Reactionary Defeatism

"Anti-imperialism" in Ukraine

While we wait with fingers crossed for the collapse of the Tehran regime, I thought I would cast my mind over some unfinished business on the Ukraine Front. I am thinking of the "anti-imperialist" supporters of "revolutionary defeatism".

According to them, the war is merely a case of inter-imperialists conflict where we should not take sides. "We" should engage in revolutionary defeatism and turn the imperialist war into a civil war. This civil war will be a class war where the working class takes on the bourgeoisie. "No war but the class war" as the saying goes.

I am afraid if Ukraine were defeated you would not have a civil war in that country but Russian occupation and guerilla resistance. In that situation normal Ukrainians would be aiming to build a united struggle against the occupier, very few of whom would be radical left in any sense. The mercifully few trotskyites and other ultra-leftists would of course be aiming to oppose all "bourgeois reactionaries" and in that way assist the Russians.

A defeat for Ukraine would mean millions of people fleeing to the West and those who don't escape would be the victims of rampaging vengeful ruscists. Victory on the other hand would mean one more bourgeois democracy free of tyranny, and with ties to the west and prospects for a degree of economic development.

Defeatism would of course be an great idea in the case of Russia. A Russian defeat would lead to considerable political turmoil and possibly civil war. The critical battle line would be that between the fascists and democrats. As in Ukraine, there is no radical left worth mentioning. So any talk of proletarian revolution is ridiculous.

A victory for bourgeois democracy and the return of normal ties with the West would be an excellent outcome. Russia would then be part of the democratic (aka "Western Imperialist") camp and no longer a nuisance. It would likely to be keen for NATO membership or other security guarantees given the threat from China. Indeed, China may by then have already taken a bite out of Russia, particularly those bits with valuable mineral resources and which they can claim as being originally part of China.