Home World Politics UKRAINE : Class Struggle in Wartime

UKRAINE : Class Struggle in Wartime

Details
Published on Sunday
01 January 2023  09:13
Written by Radical Socialist
 By Elias Vola Ten months after the beginning of a bloody conflict, Ukrainian workers are confronted with the horrors of war as well as the offensives of a neoliberalism unconcerned with the suffering of a population exposed to martyrdom. With about 15 million refugees, a GDP in free fall by 35%, nearly five million jobs lost, deaths  civilian and military  in the tens of thousands and, most recently, the systematic destruction of energy infrastructure at the beginning of a harsh winter, it is an understatement to say that the country is on the verge of asphyxiation. Obviously, the priority interest for Ukrainian workers remains ending this brutal invasion, which necessarily involves the withdrawal of Russian troops from the entire territory. With 80% of deaths at work related to acts of war in the unoccupied areas, murders, tortures, disappearances and the physical elimination of all forms of protest in areas under Russian control, the struggle for a real improvement of daily life can only be conditioned by this central objective. Unfortunately, war is not the only enemy of Ukrainian workers, who are simultaneously facing frontal attacks from their own government on labour rights and trade union freedoms. These reforms, initiated in 2019 by the Zelensky government, were blocked by the mobilization of workers and the coordinated action of the UPF and the KVPU, the two main trade union organizations in the country. Taking advantage of martial law, which considerably limits protest capacity, the Ukrainian right has opportunely returned to the offensive since the beginning of the war. One of the pieces of legislation, passed by the Ukrainian Parliament last August, deprives employees of small and medium enterprises, i.e., 70% of employees, of the protection of the Labour Code. Trade union confederations, trapped by martial law and facing a new anti-union law, are redoubling their international efforts to try to put pressure on the Zelensky government: a constitutional appeal, a challenge to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the incompatibility of the law with the application for entry into the European Union, an international petition promoted by the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU). This disastrous panorama should not, however, hide the underground resistance, like that of the miners of Novovolynsk who, during the summer, refused to work for the new director accused of corruption: The people are the government. We do not need new leaders imposed on us. Go back to where you came from, we won’t work with you. Although the class struggle is difficult in wartime, the workers, having taken over from a failed state in many areas, will not feel compelled to tolerate these attacks indefinitely. From International Viewpoint  
RELATED ARTICLES

WSF Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly

Details Published on Sunday 13 February 2011 17:06 Written by Radical Socialist WSF Declaration of the Social Movements Assembly 12 February 2011 As the Social Movements Assembly of the World...

Whither Tunisia?

Details Published on Thursday 20 January 2011 01:43 Written by Radical Socialist Whither Tunisia? Curfew in Tunisia! What is the political significance? January 13 by Fathi Chamkhi Just hours after his...

Tunisia, Egypt: a revolutionary process of world scope

Details Published on Monday 28 February 2011 18:16 Written by Radical Socialist Tunisia, Egypt: a revolutionary process of world scope Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International at...

Most Popular

Iran: Islamic regime shaken by unprecedented revolt

Details Published on Thursday 29 September 2022 07:08 Written by Radical Socialist by AJANG Bahman Protests in Iran erupted on Friday 16 September after the death in police custody...

Report from Greece

Details Published on Saturday 25 June 2011 06:27 Written by Radical Socialist Report from Greece Andreas Kloke The general strike and the siege of Parliament in Athens A few days before...

For the defence of the Tunisian revolution

Details Published on Saturday 22 December 2012 15:16Written by Radical Socialist

Samir Amin on Egypt

Details Published on Saturday 05 February 2011 14:22 Written by Radical Socialist Samir Amin (Reproduced courtesy Viewpoint Online) In case of "success" and "elections", the Moslem Brotherhood will become the...

The Martyred Professor : Saba Dashtiyari of Balochistan

Details Published on Saturday 04 June 2011 06:13 Written by Radical Socialist Obituary: The Martyred Professor http://www.thebalochhal.com/2011/06/obituary-the-martyred-professor/ By Malik Siraj Akbar I do no know any young Baloch of my generation...

Bangladesh left slams Islamist murder of Avijit Roy

Details Published on Tuesday 21 April 2015 18:19 Written by Radical Socialist Thursday 16 April 2015, by Badrul Alam Badrul Alam from the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist-Leninist)...

Greece at war in 2012, as Spain was in 1936 for the people of Europe!

Details Published on Friday 02 March 2012 14:58 Written by Radical Socialist Greece at war in 2012, as Spain was in 1936 for the people of Europe! Sonia Mitralia   This...

Health Reform: Theirs and Ours

Details Published on Thursday 25 March 2010 04:24 Written by Radical Socialist By Paul Street Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Paul Street's ZSpace Page Join ZSpace Corporate health “reform” has gotten the congressional votes...

Proletarian Socialism and Women’s Liberation

Details Published on Tuesday 13 October 2009 05:41 Written by Radical Socialist

Core vs Periphery in the EU

Details Published on Wednesday 22 June 2011 01:44 Written by Radical Socialist Core vs Periphery in the EU Eric Toussaint (CADTM) From 1980 to 2004 joining the European Union was quite...