Solidarity with the Ukrainian left

We are raising money to fund this speaker tour. Please donate here and share around.

Tour dates

Eventbrites to register for meetings here

• 5 March: Reception from 5pm, London, Bread and Roses, 68a Clapham Manor Street, SW4 6DZ
• 7 March: Workers' Liberty International Women’s Day meeting, London, 7.30pm, Marchmont Centre, 62 Marchmont St, WC1N 1AB
• 8 March: Speaking at a fringe meeting at TUC Women's Conference
• 9 March: Public meeting, Nottingham, 7pm, Mechanics Institute, 3 North Sherwood St, NG1 4EZ
• 10 March: Public meeting, Sheffield, 7pm, Quaker Meeting House, 10 St James Street, S1 2EW
• 11 March: Public meeting, Liverpool, 1pm, The Liverpool pub, 14 James Street, L2 7PQ
• 13 March: Public meeting, Brighton, 7pm, Queens Road Quadrant,, Queens Road, BN1 3XJ, United Kingdom

Olenka and Brie, two activists from the Ukrainian socialist organisation Sotsialniy Rukh (Social Movement, SR), are visiting Britain in March.

The comrades will meet activists, trade unionists, socialists and feminists as they briefly tour the country, speaking at conferences and public meetings.

Workers’ Liberty is helping to organise these comrades’ visit because we believe that Olenka and Bri carry an important message. These activists are authentic representatives of the socialist movement in Ukraine: socialists who back Ukraine’s war against Russian imperialist aggression but also defend workers’ interests against the Ukrainian capitalist class.

Unfortunately, such voices have rarely been heard in the UK. Sadly, and stupidly, much of the far left is hostile to Ukraine’s war to defend its right self-determination and so has comprehensively alienated itself from the entire Ukrainian left and labour movement.

All of Ukraine’s trade unions, and left organisations back Ukraine’s fight. The Ukrainian labour movement knows that it will be destroyed if Putin overruns their country. Elected councils and government will be abolished if Russia imposes its rule in Ukraine and, instead, a regime of terror will be installed.

Stop the War have had to make do with a single, right-wing Ukrainian pacifist and oddball to speak on their platforms. Groups like Socialist Worker and the Stalinist Morning Star cannot find a single left-wing Ukrainian who supports their position and will speak on their platforms.

The Ukrainian diaspora in the UK has been appalled by the far left that refuses to back them.

Workers’ Liberty hopes that as many British activists as possible will hear Olenka and Bri speak. As Russia begins a new offensive right across the Donbas frontlines hearing the voice Ukraine’s left is more important than ever.

We need to know exactly what we can do to help the Ukrainian left and we need to listen to the comrades’ perspectives and thoughts about the current situation. We also hope Ukrainians living in the UK will join us and discover that there are rational Marxists, Workers’ Liberty activists, who want to help their struggle.

Workers of the world, unite!