A timely new pamphlet on the Ukrainian crisis

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queers, national minorities, etc. We support the right of self-determination for oppressed nationalities, including Blacks, Chicanos, and Puerto Ricans. We are internationalists, and Socialist Action is a national organization of activists committed to the emancipation of hold that workers of one country have more in common with workers of another than with workers and the oppressed. We strive to revitalize the antiwar, environmental, labor, anti- their own nation’s capitalist class. We seek to link struggles across national boundaries, and racist, feminist, student, and other social movements with a mass-action perspective. In the to build an international revolutionary movement that will facilitate the sharing of experiences process we hope to bring activists together from different backgrounds into a revolutionary and political lessons. That is why we maintain fraternal relations with the Fourth International workers’ party that can successfully challenge the wealthy elite—whose profit-driven system Recognizing the divisions that exist on the left and within the workers’ movement, we seek to form united front type organizations around specific issues where various groups have Our ultimate goal is a truly democratic, environmentally sustainable, and egalitarian agreement. In this way we seek to maximize our impact and demonstrate the power and society organized to satisfy human needs rather than corporate greed. We invite you to join Socialist Action believes that the capitalist state and its institutions are instruments of the We are active partisans of the working class and believe in the need for independent ruling class, and that therefore they cannot be used as tools of the working class but have to working-class politics—not alliances with the bosses’ parties. That is why we call for workers be smashed. That is why we fight for revolution, instead of seeking to merely reform or work in the U.S. to break from the Democratic and Republican parties to build a Labor Party based within the system. When we fight for specific reforms, we do so with the understanding that in the final analysis real social change can only come about with the overthrow of capitalism, We support the struggles of those who are specially oppressed under capitalism—women, Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly by Socialist Action Publishing Association, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610.

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Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. Socialist Action is edited, Clip and mail to: Socialist Action newspaper, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. A have mounted a counter-offensive that has forced s we go to press, insurgents in eastern Ukraine Kiev forces to retreat from territory that they had pre­ viously captured. The Kiev government, along with U.S. and NATO officials, have charged Russia with sending some 1600 soldiers and armored vehicles across the border to fight alongside rebel troops.

The Kiev regime is asking for increased arms from the Western imperialist powers to repel the alleged Russian invasion. Obama has responded by boosting deliveries of “non-lethal” military equipment—with more to come. This month, 400 U.S. troops will partici­ pate in war games in Ukraine, while some 4000 “com­ bat-ready” U.S. and NATO troops are to be stationed in Eastern European countries bordering Russia.

In urging Western military aid, Ukraine’s defense minister, Valeriy Geletey, declared: “A great war has arrived on our doorstep, the likes of which Europe has not seen since World War II.” The fighting could yield “tens of thousands of deaths,” he warned.

Already, there have been over 2000 deaths in the fighting, and some 40 percent of them have been civil­ ians. Galetey failed to mention, however, that a major source of the casualties is the Kiev government’s air­ strikes and shelling of large population centers.

In the meantime, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is pushing a new “peace plan.” The response from within the Kiev regime has been mixed, with Prime MInister Arseniy Yatsenyuk bombastically declaring that the plan would “destroy Ukraine and bring back the So­ viet Union.”

What are the causes and background of the war in Ukraine’s East? Perspective on the crisis is provided by a timely new pamphlet, “Ukraine in Turmoil.” The pamphlet includes five articles by Socialist Action Edi­ tor Michael Schreiber and Socialist Action National Secretary Jeff Mackler that analyze the tumultuous events in Ukraine from February to August 2014.

What began in February 2014 as critical debate in Ukrainian society over whether to accept an austeri­ ty-laden “Association Agreement” with the European Union (EU) or a less onerous trade agreement with Socialist Action: Where we stand is driving down living standards and threatens all life on this planet.

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Name Address City State Phone E-mail Russia rapidly devolved into a U.S.-backed fascist-led military coup. Ukraine’s elected President Vicktor Yanukovych was driven from office on Feb. 24, when armed militias of the fascist Svoboda Party and the Right Sector stormed the Ukrainian Rada (parliament) and established a new government that included five neo-Nazi cabinet ministers.

Included in the pamphlet is material revealing that the U.S. and European Union policies during this pe­ riod were in significant part aimed at integrating Ukraine into the political, economic, and military framework of the imperialist West. This was project­ ed in order to secure control over Ukraine’s vast shale gas reserves—the fourth largest in the world—and to effectiveness of mass action.

Zip the establishment of a workers’ government, and the fight for socialism. • Ashland, Ore.: damonjure@earthlink. net • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860) 478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: [email protected]. www.thenorthernworker.blogspot. com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • LOUISVILLE, KY: redlotus51@yahoo. com, (502) 451-2193 • Madison, Wis.:

[email protected] • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 8021482, [email protected] • New York City: (212) 781-5157 • Philadelphia: [email protected] eliminate or minimize Europe’s current and heavy de­ pendence on Russia for fossil fuel resources.

The articles assess the overwhelming vote of the Crimean population to join Russia, the subsequent Russian annexation, and the resulting imposition of sanctions by the U.S. and EU as punishment.

While the Western imperialist powers undoubtedly lent their support to the neo-Nazi-led coup and the right-wing government that emerged, their objective was less to give political credence to these forces than it was to eliminate or minimize the longstanding Rus­ sian influence in that country, while furthering EU and U.S. military/political objectives aimed at weakening and economically penetrating the Russian state and its flagging capitalist economy.

The negative reaction to the right-wing coup by Ukraine’s largely Russian-speaking population in eastern and southern Ukraine is similarly assessed, including the armed mobilization in a number of Ukrainian towns and cities by indigenous Russianspeaking forces who rejected the EU/U.S. austerity measures, the anti-Russian chauvinist policies of the coup government, and later, the massive bombing of eastern Ukraine cities.

This military assault on the eastern Ukraine is led by the refurbished and U.S.-backed Ukrainian armed forces, which includes independently acting fascist militias and “U.S. advisors” and/or military forces of the privatized U.S. Blackwater type.

The authors focus on exposing the reactionary role of U.S. and EU imperialism, today the major players in Ukraine. Once again, these powers have demon­ strated, as in the Middle East, that they do not shrink from political and military alliances with the most reactionary forces in order to advance their financial and military interests. Socialist Action opposes all U.S. and EU imperialist intervention in Ukraine and champions the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination.

“Ukraine in Turmoil” can be ordered from Socialist Action Books, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610. The price is $3 per copy, plus $1 for shipping. n • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: [email protected] (401) 592-5385 • Salem, Ore.: [email protected] • San Francisco Bay Area:

P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, Ca 94610 (510) 268-9429, sfsocialistaction@ gmail.com • WASHINGTON, DC: [email protected], (202) 286-5493 National Office

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