Dangerous Playing with the Fire of a World War: No NATO into Ukraine - Withdrawal of Russian Troops!

1. Millions of people, also in Germany, justifiably feel that something must be done against the war in Ukraine. More than two million people already had to flee from the war. In addition, thousands have been wounded or killed. Rising food and energy prices are driving up inflation worldwide. A mass discussion about all of this has emerged. Those in power are grossly misusing the desire of the masses for peace in order to portray themselves as the champions for peace. There are two schemes for this:

Last week, CDU leader Friedrich Merz rushed ahead: "Under certain circumstances" a direct war participation of NATO could be conceivable and necessary. Springer boss Döpfner topped that in the Bild newspaper: "NATO must act NOW.” The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy vehemently demands the closure of Ukrainian airspace - in plain language: NATO fighter jets should shoot down Russian aircraft. They willingly accept that this would trigger a World War III with high probability. The USA has already supplied Ukraine with weapons worth $ 300 million. Soldiers from at least six NATO countries are joining the Ukrainian army as "volunteers," in part with the approval of their government. Putin, in turn, calls the economic and arms deliveries a "declaration of war" by NATO and threatens "severe consequences".

Stop this dangerous game!

The German government and NATO, with the support of substantial parts of the solely ruling international finance capital, so far reject an open intervention. This is not due to their humanitarian desire for peace - then they could and should have taken action much earlier to de-escalate. Now, they are obviously confronted with the masses' desire for peace: 79 % of the population in Germany are against a NATO intervention in the war and hundreds of thousands took part in peace demonstrations in Germany alone. On 7 March 2022, the head of the monopoly association BDI, Siegfried Russwurm, also brusquely rejected the U.S. government's demand for a decoupling of the German economy from China: "We were not and will not be a recipient of orders from the American government." Putin's "crimes are not the end of global trade and global division of labor. Exchange, not partition, remains our principle." The export-dependent monopolies see their economic interests threatened by further escalation. Negotiations in their interest, however, will only lead to an imperialist peace. That means that armament and warmongering will continue, and the intensified competition for energy supply, raw materials and supply chains will also take place at the expense of the peoples.

2. The bourgeois media promote the policy of the German government with the manipulated portrayal that this would help "the people" in Ukraine. But supporting the Zelenskyy government is not a progressive policy, as comparisons with the Allies around the socialist Soviet Union or the international brigades in the Spanish Civil War falsely suggest. All bourgeois parties have gone over to lauding NATO as the true angel of peace. Take note, that is the alliance that has the largest number of wars of aggression to its credit in recent decades, in Afghanistan, Iraq, ex-Yugoslavia, etc. A military escalation by NATO does not help the people in Ukraine, but worsens their situation. A World War III would bring immeasurable suffering and, with the use of nuclear weapons, would endanger the foundations of life of humankind!

3. The workers and the masses of the people who are participating in armed struggles in Ukraine are justified in defending themselves against an imperialist war of aggression. At the same time, they must direct their struggle against the reactionary capitalist government of Zelenskyy and seek and strengthen solidarity with progressive people in Russia and all over the world, who oppose all imperialist aggression. Their future should not lie in returning to the previous poverty, exploitation and oppression as a pawn of imperialist interests! The resolutely anti-imperialist direction is strengthened by the solidarity and relief activities which MLPD and ICOR¹ promote. The ICOR party "Marxist-Leninist Platform" from Russia declares: "The peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Donbass are hostages of a conflict of interests between the two imperialist groups". It calls on "the working people of Russia to protest against the war, to sabotage the transfer of troops and military equipment, and thereby express their determined 'no'."

4. The war in Ukraine is an imperialist war. Until now, many people only knew imperialism from history books. Now, even bourgeois media are castigating Putin's imperialist great-power fantasies. Already in 2017, the MLPD wrote an extensive study on the new-imperialist resurgence of Russia: "Putin pursues the goal of a Eurasian Union from Lisbon to Vladivostok dominated by Russia." At that time, Angela Merkel and the other Western heads of state and monopolies still met on friendly terms with Putin at pompous dinners. The following also applies to other countries, such as the USA, China, or Germany: "... imperialist countries are countries whose economy is determined by monopolies, where the monopolies have increasingly subordinated the state, and that strive for the domination of other territories and countries."²

5. Imperialist aggression abroad is closely connected to domestic repression. Are Putin's fascist methods ushering in a transition to fascism in Russia? Thousands have been arrested at anti-war demonstrations. Putin confidant and deputy security chief Medvedev talks about reintroducing the death penalty. With the new media law, even calling it a war is now punishable. But the EU also wants to sanction false information, and the German government simply banned the Russian broadcaster RT. What is right and wrong is thus decided by the imperialists. In Germany, the anti-imperialist peace policy of the MLPD is being increasingly obstructed in front of schools, factories or at demonstrations. In the case of a direct participation of NATO in the war, the German government could largely suspend bourgeois-democratic rights and freedoms by means of emergency laws.

6. The hatred against Putin is misused to slander communism. Putin is allegedly a communist, Stalin successor and wants to restore the Soviet Union, German newspapers maintain. However, in his speech at the start of the war, Putin himself attacked Lenin and Stalin first and foremost for advocating the right of self-determination for Ukraine - for him a madness. Each warring side accuses the other of acting in the spirit of Stalin – how utterly absurd! In contrast to both warring parties, the exemplary policy on nationalities in the socialist Soviet Union until 1956 stood for proletarian internationalism.

7. Solidarity with the masses in Ukraine means the obligation to strengthen the struggle for world peace. No war can be waged in the long run against the active resistance of the workers and the masses! 91 participants from 22 countries declared at an ICOR webinar on 6 March to resolutely lead the joint struggle for peace in an anti-imperialist united front. Let us build a new strong peace movement against all imperialist warmongers, also in Germany!

- Active resistance against the imperialist preparation of a World War III!

- Against the shifting of the burdens of war and crisis onto the masses! For a wage increase at least as high as inflation.

- For peace, friendship among nations, genuine socialism!

- Strengthen the revolutionary workers' party MLPD! Join the youth league Rebell and its resistance groups!

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