Due to stagnant American political discourse , an awful modern history of US military aggression as well as a deep misunderstanding of the concept of imperialism many on the left are incorrectly against supporting the nation of Ukraine as it fights for its life against the Russian military. Ukraine, despite its numerous faults including government corruption and segments of its population supporting Nazi ideology, has every right in the world to defend its nation. No amount of criticism of Ukraine’s internal politics can justify another nation sending in tanks, taking Kiev and installing a puppet government. It’s absolutely true elements of the media and Biden administration use the war to change the topic from domestic issues in the United States, but again that doesn’t magically allow serious political thinkers to declare Ukraine doesn’t matter. It is true that the symbolism of identity politics in America such as people using Ukraine flags online or on their lawns is a tad bit strange but again that isn’t the question. The left supports democratic rights, it doesn’t support empires remapping borders and it supports world peace.You can’t be serious from any side if you think Russia is a country that supports free elections and freedom of expression or world peace. We must focus on these issues and what it would mean for Ukraine to fall, not obsess over Biden and liberals supporting the war. Finally pretending this war is absolutely about NATO or American aggression is totally dishonest.
The first order of business to clear the confusion is by talking about 21st century American led wars and how they do and do not relate to this current conflict. I, like many, am still deeply troubled by the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and know they were totally unnecessary. Both examples certainly had barbaric regimes and sensible people from many sides could see that, but the Yankees going in to promote democracy was never going to work and clearly failed. In many ways the United States played a very similar card that Russia is playing, pointing out dysfunctional countries and magically asserting they could be fixed via armed occupation. The United States spends far more on its military than Russia and has much greater support to the point it even roped in other country’s militaries. In the end even these advantages proved to be no good with the United State’s leaving both countries in rough spots after spending insane amounts of money and infecting death and chaos. How can the left around the world rightfully call these wars out as aggressive or imperialist and say Russia can do the same thing to Ukraine?
The biggest distortion confusing the left is “anti imperialism” and its 20th century Marxist origins. Contrary to popular belief Marx and Engels did not care about the national question, that’s something Lenin and Stalin introduced. The legacy of the national question has distorted left wing thinking ever since, creating this simpleton impression that complicated geopolitical issues can be resolved by restoring an area to “its people ‘’. To make matters even worse, Vladimir Putin himself supports this type of warped thinking! Anyone who sat through the Tucker Carlson interview with Vladimir Putin knows he promotes a wonky story about borders in Europe long before the enlightenment. Somehow because of old map’s and a very dysfunctional Ukraine government , Vlad is allowed to roll in the tanks to “solve the problem”. It seems clear both Tucker and Vlad play a right wing anti imperialist game, magically this is all justified and the United States is somehow to blame for Russia’s actions.
The 21st century use by the left of anti imperialism is so disconnected from history it drags the corpse of the USSR around and is able to magically jump to the conclusion that anti imperialism automatically means supporting a side that is against America. The left is very quick to forget that by the 1960s the USSR gave up on shortening the working day, apparently the road to a communist future didn’t need less wage labor. The same post Stalin Communist Party that decides a shorter working week is unneeded deeply promoted its vision on anti imperialism. A nasty civil war in Vietnam turned into a proxy war and both sides of the cold war are morally responsible for its escalation. Even if we remove the moral question, did a communist vision really win out in the Vietnam war? absolutely not…. Vietnam is a capitalist country like everyone else in the 21st century. Like any sensible person I do not support the American aggression in Vietnam but that doesn’t mean anti imperialism means that I celebrate The Eastern Bloc making the war even worse. This comes to the point most connected to Marxism today do not understand and what Moishe Postone saw clearly, the cold war was a dangerous game and at best each side oscillated between lesser evil and barbaric! Picking winners and losers in undialectical way’s is never serious political thinking.
What the Cold War seems to have eradicated from memory, for example, is that opposition to an imperial power is not necessarily progressive, that there were fascist “anti-imperialisms” as well. This distinction was blurred during the Cold War in part because the USSR aligned itself with authoritarian regimes, for example, in the Middle East, that had little in common with socialist and communist movements, that, if anything, had more in common with fascism than communism and that, in fact, sought to liquidate their own Left. Consequently, anti-Americanism per se became coded as progressive, although there had and have been deeply reactionary as well as progressive forms of anti-Americanism. Why did many on the Left—including those who did not regard the Soviet Union affirmatively—adopt this dualistic Cold War framework, retaining its shell even after the Cold War? How did so many progressives back themselves into a corner where it appeared that the only political issue globally was U.S. policy, regardless of the nature of other regimes?
One of the most appalling details many on the “anti imperialist left” have missed is China’s role in the conflict. China could end the war at any time if it wanted to by cutting the Russian’s off economically. Instead, testing out Chinese weapons against American made ones in Ukraine seems more productive to its ruling Communist Party! This is an utter disgrace for a country that claims to be socialist. China should be promoting world peace but decided helping out its friend Vlad who is looking to remap Eastern Europe’s map to a fresh take on modernity is more it’s pace. No one including capitalists or so-called “socialists'” should be signing off redoing Eastern European borders by tank, that is an unwinding of history nobody desires. Some say China is a shining light for a world socialist future but reality’s like this point to it as a catch up modernization project willing to engage in barbaric wars.
In practice we need to look at each international actor , realize the Cold War is over and talk about the dynamics of a multi polar world. Countless left wing people including many in DSA take the world salad approach attempting to integrate a lot of big words without taking stances relevant to today’s conditions This piece in Cosmonaut and quote really sends me towards disdain with its over simplifications.
Russia, however, is not a potential peer competitor of the United States as described above. Its industrial capacity shrunk tremendously with the fall of the USSR and the application of “shock therapy” in the 1990s and it does not have the capacity to effectively subordinate the economies of other states to its own. The only potential peer competitor to the United States at present is China. China has a serious modern army, a strong industrial economy, and has begun to forge its own global economic zone outside of the US-dominated “rules based international order” with the Belt and Road Initiative launched in 2013.
These absolute statements are amazing, on the one hand this author wants to frame this war as a proxy war but magically declares Russia can’t control other economy’s and therefore isn’t a threat to the United States. What a game this author is playing, making up that Russia can’t control eastern Europe and magically asserting America would only want to help another country if the United States was under direct threat! All that is really being said here is that it is magically bad the United States wants to send arm’s. Matthew Strupp the rambler can’t come out and clearly denounce Russia, the best he offers is that we should support the Russian peace movement. Snark aside, I respect Strupp being critical of America overseas post 1991 but it is absolutely amazing he can’t be as critical of Russia as he is of America. Poor DSA member Strupp , he’s involved in a post Socialist Party of America breakaway sect that rejects political independence, adores The Democratic Party and hopes to magically steer the ship away from a larger war in Eastern Europe via idealism! Srupp will be singing Imagine (John Lennon) with the Ukraine and Russian peace movements any day now! Only god knows who these forces are who are gonna to stop Russia and America, Matthew hasn’t a clue!
The left has to face the questions of the times, not looking away to mumble idealism to ourselves and changing the topic. The fate of the world rests on Eastern Europe right now and one can’t seriously believe Russia taking Ukraine would be a step forward. Support from America and various EU countries should not be opposed, we should not be leaving the people of Eastern Europe at the mercy of Russian tanks and the scam democracy’s it imposes. I absolutely believe America and NATO should be criticized and will be the first to admit The West has not acted in good faith on Russia post 1991, but that doesn’t have me running to support Russia’s actions in Eastern Europe. I’m not going to be the unserious thinker who speaks for Karl Marx who hasn’t been alive recently , but I would urge engagement with his writing on international crises of his time. I’m not aware of Marx imposing interludes of 3rd camp style thinking, he didn’t offer a magic strategy for a more coherent socialist movement to remove Louis Napoleon did he? During the American Civil War both he and Engle’s are deeply aware of America’s violent Western expansion and all sorts of its domestic policy sin’s, but both writers rightfully focused on the correct outcome and that was Union victory. Marx and Engle’s could always write for a broader audience and not pander to the base every forth sentence, something lost on many modern readers.
I look up to Marx because of critical thinking, rejection of idealist socialism and in the end he doesn’t want us to look away from world events of our times. It’s not about arguing Marx was right about every international issue, it’s about understanding his methodology. The question of world peace revolves around Ukraine right now and no amount of hand waving can negate that. I’m not making absolute claims that the EU and America are noble and nor am I saying driving Russia back out creates world peace. What I am saying is Russia or really any nation endlessly taking over other countries is antithetical to socialism and world peace. I’m not gleeful about war but I’m not gonna sit around and pretend because Ukraine has massive problems that permits me to not care about its future and support Russia’s goals. I support investigative journalism talking about Nazi elements in Ukraine and I don’t for a second idealize president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, we must be critical of them. It’s amazing to me when left wing elements excuse or root for Russia, a country that has more Nazi’s than Ukraine, at least in terms of raw numbers!
It’s taken me a long time to understand that supporting arming Ukraine is the correct worldview and as much as I support a peace deal we must be honest, the Russian’s aren’t coming to the table right now. The Russian’s are hell bent on winning and I’m not gonna sit around joining Tucker and MAGA declaring America’s sin’s make this okay. Karl Marx never endlessly attacked liberals of the 19th century for the hell of it and nor will I do such in 2024. As much as I dislike the US Congress, Joe Biden and NATO, I’m rooting for Ukraine aid to pass again. The struggle against Russian tank’s is not a NATO capitalist conspiracy, it’s the best any of us can hope for right now for a chance at a more stable future. If your justified true belief is that America should do nothing overseas and is always wrong, go ahead and just spell that out. Don’t be like Matthew Strupp with a mixing bowl of 20th century Marxism, sociology and bitterness , just say what you mean. It is not true that any path out of contemporary liberalism is good. In the end the world isn’t good guys versus bad guys; it is a living nightmare!