“Anarchists” who forget the principles. Statement by KRAS-IWA

ICC Introduction

In March 2022 we published an initial statement on the war in Ukraine by the anarcho-syndicalist group KRAS in Russia, a courageous expression of internationalism opposed to both sides of this imperialist war [1]. We have also published an article on the incoherence of the anarchist response to the war, which includes genuine internationalist positions like those of KRAS, but also openly bourgeois statements in favour of the military defence of Ukraine, and even direct participation in the Ukrainian war effort by anarchist ‘militias’[2]. The Black Flag group in Ukraine, for example, has established its own platoon within the territorial defence forces set up by the Ukrainian state. And while talking about anarcho-communism in the future, it cannot hide its support for the nation right now: “thanks for support and for the fight for freedom in some Ukrainian battalions. Truth wins, so Ukraine will win”[3]. And within Russia itself, there are anarchists like the Anarchist Fighter group which claims to be against the Putin regime and even calls for the defeat of Russian imperialism in this war, but which also argues that “As for Ukraine, its victory will also pave the way for the strengthening of grassroots democracy—after all, if it is achieved, it will be only through popular self-organization, mutual assistance, and collective resistance”[4]. This is a shameless distortion of the slogan of “revolutionary defeatism” raised by Lenin in the First World War: when Lenin insisted on the need for class struggle against the Tsarist regime, even if it meant the military defeat of Russia, this never meant supporting the opposing camp led by German imperialism. Whereas the support for Ukrainian victory offered by these anarchists can only mean support for the NATO war machine.

The present statement by KRAS makes it clear that the “defencists” are wholly on the side of capitalist order. This includes some anarchists in Ukraine who equate the internationalism of the KRAS, its opposition to the nationalism of both camps, with support for the Putin regime and its brutal war. In reality, these elements, by publishing the names and addresses of KRAS militants, have directly exposed them to repression by the Russian security forces. We publish this new statement of KRAS as an elementary statement of solidarity with these comrades [5].

 

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[1] internationalist-statement-inside-russia

[2] internationalism-defence-nation

[3] Libcom

[4] nl.crimethinc.com/2022/02/26/

[5].The KRAS statement has also been published by other internationalists, notably the Communist Workers Organisation and the Anarchist Communist Group. By contrast, the section of the IWA in Britain, Solidarity Federation, don’t appear to have published the KRAS statement.

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"Anarchists" who forget the principles. Statement by KRAS-IWA June 8, 2022

The section of the International Workers’ Association in the region of Russia calls for a boycott of provocateurs and informers who hide behind the name of “anarchists” and denounce the activists of our organization.

Our position against the war waged by the capitalist oligarchies for the repartition of the “post-Soviet space” is met with understanding and support from anarchist internationalists in Ukraine, Moldova and Lithuania, with whom we maintain contacts.

But from the very beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the so-called “anarchists”, who abandoned the traditional anarchist internationalist position of defeating all states and nations and who support one of the warring parties, launched a campaign of slander against our organization.

For example, former anarchists Anatoly Dubovik and Oleksandr Kolchenko living in Ukraine have published the names and addresses of our activists on the open Internet. The first of them wrote the corresponding text, and the second gave him his Facebook account for publication and approved it. The pretext was that our organization takes a consistent internationalist position and condemns both the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukrainian nationalism and the expansionist policy of the NATO bloc.

Messrs. Dubovik and Kolchenko tried shamelessly and impudently to slander our IWA section, without any reason trying to attribute to us a position in defence of the Kremlin. Besides, they admit that we are calling for both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers to refuse to fight.

The latter means that these fake anarchists, by publishing the addresses of anti-war activists located in Russia, are directly inciting Russian secret services and nationalist thugs against them, as opponents of the war, in order to deal with them with their hands! In the conditions of ongoing harassment, dismissals, threats and physical reprisals against anti-military-minded people in Russia, such actions are tantamount to a real denunciation with a direct indication of whom the repressive forces should turn their attention to.

Once again, the nationalists on both sides of the front line, following the logic of “who is not with us is against us”, are ready to jointly destroy their main opponents, internationalists who refuse to make a choice between warring state and bourgeois cliques between plague and cholera.

Anarchists all over the world should be aware of the shameful deeds of provocateurs-informers and once and for all refuse to have anything to do with them, forever throwing them out of the anarchist environment and sending them to their patrons and masters from the secret services and the secret police!

The statement was approved at a referendum of the members of the KRAS-IWA