Stand by the Donbas!

Boris Litvinov and his comrades

by New Worker correspondent

Communists discussed the crisis in eastern Ukraine and the threat of war when the NCP held an online meeting with Donbas communist leaders last week. NCP leader Andy Brooks and London Organiser Theo Russell joined Boris Litvinov and his comrades from the Communist Party of the Donetsk People’s Republic (CPDPR) via video link on 17th February.
    Donetsk communist leader Boris Litvinov spoke about the threat of a Ukrainian attack on the Donbas, the prospects for the recognition of the two Donbas people’s republics by the Russian Federation, the relationship between the CPDPR, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) and the Ukrainian communist movement.
    Boris Litvinov said: "The current crisis began in the Western media, we can do nothing, it gets stronger and stronger, and we can do nothing. We think the beginning coincided with the start of the Olympics and the attempt to organise a boycott. We think the West saw this as the right time to start a campaign around Ukraine.
    "Now the Ukrainian military machine is well armed by its Western partners and there are over 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers near the border with the Donetsk People's Republic. Our people’s militias are in control of the situation on the front line, but they understand the situation is very dangerous for the Donbas People's Republics.
    "The escalation has become more and more serious, as shown by the evacuation of some Western diplomats.
    "People living near the border are suffering attacks day by day. Today the situation has become much more dangerous with increased shelling by Ukrainian forces, and the People's Militias have begun evacuating the population near the border.
    "This situation can’t be solved in Ukraine but only in Washington or Brussels. We have seen the European countries send many modern weapons to Ukraine. The escalation has become more and more serious leading to the evacuation of diplomats.
    "The day before yesterday (16 February) many Western correspondents slept outdoors, waiting for the war to start! It’s a shame the opinion they have of the People's Republics. Many brave people sang the anthem of the Soviet Union, but nothing happened.
    "We in the CP DPR are disappointed, depressed and nervous about the current situation.
Eight years ago we decided that we want to be part of the Russian world - this is our fundamental position. Russia understands and shares this position with us, and supports us from their side.
    "We strongly believe the Russian president will never leave us in any circumstances. We have waited eight years for negotiations to begin to join the Russian Federation. We don’t want war but we strongly believe that when war starts our neighbour Russia will support and protect us.
    "The most desirable situation we hope for is for Russian to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics. The State Duma of the Russian Federation understands the current situation and the wish of the people to recognise our republics. The final decision rests with the Russian Federation president.
    "We see that the president of the Russian Federation has given strong support to the Minsk Agreements, and expects the politicians to follow the agreements, but the current situation can’t continue forever.
    "For eight years Ukraine has taken no steps to fulfil the Minsk Agreements. We are ready to wait, but no more than one month or one and a half months.
    "The choice we face is that either the Russian Federation recognises us, or the Minsk Agreements are implemented. But we believe that the Western governments won’t allow Kiev to fulfil the agreements, and want increased confrontation between Ukraine and Russia.
    "We have also seen more and more international support for recognition. This morning the President of Belarus said his country was ready to recognise our republics as soon as Russia takes that step. We also know that ten states in Latin America are ready to recognise the republics.
    "The world today is divided and is no longer unipolar. For us the leading centre of the world today is Russia. We see that we have the same values, the same religion and the same hopes as Russia, and we hope that in the near future we will be a united society, a Slavic society.
    "Many people in Ukraine have the same views and concerns, and we expect them to join us in the coming future.
    "In our initiative to join Russia we are setting an example to other nations that Russia is a leading country. Each nation is free to decide on their next steps of development.
    "We say that those who join together with Russia have a strong future and we believe other nations will choose our path and join with Russia.
    "Since 1991 we have observed centrifugal forces who have divided nations, and this has led to their collapse and the dangerous situation we see now. This is the right time for nations to become a united force and a force for peace.
    "The Communist Party of Ukraine is in a very dangerous position. It is well known in Solidnet, and the CP of Ukraine, the CP of the Russian Federation and the CP DPR are united and joined with other parties in the Union of Communist Parties ( a co-ordinating body made up of communist parties in the former republics of the USSR). In this framework we meet with the CP of Ukraine and we see our aims and wishes are the same.
    "The CPRF has delivered 13,000 tons of aid to the Donetsk People’s Republic. There is strong support for the recognition of our republics, and proven friendship towards us, in the Russian State Duma.
    "The main task of all communists is to support the unification of our nation States. We believe that as time goes on we will manage to revive our former Soviet Union.
    "The current US policy is to exert maximum pressure on France, Germany and the whole of Europe, but the US is not strong enough to cope with the Russian Federation.
    "We see that although the Second World War ended 75 years ago, there are no Russian forces on the territory of the EU, but a lot of US forces on the territory of the EU, a lot of US weapons on the territory of the European Union.
    "Ten to fifteen years ago the Russian Federation took the initiative to propose a zone of safety from the Atlantic to the Urals, a concept which is not possible while there are US forces on EU territory.
    "Describing the NCP as "dear, warm friends", Boris Litvinov thanked the NCP "for your attitude and support for our actions and initiatives", and said he hoped contacts between the two parties will continue".
    In the discussion NCP general secretary Andy Brooks spoke of the erroneous position being taken by some parties in the world communist movement who argue that the US and Russia are equivalent imperialist powers and the need to build solidarity with the people of the Donbas all over the world. In Britain the NCPB was campaigning in a united front with other progressive forces in support of the Donbas republics and all the anti-fascist forces in Ukraine.

• Report in the Donbas communist media

Eye-witness Ukraine in London

by New Worker correspondent

Around 40 activists attended a meeting on central London last Saturday to see UK photographer and journalist Dean O'Brien showing photos of the Donbas, speaking on his experiences there and answering questions.
    The meeting almost didn't take place, however, after the Ukrainian Embassy in London contacted Greene King Pubs and told them it had been organised by "supporters of Russian-backed terrorists".
    As a result the original venue was cancelled, followed by a pro-Ukrainian twitter mob bombarding Greene King Pubs and threatening to turn up at the original venue.
    An alternative venue was found at the last minute and a highly successful meeting took place. Dean's photos and talk covering history trips to Ukraine before the February 2014 EU-NATO sponsored coup and several subsequent trips to the rebel held republics in Eastern Ukraine was highly appreciated by everyone present.
    The meeting, chaired by the NCP’s Theo Russell, also provided an opportunity to discuss the highly dangerous current situation in and around Ukraine, and a lively discussion about campaigning in solidarity with all Ukrainian anti-fascists including those on both sides of the front line, and the hundreds of thousands driven into exile by the current fascist-ridden US puppet government in Kiev.
    Dean said that on his first trip to Kiev in 2008 he saw fascist marches, German World War 2 uniforms and flags, Hitler's Mein Kampf and SS books being sold on the streets.
    He has recently been interviewed twice on these topics on George Galloway's Mother of all Talk Shows programme on Russia Today. A full report on Dean's talk will appear in the New Worker next week.

No, we can’t pay!

 By New Worker correspondent

Protestors gathered outside Downing Street on Saturday to condemn the spiralling cost of living, with demonstrations co-organised by the People's Assembly and held in over 40 towns and cities across the UK, including Parliament Square in the heart of the capital.
    Speaker after speaker spoke out about rising energy prices at the London demonstration, including a wide range of workers involved in industrial disputes. Unite members Arshad and Arnold, from Whipps Cross Hospital, joined the protest straight from their picket line, linking their fight against an insulting pay offer from an out-sourced employer to the broader issue of rising living costs.
    The protest also heard from United Voices of the World (UVW) security guard workers at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where staff are currently on strike for equal terms and conditions. One striking worker stressed the importance of their dispute as costs rise, telling the demonstration: "I opened my energy bill the other day and I almost cried – how can I afford that?”
    We also heard from Jaz from Birkbeck University and College Union (UCU) on the 10 days of strike action planned at universities across the UK over devastating cuts to pensions and deteriorating pay and working conditions – one example of many, of workers fighting back against a squeeze on living standards.
    Whilst there were many striking workers among those speaking from the platform and some trade union banners in the crowd, it is clear that there is still some way to go in mobilising the full support of the trade union movement around the campaign. The rally did, however, receive a message from Dave Ward (CWU General Secretary), who noted the importance of the movement having the full backing of the unions as it builds towards a bigger protest later in the year.
    The demonstration also heard from Paula Peters from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), who spoke movingly on the fight for a funded social care system free at the point of need, before warning the Tories that "your time is coming to an end, we're going to evict you".
    Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke last, highlighting the need to "stop the demonisation, and enhance the solidarity" in advance of protests planned in March and April: “Let’s make March even bigger. And in April we need a spring demonstration to fill the streets of London.”

What it means to be a communist

by New Worker correspondent

Andy Brooks 

London communists discussed the problems of our movement at a joint seminar at the New Communist Party Party Centre last weekend. Called by the NCP and the RCPB-ML, comrades spent Saturday afternoon looking at the question of “what it means to be a communist – new and revolutionary today” in the Sid French Library in south London.
    NCP leader Andy Brooks, who chaired the session, said he hoped this initiative would be the start of a wider discussion within the ranks of the communists and the basis for future joint work to continue the dialogue on the crucial questions facing the movement.
    Discussion on deeper issues has always been sadly lacking in London. Although it’s true to say that before Covid you could go to a different left event every day of the week in London, these meetings were really gatherings of the converted organised by left groups to rally their troops and mobilise them for the campaigns of the day.
    Immense amounts of time have been spent analysing the past and trying to come to terms with the counter-revolutions that brought down the Soviet Union and the people’s democracies of eastern Europe, but there’s been very little talk in preparing for the future.
    But discussion is a luxury we can afford – and we can start best by looking at what does it really mean to be a communist in the 21st Century.
    The RCPB-ML leader, Michael Chant, said in a keynote opening that; “Taking the topic at face value, and giving an answer in a nutshell, one could say to be a communist means seeing the face of the New in the crisis of the Old, and working for the necessary change, for the transformation of the Old into the New, with revolutionary sweep.”
    These factors were taken up by other comrades who raised the issue of communist morality and the role of women in the movement, along with taking the principled stand and building the united front in the struggles to come.
    The afternoon soon passed by, but it was agreed to broaden the discussion by publishing the contributions in both parties’ journals and to hold another seminar in the very near future.

We will remember them!

The ceremony begins

 by New Worker correspondent

New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks joined comrades, war veterans, diplomats and anti-fascists to remember the victims of the Holocaust at a ceremony in the grounds of the Imperial War Museum in south London last week.
    The annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration, organised by the Soviet War Memorial Trust and Southwark Council, could not be held last year because of the Covid lockdown but the recent easing of the restrictions meant that although the traditional commemoration in the halls of the Museum was still suspended the outdoor ceremony could once again go ahead.
    The solemn event organised by the Soviet War Memorial Trust and Southwark Council was held on Thursday 27th January, the day back in 1945 when the Red Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest death camp in the Third Reich.
    The Nazis killed six million Jews during the Second World War. There were hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens amongst them. About three million Soviet prisoners of war perished in extermination camps.
    The Act of Remembrance began with a procession led by veterans’ associations to the Holocaust Memorial Tree and the Soviet War Memorial, followed by the laying of wreaths and floral tributes by the company that included veteran organisations, representatives of the embassies of the Russian Federation and Belarus, as well as local Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors, the NCP and members of the Russian community in London. It ended, as always, with a minute’s silence and the Last Post.

Bloody Sunday Remembered in London

 By Theo Russell

Around 100 campaigners gathered in London’s Parliament Square on 27th January at a commemoration of the 50 years that have passed since 13 civil rights activists were shot by the Parachute Regiment on 30th January 1972 in Derry.
    Speakers at the ceremony, organised by the Terence MacSwiney Commemoration Committee, paid tribute to the innocent victims of the terror unleashed by the Paras on that Bloody Sunday in the occupied north of Ireland.
    Gerry Duddy, brother of John Duddy who died on that infamous day, spoke for the Bloody Sunday Justice Campaign, which is still fighting for the prosecution of the "uniformed criminals who murdered our people on the streets".
    Last year the Public Prosecution Service dropped charges against two of the Bloody Sunday soldiers after a right-wing press campaign, and Boris Johnson has told parliament he wants to end all legacy investigations, trials and even inquests.
    Duddy said the British government announced the amnesty “because they are running scared. They are scared that their soldiers, spooks and civil servants will be exposed and that their role as a combatant and a catalyst in the war in Ireland will be shown to the world. They deny us justice because they are scared to face justice".
    But he said the families wanted to send "a very clear warning to the British government" that if they pursued an amnesty: "The Bloody Sunday families will be ready to meet them head on, and we will not go away or be silenced. We will expose them for what they are – an embarrassment to any western democracy founded on the rule of law".
    Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Richard Burgon, and John Finucane, the Sinn Féin MP for North Belfast, also addressed the gathering. Finucane also spoke about his own family’s continued campaign for truth and justice to expose British state collusion in the murder of his father, human rights lawyer Pat Finucane, in 1989.
    Shelly Asquith, speaking for the Stop the War Coalition, pledged continued support for the Bloody Sunday families and an end to any more Bloody Sundays the world over.
    A message was also read out from John McDonnell, another Labour MP who is a long-standing friend of the Irish community in Britain, who could not take part in the ceremony as he was self-isolating due to a COVID‑19 infection,
    All the speakers forcefully condemned the Tory government’s amnesty proposal, pointing out that it is opposed not only by the Labour Party but by every party in Ireland.
    A contribution was also made by veteran Irish community activist Jim Curran, who was present outside Westminster 50 years ago in 1972 when London’s Irish community mobilised when the news of Bloody Sunday broke.
    After the event the organisers circulated a message thanking all those who joined them, saying: “It’s those who turn out who make the day a success. We ask everyone to keep the Bloody Sunday families in their thoughts over the weekend. We shall overcome!”