In particular I have marched against war. I marched against war in Iraq in 2003 when we were in a majority and I marched against war in the Falklands in 1982 when we were in a minority.
Unfortunately, I am not now well enough to attend a demonstration. There is however a demonstration taking place on Saturday which I don't think I would attend even if I were fit to do so.
Many trade unionists, including many whom I greatly respect, will be marching in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. They will be opposing the Russian invasion as well as calling for support for Ukrainian trade unions and for admission of Ukrainian refugees from the war into this country.
I agree with all those demands. However, it seems that only the last demand is one that can sensibly be placed upon the government of the United Kingdom, which is the only government likely to be influenced by a march through the streets of London.
It seems to me that those who have organised this demonstration have allowed their agenda to be set by a mass media which has focused upon atrocities committed upon white Europeans in a way in which it simply doesn't when similar atrocities occur elsewhere in the world.
Our trade union movement - unlike our establishment and ruling class - cannot be accused of hypocritically noticing the plight of the Ukrainians whilst having ignored the plight of the Palestinians. I have been on numerous trade union demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine, which have had a useful purpose of trying to put pressure on our government to influence its Israeli ally.
However, a Yemeni might well ask to trade unions who have organised Saturday's march where they have been for the last few years of bombardment from the Saudi led coalition.
There have been numerous wars around the world in recent years which do not seem to have aroused the media and to have led to such major mobilisations on our streets.
Socialists ought not to take their politics from watching the television (or the Internet) and deciding who the good guys and bad guys appear to be. When the Ukrainian trade unions are, quite understandably, calling for military aid to Ukraine, simply to march "in solidarity with Ukrainian trade unions" is hardly consistent with a long-term and principled opposition to the United Kingdom's leading role in the global arms trade. The more nuanced approach of the statement from the Time for Real Change group within UNISON is to be preferred.
Socialists and trade unionists ought not to support selling arms to Ukraine any more than to any other country on the planet. Socialists and trade unionists ought to stand against war whether that is popular or whether it is unpopular and a minority opinion at any particular point in time.
Wars do not begin when bad people start picking on good people. Wars are fought between capitalist nations over resources. They can also arise out of the competition between nations or blocs of nations, as the First World War arose when a small spark lit the tinderbox of competing imperialist powers.
There is no contradiction between condemning the appalling, brutal, murderous and unlawful Russian invasion of Ukraine whilst at the same time understanding that there is a background to these events which, without doubt, includes the eastern expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation over the past generation.
To comprehend a wider background, in international relations, to Russian aggression in 2022 is no more to excuse that aggression than an understanding of the role of the punitive terms of the Versailles agreement upon a defeated Germany in 1918 and its contribution to the rise of the Nazis amounts to excusing the Holocaust.
In circumstances in which Western Governments, whilst understandably unwilling to commit to the military defence of Ukraine, are using Putin’s invasion to whip up Russophobia, organising a mass demonstration in the way which is proposed amounts to providing cheerleaders for our own ruling class.
In time of war, as at any time, the task of socialists and trade unionists is to focus on the only war which we have to fight, which is the class war. The priority for trade unions in the United Kingdom should be fighting to defend the living standards of our members.
We should certainly demand access to the United Kingdom for refugees from the war in Ukraine, as we should make the same demand in respect of all refugees, regardless of the colour of their skin, because socialism stands for the interests of all workers across the world regardless of nationality.
What our movement should not do is march to someone else's drumbeat, particularly not when that involves taking sides in a war between different capitalist nations. Workers have no country and our job as socialists is to try to explain this in times when it may be easy and, even more so, in times when it may be very difficult.
We should be marching to the beat of a different drum.
2 comments:
Hi Jon, Can't agree with you on this one. Sometimes one should take sides if a capitalist nation invades another. If the US invaded Chile, I would take sides against the imperialist aggressor. And in the case of Ukraine, I also take sides against the imperialist aggressor. The expansion of NATO into previous Russian spheres of influence may or may not be relevant in Putin's calculations. It may be the case that he just decided to invade a country that Russian has historically controlled and subordinated and NATO wasn't that relevant, we don't know. But if a sovereign democratic country is evaded by an imperialist dictatorship, I would argue that it has a right to defend itself. So I willbe marching Saturday.
Thanks for your comment Mike. We shall have to agree to differ.
I really don't think it makes much sense to talk about "taking sides" in a war unless one is joining an International Brigade.
What we can do, as socialists in the UK, is placed demands upon our Government. In your example of a US invasion of Chile it would make sense to demand of our Government that it use its so-called "special relationship" to put pressure on its American ally to withdraw from such aggression.
I appreciate that there is a powerful emotional upsurge of support for the Ukrainian people in the face of the brutality of the Russian invasion, and that there is a risk that the left, if it does not participate in mobilisations such as Saturday's demonstration shows itself to be marginal.
The truth is that, at times like these, we are marginal. We were a very small minority who stood against the Falklands War.
When Kier Hardy died, socialists opposed to the First World War were being vilified. We can't shape our politics according to popular mood.
It is a mistake to fall in line behind support for a nationalism which already has the support of the British ruling class.
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