We publish here an open letter on behalf of Fightback, La Riposte (Quebec), and the Socialist Fightback clubs across Canada who stand in solidarity with Borotba and other anti-fascist fighters in Ukraine. Our firm and unwavering support for basic democratic principles compels us to stand in solidarity with the fighting militants of Borotba along internationalist lines.
To the fighting anti-fascists and communist militants of Borotba:
Our comrades from the Socialist Fightback Clubs at the University of Toronto, York University, Concordia University, Ryerson University, and La Riposte Socialiste Université de Montréal — Canadian supporters of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) — have been following the developments in Ukraine and the progression of your organization for some time. We have come to understand that as of the May 2nd Odessa massacre your organization has been pushed underground by the fascistic thugs acting as an appendage for the capitalist state. We stand firmly by you in solidarity during these hard times and in the conditions which you find yourselves in organizing underground.
The assault on Ukrainian socialist and leftist organizations by the Kiev junta is a clear slap in the face to the “democratic” freedoms which they claim to espouse. The bourgeois praises European values of democracy and culture one moment, yet the instant it inconveniences them they quickly send in the tanks and paramilitaries. This is firmly unacceptable. Although we cannot fight shoulder to shoulder with you in the Ukraine we are doing our best to learn lessons from your struggle and to relate them to revolutionary students and workers to continue the same revolutionary struggle here.
Our organization follows an unbroken thread that is rooted in the communist traditions of the working class. Parts of these traditions encompass anti-fascist resistance. From the Battle of Cable Street in the UK to the streets of Caracas today, our comrades entrench themselves into the very fabric of the working class.
In Canada we do not face fascism as a threat thus far in the tempo of our struggle. Our countries face very different objective situations at this time of working class upheaval worldwide. Our firm and unwavering support for basic democratic principles compels us to stand in solidarity with the fighting militants of Borotba along internationalist lines. The conditions you face are adverse and difficult to say the least, but stay strong and continue the struggle for socialism at this fighting juncture against bourgeois reaction married to fascism.
Down with the Kiev government and the oligarchs!
Defend democratic rights!
Solidarity with the anti-fascist resistance!
Sincerely,
The Canadian supporters of the International Marxist Tendency:
Fightback — www.marxist.ca
La Riposte — www.marxiste.qc.ca
Socialist Fightback Club of the University of Toronto
Socialist Fightback Club York University
Socialist Fightback Club Ryerson University
La Riposte Socialiste Université de Montréal
Socialist Fightback at Concordia University
For continued updates about the crisis in Ukraine, please check our international sister site, In Defence of Marxism.
