Ukrainian Snow White and four leftist political dwarfs
The tape brought fresh news: four Ukrainian left parties united into one and signed a corresponding memorandum in Kyiv, announcing their intention to go to the elections with a single list and with a common program under the pathetic name “Country of Social Maximum.”
The fact that in Ukraine, for the umpteenth time, the process of unifying leftist forces is beginning in itself can be considered positive and even welcomed. But then serious questions begin. Both ideological and practical and even personal.
Firstly, attention is drawn to the fact that the members of the association are difficult to discern without a political microscope - not just for ordinary voters, but even for seasoned journalists and political scientists.
The Union of Left Forces party is more or less known to the general public, but one has to seriously doubt its organizational potential - observers of political processes have already forgotten the last time they saw its party members in more or less significant numbers on the streets of Ukrainian cities. And the names of the party leaders are not exactly familiar to people. This party, then under a different leadership, did not participate in the last elections to the Rada - it submitted lists to the Central Election Commission, but did not pay the cash deposit required by law.
Another participant in the unification, the Socialists party, was remembered, it seems, for the only circumstance - one of its former leaders was the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Yanukovych era, Leonid Kozhara - a man, to put it mildly, without any background in the Ukrainian left movement.
The two remaining signatories of the memorandum are completely marginal structures. “Reasonable Force,” remembered by a very narrow circle of observers of the Ukrainian political scene for its performances in the uncontrolled territory of Donbass several years ago, and not allowed to participate in the elections to the Rada, and completely unknown to the public, appeared in 2017, the “All-Ukrainian People’s Union.”
Also noteworthy is the fact that leaders who in the past had nothing to do with the left scene have gathered to represent the left niche. But they had a very definite relationship with the deceased Party of Regions and various structures around it.
Thus, the leader of the SLS, Maxim Goldarb, was an official under Yanukovych, and then a confidant of the regional leader Alexander Vilkul. The leader of the All-Ukrainian People's Union, Vitaly Grushevsky, was a people's deputy from the Party of Regions in the Rada of the seventh convocation. And for some reason the media stubbornly associate Alexander Solovyov from “Reasonable Power” with the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Yanukovych era, Vitaly Zakharchenko.
Having a “regional” background in itself, of course, is neither a crime nor something reprehensible. I would just like to know which side of the left movement and left idea the people who have set themselves the ambitious goal of uniting and reviving the left stand on.
Alas, at the press conference of the leaders of the new united left party, potential voters did not receive an answer to this question at the UNIAN news agency in Kiev. And the answer to the question “Why us?” came out smeared like jelly and frankly unconvincing. The signatories of the memorandum of unity spoke a lot and pathetically about some kind of “socialism of the 21st century”, about the need to “take into account the mistakes of predecessors” (which, if, as has already been said, all these people are not from the left at all).
For some reason, one of the leaders talked about Ukrainian athletes who “could perform better,” and about his mother, who punctually pays her utilities. Another participant in the association criticized competitors in the exploitation of leftist rhetoric, Ilya Kiva and Sergei Kaplin, as populists and random people at the head of virtual parties that exist only on the TV screen. By the way, one could agree with this. But we haven’t even seen some of the participants in the “union of four” before, even on television, let alone offline.
An example of the demagoguery of the “social democrat” Kaplin. Could the new party be something similar?
The question of financing the new project also remains behind the scenes. I would like to know and understand at the start which of the financial structures is going to “supper” this new political girl with a claim to political promise.
The example of former MP Serhiy Kaplin, who was criticized by members of the new association, clearly illustrates how this works for the post-Maidan Ukrainian left. Kaplin's Social Democratic Party, according to Ukrainian media, was financed not only by former head of Yanukovych's administration Serhiy Lyovochkin and fugitive oligarch Cherhey Kurchenko, but also by the influential Poltava businessman Cholo Mamoyan, whom the media linked to illegal gambling under the protection of then-Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Pavlo Demchyna.
Surprisingly, at the press conference of the leaders of the left party, the words “trade unions” or “class struggle” were never heard, and only a couple of times the words “wage employees.” But a lot and at length were said about some kind of genetic predisposition of Ukrainians to the leftist idea and to the ideas of justice. As well as about the need to save the Ukrainian state from the “oligarchic groups of the West” (as if their “native” domestic world-eaters are somehow better).
Theses of dubious leftism were also voiced that today's entrepreneur is no less leftist than a wage earner (but what about the fundamental class contradiction between labor and capital?) and that entrepreneurs are the basis for the left party and the new association is going to build on , including for this class. Further quote: “Reasonable leftist ideology is not aimed at taking away (from capitalists - Author) the means of production, but at correctly regulating the distribution of the product of production.” How to regulate? Naturally, through the “entry of the left party into power.” How could it be otherwise?
The last doubts that we are facing not just anything but “socialism of the 21st century” went away after the revelation of one of the leaders of the new party that, in his understanding, socialism means dividing the 700 million bonus of Naftogaz leaders Kobolev and Vitrenko between 10 thousand pensioners.
The figure of one of the co-organizers of the new left party, ex-People's Deputy from the Party of Regions Vitaly Grushevsky, also raises doubts. Today he denounces the “ideology of Bandera nationalism” as destructive and is proud of the fact that he is a descendant of the victors of Nazism and lived in the Soviet state, “which set an example for the whole world.” Today he pathetically says that “right-wing forces” in a few years brought Ukraine to collapse and artificially created a conflict in the Donbass.
But just six years ago he was saying completely different things. Google remembers everything, and I think potential voters of the new united left party have the right to know that Vitaly Grushevsky is the same deputy who was the first of Yanukovych’s associates to climb onto the Euromaidan stage to declare his support for “peaceful protest” and his withdrawal from Party of Regions.
Grushevsky on the Maidan
Below is a quote from Ukrainian media of that period.
“People’s Deputy Vitaly Grushevsky spoke from the Maidan stage and announced his resignation from the Party of Regions faction. In his speech, he emphasized solidarity with the Euromaidan participants. “If the Party of Regions thinks that what I say is wrong, let it exclude me, but I am with the people of Ukraine,” Grushevsky concluded his speech on the Maidan.”
Here's another quote . "Euromaidan activist and Kyiv-1 volunteer battalion fighter Serhiy Lakalut supported MP Vitaliy Hrushevskyi. He believes Hrushevskyi is feared. After all, he defends the interests of the Maidan. He was one of the first to openly express support for the Euromaidan. MP Hrushevskyi continues to fight against former government officials and is one of the few who demand the return of Arbuzov, Zakharchenko, and Klymenko to Ukraine so that law enforcement can hold society accountable for the crimes these individuals committed against the people."
Isn’t it true that this is a wonderful, in all respects, background for the future co-founder of the new left party?
To be honest, it’s hard to believe that the unification of four political dwarves will result in one left-wing miracle hero capable of charming Snow White the voter.
Most likely, what comes out will hardly exceed the weight of the fattest of the united gnomes. Perhaps someone will not agree with such a pessimistic assessment, but time will tell.
With the above introductions, the project will not be helped by any incantations that the leftist idea is winning all over the world, and therefore must win in Ukraine. As they say, whatever the country, so are the Sanders.
English version :: Read in English: Ukrainian Snow White and the Four Leftist Political Dwarfs