Summary of "Революция или нет? Джоти Брар о вмешательстве России в Украину"

The video features an in-depth interview with Jyoti Brar, Chairperson of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), discussing Russia’s special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine and its broader geopolitical and class implications from a Marxist-Leninist perspective.

Key Points:

Context and Narrative on the Ukraine Conflict
- The war did not start with Russia’s 2022 military operation but traces back to 2014 following two coups in Ukraine that overthrew governments seeking neutrality between Europe and Russia.
- Since 2014, Ukraine has been controlled by a fascist junta backed by NATO intelligence agencies (CIA, MI6), which suppressed Russian-speaking populations and opposition groups, fostering Russophobia and rewriting history to glorify fascist collaborators from WWII.
- Western media and leftist groups often ignore or erase this context, falling prey to bourgeois propaganda that paints Russia as the aggressor without acknowledging NATO’s role in provoking conflict.
- Russia’s intervention was a slow, measured response to an impending large-scale NATO-backed offensive against Donbass, aimed at protecting its sovereignty and the Russian-speaking population.
Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism
- The conflict is framed as a clash between imperialist powers (Western NATO bloc) and anti-imperialist forces (Russia and its allies). Russia is not an imperialist country but a sovereign state resisting Western imperialism.
- The post-Soviet era saw Western imperialists plundering former socialist countries and intensifying attacks on the working class globally, deepening capitalist crises like overproduction and stagflation.
- The current global crisis drives imperialists toward war as a means to restore profitability through destruction and plunder.
Failures of the Left and Communist Movement
- Many communist parties and leftist organizations have become demoralized, revisionist, and absorbed bourgeois narratives, losing faith in revolution and the working class’s ability to overthrow capitalism.
- This has led to their acceptance of pacifist or reformist positions, failing to support Russia’s anti-imperialist stance and instead calling the SMO an invasion.
- The interview stresses the need for communists to defend anti-imperialist struggles and oppose imperialist wars genuinely.
Class Struggle and Revolutionary Possibilities
- The SMO and the broader geopolitical shifts signal a new era where anti-imperialist forces are regrouping (Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, etc.) against the declining imperialist West.
- Despite Russia not being socialist, its resistance to imperialism opens revolutionary possibilities by challenging the global capitalist order.
- The working class in imperialist countries must actively oppose their own ruling classes, who continue to finance wars and exploitation globally.
- The post-war social contract that granted workers concessions is breaking down, and workers must organize independently of parliamentary illusions.
Electoral Politics and Parliamentary Illusions
- Electoralism dominates workers’ political consciousness, especially in imperial centers like Britain, where parliamentary politics is often seen as the main avenue for change.
- The Labour Party and similar social-democratic forces have repeatedly failed workers, implementing austerity and suppressing genuine socialist movements.
- The example of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership shows how reformist leftists are co-opted or neutralized, including complicity in anti-Palestinian purges and acceptance of Zionist definitions of anti-Semitism.
- Communist parties must expose the limitations of bourgeois parliamentarism and focus on educating workers about systemic change rather than electoral illusions.
Identity Politics and Culture Wars
- Identity politics, as currently advanced in the West, is critiqued as a bourgeois ideology that fragments the working class and undermines socialist unity.
- Genuine struggles against women’s oppression and racism are inherently class struggles and can only be resolved by overthrowing capitalism.
- Racism is a fundamental tool of imperialism used to divide workers and justify exploitation and war.
- The left must avoid falling into culture wars or sectarian disputes that distract from the class struggle and instead build solidarity across oppressed groups.
Current Challenges and the Role of Communists
- The working class faces multiple crises: war, poverty, housing, employment, and systemic oppression.
- Imperialist powers manipulate social tensions, such as anti-immigrant sentiment, to divide workers and maintain control.
- Communist parties, though small and marginalized, have a critical role in educating, organizing, and uniting workers against imperialism and capitalism.
- The interview closes with a call for urgent mass organization and revolutionary consciousness, rejecting false hopes tied to electoral politics.