With no letup in Moscow’s murderous bombardment targeting civilians in Ukraine, working people everywhere should join in backing the Ukrainian people’s courageous fight to defend the country’s sovereignty. Moscow out now!
Over three years ago Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime invaded, aiming to make short work of conquering Ukraine and incorporating it into Russia. His plans were thwarted by the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people, who rose up and continue to fight back against far larger forces.
Putin wants to claw back for the Russian rulers the territories previously part of the czarist prison house of nations. His war is an extension of Moscow’s 2014 seizure of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The Ukrainian people won self-determination with the aid of the revolutionary government that came to power after V.I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks organized working people in Russia to take power in 1917. They led millions of toilers to end capitalist exploitation, withdrew Russia from the imperialist world war and established a voluntary federation of nations — the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. A counterrevolution against Lenin’s course, headed by Joseph Stalin, ensured once again that the Ukrainian people were placed under the Great Russian boot.
Today, Putin is willing to sacrifice the lives of tens of thousands of Russian workers in uniform to grab as much Ukrainian territory as he can. Recent estimates say some 160,000 Russian soldiers were killed in Ukraine since Putin’s invasion in February 2022.
Washington — as the actions of both the Biden and Trump administrations demonstrate — has no real interest in the defense of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Its only concern is stability for the U.S. rulers’ profits and strategic interests, including their domination of Europe, cemented after their victory in the second imperialist world war.
Washington has 84,000 troops stationed in Europe and a massive arsenal, including nuclear weapons deployed on six European bases. Under the lash of capitalist competition, Washington is driven to contend against its rivals, and trade wars lead to shooting wars. To compete successfully, U.S. bosses push to drive down the wages and conditions of workers at home.
Working people need our own foreign policy based on our shared class interests with fellow workers worldwide. We call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Europe, as well as all conventional and nuclear arms.
The toilers of Ukraine have powerful potential allies that can help their fight. Working people, especially those in Russia, are the only dependable allies of the toilers in Ukraine. The sanctions Washington imposes on Russia fall heaviest on workers and farmers there and we demand they be lifted.
Only by building a working-class party in the U.S. can working people in our millions chart a course to replace capitalist rule with our own government and extend the world socialist revolution. That is the road to ending for all time the social catastrophes, wars and national oppression that mark the imperialist epoch.