By Sergei Kirichuk on June 13, 2014
The following interview with Sergei Kirichuk, leader in exile of Union Borotba (Struggle), was published at Initiativ-online.org on June 11, 2014. It was translated from German by Workers World managing editor John Catalinotto.
“From the beginning the Maidan [the demonstrations in Kiev’s central square] supported the free trade agreement with the EU. We, on the other hand, were from the beginning against the EU, which had no other goal but to plunder and destroy the Ukrainian economy.”
Initiativ: How and when was Borotba created?
SK: We are a very young, very new organization. We founded Borotba in 2011 as the result of a coalition of various left-wing groups. Some came from Marxist associations; others came from the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) and also its youth organization. We are different people with different backgrounds. We have Stalinists, Trotskyists, Maoists and people of other political backgrounds in our organization. We reached a point when we realized that these divisions are no longer as important as they once were. In various campaigns we have all worked together and found that these differences are not as significant now. We can work together to build something new; that was the key idea. A lot of people have participated in this process. To be honest, it was mostly politically experienced and educated people who have supported this process. But even workers without special training were involved, as well as leading people out of the labor movement. One of them comes from Kharkov. A few days ago someone tried to kidnap him.
Although for a long time we were very well organized and active, we were numerically a very small organization. We had regional offices in all major cities. At our biggest demonstrations we had several hundred participants.
When the crisis began, when the Maidan movement started [last November], we were from the beginning against this movement. It was a position many people could easily understand, especially people from the working class. Riding this wave, we increased our influence, and became one of the leading forces in cities like Kharkov, for example. After the Maidan coup [of Feb. 22], the fascists destroyed our headquarters in Kiev. Our comrades in western Ukraine went underground, while we continued to lead public activities in the east, where it was still possible.
Complete story at - Ukrainian leftist leader speaks: ‘From the beginning, Maidan supported imperialist plunder’ » Around the world » Workers World
The following interview with Sergei Kirichuk, leader in exile of Union Borotba (Struggle), was published at Initiativ-online.org on June 11, 2014. It was translated from German by Workers World managing editor John Catalinotto.
“From the beginning the Maidan [the demonstrations in Kiev’s central square] supported the free trade agreement with the EU. We, on the other hand, were from the beginning against the EU, which had no other goal but to plunder and destroy the Ukrainian economy.”
Initiativ: How and when was Borotba created?
SK: We are a very young, very new organization. We founded Borotba in 2011 as the result of a coalition of various left-wing groups. Some came from Marxist associations; others came from the Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) and also its youth organization. We are different people with different backgrounds. We have Stalinists, Trotskyists, Maoists and people of other political backgrounds in our organization. We reached a point when we realized that these divisions are no longer as important as they once were. In various campaigns we have all worked together and found that these differences are not as significant now. We can work together to build something new; that was the key idea. A lot of people have participated in this process. To be honest, it was mostly politically experienced and educated people who have supported this process. But even workers without special training were involved, as well as leading people out of the labor movement. One of them comes from Kharkov. A few days ago someone tried to kidnap him.
Although for a long time we were very well organized and active, we were numerically a very small organization. We had regional offices in all major cities. At our biggest demonstrations we had several hundred participants.
When the crisis began, when the Maidan movement started [last November], we were from the beginning against this movement. It was a position many people could easily understand, especially people from the working class. Riding this wave, we increased our influence, and became one of the leading forces in cities like Kharkov, for example. After the Maidan coup [of Feb. 22], the fascists destroyed our headquarters in Kiev. Our comrades in western Ukraine went underground, while we continued to lead public activities in the east, where it was still possible.
Complete story at - Ukrainian leftist leader speaks: ‘From the beginning, Maidan supported imperialist plunder’ » Around the world » Workers World
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