Ceasefire-protection troops in Ukraine?

One possibility now is that, post-peace deal, European and other troops will police a ceasefire in Ukraine. Starmer claims to have put together a “coalition of the willing” to help Ukraine after a deal is signed. Putin objects to the presence of foreign troops, but he might sign up.

What should the socialist left say? Firstly, this isn’t our answer. We say: arm Ukraine so it is able to defend itself. And, more fundamentally: international working-class solidarity, especially with anti-war people in Russia.

It does not follow, though, that we campaign for Britain or France to abandon Ukraine.

From the start of the Ukraine war Workers’ Liberty has defended Ukraine’s right to fight for its self-determination.

Ukraine has been the victim of Russian imperialist aggression. Russia is a repressive dictatorship led by President Vladimir Putin, a man who believes Ukraine has no right to exist.

National oppression

Ukraine has had a long history of suffering national oppression under Russian Tsars and inside Stalin’s Soviet Union. In areas of Ukraine Putin now controls Russia rules through terror; all independent political and trade union organisations have been suppressed, and oppositionists have been abducted, tortured and killed.

Ukraine, a poor country, has been pulverised. The state is currently investigating 140,000 cases of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

In such conditions Ukraine has the right to ask for help.

We have demanded the West fund and arm Ukraine, so it is able to defend itself. We have fought in the labour movement for the unions and Labour Party to clearly back Ukraine.

We approach these questions as Marxists, people who aim to have a long, broad, consistent view, and people who are careful with the words they use. We don’t just go along with “common opinion”.

Sometimes we have not backed Ukrainian demands.

We criticised the Ukrainian attack on the southern Russian town of Belgorod, in January 2024, which targeted civilians despite taking place in response to a particularly gratuitous and bloody Russian attack on Kyiv.

At the start of the war a common demand amongst Ukrainians was for a No Fly Zone over Ukraine to be imposed by the US-NATO. We opposed this because it would have quickly led to direct military confrontation between Western powers and Russia, and could easily have broadened into some type of World War.

For a similar reason we opposed those who wanted European and American troops on the ground in Ukraine.

We do say: arm Ukraine so it can defend itself. The West is perfectly capable of doing this, but has chosen not to for political reasons. Biden’s US administration, in particular, was scared of Putin’s reaction if Russia looked like losing in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, British and other European and Commonwealth troops might end up in Ukraine. You can understand why Ukraine would want them. They don’t trust Putin. Moldova, the Baltic States, Europe, Georgia, Kazakhstan also remain at risk.

We would tell Ukrainians not to trust Starmer and Macron, or UK and French governments in years to come. France helped push Ukraine into the adverse and unworkable Minsk agreements of 2014-5. We oppose increases in British military spending “sold” with the argument that they are needed to help Ukraine.

As Leon Trotsky put it, we are not “the inspectors-general of history”, or military advisers to capitalist big powers. “Our tasks... we realise... exclusively through the education of the masses through agitation, through explaining to the workers what they should defend and what they should overthrow...

“We do not even pretend to be miracle workers. As things stand, we are a revolutionary minority. Our work must be directed so that the workers on whom we have influence should correctly appraise events”.

However, should we, like the “pro-peace left”, Socialist Worker and the Stop the War Coalition, people who have spent three years effectively working for a Russian victory, depict British or French ceasefire-protection troops in Ukraine as a priority to overthrow, an outrageous threat against which we must defend Russia?

No. That would leave Ukraine even more vulnerable. Victory to Ukraine!