The Communist Party USA expresses its alarm at the fast moving developments in the Ukraine, and calls upon the people of the United States to insist that our government back off from a pattern of interference that does not serve the interests of either the Ukrainian or the U.S. people.

Since last fall, there have been demonstrations in Kiev and other cities against the Ukrainian government's decision to back away from a trade deal with the European Union and instead explore new trade and aid relationships with Russia. Other grievances have also been raised. 

Early on, some right wing extremist elements began to play an increasingly active role in the protests.  These have included the "Svoboda" ("Freedom") Party and other nationalists and fascists. They are not merely anti-communist and anti-Russian, but also anti-Semitic and anti-Polish.  Some of them are the political descendants of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army of Stepan Bandera, an extreme right wing nationalist who, during and immediately after the Second World War, fought against the Red Army on the side of Germany, and carried out pogroms against Jews, Poles and others.

Unfortunately, some U.S. politicians and officials have seen fit to go to Kiev to be photographed alongside some of these extremist elements, including Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok, whose anti-Semitic declarations are particularly vicious. 

These fascist elements took over the town of Lviv, in Western Ukraine, and equipped themselves with weapons from the local armory. Immediately afterward came a sharp escalation of violence with deaths on both sides.  Now the Ukrainian parliament (Rada), in a rigged vote, has illegally deposed President Victor Yanukovych and is ramming through right wing legislation, including a law which strips official recognition from the Russian language spoken by nearly half the population of the country.  More right-wing nationalist measures, including one banning the Communist Party, are in the pipeline.

Attacks against Jews have led a prominent Rabbi to recommend that Jews now leave Kiev and perhaps the whole Ukraine. Attacks on the Communist Party of the Ukraine and its leadership have been escalating, including the seizing of the property of the party and its leaders.

There is strong opposition to these developments in the Eastern and Southern Ukraine, including the major cities of Kharkov and Odessa, and in the Crimean Peninsula.  The Crimea contains, by agreement between Ukraine and Russia, the major Russian naval base at Sevastopol.  So there is a danger that a civil war could break out in the Ukraine and draw in Russia and perhaps others.  Inevitably, moves toward a conflict situation and a possible partition of the Ukraine would further sour relations between the United States and Russia.Unfortunately, statements of Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and other U.S. officials and politicians strongly indicate an agenda on the part of some in the Obama administration of "regime change" in the Ukraine.

The Communist Party USA  demands that:

• The United States government refrain from words and actions that infringe on the national sovereignty of the Ukrainian people.
• The United States government, and individual U.S. politicians and officials, cease to associate themselves with fascists and anti-Semites in the Ukraine, or anywhere. Rather, they should denounce them and their works.
• The United States cease to carry out policies that could well lead to a dangerous confrontation in the Black Sea area, and not give aid or comfort to politicians who wish to create trouble between the Ukrainian and Russian peoples.

Furthermore, the CPUSA expresses its total solidarity with the Communist Party of the Ukraine, with the Ukrainian Jewish community and with all others who are endangered by the fascist upsurge.

PHOTO: Mstyslav Chernov Mstyslav Chernov  under  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license