OKP-Internationalists on the war in Ukraine

This is an anti-war statement by members of the OKP opposed to a statement adopted by the leadership regarding Ukraine.  OKP seems to be the Russian abbreviation of the United Communist Party, though it isn't clear ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Communist_Party and ucp.su/ ).  This and statements from a few other parties are also posted at revolutionarydemocracy.org

Statement by members of the OKP – Internationalists  

We, members of the United Communist Party, registered in the branches of the OKP of the Republic of Khakassia, Astrakhan, Vologda, Leningrad, Moscow, Penza, Sverdlovsk, Tambov, Chelyabinsk regions, the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, consider it necessary to make the following statement.  

We do not agree with the statement “On the Situation in Ukraine” adopted at the plenum of the Central Committee of the OKP and consider it a manifestation of the transition of a part of the Central Committee of the Party to the right positions.  

In the statement of the Central Committee, the main thing was “lost”: a fundamental assessment of the so-called “special military operation” being carried out by the Russian authorities. In fact, there is an indirect justification for it.  

We cannot agree with this for the following reasons.  

For us, there is no doubt both the fact of the extreme reactionary nature of the Ukrainian regime, and the fact of support for the Kiev state by the Western powers and the NATO military. The communists have been talking about this tirelessly for the past 8 years. At the same time, the Russian bourgeois state also used all these sad circumstances to the full extent, with the pursuit of its own selfish goals. Today it is already obvious that his policy will not lead to the reintegration of the peoples of the former USSR, but, on the contrary, will have devastating consequences for the working people of Ukraine, Russia and Donbass.  

People continue to die and become crippled. Destroyed enterprises and housing stock, there is a sharp drop in living standards. The mutual alienation, hatred and cultural gap between the inhabitants of our countries is multiplying. Elementary civil liberties are suppressed. At the same time, the profits of those who cash in on military orders and the reorientation of the economy, and in the future will cash in on programs to "restore" the infrastructure destroyed by hostilities, are growing enormously.  

States that are in the vanguard of anti-communism cannot carry out any "denazification". States that are confidently following the path of establishing an open terrorist dictatorship over the working people, suppressing social progress and even bourgeois democracy, are not and cannot be "anti-fascist." Their policy is directly opposite to the policy of anti-fascism. Both the unfortunate residents of Donbass and Ukraine and the naive "left" opportunists who believed the false promises of official propaganda are already convinced of this.  

Marxists do not isolate the current military confrontation from the general context of the development of capitalism at its imperialist stage.  

We believe that by the middle of the 2000s of the current century, in full accordance with the Marxist-Leninist teaching, monopoly capitalism had developed in the Russian Federation, which could not but begin to pursue an imperialist foreign policy. A visible manifestation of this was the military actions in South Ossetia, Syria, the countries of Central Africa, police measures in Belarus and Kazakhstan, and the events of recent years in Ukraine.  

These events are nothing but an imperialist conflict between Russia's big capital and the ruling class of the collective West, which is currently fighting with the forces of the Ukrainian army. The general nature of such a confrontation does not change even if there is a fair component inside it - the struggle of peoples for their self-determination up to secession. However, this circumstance cannot be a justification for the imperialist policy.  

We have always supported and will continue to support the working people of Ukraine and Donbass.  

The principles of international socialism require the left forces of the imperialist countries to condemn their own governments in such a conflict.  

The majority of the Central Committee of the OKP could not rise to this position.  

Under these conditions, we declare our adherence to the principles of proletarian internationalism worked out by Marx and Lenin, fixed in the Program of the OKP and the decisions of its Congresses.  

We do not intend to leave the party: given the unprecedented pressure on the opposition, such a step would serve to strengthen the right-wing elements. We will continue the fight for the minds of our comrades, not stopping at the prospect of a tough ideological demarcation with those who are dragging the communists into the swamp of chauvinism and capitulation to the dictatorship.  

We appeal to all comrades, both inside the OKP and outside it.  

Hard times are coming. Twilight has descended on the world in which we live. None of us knows how long they will last, how long repressions, total censorship, mutual destruction of the working people to the delight of the oppressors will rage.  

One thing is clear: no one will give us deliverance, neither a god, nor a king, nor a hero. No matter how heavy our burden may be, we cannot deviate from the chosen path. The struggle for socialism must continue. It can take on various (theoretical, economic, political) forms, depending on the conditions and the steadfastness of the various contingents of the working people's movement. The main task of this movement today is to achieve an end to the extermination of people and social infrastructure. Whoever wants to put an end to the rule of the oppressors over the oppressed must fight for peace among peoples.  

Down with imperialism and autocracy!  

The perpetrators of enmity between peoples – to a fair trial!  

The application is open for signing.