Ukraine: Anatomy of a Civil War

Abstract

This article examines the anatomy of the conflict in and surrounding Ukraine. Employing the dialectical method, the author presents the conflict as a multi-dimensional system of contradictions, with the accent on its socio-economic and class aspects. Also discussed are the prehistory and political and economic bases of the confrontation, as well as possible scenarios of future interrelations.

Keywords:

• civil war
• Ukraine
• Novorossiya
• Russia and the West
• political economy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributor

Alexander Buzgalin is Professor of the Department of Political Economy and Chairman of the Center of Knowledge Based Economy at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and Director of the Institute of Social Economy at the Moscow University of Finance and Law. His publications include Theory of Socio-Economic Transformations (in Russian, with A. Kolganov; Moscow, 2003), Comparative Economics (in Russian, with A. Kolganov; Moscow, 2005), Crisis: Alternatives of the Future (in Russian, co-editor and co-author, Moscow, 2010), and more than 300 other books, articles, and chapters in books in Russian, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, etc.

Notes

¹I am not a specialist on Ukraine, but I am acquainted with many knowledgeable colleagues and have repeatedly taken part in discussions on these questions in Ukraine, Crimea and Moscow. I was also present at the first Maidan.

²The “middle class” in Russia and Ukraine is usually regarded as consisting of people whose standard of living resembles that of the same stratum in the West, that is, two to four times better than that of an actual “middle” citizen in our countries.

³The “precariat” includes people who do not have stable jobs, but who may possess “human capital,” that is, brains, business skills, professional qualifications, etc. Though not involved in large commercial structures or groups, the people in this category may be talented and independent-minded. Disadvantaged and lumpen strata are included in the precariat as well.

⁴On the first Maidan, see Buzgalin (2005).

⁵In Crimea, many people of my generation view the Russian tricolor as an analogue of the Soviet flag, and believe that they are not part of the Russian system but of the Soviet one. There are many reasons for this. In Crimean cities numerous survivals from Soviet times, including reminders of the genuine achievements of the USSR, have become fused with the Russian-speaking environment to the point of being almost inseparable from one another. The picture opens with the sincere patriotism of one-time Soviet citizens and organizations; in recalling the heroic feats of this region, they come onto the streets with red, Russian and St Andrew's flags (not, it should be noted, Ukrainian ones). It ends with the nostalgic Soviet ambience of the cafés and bars to be found on every street corner. The cities themselves also retain a largely Soviet appearance.

⁶This question too is not simply one of morality and humanitarianism (though these are the main elements involved here), but is also political in nature. In normal citizens of Ukraine, such chauvinistic and imperialistic ambitions can only promote a quite reasonable patriotic impulse to defend their Ukrainian homeland. If the proposed imperial “advance of Russian tanks on Kiev” were to occur, the heroes would be the citizens of Ukraine, defending their homeland against invaders. The imperial slogans used by certain Russians and Novorossiya activists serve only to strengthen the current Kiev authorities and to stimulate a new outburst of Ukrainian nationalism. In this sense, the use of these slogans amounts to the most damaging anti-Russian (and simultaneously, anti-Ukrainian) propaganda conceivable. The only forces that can possibly benefit from it are the Right Sector and the present Kiev authorities. Only the citizens of Ukraine can free themselves from the current regime.

⁷The openness of this question prompted several members of the editorial board of the journal Alternatives to prepare an appeal to the citizens of Novorossiya and to its defenders (not, it should be noted, to the territory's leaders). This was not an analytical text, identifying the subtleties and contradictions of the situation, but an appeal in which we addressed the activists of Novorossiya as comrades and focused not on the problems, contradictions and outright negativity to be found in their words and deeds, but on the need and possibility to advance toward a more genuine democracy and internationalism, and toward a more socially-oriented economy. It is true that this appeal had a utopian character, but we did not expect it to change the nature of the struggle. We wrote in the hope that a section of the rank and file activists, realizing that the points we set forward were important, would grasp the contradictions of the struggle and understand their position in clearer terms.

⁸The author has written repeatedly on the positive program of alter-globalization. A detailed analysis of this movement, of its programs, potential, contradictions and achievements is to be found in the book Kto tvorit istoriyu—II (Who creates history—II) (Buzgalin 2012).