In honor of Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army Day, a report from an action held in Kiev, Ukraine, one year before the fascist Maidan coup:
On February 23, 2013, the 95th anniversary of the Red Army, activists of Union Borotba (Struggle) reminded their compatriots of the events of distant and terrible 1918, when, in the face of a storm of internal armed reaction and foreign military intervention, the Soviet republic established its Armed Forces.
On this holiday, Borotbists cleaned one of the most important objects of cultural and historical heritage of the Ukrainian capital – a monument to Nikolai Shchors on Taras Shevchenko Boulevard, which has been repeatedly vandalized by the neo-Nazis with the connivance of Kiev authorities indifferent to the fate of one of Kiev’s most beautiful monuments.
“The monument to Ukrainian folk hero and legendary field commander Nikolai Shchors was not chosen by accident,” says Borotba coordinator Sergei Kirichuk. “In some ways, this is an iconic figure for Ukraine. Hailing from the family of a Ukrainian railway worker, Shchors is living proof of the falsity of the nationalist myth that the Soviet regime was brought to Ukraine on the bayonets of ‘invaders,’ that the ideas of socialism and red flags were alien to Ukrainians and imposed on them by force.”
Borotba activists consider it their duty to remind the citizens of Ukraine that the Ukrainian land gave the Red Army, whose anniversary is celebrated on February 23, to the world. Natives of Ukraine were prominent commanders of the Red Army — such as Basil Bozhenka, Vitaly Primakov, Iona Yakir, Pavel Dybenko, Alexander Parkhomenko, Kliment Voroshilov, Vladimir Antonov, and Yuri Kotsjubinsky. Finally, a native of Ukraine was the organizer of the Red Army – Lev Trotsky.
“These are not only our real heroes, but also people who Ukrainians can rightly be proud of,” said Kirichuk. “It is our duty to continue the cause for which they gave their lives – returning Ukraine to the path of socialist development.”
Events 95 years ago are as relevant as ever for today’s Ukraine. In 1918, like today, nationalists were striving for power amid a violent social crisis suffered by the population of the entire country.
Crouching now to the East and the West, toward the Kremlin, Brussels and Washington, the ruling class of Ukraine, both the authorities and the opposition, consistently betrays the interests of the Ukrainian people. Policies aimed at drawing Ukraine into imperial unions makes the independent development of our country impossible and condemns her to being a dependent, exploited periphery.
Only active struggle of the left and anti-fascist forces, trade unions and students can stop Ukraine from slipping into the swamp of fascist reaction. However, the ruling oligarchy is doing everything to divide the people of Ukraine, to sow the seeds of enmity and hatred between different ethnic and religious groups, between people speaking different languages, and between regions with different historical memory.
To this end, the oligarchy consciously supports the Nazis, gives them money and a platform in the media, and big political displays. Last year, for the first time in recent Ukrainian history, we saw a large fraction of the neo-Nazi party “Svoboda” enter Parliament. Thus, the current government is preparing a shift and “escape route,” hoping to divert the wave of popular indignation with phony “patriotism.”
“Boys, are you someone who can lead in battle?” These words of the “Song of Shchors” should be the password of all the progressive forces in Ukraine, a reminder to the modern left and social activists, to all those who are now fighting against oppression, tyranny and exploitation.
“For us, there is a great and glorious tradition of revolutionary struggle of the Ukrainian people, one embodiment of which was the creation on February 23, 1918, of the Workers ‘and Peasants’ Red Army,” Borotba believes.
Red Star News + Translations 