Socialists and Anarchists in Ukraine
The nonsense coming from Russian propaganda and its campist echo chambers online in the West claiming that all opposition to the Zelensky government in Ukraine is banned and persecuted is belied by the very active anti-capitalist left in Ukraine.
This New Left should not be confused with the Old Left of Communist parties and their offshoots in Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries, which are now rightwing parties that support Russian national chauvinism, imperialism, militarism, authoritarianism, and the “traditional” conservative family values of Orthodox Christianity in its “holy war” against the “satanic” and “extremist” feminist and LGBTQ communities infiltrating from the West. The New Left in Ukraine and other eastern European countries is committed to a democratic, internationalist, feminist, and ecological socialism.
In Ukraine, there are socialist and anarchist currents on the left and different organizations with different schools of thought within those left traditions. But I have found a remarkable degree of cooperation across the democratic left in Ukraine. The war emergency has helped motivate this unity in action, but there is a healthy culture of mutual respect among the left tendencies that also facilitates this cooperation.
I have been hosted in Ukraine by the democratic ecosocialist organization Sotsialnyi Rukh. They have good working relationships with anarchist, trade union, student, environmental, and feminist groups. While only numbering about 100 members, they are very committed, energetic, and effective organizers who conduct a consistent stream of meetings and public events in several Ukrainian cities, often in conjunction with other groups on the left and in the social movements.
This past week Sotsialnyi Rukh has arranged a number of meetings for me with activists in various movements. I did two interviews with leaders of the socialist group, Sotsialnyi Rukh, and the anarchist group, Solidarity Collectives.
This first interview from Monday, November 4 is with Vitaliy Dudin, a labor lawyer and co-founder of Sotsialnyi Rukh, who served as its chair from 2016-2024. Vitaliy describes the development of Sotsialnyi Rukh in the wake of the 2014 Maidan revolution and its activities in resisting Russian tanks, Western banks, and the Ukrainian oligarchy. See also this interview with Vitaliy from Green Left on the role of the left and trade unions in the resistance to Russia’s invasion.
The second interview from Thursday, November 7 is with Sergey Movchan of the Solidarity Collectives, which provide material support to about 80 anarchist and anti-authoritarian leftist fighters on the frontlines and also for trade unionists in the armed forces when unions ask and for people displaced by the fighting when resources permit. Sergey Movchan describes how the Solidarity Collectives grew out of an anarchist conference a few weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion began. See also this interview with Sergey about the Solidarity Collectives from last year.
