Modifications included adding extra passenger cabins on the third, fourth and fifth decks, raising the passenger capacity by 181 and increasing the weight of the ship by 239 tons. After the ship was checked by the government, it was giving the green light to start carrying passengers and cargo to the islands of southern Korea. Unfortunate the renovations caused a change in the balance of the MV Sewol. On 16 April 2014, the ship made a sudden turn to port and capsized. On board were 476 people including many school children. It took two hours for the ship to sink, however after only 30 minutes the list to port was so heavy that walking became impossible. Because the captain had ordered all passengers to their carbines, many were trapped as the ship turned over! 

293 died on 16 April 2014 as the MV Sewol capsized and sank. 174 were saved from the water by Korean Coast Guard ships and helicopters. To blame for this disaster is partly the crew, who did not ordered an evacuation until the list to port was too heavy. The captain never ordered the life-rafts to be deployed, he saved himself by leaving his ship while 300 people remained on board. Many South Koreans blame the government, because they failed to safe the children. But revolutionary socialists blame the government for allowing a ship to sail that was out of balance and overweight. The MV Sewol did not sink because she made water, she capsized because of a sudden turn to port. Ships are build not to capsize, yet the MV Sewol did capsize in a very calm sea!

Although safety regulations have been improved since the days of the military dictatorship, many say that the South Korean government is still not strict enough in enforcing these regulations. This is because the government is capitalist and supports the system of greed and exploitation. Safety regulations means more costs and more costs means less profits for the owners of businesses. Many big corporations hate regulations, because they limits their profits. If workers and their family are to die, the capitalists don't care. They only start to care when the population turns against them!

700 people died because Korean Air was unsafe between 1970 and 1999. The airline has improved its image and is now considered save. But many capitalist enterprises in South Korea care very little about safety regulations. When they are exposed they will apologize and many will beg for mercy, by then it will be too late and people will have died. So we ask, how many are to be killed? How many more lives are to be ruined before governments do what they should do, to take care of people? Unfortunate revolutionary socialists know that a capitalist government will always put the needs of the ruling class before that of the working class. Because the capitalists make money, politicians dance at their feets. Bullshit.....we workers create the wealth of this world. Yet only 85 billionaires own more money then 3,5 billion people all together. Now with the economic crisis, the capitalist governments want to deregulate more markets, giving more power to corporations and capitalist greed. This has to stop, we must put an end to capitalism and to those who put profits before everything. Socialism puts people before profits and our safety first. We need a new economic system!

But the ruling class is very smart. They use workers against workers, by brainwashing people with lies the capitalists manage to keep their right-wing politicians in power. This works very well in conservative societies like South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Although these nations are democracies, the working class has been drilled to support capitalist rulers. It has very much to do with tolerance. Most of these societies are hostile to progressive ideals, we see this in South Korea. In the Republic of Korea ( south ), supporters of socialism still face discrimination and harassment. The conservative South Korean government has jailed many leftists and uses the National Security Law to arrest Koreans, who reject the ruling class and capitalism. These leftists are then denounced as North Korean ''sympathizers'' and ''enemies of the free democratic nation''!

The lack of workers parties also limits the class consciousness of workers. Japan has a communist party, but this party is very moderate and lacks a genuine socialist program. In South Korea, any party based on Marxist socialism is banned and Taiwan only legalized a communist party in 2008, after banning Marxist socialism for 50 years. Building socialism in strict conservative societies is difficult, because these societies lack tolerance and respect for ideals that oppose theirs. So each year we hear about people dying because of capitalist greed. As long as this outdated and unfair economic system rules this planet, many more lives will be destroyed!

Socialists fight for an alternative to capitalism!

50.000 Chinese workers on strike

More then 50.000 workers who work in sport shoe factories owned by Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings in Dongguan went on strike. It was one of the biggest strikes in the ''People's'' Republic of China, Workers demanded payment of millions of yuan in unpaid social insurance and pension contributions. Already the Chinese capitalists of Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings have lost 60 million U.S dollars thanks to this strike. It shows how powerful workers can be if they understand their own strength. But the capitalists have two very powerful allies, the Chinese ''Communist'' Party and the Chinese ''People's'' Police. Government officials have called for a quick settlement, because the state-capitalists of the CCP fear that this strike could cause more problems for the already deeply unpopular government. Chinese shoe workers do not trust them and say they will not resume work unless the money is paid to their bank accounts!

The ''People's'' Republic of China is a state-capitalist dictatorship disguised as a socialist republic. Its police forces have a lot of spies working inside enterprises to identify  potential strikers. These spies are also trying to undermine the strike at the sport shoes factories. Because China has no free trade unions, workers have nobody to turn to. The official trade unions are controlled by the state and independent trade unions are not allowed. Official trade union bureaucrats even work with the capitalists against the workers who strike!

The strike in Dongguan was spontaneous and not too well organized. Chinese Workers did it themselves and showed what potential they have. Unfortunate win out a revolutionary vanguard of workers, a strike can be destroyed by government and capitalist force. We saw this in Poland were right-wing forces took over the Solidarity Trade Union and turned it into a capitalist weapon. When stalinism collapsed, the leaders of Solidarity never gave power to the working class. Polish workers who started the Solidarity Trade Union in 1981 were mislead by people like Lech Wałęsa. The original workers movement against stalinism was hijacked by anticommunists to build a capitalist Poland. We see the results of capitalism in today's Republic of Poland!

Between 1990 and 2000 more then 33% of all Polish workers ended up in massive poverty. Today about 6,5% of the population lives in poverty, but this only counts those who are very poor. The average wage in Poland is still low, although right-wing forces promised wealth and prosperity under capitalism. Because Poland lacks a workers party, the conservatives are able to win most elections. Voter turnout during elections is very low. Only 48,92% choose to vote during the 2011 parliamentary elections. Poland lacks a socialist alternative to the forces of capitalism!

In China, workers have become a slave to capitalism since Deng Xiaoping took power. By 1997, many capitalist enterprises were build. Workers rights were often abused, many Chinese capitalists became millionaires because of very low wages. The Chinese ''Communist'' Party became a party for the new bourgeoisie. In 2013 the Congress of the party called for more de-regulations and privatizations, this says a party who claims to be Marxist-Leninist and Maoist. Revolutionary socialists see in the CCP a classic example of Stalinist degeneration!

Chinese workers do not trust the communist party or their capitalist bosses. They have learned that the party does not represent them. In 2010 this became clear when the All-China Federation of Trade Unions ( controlled by the state ) called on workers to end a strike. However angry workers destroyed copies of a letter send by the ACFTU, which demanded an end to the strike. Striking workers know that the ACFTU is not on their side. Indeed, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions stands with the government and the capitalists. Their goal is to keep the workers in line with the capitalist system of China, which the CCP uses to become rich. Workers have demanded free and independent trade unions, this puts fear into the hearts of the ruling party bureaucrats and their capitalist allies!

The Chinese single party dictatorship shows two faces. Many times the ''communist'' party leadership agrees that laws were broken by the bosses. Capitalist bosses who do not pay social insurance and pension contributions are called ''wrongdoers''. But local party officials side with the bosses many times during strikes. This is because these officials are bribed by the capitalists. In Dongguan, government bureaucrats are supportive of the company’s views. Also the police has not arrested the bosses of the shoe factory, although the company broke the law by not paying social insurance and pension contributions to its 50.000 workers!

Police forces were also used by Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings, to prevent workers from taking their strike to the streets. Police officers took control of the shoe factories and ordered all workers back to work. Anybody who dared to fight was arrested and jailed. “We have no choice but to go back to work. What can you do if a man with shield, baton and helmet is standing next to you?” a striker told China Labour Bulletin on 25 April 2014. Although the bosses broke the law and refuse to pay social insurance and pension contributions, the police stands with them. This shows the capitalistic nature of China and the criminal face of the Chinese ''Communist'' Party!

Chinese workers must understand that under this state-capitalist system there is no hope. Only a revolutionary workers party on a socialist program can destroy the Chinese ''Communist'' Party and all who support the rule of the bourgeoisie. The PRC is not a socialist republic and only anticommunist idiots with no brains keep calling China a socialist nation. Revolutionary socialists call for free trade unions and freedom of speech for all Chinese. We call for a second Tiananmen Square, one that puts fear into the hearts of the government and its international capitalist allies. Chinese workers have nothing to lose, they have everything to win!

Workers of China, Rise Up!

Revolutionary socialists in Hong-Kong support the strike

at the shoe factories of Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings!

Syria's continuing civil war

Since 2011, the Syrian Arab Republic is in a state of civil war. What started as peaceful demonstrations against the authoritarian Ba'ath government, ended in shootings and killings. Dictator Bashar Al-Assad ordered his army to open fire on demonstrators who rejected his rule. Some soldiers in the Syrian Arab Army refused to murder their own people and defected. These soldiers created the Free Syrian Army, the first opposition army against Al-Assad. However the secular nationalist Free Syrian Army was soon rivalled by Islamic militias. The Syrian Islamists are armed with weapons paid by the reactionary monarchs of the Arab world. As the Syrian uprising turned into a civil war, the government used brutal methods of eliminating its opponents. This fuelled anger and hatred among the Syrian rebels, who started to use violence and sectarian hatred against the supporters of the Ba'ath Party, mainly members of the Alawite tribe!  

The Syrian civil war shows some similarity with the Libyan civil war. In Libya the people also rose up against dictator Muammar Gaddafi who ruled since 1969. However unlike Syria, the Libyan Islamists were never able to dominate the struggle against Gaddafi. Maybe this is because the Armed Forces of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya were very poorly armed and lacked fighting moral. Gaddafi had not upgraded his army and only gave modern tanks and guns to special units. Bashar Al-Assad's Syrian Armed Forces are better armed and have a good reason to defend the secular Syrian Arab Republic. They fear a Islamic victory and the creation of a theocracy in Syria, much like Afghanistan in 1992!

Gaddafi's Jamahiriya collapsed after the capture of Tripoli by rebels in August 2011. Because the Libyan Armed Forces were underpaid and underdeveloped, most soldiers defected to the rebels once the capital was taken. Only Gaddafi's tribe in Sirte stood behind the green banner of the Jamahiriya until the city of Sirte fell. However the Syrian situation is different. Although rebel soldiers took some towns and captured a few districts of major cities, the Syrian Armed Forces were able to fight back. Although reduced by at least 50.000 soldiers, the government of Bashar Al-Assad was able to rally many secularists, Arab nationalists and anti-imperialists to their side. They exploit the fear of Islamism and use this as a powerful weapon against the opposition!

Since the civil war began, many armed groups have been created. Unfortunate most rebel groups are Islamic and reject a secular democratic Syria. We have counted more then 24 Islamic armed groups, fighting in Syria against the government of Bashar Al-Assad. Four Islamic groups are linked to Al-Qaeda. The biggest of them is the Al-Nusra Front. Jabhat al-Nusra ( full name ) is made up of 15.000 to 20.000 militants. Only a year ago, their numbers were between 6.000 and 10.000 armed men. In only a few months the Al-Nusra Front has gained a lot of new recruits, many are young men who want to fight for a Islamic theocracy!

However the Islamic militias are not united. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL ) rejects the other Islamic forces and also the secular forces. With more then 15.000 armed men in both Syria and Iraq, the ISIL is among the most active Islamic fundamentalist groups in the Middle East, fighting for a theocracy. Like the Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is Sunni-Muslim, they reject Shia-Islam and believe in the supremacy of Sunni-Islamism. Bashar Al-Assad and his Alawite tribe are Shia-Muslims. Because sectarianism is now part of the conflict, the Shia-Islamists of Hezbollah in Lebanon, have joined Bashar Al-Assad in their fight against the Sunni-Muslims and secular rebels. The Syrian civil war is no longer a pure political conflict. It has grown into a sectarian war between Sunni-Muslims ( Al-Nusra & ISIL ) and Shia-Muslims ( Alawites & Hezbollah )!

Other Shia-Islamic forces who support Bashar Al-Assad are the Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas Badr Organization, the Haidar al-Karar Brigade and the Promised Day Brigades. But not only Shia-Muslims support the president/dictator. Because the Sunni-Islamists are paid by reactionary Arab kingdoms, many anti-imperialist nationalists have rejected the opposition and joined up with Al-Assad. These secular nationalists claim that foreign imperialists try to take control of Syria. One nationalist political party that support the Ba'ath Party is the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Unlike the Ba'ath Party and other Arab-nationalists, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party is pure Syrian nationalist and not Pan-Arabic. They reject Pan-Arabism and fight for a Greater Syria ( Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine ). The SSNP has been called a fascist party for its extreme Syrian nationalism and antisemitism!

The National Progressive Front was the only allowed political umbrella of political parties supporting the Arab-Socialist Ba'ath Party - Syrian Region. The National Progressive Front was established by Hafez Al-Assad in 1972 and united all so called ''progressive'' and ''anti-imperialist'' parties. The Syrian Arab Republic under Hafez Al-Assad ( 1971-2000 ) modelled itself on the political system of the Stalinist; German Democratic Republic. The ruling Ba'ath Party allowed other parties to operate, but only under the umbrella of the NPF. Also they had to be either socialist or Arab-nationalist, right-wing political parties were banned. Hafez Al-Assad legalized the Syrian Communist Party on the condition it joined the NPF. Communists who refused to bow down to Al-Assad were arrested and jailed. In the end the communist party joined the National Progressive Front, only to split in 1986 between conservative stalinists and supporters of Soviet leader Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Today Syria has two communist parties, both are members of the NPF and loyal to Bashar Al-Assad!

Until the new Syrian Constitution of 2012, the National Progressive Front ( NPF ) was the only allowed political entity in Syria. Bashar Al-Assad changed the constitution from a single party state into a multi party state. Although this gives opposition parties more freedoms, the current situation in Syria is so unstable that elections cannot be free and fair. Presidential elections are to be held in June 2014, most likely the Ba'ath Party will win because the opposition is boycotting the elections. After opposition parties were allowed to operate outside the National Progressive Front, the Syrian nationalists of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party created the Popular Front for Change and Liberation. Although this political movement stands in opposition to the Ba'ath dominated NPF, it supports the government against the Free Syrian Army and Islamic rebels! 

There are four main groups who participate in the Syrian Civil War as of April 2014! 

- The ''Axis of Resistance'', Shia-Islamic and secular supporters of Bashar Al-Assad
- The ''Syrian Opposition'', anti-Ba'ath rebels dominated by Sunni-Islamic militia's
- The ''Kurdish Self Administration'', Kurdish forces who control more then 300 towns 
- The ''Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant'', Sunni-Islamists who reject the other rebels

The ''Axis of Resistance'' is a reference to George W. Bush, who's diplomat John Robert Bolton added Syria to the American list of ''evil'' nations. Supporters of Bashar Al-Assad have called all groups who support the president of Syria, to be part of the ''Axis of Resistance''. With resistance they mean resistance to terrorism, because for them the Syrian opposition is made up of terrorists. In a way they are right about this, the Sunni-Islamic militants of Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic Front and the fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have committed acts of terrorism. But the same can be said about the Syrian government, who started this civil war when they opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in 2011!

Since the start of the civil war in 2011, more then 150.000 Syrians have been killed. Between four and five million civilians have fled their homes. Many have ended up in refugees-camps in Jordan, who has taken up 600.000 Syrian refugees. Yet more then 900.000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon, a tiny nation with a population of 4,8 million people. Now with almost 1 million Syrian refugees, the Lebanese Republic is facing a social dilemma. Lebanon is still very poor after their own civil war ended with the removal of Syrian troops in 2005. The Lebanese civil war turned the nation into a capitalist hell on earth. Good for big business and vulture capitalists, but bad for workers and poor people. Now with 900.000 Syrians entering Lebanon, old sectarian hatred is returning. Between 1990 and 2005, the Syrian Arab Republic occupied parts of Lebanon and oppressed those Lebanese who opposed them!

Like Syria, the Lebanese Republic has a mixture of religions. Shia Islamists are led by the Party of God or Hezbollah. This party wants to build a Shia-Islamic Republic of Lebanon on the model of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is also a Shia-Islamic nation. Christians make up 41% of the population, the highest percentage of any Arab nation. Islam is dived between Sunni-Islam and Shia-Islam in Lebanon with 27% Shia-Muslims and 27% Sunni-Muslims. Because Syria occupied large parts of Lebanon for more then 15 years, many Lebanese do not like the Syrian refugees. They flood the labour market which is good for capitalists, who have now 900.000 potential new workers. Because Lebanon lacks a genuine workers party, hatred of Syrian immigrants is growing!

Kurdish rebels were able to profit from the uprising in 2011. The Kurdish Self-Administration took over more then 300 ethnic Kurdish towns from Ba'ath rule. Kurds are led by the Democratic Unionist Party ( PYD ) a Kurdish nationalist and reformist socialist party. The PYD can be seen as the Syrian Kurdish PKK ( Kurdistan Workers Party ). PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan is the ideological leader of the Democratic Unionist Party. Although the PYD calls itself democratic socialist, they do not use socialism in their propaganda. The PYD describes itself as believing in social equality, justice and the freedom of belief as well as pluralism and the freedom of political parties. It describes itself as striving for a democratic solution that includes the recognition of cultural, national and political rights and develops and enhances their peaceful struggle to be able to govern themselves in a multicultural, democratic society. But nothing is said about democratic planning of the economy, class struggle and socialism in general!

The Free Syrian Army ( FSA ) is now a minority in the struggle against Bashar Al-Assad. This is because they lack funding, ammunitions and recruits. Most of their soldiers came from the Syrian Arab Army in 2011. But few of these original troops are still fighting. Many have been wounded or killed in the three year struggle against the Syrian government. While the Islamic rebels are on the payrolls of Arab monarchs, the FSA lacks money to buy weapons and equipment. Turkey has been a limited supporter of the FSA, but most western nations have not aided the secular rebels with war materials. They fear that weapons would end up in the hands of radical Islamists, who's goal is to destroy the western world. NATO nations fear another Al-Qaeda situation. The terrorist network that is Al-Qaeda, was founded in 1988 with American money and weapons. Osama Bin Landen was a Saudi-Arabian who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets. Thanks to American weapons like the M16 assault rifle and billions of dollars, he created Al-Qaeda in 1988!

Because the Islamic rebels have outnumbered the secular rebels, the Syrian government has been able to portray the whole Syrian Opposition as ''terrorist''. This tactic has been very effective in Alawite circles, who fear the dogmatic Sunni-Muslims. But also Christians and Druzes are worried about the growing fundamentalist outlook of many rebels. Bashar Al-Assad and his government can now claim that they are the lesser evil in this civil war. Among western ( Stalinist ) anti-imperialists, Bashar Al-Assad is some kind of hero. Fighting against reactionary islamism and western imperialism. But he is not a working class hero as some would call him. Bashar Al-Assad worked very close with western imperialism. His father Hafez Al-Assad joined the American camp during the first Gulf War in 1991. After his death in 2000, Bashar Al-Assad carried out massive privatisations and deregulations, forcing Syrian workers into poverty as few benefited from the capitalist revolution!

The Al-Assad family share many similarities with the Gaddafi family. Both families took power during the hight of the Cold War. Muammar Gaddafi took power in 1969 and Hafez Al-Assad in 1971. Both started out as Pan-Arabists on the formula of Egypt's president Nasser. Gaddafi abandoned Arab-nationalism for his Jamahiriya in 1977. Hafez Al-Assad also never tried to reunite the Arab world after the failed Federation of Arab Republics. The only remnants of Pan-Arabism in Al-Assad's Syria was the nation's flag. This flag used to be the banner of the United Arab Republic. Syria readopted the colours of Nasser's state in 1980. Although the Syrian flag has been called a Ba'ath banner by the opposition, this is not true. The flag of Syria used by the Syrian government is the former banner of the United Arab Republic!

After Hafez Al-Assad died, his youngest son Bashar became president. Originally his older brother Bassel Al-Assad, should have become president after the death of Hafez. However the successor to the Syrian ''throne'' died in a car crash in 1994. Bashar Al-Assad became president in waiting for six years until Hafez Al-Assad died in 2000. Like the Gaddafi family, the Al-Assad family enjoy special privileges. They own luxurious houses, have access to expensive western products and use the state bureaucracy to get what they want!

Revolutionary socialists reject both the Syrian government and the opposition. Because both groups are committing acts of terrorism against the population. Government soldiers rape, murder and kill all who they call a ''terrorists''. Islamic rebels rape, murder and kill anybody who opposes their Islamic theocracy. Revolutionary socialists say that Syrian workers must act independent of the government and the armed opposition groups. The Kurdish People's Protection Units are a good example of popular defence groups. However the Kurdish forces are limited to the north of Syria. Also the Kurds fight for their own people and not for all workers of Syria!

We say:

No to imperialist intervention! Withdraw of all the foreign troops from Syria and the region!

Against all oppression, the people should democratically decide their own destiny!

For the building of united defence committees, to defend the workers and the poor against sectarian attacks from both sides.

For a Revolutionary Constituent Assembly in Syria!

Implementation of democratic and nationality rights for all, acknowledging the right of self-determination of the Kurdish people.

For the building of independent trade unions

Build a worker’s party, with a programme that fights for land rights and socialist programme of public ownership and workers’ control of the key sectors of the economy

For a democratic and socialist confederation of the Middle East and North Africa.

Armed groups who participate in the Syrian Civil War

as of April 2014

The Donetsk People's Republic vs Ukraine

Russian speaking separatists in Donetsk have established a separatist state called the Donetsk People's Republic. This ''people's republic'' wants to leave Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Like the former Autonomous Republic of Crimea ( now a federal republic of Russia ) the Donetsk People's Republic has been created by Russian speaking Ukrainians who oppose the nationalist Kiev government. Meanwhile this government is preparing its army to intervene in their eastern provinces. At the same time, Ukrainian nationalists are using violence and intimidation against those who oppose their nationalist agenda. Presidential candidate Oleg Tsarev was severely beaten by angry right-wing Ukrainians, after he gave an interview. The nationalists hate him for his federalism and opposition to the Kiev nationalist government. This is what our ''democratic'' leaders are supporting, an unelected government made up of violent nationalists, oligarchs and right-wing liberals!

But the Russian speaking Ukrainians in the Donetsk Oblast and other eastern provinces, make a big mistake if they think that by joining Russia, they will have a better life. The Kremlin is ruled by a former KGB officer and his oligarch friends. Vladimir Putin is no alternative to the those who rule Kiev since February. Pro-Russian demonstrators took control of some government offices in the Donetsk Oblast. But not all districts are under separatist control. Only the north eastern districts of the Donetsk Oblast are now under what is called the Donetsk People's Republic!

The separatist movement in eastern Ukraine began in February 2014. After president Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power, pro-Russian Ukrainians began to fear the Kiev nationalists. Major Russian television networks have portrayed the Ukrainian Revolution as a '''fascist coup'', since most ethnic Russians in Ukraine watch Russian television, they are let to believe that Kiev is now pure fascist. This is not true however, sure the Kiev government is 1/3 nationalist, but the other 2/3 are not. In fact the prime minister of Ukraine is a member of the liberal conservative party, also many ministers are ''Euromaiden'' activists and not at all fascist. However it is  true that the Kiev government opposes Russia and wants to move closer to the European Union. This is rejected by the ethnic Russian majority in eastern provinces. As said before in previous socialist documents, this conflict is the result of 24 years of deep hatred between ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians. While most of Ukraine is ethnic Ukrainian, the eastern provinces and the Crimea, have a Russian speaking majority who do not identify themselves with Ukrainian culture and history!

Then there is Ukrainian nationalism and anticommunism. After the collapse of the USSR, the new Ukrainian state turned anticommunist and portrays the Soviet-Union very negatively. Russians in Ukraine have always rejected this, unlike the ethnic Ukrainians the Russians see the former USSR as mostly positive. Revolutionary socialists can understand both the Ukrainians and Russians. For Ukrainians the Soviet-Union was a Russian dominated state, a totalitarian dictatorship that enforced Russian chauvinism. But for Russians the USSR was a nation that fought against fascism and kept capitalism out. They refuse to listen to the dogma's of anticommunism that are spread by the Ukrainians. Revolutionary socialists say the both Ukrainians and Russian are right and wrong. The USSR was indeed a Russian chauvinist state after Stalin's complete takeover in 1928. But it was also a state that destroyed fascism and kept 1/3 of the world free from capitalist exploitation for 70 years. Ukrainians are led by anticommunist lies and Russians are led by Stalinist propaganda. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was not a socialist nation, but a degenerated ''workers'' state!

The Donetsk Oblast is made up of 26,517 km2. Its population is 4,356,392 and 71% speak Russian. This would mean that at least 3 million people in Donetsk are ethnic Russian. Because Russians are the ethnic majority, they did not seem to oppose the separatists who took over the offices of the Ukrainian government. Deep in their hearts most Russian speaking Ukrainians hate the ethnic Ukrainians, for their anti-Russian views and their support for nationalist fighters who opposed the USSR during world war 2. The separatist Donetsk People's Republic wants to separate the Donetsk Oblast from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation like the Republic of Crimea did. This is something the Kiev nationalist government will not allow. They were unable to stop Russia from taking the Crimea, but it is unlikely they will remain pacifist!

Pavel Yurevich Gubarev is the so called ''people's governor'' of the Donetsk People's Republic. He declared himself leader of the separatist state on 6 March 2014. The same day he was arrested by Ukrainian secret agents. It is reported the Gubarev is taken to Kiev to be tried for treason. Ten days later, the Donbass People's Militia attacked the government offices and called for the release of Gubarev. On 15 April 2014, the Ukrainian Army had started its operation against the separatists in the Donetsk Oblast after the Donbass People's Militia refused to surrender their weapons. If the conflict escalated into fighting, Ukraine could face a civil war! 

The Russian Federation has warned Ukraine that violence against Russian speaking Ukrainians, would not be tolerated by the Kremlin. The world fears that Vladimir Putin will use the separatist crisis to invade the eastern provinces of Ukraine including the Donetsk Oblast. At this moment the situation is very alarming. If the Donbass People's Militia chooses to fight the Ukrainian Armed Forces, then other separatists will fight too. Eastern Ukraine would become a battlefield, which could lead to ethnic cleansing. Because Ukrainians are a minority in the Donetsk Oblast. They make up 29% of the population and will support the Ukrainian military. This would anger the Russian speaking majority who support the separatists. We revolutionary socialists fear that racial hatred and ethnic cleansing are possible in this atmosphere of nationalism and chauvinism!

We call workers to reject the poison that is nationalism and chauvinism. Kiev and Moscow are battling for power. Workers have nothing to win by joining with either the nationalist Ukranians or the Russian separatists. Ukraine must become a socialist workers state, a democratic socialist nation for all workers. This is what Lenin and Trotsky wanted. They rejected the bourgeois leaders who in 1917 tried to build a nationalist republic. Workers councils created the Ukrainian People's Republic of Soviets in opposition to the Ukrainian National Republic. However the first socialist state in Ukraine was destroyed in March 1918 by nationalist forces. It would take another year before the workers councils ( soviets ) were able to rebuild a socialist Ukraine with support from Soviet Russia!

Unfortunate because of Stalinist degeneration, the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic never became a genuine socialist nation. In 1990, nationalist forces were able to win the elections and reestablish capitalism. They allowed oligarchs to become rich at the expense of workers. 24% of all people live in poverty because of capitalist exploitation. Those who do not live in poverty, still have to struggle under capitalism in Ukraine. Because the IMF and the Kiev government have already agreed to massive austerity. A workers party is needed to fight the nationalists and the Russian chauvinists. The alternative is not Brussels or Moscow, but Marxist socialism!

The Donetsk People's Republic was founded in a assembly hall  

of a occupied regional government building in the Donetsk Oblast! 

Workers between Ukraine and Russia

The working class of both Ukraine and Russia are dragged into a sectarian conflict between the two nations. After the Crimea separated itself from Ukraine, now other provinces with a large Russian speaking population are falling victim to Russian chauvinism and Ukrainian nationalism. The nation that is Ukraine is deeply dived between ethnic Ukrainians, from who many are anti-Russian and ethnic Russians who oppose the current nationalist government in Kiev. In the Crimea, the Russian speaking majority was able to join the Russian Federation thanks to Russian troops who entered the former Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Now the other east Ukrainian provinces are in turmoil. But the main reason behind the sudden rise of Russian chauvinism and Ukrainian nationalism is 24 years of capitalist exploitation and the way both ethnic groups look at Soviet history! 

Russian Ukrainians in both the Crimea and some eastern provinces of Ukraine, have never been accepted by the more nationalistic Ukrainians. After the collapse of the USSR, the new Ukrainian government started to rewrite history in favour of nationalists who fought the Soviet government in both the civil war era and the second world war. For many Ukrainians ( especially the younger generation ) the bourgeois leaders of the first Ukrainian People's Republic ( 1917-1921 ) were the true founding fathers of modern Ukraine. But the Russian speaking Ukrainians see the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic as the founding state. Then there is the Stalinist period ( 1924-1991 ), the period of Russian cultural dominance over Ukraine. During this period the Russians were the ones who controlled the nation. Those who opposed Stalin's Russian chauvinism were called ''anticommunist'' and ''counter-revolutionary''!

After Stalin's death, the Russian leadership in Moscow made some reforms, but kept all political power centralized in the Russian capital. Nikita Khrushchev was a Ukrainian by birth, but as a Stalinist he supported the chauvinist Russians. It was only after Stalin's death that he gave the Crimea to Ukraine, which was a pure bureaucratic move, because the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic was controlled by Moscow, like the other republics of the USSR!

When stalinism collapsed, Ukrainian nationalism rose again. Russians who lived in Ukraine were suddenly forced to adapt to Ukrainian cultural traditions. For many this was unacceptable. After years of being the supreme culture and ethnic group of the Stalinist USSR, most Russians refused to call themselves Ukrainian. This resulted in ethnic conflicts with Ukrainian nationalists, who are deeply anti-Russian. The nationalists point at the crimes of Russian leaders, both Czarist and Stalinist. Russians counter-react to the crimes committed by nationalist forces during the second world war. Since 1990 the two ethnic groups are involved in sectarianism. The current escalation is only the final spark in a conflict which is 25 years old!

In the absence of a genuine workers party, the proletariat of Ukraine is divided. The official Communist Party of Ukraine support Russian chauvinism and the legacy of Joseph Stalin. They are called a ''Russian'' party by the right-wing nationalists and liberals. But the stalinists are not the only pro-Russian political party. Conservative Ukrainians also reject the anti-Russian liberals for their support of western governments. The former president of Ukraine was a conservative, but also pro-Russian and against the western world. When the working class started to rebel against the authoritarian and corrupt Yanukovych government, they were dragged into the anti-Russian camp as nationalists, liberals and pro-western activists took power in Kiev. This new government totally rejects Russia and its supporters have vandalized many Soviet memorials!

Because of these vandals and right-wing nationalists hate speech against ethnic Russians, the Kremlin has now turned its propaganda machine against Ukraine. Telling its own people that the Ukrainians government is ''fascist'' and pure evil. Many Russians now believe that Kiev is fully under control of the same fascists who supported the Germans in 1941. Although far-right forces are part of the government, most members of the ''Euromaiden'' movement are not fascist, nor hard-core nationalist. They only wanted an end to the corrupt Yanukovych regime. Because there was no workers party to lead both working classes, the bourgeoisie and oligarchs took power. The Kiev government has appointed many oligarchs as governors of provinces, replacing democratic elected ( mostly pro-Russian ) officials. The Dnepropetrovsk governor is Igor Kolomoysky, Ukraine’s third-wealthiest man, with an estimated fortune of $2.4 billion. New Governor of Donetsk Region is Sergey Taruta, who is estimated to worth around $2 billion, putting him among the top-10 wealthiest people in Ukraine!

The United States of America and the European Union are fully supportive of the new Kiev nationalist government. They blame Russia for the unrest in the eastern provinces of Ukraine. The western world is playing the old Cold War game. They need a pro-western government in Ukraine to strengthen the might of western imperialism against Russian imperialism. Because this is what the USA and Europe wants, they want to limit the influence of the Kremlin in Eastern Europe. This is a classic imperialist game, were capitalist government are turning against each other. The western nations say they do it for ''democracy'' and ''freedom'', while Russia says it is ''protecting'' its civilians against vandals and hooligans. But both sides are of the same coin, the coin of world capitalism. Both Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs will profit from this conflict. Just look at the capitalist reforms in the Crimea, which the Kremlin is carrying out. Also the Kiev government has agreed to massive austerity under orders of the International Monetary Fund. Workers do not benefit from either supporting Kiev or Moscow!

In the city of Luhansk, ethnic Russians have stormed the building of the Ukrainian Secret Service. They raised the Russian Czarist banner and destroyed the symbols of Ukraine. The government in Kiev claims they are separatists, supported by Russia. As of 8 April 2014, they have still occupied the building. In other cities with a large ethnic Russian population, there have been chauvinist demonstrations. Russian Czarist flags and few Soviet banners are side by side, showing how the banners of the Soviet-Union are abused for Russian chauvinism. Indeed, the statues of Lenin have become a rally ground for ethnic Russian Ukrainians, who wave with the banner of Imperial Russia next to the statue of a man who hated chauvinism, imperialism and capitalism! 

Revolutionary socialists reject the pro-Russian demonstrators. We reject those who think that Russia is the alternative. But this does not mean we are in the camp of western imperialism. For us the Kiev government is a tool of the IMF and the oligarchy. A workers party on a socialist program must be build. Such a party would unite the Ukrainian and Russian working classes against nationalists, chauvinists, oligarchs, liberals and conservatives. Because the official communist party support Russian chauvinism, the ideology of Marxist socialism has been called a ''Russian'' ideology by nationalist politicians. But the only reason ethnic Russians rally at Lenin's statues, is because the old USSR was a Russian dominated nation. Workers in today's Ukraine have no class consciousness, this is the result of nationalist and chauvinist propaganda. 70 years of Stalinist rule are also fresh in memory. The struggle for genuine socialism will be difficult in Ukraine and Russia!

Czarist eagles and flags are used by armed Russian chauvinists,

who have occupied the Ukrainian Secret Service building in Luhansk!