Why our event will take a close look at the lessons from the Ukraine war
Speakers from very different political perspectives will be discussing these issues on Monday morning, 10.30am – click here to get your ticket.
Not a year has gone by since 1945 which hasn’t seen a war somewhere in the world and the British army has been actively involved in many of them.
However, the war in Ukraine seems to mark something of a decisive turning point. We are facing a future world that looks more like the years leading up to the First World War than anything we have seen in our lifetimes.
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine has quite rightly been condemned by most socialists and democrats. Putin is no friend of the working class – but neither are Zelensky or NATO. The expansionist policy of NATO has played a huge part in this conflict. Although the direct fighting in Ukraine is between the Russian and Ukrainian states, given the financial and military support that the Zelensky government has received from the US and NATO, many see this war, in effect, as a proxy war between Putin and the US.
Moreover, this is only part of a much wider geo-political and economic rivalry between the US, NATO and its allies in Asia, and China. A very much weakened Russia has become a client of the rapidly expanding Chinese state, which puts the regional conflict in Eastern Europe into a very different context. The US’ identification of China as its main political and economic opponent has been a consistent element in the strategic policy of successive presidents since the early 2000s.
The possibilities of open conflict, either through proxies or by direct confrontation in Asia itself are now being openly discussed. In what increasingly looks like a drive to war, smaller powers are being drawn in as clients or allies, and the populations of the various states are now being encouraged to view rival states as ‘the enemy’.
This session will debate these issues and how the Left should respond to the threat of a war between the great powers. In 1914 the leaderships of the labour movements of Europe lined up behind their own ruling classes as they sent millions of workers into the military mincing machine. The opposition to that war led by Lenin, Liebknecht, Luxemburg and others was also a movement to overthrow the causes of war-imperialist rivalry and capitalist exploitation.
Over a hundred years later we could be facing just such another great power conflict. What lessons can we draw from our movement’s history and what should our programme be as we campaign against war and fight against capitalism?
Speakers from very different political perspectives will be discussing these issues on Monday morning, 10.30am – click here to get your ticket.
Paula Drummond
