Against the absurd cynicism of campism. Against any double standards

By: Communist Workers Party

Whilst Ukrainian cities are being gutted by the ballistic missiles of imperialist Russia, with no air defences to speak of, the ‘campist’ tirades against the so-called ‘Nazi regime in Kyiv’ are becoming increasingly revolting. Anyone who’s familiar with our party’s positions already knows that we offer no political support to Zelensky’s bourgeois government. We oppose its anti-worker policies and denounce the sell-off of the Ukrainian people’s assets, land and raw materials to Western imperialist powers. But we oppose Zelensky from the side and the interests of the Ukrainian working class and youth, not from the side of Russian bombers, Putin’s occupying troops or their imperialist propaganda. To speak of a ‘Nazi regime’ in Ukraine is precisely to side with the invaders’ war propaganda. It also defies the most basic logic, at least for those without wool pulled over their eyes.

Let’s give a few examples so that even the most biased can understand.

All around the world, we’ve seen the massive demonstrations with young people marching through Ukrainian cities, starting with the capital, to protest the removal of the Defence Minister (Fedorov) from office. These demonstrations went on for weeks, mirroring – on an even larger scale – those held a year ago against corruption. These demonstrations take place in a country at war, subjected to daily bombardments. Could one ever imagine a Nazi regime allowing mass demonstrations against the government, especially in wartime? Clearly not, because everybody knows that a Nazi regime is defined by its suppression and repression of all free expression.

Moreover, one need not be a Nazi to ban and suppress the right to demonstrate. A reactionary Bonapartist regime such as Putin’s is more than enough; indeed, he not only prevents any demonstrations but sentences to years in prison anyone who dares simply to speak of ‘war’ in Ukraine. Even the standard ‘bourgeois democracy’ is enough, like Germany, which bans any pro-Palestine demonstrations. Not to mention the Trumpian regime in the US, which kills demonstrators in the streets thanks to the new presidential militias. And one could go on at length.

No, for someone, the Zelensky government is the embodiment of Nazism, and the ultra-reactionary Russian government is the liberator from Nazism. How can people make such a preposterous argument? Let’s not deflect the issue by citing Azov, because that would be like saying that Italy has had a fascist regime for decades simply because we have the Folgore brigade and generals like Vannacci.

The truth is that portraying Zelensky’s bourgeois government as Nazi is not only to capitulate to Russian propaganda but also to sugarcoat the image of Nazism, as if it had a liberal side. Absurd.

But there’s more. The campist press (Fatto Quotidiano and the like) gloated over the youth demonstrations, portraying them as a demand for Ukraine’s surrender. More precisely, as a call for ‘peace’ through surrender. But anyone without an agenda views them as the exact opposite. The masses of young people took to the streets to defend the Minister who – in their eyes – has been most capable of defending Ukraine against Russian aggression, thanks to the technological innovation of drones – manufactured in Ukraine – with which they can strike deep into Russian refineries, the main source of funding for Moscow’s imperialist war. Is it really so hard to understand? Obviously, a defensive war waged in this way can also, to some extent, reduce Ukrainian losses at the front, and this is certainly one reason why young people support it. But they support it in any case precisely in the name of Ukraine’s indisputable right to defend itself against Russian bombardments by all available means. This is exactly the right that the ‘campists’ deny Ukraine in the name of ‘peace’ and in the ‘interests of the Ukrainians’. This adds the most revolting hypocrisy to their cynicism.

In Italy, there is only one organisation on the political left which, in opposition to Zelensky, defends Ukraine against Russian imperialism. It is the same organisation which, while in opposition to the clerical-fascist regime in Iran (a fascist one at that, yes), unconditionally defends Iran against the bombings by American and Zionist imperialist powers. It’s us, the Communist Workers’ Party. We do not apply double standards. We stand tall and refuse to be intimidated, as we did when we alone on the left defended Iraq’s right to resist the occupying forces – including Italian troops – whilst the so-called ‘radical’ left turned a blind eye.

That is why we support the internationalist solidarity campaign with Ukraine, just as we have supported all solidarity with Palestine and the Flotilla. Alongside our comrades in the Ukrainian Socialist League.