Maidan: Baptism of Blood

On January 19 , we have seen how Ukraine was baptized. With blood, fire, and water. The demon broke out of the bottle, the political strategy of Maidana failed. A political confrontation a la “the Orange Revolution” in 2004 turned into a riot of the most radical part of the opposition .

It began when the Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament), with the speed of sound, issued an original set of laws. Deputies of Party of Regions, Kolesnichenko and Oleynik came out with proposal to turn quickly the “oligarchic democracy ” into a “police dictatorship “. As these would-be reformers explained their initiative to reporters: “they went out with this proposition in connection with exacerbation of the socio-political situation in Ukraine.” They didn’t want to exacerbate, and exacerbated the situation even more. For a holiday. This they succeeded brilliantly. The rulling party probably could not take a worse step. But the power, unfortunately for themselves, lost time for decisive action. People on Maidan firmed. They have already felt their strength. And they had no intention of giving up. Laws were taken against extremism on Sunday, symbolically on the Feast of the Babtism.

And then, what an amazing coincidence, unknown enthusiasts of the opposition shouted the crowd : “Let’s go to Hrushevskoho Street! To storm the government quarter!”. And they went. No matter what Tyagnybok and Yatsenyuk yelled from the podium that, well, it’s not according to the plan and nobody should go. The protest began to get out of control of the leaders. In the evening, reinforced troops of the “Berkut” special forces took to the streets and tried to introduce the adopted laws of the government in effect. A police water cannon emerged before the protesters. I spat water from the house and stalled. Baptism has begun! Nobody expected it to be so. But the stupid laws “of Kolesnichenko and Oleynik”, signed by Yanukovych, provoked rebellion, breathed new force into the protesters, united many, who before were calmly looking at all what happened, with active protesters.

Now the majority of the Ukrainian population is against the government. The peaceful demonstrations turned, in fact, into a street fighting, the protest got out of control of the opposition leaders. Yatseniuk and Tyagnybok repudiate violence. The militants are called provocateurs. Klichko honestly trying to stand between the ” Berkut ” and the Maidan fighters in hopes of stopping the bloodshed. But he did not succeed. The Maidan militants consist mainly of activists of so-called “Right Sector .” For me it says a lot. On the street, extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis rule. They have an unique opportunity to get a baptism of fire and tempered in battles with the police. They set the tone of “the revolutionary Maidan .” They are followed by the common people . The rightists organize, unite , throw slogans and conduct a strategy. And they get support from most citizens who came to Maidan and who, at the beginning, wanted “just” to express their dissatisfaction with the current government. In the January 19 evening, Maidan split into “the legals” and “the illegals”. Into Yatseniuk and Tyagibok running the meeting with their supporters properly at the Independence Square (Maidan), and the radicals leading the street fighting on the Hrushevskoho street.

While the Ukrainian nationalists celebrate his finest hour with cobblestones and homemade batons, while they kidnap and beat cops, and joyfully shout ” Yolka !” in burned police buses, Russian chauvinists rub their hands and celebrate their victory. A Russian leader of the banned National Bolshevik Party, a communist and a nationalist, a Russian imperialist Limonov said that Ukraine splits and in any case it is good for Russia. Let the west of Ukraine will be taken by Europe , and the left side, with its capital in Kharkiv will become pro-Russian! Such are expectations of Russian imperialists.

The U.S. imperialists are also in the ready position. The representative of the U.S. National Security Council at the White House Caitlin Hayden blamed the government of Ukraine for the escalation of the situation. Hayden demanded to withdraw the special forces from the center of Kiev and begin a dialogue with the opposition. Otherwise, she said, the Ukrainian authorities are waiting for sanctions. She noted that the situation has worsened due to the fact that the Ukrainian government does not recognize the legitimate grievances of the people. Interestingly, and the U.S. government, what sanctions they are waiting for ignoring the protest mood of their people? Seattle’99, Occupy Wall Street…

The specter of civil war that will split our country into two parts – the left one and the right one with the border along the Dnieper river already soars . Lviv and Ivano -Frankivsk also already build barricades. All this I would be pleased if Maidan would be leftist. Alas, it is extremely rightist. And despite the fact that the main refrain of the protesters sounds like: “The people against the corrupt authority”, you realize that it is equally for other authority. And the authority which is not better than that against which the protests were directed.

Events are very similar to the scenarios of “revolutions” of the recent years carried out in a foreign scenario. The Arab Spring had become for us a negative experience and a lesson to realize that empires, both of the East and of the West, are just waiting to divide Ukraine and make it their colony. Maidan is a deadlock. And it will lead only to loss of independence, a police state, no matter which variant will happen. In the variant of a pro-Western democracy, a nationalist regime, or an oligarchic monopoly…

In all this baptism of blood one important thread was lost. What does the Ukrainian people shed blood for, and in the name of what will they possibly shed it in the future? For the interests of the criminal oligarchy ? For the neo-Nazi minority? For the European owner or for the Russian one? When will we be ready to shed blood for our own interests? For the interests of the working masses? For ourselves and not for politicians, the opposition, the bureaucracy, imperial or national interests ?

Yes, we need a struggle! Need to overthrow the government. But no need to put instead a new one! Yes, self-organization, but in the name of self-governance! And not to give our asses to new oligarchs, even if they speak Ukrainian properly.

There is a third way. The way of the people’s revolution. Not planned political strategies of the ruling elites but a revolution, the subject of which are self-organized workers clearly understanding their interests and clearly knowing not only what their stand against, but most importantly what they stand for! We need not a rightist Maidan, a Maidan manipulated by politicians and organizations but a new Makhnovshchina. A social revolutionary movement of the most disadvantaged sections of the people, united by a common purpose – the birth of a society without slaves and masters!

What to do now? Collect people able to accept such logic of the struggle. Combine them. Work to create a mass movement. Inherently anarchic. Build a strong core of anarchist organization.

Maidan will finish. And no matter how it will finish, its result will be not in favor of the people. Not in favor of the hard workers, the poor and middle strata of the students, not in favor of the miners, not in favor of the villagers, not in favor of urban slum dwellers. It will not be in favor of the majority of those who have shed blood on January 19 in Kiev. And then our next task is to prevent the next Maidan, and make every effort to start a new idea of Makhno. A new phase of the struggle is coming. Will this fight be conducted legally or underground, in a colonial country torn by the empires. or in a Nazi single state, whether the national oligarchs win or the comprador bourgeoisie of our former course – We are under the black banner of labor against capital and the state!

And all those who agree with us – unite!