Russia’s military action in Ukraine is a consequence of the escalating pressure that the US, Britain and other European imperialist powers have directed against Russia’s imperialist interests through the relentless build-up of NATO’s military forces in Eastern Europe. Russia’s calls for serious talks on its security concerns have been either rebuffed or ignored by the imperialist powers.
British imperialism under both Labour and Conservative governments has played a leading role in promoting the advance of NATO towards the borders of Russia with British troops in both Estonia and Poland (see ‘Ukraine: imperialism beats the drums of war’ in FRFI 286 – click here to read on our website).
For Russia to defend its economic and political interests, not just in Eastern Europe but worldwide, it has to prevent the further expansion of NATO. The Ukrainian President Zelensky has since 2020 been pushing for Ukraine to join NATO declaring at the beginning of February, ‘We would like NATO membership. It would ensure our security, our territorial sovereignty’. Joint military exercises with NATO have been held in Ukraine and in June 2021 Ukraine and NATO forces held joint naval exercises in the Black Sea. Russia’s military action in Ukraine is an attempt to stop this advance of NATO and is an expression not just of its desperation but of the growing inter-imperialist rivalries that have been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Conservative government has been gung-ho in its verbal denunciations of Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin with wide ranging economic sanctions imposed on Russian banks, companies and individuals. It has also committed to send more troops to the NATO ‘battlegroup’ it leads in Estonia and to send Royal Navy ships to the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Labour Party expressing again its pro-imperialist, warmongering and anti-democratic credentials criticised the government from the right, calling for tougher sanctions, more troops to be sent and for the banning of RT, the Russian-owned TV station. The craven role of the so-called ‘left’ inside the Labour Party was shown when 11 MPs, a minority of the Socialist Campaign Group, who had signed a statement from Stop the War which included a mild criticism of NATO, quickly withdrew their signatures after being threatened by the Party leadership.
On the two major issues that face the working class today, the Covid pandemic and war in Europe, the Labour Party is lining up alongside the government. In doing this, Labour has sacrificed, and will sacrifice, the lives of tens of thousands of working class people in the defence of British imperialism and capitalist profits.
As communists in Britain our position is clear,
Oppose the imperialist drive to war!
British troops out of eastern Europe!
NATO out of eastern Europe!
