On the creation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic

Statement of Union Borotba (Struggle)

In a referendum with a high turnout on May 11, the vast majority of voters supported the creation of an independent Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic. Both from the media and from our friends living in the DNR and LC, we know of the great enthusiasm and active participation of the population in the referendum.

There is no doubt that the desire for separation is not due to the influence of some mythical “separatists,” but to the anti-people policies of the Kiev junta, the terrorist attacks on Slavyansk, Mariupol and Kramatorsk, the punitive expedition of neo-Nazi gangs in Odessa, and right-wing terror in Kiev. It is clear that people do not want to live in such a “Ukraine.”

We understand that the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics will not be socialist. It is likely that part of the large and medium-sized businesses will retain their positions. Russian capitalist corporations will try to extend their influence. But at the “bottom,” the creation of the people’s republics, the experience of the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist and anti-oligarchic mass struggle, has undoubtedly moved not only South-East Ukraine, but also the entire post-Soviet space, to the left.

We support the decision of Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the People’s Mayor of Slavyansk, to nationalize all industry in the city, and we urge that this be extended to the whole territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic.

Union Borotba, together with others on the left, will fight for the development of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic toward people’s democracy and socialism.

http://borotba.org/o_sozdanii_doneczkoj_i_luganskoj_narodnyix_respublik.html

Donetsk People’s Republic opposes the persecution of Borotba

On May 14, the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Donetsk issued an official statement which says in part:

“Having presided over a complete political and economic debacle, unleashing a bloody war against its own people, the Kiev junta is frantically trying to establish a terrorist dictatorship in the country and remove from the political field any forces resisting its political course. The organization Borotba has faced harassment and brutal repression by the Kiev authorities for consistently upholding its leftist anti-fascist ideals.

We thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Donetsk for its support during this difficult time.

http://borotba.org/mid_doneczkoj_narodnoj_respubliki_vyistupil_protiv_presledovanij_borotbyi.html

Against a conservative turn by the People’s Republic of Donetsk

Statement of Union Borotba (Struggle)

According to the Draft Constitution of the People’s Republic of Donetsk published in the press, the fundamental law of the new state is to include a state religion — Orthodox Moscow Patriarchate.

Union Borotba strongly protests against the institution of a state religion in the Republic created by the people. We insist on the inclusion in the Constitution of DNR rules on freedom of conscience and religion, the separation of church and state, and separation of the school from the church. This democratic norm was the outcome of struggle by many generations of our ancestors against the reactionary clerical regime and was enshrined in the laws of the Republic of Donetsk-Krivoy Rog, of which the DNR considers itself the successor, and the Constitutions of the RSFSR and the USSR.

We believe that the state created by the people should not bow to clerical elements and impose a mandatory public religion.

Also troubling in the draft Constitution is the provision on equality of all forms of ownership, where private ownership comes first in the list. Does it not follow from the experience of our struggle that large private property (oligarchy) led the country to disaster and decay? Is it not the largest private owners who have paid and organized the neo-Nazi gangs and other groups which are terrorizing the South-East?

In our view, the priority in the new state should be nationalized state ownership and workers’ control. Only popular rule over the national wealth and economy will prevent a parasitic oligarchy.

The Donetsk People’s Republic should really become a socialist state. Otherwise it will only be a second edition of Ukraine as we have known it since 1991; only the replacement of Ukrainian nationalism by Russian. Union Borotba urges the DNR not to follow the conservative-clerical forces supported by a minority. This is the path to a dead end, the path to defeat.

http://borotba.org/protiv_konservativnogo_povorota_v_doneczkoj_narodnoj_respublike.html