The situation in Ukraine

[Woland]

I wanted to start a large thread about this, but since there is a lot of material to cover on a wide range of issues, such as the gas dispute, the horrible state of the economy, the political situation and so on, I will post something about these things here as often as I can, mostly because there is no information about it in any Western media, be it left or not, also on the situation in Latvia and Russia and so on, so I'll try to keep you updated. Now to start, here's a translation of a very interesting, in my opinion, article about a recent workers struggle, which I found on the Russian Left Front:

Kherson: workers take factory and require its nationalization, 03.02.2009.

'In the morning of the 3rd of February, the workers of the Kherson (a city of 300.000 in southern Ukraine) Machine Building Plant, took one of the factory buildings. They demanded the nationalization of the plant without any compensation to the owner, and the payment of their wages. The workers intend to occupy the building until all of their demands are met. The workers formed a directing labor collective Soviet (!!!), which took control of the situation in the factory. As eyewitnesses of the event report, in the morning the workers of the plant burst into the territory of enterprise and, after breaking the doors, took the administrative building. No one was injured and the guards of the enterprise did not show any serious resistance. Police is not reacting to the situation and is not getting involved (!).
The protesters say they have not been paid since September 2008, and the debt is already at 5 million hrivna (ukranian currency). According to the workers, at a previous encounter with the board of the factory, they were told that the owners do not intend to preserve the enterprise. As a result, under the threat of getting fired, more than 900 workers took part. In order to keep their jobs they said they are ready to "carry out the most rigid actions of protest", as said in a statement of the labour collective. Ukraine is facing a very serious economic crisis. According to some estimates, in the last several months industrial production in the country has been reduced by a third (!) and it continues to go down.'


All I can say is...finally. Finally are workers from the former Soviet Union fighting against privatization and capitalism like never before. Their lives are nothing compared to what they once had been, and I can really support this statement. There has only been extreme decline, and this is very important.

[LeninBalls]

According to sources, the Communist Party of Ukraine also holds the most seats in parliament. :)

[Woland]

According to sources, the Communist Party of Ukraine also holds the most seats in parliament. :)

What sources? from 1993?

They certainly do not.

[Die Neue Zeit]

This militant action is indeed most welcoming. :)

[KurtFF8]

Actions like this (as well as the "sister actions" of West Europe and East Russia) make me start to rethink many on the left's worries about "we need to capitalize on the situation with our organizations!" sentiment. The working class is proving that it can develop a consciousness on its own, and it has been doing so quite a bit the past few months. Granted leftist organizations are still quite important, and are in fact still playing an important role, but the working class itself is where to look, not statements by organizations like the KKE or the new political makeup of Iceland.

[Rjevan]

...mostly because there is no information about it in any Western media, be it left or not, also on the situation in Latvia and Russia and so on, so I'll try to keep you updated.
That's true, you hear nothing about these things in the media. Thank you for informing us! :thumbup1:
I agree that it's high time that people stand up and try to stop this sick turbo-capitalism, which ruins Russia and all former Soviet states.

[Bilan]

Actions like this (as well as the "sister actions" of West Europe and East Russia) make me start to rethink many on the left's worries about "we need to capitalize on the situation with our organizations!" sentiment. The working class is proving that it can develop a consciousness on its own, and it has been doing so quite a bit the past few months. Granted leftist organizations are still quite important, and are in fact still playing an important role, but the working class itself is where to look, not statements by organizations like the KKE or the new political makeup of Iceland.

Welcome to the side of anarcho-syndicalists and left communists. :)

[KurtFF8]

Welcome to the side of anarcho-syndicalists and left communists. :)

I don't know about all that ;)

[Woland]

Alright, just today there was a voting in the Ukrainian Parliament which was meant to bring down the current government of Prime Minister Julia Timoshenko- a coalition between the Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc of the current president Yuschenko and the Julia Timoshenko Bloc. Even if they are in coalition, there has been a lot of fighting between Yuschenko and Timoshenko- recently Yuschenko gave an adress on state television in which he blamed the gas dispute with Russia and the horrible state of the economy on the actions of the Prime Minister. 203 deputies voted to pass the bill, with 226 needed for it to succeed- a close call.

[Woland]

Oh damnit. I've had to translate the same damn large article twice now after losing it, but now my damn internets failed and I lost it all again. Yes, there is new information about the occupation and everything, so anyway, I will...try again...tomorrow. Solidarity with the Kherson workers!

[punisa]

Don't let my praise make you work too much, but I'll congratulate you on providing us with an in-depth info comrade BehemothTheCat.
The capturing of a factory is really a great news, just goes to show how propaganda is limited - such news I'd never hear on my national TV.
I hope more such actions will be taken in Ukraine.

Do you know how the thing started? Did those workers organize themselves or were they backed by some party?

On a sad note, I remember a general strike of workers (majority female) in a big wool processing factory here in Croatia. I though "finally, someone is NOT gonna take it any more !".
And how it ended? They went to church together to pray for god to help them :crying:

[cyu]

I've had to translate the same damn large article twice now after losing it


I usually write long stuff in notepad first, so if something goes wrong with the browser, I still have it.

Anyway, looking forward to your translation :thumbup1:

[punisa]

I usually write long stuff in notepad first, so if something goes wrong with the browser, I still have it.

Me too, can be devastating to loose work :crying:
Even when I put a simple comment I follow this routine:
SELECT ALL - CUT (to be sure it copied) - PASTE - SUBMIT :laugh:

[Woland]

Perhaps this should be moved to worker struggles. Anyway, here's the new stuff:

The workers of Kherson continue to protest, 08.02.2009

'On February 7 in Kherson (Ukraine) a demonstration took place in support of the workers of the Kherson Machine Building Plant. About 2000 people, workers of the Kherson Machine Building Plant, Kherson Cotton Combine, Kherson Commercial Port, the representatives of the Kherson oil refinery, activists of left-radical Marxist and anarchist organizations took part in the protest. At about 11.00 workers assembled at the Kherson Machine Building Plant (KHMZ), from where they walked in a column to the central area of the city, in front of the building of Kherson provincial state administration. Workers bore slogans with the inscriptions: "Let the oligarchs pay for the crisis", "Today, Kherson - tomorrow, the entire Ukraine", "Don't be fooled, continue to strike!". A number of these seemed to support the idea of creating a committee for the coordination of protesting collectives of Ukraine. Let us recall that this initiative was advanced by the workers of KHMZ in their address to all workers of the country. During the demonstration there were questions about the criminal responsibility of the persons guilty of not paying wages in the KHMZ and in other enterprises of Ukraine (if people were actually punished for this, thousands would be in jail right now). As a result of the protest, which ended at about 13.00, a resolution was accepted, in which the workers once again insisted on the nationalization of the KHMZ, State Demand (they used the official USSR term for this) to the production and the complete liquidation of all wage debts. The police did not do anything to stop the demonstration.

Meanwhile, the guards of the plant, using the absence of the majority of the workers, broke the door of the bookkeeping department. The guards called the police and attempted to put the blame on the workers. The representatives of the Soviet (written as Soviet, capitalized) of the worker collective declared that the doors of the bookkeeping department were still intact in the morning and that the guards were to blame. Let us recall that on February 3 the workers of the Kherson Machine Building Plant managed to take over the factory. More than 300 workers stormed the building of the factory management and demanded the payment of wages and the nationalization of the enterprise under the control of the worker collective, without any compensation to the owner. They intend to hold the building until all of their demands are met. The situation is under the control of the worker collective Soviet, elected on Feb. 2.

From the workers of Kherson to the workers of Ukraine

Workers of Ukraine!

The deeper is Ukraine immersed in the economic crisis, the more obvious it becomes, that the authorities and large business have only one plan to solve it. They try put its entire weight on the arms of the workers, the old, and the young. Prices of food and basic commodities grow, cost of rent and utility services rise, fares in public transport grow, medicine and medical aid becomes less accessible. Instead of trying to help the recently fired and unemployed, officials and capitalists think only about how to take away everything they have left. Instead of trying to do everything to keep jobs and creating new ones, officials and owners of enterprises try to get rid of workers. As a result of this policy at the Kherson Machine Building Plant, production stopped, wages are not paid, all transfers to the budget and the pension fund have ceased. However, neither the owner of the KHMZ nor any present authority plan to restart the enterprise.

Under these conditions the worker collective decided not to surrender, but to unite and fight for the workers interests. We undertook some decisive actions: rigid pickets of the county administration, we took and we guard the plant from theft of finished production and equipment, we fight for the truth about our fight. We demanded from the government of Ukraine the nationalization of the KHMZ under the control of the worker collective. We demanded the freezing of the bank accounts of the owner of the plant and liquidation of all wage debts, and also the payments to the budget and the pension fund. We demanded from the government a guarantee of State Demand and the sale of the equipment produced by the plant. We demanded the liquidations of all wage debts of all workers of the city of Kherson, guarantee of full employment in the city and the region.

We understand that we can attain the realization of our demands only with the solidarity and the support of workers in other enterprises and establishments. The worker collectives of enterprises of the entire Ukraine must combine efforts and support each other in this fight. We must not hope for aid of the political parties in authority, we must hope first of all in ourselves. They showed that they are completely indifferent to the plight of the workers.

The interests of workers can only be protected by the workers themselves!

We propose to coordinate our efforts, creating a committee for the coordination of the protesting collectives of Ukraine. This committee must advance the agreed demands on behalf of the workers of Ukraine and ensure the coordination of combined actions for the realization of these demands. We demand the following:

No to job cuts! Workers must not pay for the mistakes of the owners and authorities!

No to bankruptcies and closing of enterprises! Nationalization of strategic plants and enterprises under the control of the workers collectives! First of all there, where owners are slashing jobs, not paying wages, and destroying production. Freezing of bank accounts of the owners of the plants, liquidation of all wage debts, payments into the budget and the pension fund. Government guarantee of State Demand and the sale of the production. The government helped the banks with several billions, so we demand that the money should go not to the parasitic financial structures, but to guarantee jobs and to support real production. Liquidation of all wage debts before all workers of the Ukraine, an increase of the wages to a worthy level, indexing in accordance with the inflation! Guarantee of full employment in the whole country! We call upon all workers of enterprises of Ukraine in join us in the fight for the interests of hired workers, Labor Veterans and the studying young people! Create worker Soviets, militant trade unions. Together we will win.'

---

Phew. I'm sorry if it isn't that good in quality, I'm in a hurry. Anyway, 'militant' isn't the word. I've heard some stuff which is enough to call this fanatical.

The workers haven't been paid since September, and now all 1500 workers are going to get fired. Really, the question isn't how, but how come this didn't happen earlier. I can only hope this spreads to Russia, and all other former Soviet republics. Solidarity with the workers!

[Crux]

From Robitnichi Sprotiv (CWI Ukraine):

http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/02/1002.html

[Cumannach]

thanks for translating that. it's perfect quality, and very interesting.

[Woland]

From Robitnichi Sprotiv (CWI Ukraine):

http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2009/02/1002.html

Good pictures!

I'll look for more info on RCWP-RPC.

[Dominicana_1965]

I feel that these militant workers need to go on the (armed) offensive before they either get brutally cracked down by the capitalist state or actually manage the factory and the revolutionary upheaval is forgotten and fails to spread.

[The Author]

This is great news. Thank you for posting this Behemoth.

Solidarity with the workers of Kherson!


All I can say is...finally. Finally are workers from the former Soviet Union fighting against privatization and capitalism like never before. Their lives are nothing compared to what they once had been, and I can really support this statement. There has only been extreme decline, and this is very important.

Well said. It boosts my morale every time I see news of workers anywhere in the world fighting back, showing that they have summoned the courage to fight the bourgeois bastards and put them in their place. It means that we can do it, we can win- if we have the determination to do it.

[Rjevan]

The quality is fine. Very interesting, again, thank you for translating!

...before they either get brutally cracked down by the capitalist...
That's true. I already asked myself, why the police didn't try to dissolve the demonstration.

[cyu]

I already asked myself, why the police didn't try to dissolve the demonstration.
They probably can see the writing on the wall. They know the economy in general is collapsing around them (and obviously not just in their country) and many other employees in the area are thinking the same thing.

Taking what happened in Argentina as an example, there were employees that were armed with only slingshots guarding their places of work and they still managed to fight off police attacks many many times. One of the main reasons for their success was because they had a lot of community support - the people in the community would all join in and help them defend their work place.

[Woland]

Good news!

From RCWP-RPC:


On February 10, approximately 400 workers of "Vinnitsa Bearing Company" (Vinnitsa, a city of 350.000 in central-western Ukraine) demonstrated in the central area of the city, demanding to speak with the chairman of the enterprise. According to the workers, an agreement was signed in April between the chairman and the trade union, which said that the enterprise would be working by Feb. 1 and all wage debt would have been paid. However, none of this happened. They have not been adequately paid for 8 months. On Feb. 1 the chairman agreed to speak with the workers.


In Kharkov (second largest city in Ukraine, 1.5 million people), around 200 workers of the Malyshev Tank Factory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malyshev_Tank_Factory) (one of the biggest tank factories in the world) demonstrated inside the enterprise. Workers refused to work and demanded their wages, which they have not received since August. Strikers say that the management transferred them to a three-day work week, and that the industrial complex is not heated (it must be -30 at least...). This situation almost mirrors that of Kherson, except that the factory is state-owned.


Workers of the Odessa (fourth largest city, 1 million people) utility enterprise "Odesgorelektrotrans" intend to strike. On Feb. 13 a warning protest occured, in which the workers stated that if their demands are not met, atleast 100 workers will go on strike. They say that their wages have been cut, together with their work time, and that they have received their wages for December only in February. The director of the enterprise denies that this is actually the case.

Perhaps this should be moved to worker struggles?

[cyu]

Tank factory?? Nice :thumbup:

[Woland]

Finally some new info, there was an interview with the elected speaker of the Soviet, I won't post it all, but here's a summary:

'Last Friday the owner of the factory promised the workers their wages. But this has not happened. He also ordered the workers to leave the factory by March 16. The workers had a meeting in which they decided to go to the building of the provincial administration for a demonstration. The governor let them enter the building so that he could explain what is done to help the workers. However, the workers found his answers unsatisfactory and refused to leave the building. About 150 workers still remain in the building (March 2). The government in Kiev is currently deciding what to do with the factory and the production. The workers said they will not back down until all of their demands are met.'

Good stuff.

[Rjevan]

Ha, these people are ruling. It's good to see that they don't give up. :thumbup:

[Woland]

Well...

The worker strike in Kherson has been crushed

A few days ago, the security of the Kherson Machine Building Plant forcibly removed the workers occupying the building and sealed the gates. Later, it was notified, that out of over 1000 people, only about 300 will remain to work at the factory. The facory has been given about 12 million hrivna in aid from the government, however, when this money runs out, the owner still plans to close the factory down.
-

[PeaderO'Donnell]

According to sources, the Communist Party of Ukraine also holds the most seats in parliament. :)

"Soviet" National Bolsheviks with their belief in a strong state as a good thing in and of itself and who knows what else are in no way Communists. If they were living in the west most of them would be straight fascists. The articles below give some indication of what we are dealing with...

http://www.rosenoire.org/articles/russian_nb.php

http://www.geocities.com/integral_tradition/warcont.html

[Woland]

"Soviet" National Bolsheviks with their belief in a strong state as a good thing in and of itself and who knows what else are in no way Communists. If they were living in the west most of them would be straight fascists. The articles below give some indication of what we are dealing with...

http://www.rosenoire.org/articles/russian_nb.php

http://www.geocities.com/integral_tradition/warcont.html

Yes, but what does this have to do with the Ukrainian CP?

[PeaderO'Donnell]

Yes, but what does this have to do with the Ukrainian CP?

And what does Radical Conservatism and Industrial production have to do with Communism (the negation of wage labour and the state?)?

[Woland]

Are you trying to tell me I (or the Ukrainian CP) am/is national-bolshevik?

[Rjevan]

Well...

The worker strike in Kherson has been crushed

A few days ago, the security of the Kherson Machine Building Plant forcibly removed the workers occupying the building and sealed the gates. Later, it was notified, that out of over 1000 people, only about 300 will remain to work at the factory. The facory has been given about 12 million hrivna in aid from the government, however, when this money runs out, the owner still plans to close the factory down.
-
Oh great, I knew it would end like this! :cursing: Another victory for the capitalists and the burgeoisie.:cursing:


And what does Radical Conservatism and Industrial production have to do with Communism (the negation of wage labour and the state?)?
Still, what's the Ukrainian CP got to do with the Nazbols? You hopefully don't want to intend that the CP and Woland are Nazbols because they support a strike in an Ukrainian factory?
And the Industrial production shows that the economy of the USSR beat the economy of the "glorious" capitalist and "booming" fascist states by far!

[PeaderO'Donnell]

And the Industrial production shows that the economy of the USSR beat the economy of the "glorious" capitalist and "booming" fascist states by far!

At what price?

[Blackscare]

Fuck man :(


Although I think if anything this will only go to aid the fomentation of revolution better than if they had succeeded. Hopefully.

[Woland]

Interestingly enough, no political party came to support the workers. They all found themselves either in a messy situation, or in the case of the two government parties, both made promises but didn't do anything. Party of Regions found out that the owner of the factory is one of its active members, so they kept quiet. The Socialist Party on the other hand, seems to have allowed the factory to be handed over to its current owners, so it stayed quiet aswell. The CP on the other hand, found one of its members (the director of the factory cadre) being involved in the strike on the side of the owners (lol) so they just released some statements, nothing much. I don't really support the Ukrainian CP, though the situation with communism in former Soviet countries is somewhat different.

However, this still seems to have been quite a big deal in the Ukraine.


At what price?

The fact that while the rest of the world was immersed in a massive crisis (count the cost of this), in the socialist USSR there was the fastest industrial growth ever seen (which is still unbeaten), rising living standards and widespread enthusiasm for socialism and labour?

[Rjevan]

Interestingly enough, no political party came to support the workers. They all found themselves either in a messy situation, or in the case of the two government parties, both made promises but didn't do anything. Party of Regions found out that the owner of the factory is one of its active members, so they kept quiet. The Socialist Party on the other hand, seems to have allowed the factory to be handed over to its current owners, so it stayed quiet aswell. The CP on the other hand, found one of its members (the director of the factory cadre) being involved in the strike on the side of the owners (lol) so they just released some statements, nothing much.
:crying:


At what price?
I don't claim that the Soviet Union was perfect nor was Stalin but please, don't believe every single horrostory the nazi/burgeois propaganda invented in that time and afterwards about the USSR.

[PeaderO'Donnell]

:crying:


I don't claim that the Soviet Union was perfect nor was Stalin but please, don't believe every single horrostory the nazi/burgeois propaganda invented in that time and afterwards about the USSR.

Did you ever pause to consider that the great productive gains beloved of Stalinists must have come at a great human cost and the intergration of human communities that had preserved a great deal still of human autonomny into Capital (where you have wages, price and profit you have Capital) and the State? That the "USSR" under Stalin did not see the abolition of wage labour...infact it saw an increase it wage differences. Other bourgious technocrats and butchers from Cromwell to Hitler can also boast of their increases in the "productive forces" but such advances always seem to happen at the cost of humanity in general and the proletariat in particular.