Brigade Prizrak, Communist militiaman raising the Soviet flag on freed Debaltsevo
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdZ4R2mAX4U
Communists of Workers’ Front organizzation, Association of Novorossia officers, brought two special gifts to Brigade « Don » that is fighting at the front…
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROsVn082giw
Interview with Victor Shapinov, an active participant in the "Russian Spring" in Kharkov and Odessa, and coordinator of the Borotba (Struggle) movement...
http://redstaroverdonbass.blogspot.com/2015/08/victor-shapinov-interview-donbass.html
Ghost Brigade: Urgent Appeal for Humanitarian Assistance (By Darya Mitina, head of International Relations – United Communist Party of Russia, 22/7/2015)
http://redstaroverdonbass.blogspot.com/2015/06/ghost-brigade-urgent-appeal-for.html
Lugansk communist: ‘We fight first and foremost for peace’ (By Greg Butterfield – WW, June 17, 2015)
Workers World interviewed Ekaterina Popova, a leader of the Communist Party, Lugansk Regional Committee in the Lugansk People’s Republic. Popova is a founding member of the Forum of Communist, Socialist, Workers’, Environmental and Anti-Fascist Forces...
http://www.workers.org/articles/2015/06/17/lugansk-communist-we-fight-first-and-foremost-for-peace/
By Greg Butterfield
Workers World interviewed Maxim Chalenko, Secretary of the Communist Party – Lugansk Regional Committee in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LC). Chalenko is a founder of the Forum of Communist, Socialist, Workers’, Environmental and Anti-Fascist Forces. He helped to organize the Donbass International Forum titled “Anti-Fascism, Internationalism, Solidarity” held on May 8 in Alchevsk. This is part 1 of the interview.
Maxim Chalenko: I was born on June 30, 1980, in Severodonetsk, in the Lugansk region [then part of Soviet Ukraine]. I spent most of my youth in Lugansk city, where my family moved in 1990. I graduated from Lugansk School Number 57, then East Ukrainian State University with a degree in history and archiving.
I’ve been active in the communist movement for 17 years. In 1997, I joined the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine (the youth organization of the Communist Party of Ukraine). I organized protests for the restoration of students’ rights in 2000-2003, and became a member of the Communist Party of Ukraine in 2000.
In Kiev, I was active in the movement "Ukraine without Kuchma" in 2002, when police violently broke up our tent camp. Later I organized a series of protests of workers and miners in the Lugansk region.
I was elected secretary of the Zhovtnevy District Committee of the Communist Party in Lugansk, then secretary of the Communist Party – Lugansk Regional Committee, Secretary of the Lugansk Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, and as a deputy to the Lugansk Regional Council.
WW: As a young person, what it was like to live through the collapse of the Soviet Union?
MC: As the son of a Soviet soldier, the collapse of the USSR hit me very hard. The destruction of this great country, whose cornerstone was to protect the workers’ interests, made many in the military burn with a desire to defend the Soviet Union. But unfortunately, after the collapse, those actively serving in the military were forbidden to speak of the USSR.
Many communists began to focus their efforts and energy on trying to build a just, socialist society within the framework of the national states formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, including us in Ukraine. Perhaps this was one of the main reasons for our failures.
In my opinion, the disintegration of the Soviet Union into national states, which each went into its own socio-political process, only sped up the transition from the socialist to the capitalist path. A powerful, ideologically cohesive communist movement was then split and disorganized.
WW: Tell us about the activity of the communists in Lugansk following the U.S.-backed coup in Kiev in February 2014.
MC: After the anti-people coup in Kiev -- and even during it, at the end of 2013 -- we organized the first militia squadron to protect the civilian population of Lugansk from fascism. Our goals were to protect the population from aggression, provocations and attacks by neo-fascists, and to protect monuments related to our history and culture. We worked to block the arrival of neo-Nazi militants from the West.
We also took on the important task of opposing attempts by the Lugansk authorities to negotiate the conditions for their surrender to the Kiev junta. After all, capitalists in power are indifferent to the problems of the people; all that is important is to preserve and increase their capital. We understood this, and moreover, saw it happening in practice.
Powerful politicians, dominated by members of the Party of Regions, were negotiating the surrender of Lugansk to the neo-fascists. With the tacit consent of the Kiev junta, they appointed new regional heads of the Interior Ministry, Prosecutor's Office and Security Service of Ukraine, whose purpose was to suppress the anti-fascist resistance in Lugansk.
We proposed to organize a broad anti-fascist front to stop the spread of fascism to the East and also raised the issue of geopolitical choice. At that time the issue of the restoration of the USSR came to the fore.
In the face of resurgent fascist ideology, including aggressive nationalism, we must intensify international work to demand the restoration of the USSR. We believe that now more than ever we have the basis to do it.
WW: What organizing and activities have you conducted since the start of the war?
MC: In April and May 2014, Lugansk residents were very worried about Slavyansk [in neighboring Donetsk] and its inhabitants, who were subjected to Ukrainian military aggression. We organized the first collection and shipment of humanitarian aid from Lugansk to the defenders of Slavyansk. No one realized that in a month we ourselves would need help.
Later, when the war came to our door, we actively engaged in the collection and transfer of humanitarian aid to Lugansk from Russia. We were really helped by the Communist Party committees of Rostov and Voronezh. These two areas border Lugansk, and even before the war we had established a wonderful comradeship with them. We appealed for help and they immediately responded, organizing the collection of food, medicine and clothing through their party structures. Almost every week throughout the summer, we brought this assistance into the LC.
Then, in early September, when the ceasefire agreement was signed in Minsk, we held a re-registration of the party ranks and started to restore our party structures. Some people had left, some had disappeared and did not respond to phone calls. Several communists were killed. The secretaries of the party committees were scattered, mainly engaged in solving problems in their cities. At that time communication and transportation were restored, and within a few months, we restored ties with all local organizations.
WW: Why did you decide to organize an international solidarity forum this spring?
MC: There were two reasons: First, it was the landmark 70 anniversary of the victory of socialism over fascism [the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II]; second, and most important, today the left-wing in Donbass is in great need of international support and assistance from allied organizations.
In spite of high ideals, including our own, the movement of the People’s Republics along the socialist path has not been simple and unambiguous. Yes, at the initial stage, all the revolutionary movements of the streets and squares were associated with anti-fascism and the desire of the majority of the population to take the socialist path of development. But no one really voiced the slogans “factories to the workers” and “land to the peasants,” and the socialistic character of the republics remained only in form but not in essence.
The forum was significant in that it gave youth of Europe and the world an understanding of the conditions in which we are fighting today.
On May 19 in Makeyevka, a solemn rally was held devoted to establishing the Pioneer organization of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR). The initiator of the event was Deputy of the DNR National Soviet Boris Litvinov, reported the state media correspondent...
http://redstaroverdonbass.blogspot.it/2015/05/pioneer-organization-established-in.html?view=magazine
В Макеевке создана пионерская организация (Министерство информации ДНР, 19 mag 2015)
19 мая в Макеевке состоялось торжественное собрание, посвященное основанию пионерской организации Донецкой Народной Республики. Инициатором мероприятия выступил депутат Народного Совета ДНР Борис Литвинов, сообщил корреспондент Государственного медиа-холдинга...
http://dnr-online.ru/news/v-makeevke-sozdana-pionerskaya-organizaciya/
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=16&v=aHrpFYkrIOA
Komsomol revived in Donetsk People’s Republic (June 8, 2015)
In Donetsk, the constituent congress of the Lenin Communist Youth League (LKSM) of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) was held June 7...
http://redstaroverdonbass.blogspot.com/2015/06/komsomol-revived-in-donetsk-peoples.html
VIDEO: Учредительный съезд Комсомола ДНР (Министерство информации ДНР, 8 giu 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNi3wgtlR3k
Boris Litvinov was interviewed by Halyna Mokrushyna for New Cold War.org on November 30, 2014 about the political situation in Donetsk, the region’s relations with Ukraine and Russia, and the future of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Boris Litvinov is the former head of the Supreme Council of the DPR and is a deputy of the People’s Council of the DPR. He is the leader of the Communist Party of the Donetsk People’s Republic, founded in October 2014.
Is the project of the Donetsk People’s Republic supported by the population?
When we organized our referendum in May [referendum for the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic], we thought that common sense would prevail. We have 3.2 million voters in Ukraine Donetsk and 2,700,000 thousand voted, of which 2,511,000 voted for the creation of Donetsk republic. We believed in people’s right to self-determination.
We are united in our aspirations. That’s why we wanted a negotiated, ‘civilized’ separation with Ukraine. And indeed, at the beginning, it was going this way.
We knew that negotiations with Kyiv would be long and difficult, but we wanted a separation. We would cooperate with Kyiv, since we have a common economy and a common transportation system. We would share it and pay for it. But Kyiv decided otherwise. They started bombing us already during the day of referendum. And it got worse. Now we have a full-blown civil war.
Do you see your future with Ukraine?
I support united Ukraine with both hands. I was born here, I live here, and I am an ethnic Russian. We are different mentally and spiritually [from Western Ukraine – HM]. Several hundred years under Polish-Lithuanian rule created a certain Polish-Lithuanian spirit.
We in Eastern Ukraine are very young. Our Ukraine has only 150 years – before that was Dikoe pole (the wild plains). Our land is international. With the beginning of industrialization, people of all nationalities came here. It did not matter what nationality you were. What mattered was your readiness to build, to create. It came out particularly strong during the Soviet period. Added to this was the ideology of internationalism. That is why we are internationalists.
We do not want Kyiv’s idea of building a mono-ethnic state, and particularly the methods which they have been using since Yushchenko came to power. [1] We are internationalists. We do not want a state for one nation. This is a contradiction, and I do not see how we can resolve it.
Another contradiction that we have with Kyiv is their drive to join the European Union, which is not in a hurry to accept Ukraine. It is a rupture of links with Russia. We do not like this, and we do not think that Kyiv will turn towards the Eurasian Union [2] any time soon.
A third contradiction is the image of Russia as the enemy, which has been formed and imposed during 23 years of Ukrainian independence. It has been formed through education, ideology, arts. If a state creates an enemy, it has to protect itself against this enemy, or to fight it. Because Ukraine is too weak, it appeals to NATO and other Western allies. We know quite well that NATO cannot be allowed here, because this would be a direct threat to us and to our brothers and sisters in Russia.
All these contradictions are very hard to resolve in the near future. Only time will resolve them and show who was right and who was wrong. With time we will reconcile. But still we continue killing each other…
We do not have the motivation to kill, we are defending ourselves. Those who come to our land do not have the motivation to kill, either. Who comes here? Workers and peasants. They come to kill their own people because they have a different opinion. We did not come to their land, they came to ours. Most of them have been forced. Of course, there are ideologically driven individuals among them. But most of them are soldiers, officers who fulfill their duty. They are forced to fight this civil war.
How did the ‘Anti-Maidan movement begin in Donetsk?
I was on Maidan Square three times – in November, when it all started, in December, and in early February. I saw how it all unfolded. In the second half of February, the wave reached us in Donetsk and Donetsk region. We stood up because we did not want Maidan ideology to invade our land.
The first confrontation happened on February 21, when Pravyi Sektor [3] planned to come to Donetsk to take by assault the regional administration building and to destroy monuments to Lenin and other symbols of Soviet epoch. We stood in front of the Lenin monument – communists, members of the Party of Regions, monarchists, other rightist and leftist movements – protecting it as a symbol of our land. We stood up and remained there till the end of May. Tents have been taken down, as nothing threatens our symbols anymore.