Critique: The Erring Ways of the ICC on Inter-Imperialist Relations

«The war in Ukraine has the “merit” of delimiting well the internationalists from all those who take the cause of one of the two camps in presence. By its positions on this conflict, the International Communist Current (ICC) is part of this “third camp” as Pierre Lanneret called it in his review of the revolutionary positions during the Second World War. (¹) But this conflict has still another “merit”: that of testing the theoretical foundations of the analyses in presence. Now, on this plan, the war in Ukraine illustrates the gaping incoherences of the “analyses” of this organization of which it tries in vain to put back together the pieces in a “framework” article entitled The significance and impact of the war in Ukraine.» (²)

In pursuit of his critique of the foundation of the ICC’s theories and analyses, C.Mcl. has advanced a brief synthesis of his previous critiques, focusing on a central question regarding the present exacerbation of inter-imperialist tensions and confrontations in and over Ukraine: whether it constitutes a step in the reconstitution of antagonistic imperialist blocs and alliances in view of a renewed drive towards a worldwide war (as many within the internationalist camp estimate), or whether the conclusion of such a dynamic is, as it where, effectively precluded by a supposedly dominant tendency of “everyone for himself” (as the ICC tirelessly defends).

In anticipation of an integral, verified translation, we present the conclusion of this critique, which we find most important for its global analysis and estimation of the present war and the dire perspective it opens up to humanity.

The Editor, July 9, 2022.

Russia: About “Anarchists” who forget the principles

Statement approved at a referendum of the members of the KRAS-IWA (Russia)

“We reproduce the following article in solidarity with KRAS, section of the anarcho-syndicalist IWA in Russia. From the beginning of the war in Ukraine members of KRAS have consistently defended the internationalist position, denouncing all sides in the conflict and calling on workers to resist it. (¹) For this, they are now being accused by those anarchists who have taken the side of the Ukrainian national resistance of being stooges of the Kremlin.

We can’t help but be reminded of the smears against our comrades in the PCInt who, for opposing all sides in the Second World War and for calling on workers to “desert the war” , (²) were denounced by the Stalinist party of Togliatti as “agents and servants of Hitler”. Back then such smears were used to physically liquidate internationalists.

Once again there is no low to which those who have made their peace with national defencism will not stoop down.” (ICT, June 13, 2022)

In agreement with the foregoing, we have added a translation of the London Anti-War Manifesto of February 1915 to a new documentary section on this site: Proletarian Internationalism against Imperialism and War (Documents), which refers to the historical schism on the question of war that also took place within anarchism apropos of the First World War,

The editor, July 3, 2022.

The War in Ukraine is just a Chapter of the Permanent Imperialist War

Introduction Article of I Quaderni dell’Istituto Onorato Damen Nº 1 (April 2022)

“A new dramatic front of the permanent imperialist war has opened in the heart of Europe. At the dawn of February 24, 2022, the Russian armed forces have unleashed their firepower against Ukraine, bombing the main cities of the country and invading the Ukrainian territory from several fronts with hundreds of thousands of soldiers. A war that in the plans of the Russians probably had to last only a few days, given the disparity of the forces in the field, whose prolongation [however] dangerously risks to widen, dragging the whole of Europe into the vortex of the conflict. This is the future that the capitalist system envisages for us, a future made of wars, generalized misery and increasingly precarious living and working conditions.”

War in Ukraine: A Salute to Proletarian Internationalism from Argentina

Against Capitalist War!

(La Oveja Negra, March 13, 2022)

In support of the internationalist statement issued by KRAS in Russia at the outset of the military assault on Ukraine, the group around ‘La Ovaja Negra’ (“the black sheep”) in Argentine published an excellent reply underlining the old adagium of the international workers’ movement: the proletarians of the world have no country to defend! We present this statement in the translation by Internationalist Perspective.

War in Ukraine: An Internationalist Voice from Russia

An interview with KRAS – IWA by Grupo Moiras (Spain)

Grupo Moiras is an anarcho-feminist group in Spain inspired by the ‘Mujeres libres’ of the Spanish Civil War. KRAS is one of the rare groups in Russia, from the anarcho-syndicalist milieu, who has defended a proletarian internationalist position for years. The interview presents the groups’ view on the character and stakes of the present war in Ukraine, on the contradictory positions that divide anarchists in Ukraine, most of whom are siding with the Ukrainian bourgeoisie and its army against the Russian military invasion; on the difficulties of anyone in Russia who tries to protest against the war in face of the military censorship and the brutal state repression of the Putin regime, and on the difficulties of the anarchist milieu in particular.

No to the Imperialist Mobilization around the War in Ukraine!

An international leaflet by ‘Le Prolétaire – Proletarian’ (March 8, 2022)

The following statement treats the, foremost, humanitarian campaigns that are permanently waged in the Western hemisphere, notably in a Europe that has to cope with a massive influx of refugees, mostly women and children, elderly and “foreign nationals”, who escape from the war in Ukraine. There is a real concern among the populations in Europe with those desperately displaced who often not only have fled from their homes, but most tragically also have left their relatives and friends behind, of whom the adult men are drafted into the Ukrainian military. The leaflet attempts to lift the veil of democratic humanitarianism that the ruling classes in the West throw over the grim reality of a barbaric inter-imperialist carnage they are deeply co-responsible for.

On the Russian (and American?) Invasion of Ukraine

I.O.D. on the war in Ukraine and the proletarian perspective (March 4, 2022)

Overcoming their initial surprise by the Russian state’s assault on Ukraine since last Thursday February 24, I.O.D. has resumed their analysis, and has issued a formal statement on the tangle of interests involved in this worsening conflagration. It goes well beyond any rhetoric about the indubitable Russian culprit versus the “reasonable” rest of the “international community” (minus some distinct renegade states), as a perpetual media campaign in the Western hemisphere will have it. Trying to shed light on the questions: who profits from the crime? and: what is the international situation heading towards? it provides a brief balance sheet of the imperialist contentions and shared interests implicated at world level, and formulates the dire stakes this poses, eventually for the survival of humanity.

Secondly, a concise critical assessment of the situation the world proletariat and its political minorities find themselves in, is set forth, issuing a call for their renewal: to go beyond “the same [old] theoretical and organizational framework of the Third International”, by “taking note of the many changes in the organization and in the international division of labor” since the times of the October Revolution of 1917, in order “to proceed to a new systematization of all the elements inherent to the condition of the modern proletariat” in view of “building a new communist party on a world scale.”

Putin’s Assault on Ukraine: Internationalist Statements and Analyses

In this post we list a collection of internationalist statements against the war in Ukraine and analyses of its wider significance and stakes for the working class internationally, notwithstanding their variety and inevitable differences in points of departure or conceptions.

We share the concern voiced at the Forum for the internationalist communist Left: “Given the seriousness of the international situation, the weaknesses and the dispersion of the internationalist-revolutionary milieu, it goes without saying that we will support any common position along the lines of the ones we have listed below. Indeed, if there is a paradox to be underlined on this level, it is that each of the groups below brandishes proletarian internationalism loud and clear – which is excellent … but they are withdrawn into themselves and quite incapable of speaking with one voice!”

As not all texts referenced here are yet available in English, this post is subject to updates  when they become available. Incidentally a translation of ours has been added on a follow-up page. Suggestions and proposals for internationalist statements are welcome.

The editor, March 5, 2022.

(Last updated: April 17, 2022, Listing closed)

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The Redivision of the Capitalist World has Begun…

Pantopolis on the meaning of the war in Ukraine

(February 24, 2022)

Thus, at 4 AM this Thursday, February 24, 2022, Russian troops commanded by the autocrat Vladimir Putin, worthy heir of Tsar Nicholas II and Joseph Stalin, invaded and bombed Ukraine with the aim of annexing it partially or totally. This was a decisive step forward in the field of military conflicts in Europe after the war in the former Yugoslavia. (¹) The bombing of fifteen Ukrainian cities, the beginning of a macabre count of civilian and military deaths, the deployment of the Russian army on three fronts, the occupation of military airfields and the Chernobyl nuclear site, the programmed fall of the Ukrainian government to form a team of puppets under the orders of Moscow, the beginning of a huge emigration to the neighboring countries of the European Union, all this undoubtedly translates into an acceleration of history, which could in the medium and long term – with the involvement of China in the conflict – lead to a third world conflict.