CVO TALK -- for a revolutionary workers movement!

Can anyone explain why it says this topic has had 40127 views? Perhaps a technical glitch?

Frank, there is no reason to think this is a glitch, or even to be surprised at the number. 40,143 views for this topic is in line with what one sees elsewhere on CVO Talk for a number of other topics that have been around for over a year and are on issues of interest to many people. The number of views of topics varies according to what one would expect to be the interest in the particular forum and topic.

We do need to talk more to this audience, though. Someone viewing a post is one thing; someone coming back especially to CVO Talk is something else.

Also note that the number of views is the total for all the posts under that topic, going right back to the start of the topic, not for the number of views of the most recent posts. This makes it hard to judge the reaction to individual posts.

Sorry, and thanks. Except for new posts, I had never paid attention to that number before. Now I see that there are a number of older topics with over 10,000 views, one with over 69,000, etc.

Thoughts on John Reimann’s article “Trump’s demand that Ukraine surrender under attack; negotiations underway”
(https://oaklandsocialist.com/2025/11/25 ... -underway/)

When the USSR dissolved in 1991, Ukrainians voted by an overwhelming majority to set up an independent Ukrainian state. But the Russian bourgeoisie has never accepted the independence of its neighbors, and has not hesitated to seek to rebuild its military ability to bully them. (See “Timeline of 30 years of Russian intervention against the sovereignty of the other former Soviet republics” at https://www.communistvoice.org/DSWV-220405.html) The Russian Federation has sent its troops into neighboring countries and sought to restore the domination of the Russian bourgeoisie. This has resulted in two bloody wars in Chechnya, military interference in various other neighbors, increasing repression of Russian working people, and the present war to annihilate the Ukrainians as a nationality.

Russia is military superior to Ukraine; Russia is one of the great imperialist powers of the world; but it has been unable to conquer Ukraine in a war that has turned into a grueling war of attrition. This is because it is the Ukraine people who have stood up against occupation. U.S. and Western government observers, who regard themselves as cool cynical masters of “realistic politics”, thought Kviv would fall in a few days to Russian invasion, but the days turned into weeks, and the weeks into years, and the Ukrainians are still bitterly resisting occupation. Ukrainian working people, long inclined to favorable relations with Russian working people, will not, however, accept the annihilation of their nationality.

Ukraine, however, is much weaker militarily than Russia; it hasn’t trained its military by intervening in its neighbors as Russia has; and it has a much smaller military industry than Russia, and much less military supplies. So, while hurrying to arm itself, it has been forced to make use of extensive military aid from other countries, mainly Europe and the US. The Western imperialist governments are opposed to Russian military expansionism. But it should be clear that the national freedom of Ukraine is the main issue at stake, and that European peoples don’t want to be next in the line of victims of Putin’s expansionism. In the long run, it will help the struggle against imperialism if Ukraine defends itself decisively.

In this second presidential term, Trump has not only sought to establish an authoritarian regime in the US, according to the white supremacist and fascist plans of “Project 2025”. He has also sought to force the Ukrainians to capitulate to occupation because it is inconvenient for his plans. And Trump’s stand goes along with the friendship of the Trump regime to the neo-Nazi party in Germany (the “Alternative for Germany”) and other right-wing forces in Europe. He is not opposed to war, as his backing of the Gaza genocide, his murderous bombing of civilians in the Caribbean, and his threats to invade Venezuela show. He is opposed to people’s freedom, and has no love for the Ukrainians any more than for American working people.

The Ukrainian need for advanced weaponry has made them vulnerable to Trumpist blackmail. Trump threatens to throw them to the Russians, if they don’t do what he says. And yet, so far, the Ukrainians have thwarted Trump and continued their struggle. Now there is a tremendous crisis due to Trump’s ultimatum to them to surrender. The news about what’s happening is confusing, as first one hears one thing, and then another, as Trump escalates secret diplomacy to dizzying heights. So I am posting a link (https://oaklandsocialist.com/2025/11/25 ... -underway/) to the timely and informative article “Trump’s demand that Ukraine surrender under attack; negotiations underway” (Nov. 25, 20250) from John Reimann of Oakland Socialist, which shows some of the complexities involved. But beware, day by day things change.

And underlying it all, the main point is that this is not simply a Ukrainian issue. It is the interests of the working class of the US and the world to support the Ukrainian people. Ukraine has a bourgeois country, but it is first and foremost in the interests of Ukrainian working people to stand up for their national rights as well as their social rights. Their victory would encourage struggle elsewhere; their defeat would usher in a dark period for Europe, for the working people of Russia and the neighboring countries, as well as for all Ukrainians. We should support both the general resistance to Russian invasion, and the social movements of Ukrainian working people.

“Ukraine has a bourgeois country, but it is first and foremost in the interests of Ukrainian working people to stand up for their national rights as well as their social rights.”

There seems to be something wrong with this sentence.

Thanks Frank. I meant that although Ukraine is a capitalist country, this struggle is crucial for Ukrainian working people. I'll work on this sentence..

This is a Ukrainian trade union newsletter that's reproduced by a French left group. In order to see the English translation one has to click on the third symbol in the address bar (an X above an A, or something). I've only had time to briefly glance at it so far, but it's thick and looks interesting. https://aplutsoc.org/2025/12/08/la-lett ... eywtx3NT0g

An optimistic (for Ukraine) assessment of the war:

https://www.rsn.org/001/ukraine-stands-firm.html

another optimistic assessment of ukraine's resistance:

https://www.rsn.org/001/ukraine-exploit ... umble.html

A just published interview with a Ukrainian activist,Taras Bilous, gives a good deal of information about how the war, its prospects, the peace negotiations, Trump, and some aspects of internal Ukrainian politics look from the standpoint of the Ukrainian left and the Ukrainian people. The full interview merits attention.

A Ukrainian Socialist Went to War. Here's What He Thinks About Peace: Interview with Taras Bilous

From Jacobin, Feb. 24, 2026

Today [February 24] marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Across the last year, pundits on either side have often forecast a decisive breakthrough, whether due to Russian economic woes or faltering Western support for Ukraine. Yet while exhaustion on both sides mounts, including through recent massive Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power system, a peace deal still seems beyond reach.

Taras Bilous, a socialist today serving in Ukrainian uniform, has long called for international solidarity with Ukraine’s resistance. He has criticized left-wing stances in favor of cutting Western aid to Kyiv, insisting that this would merely reward Russian aggression. In an interview with Sasha Talaver, he explains why Ukrainians are increasingly pushing for a ceasefire but can’t accept a peace deal that doesn’t guarantee the country’s future defenses.

..............................

Sasha Talaver:

Last question: What conclusion do you think the international left should draw from Trump’s first year in office?

Taras Bilous:

There could be many conclusions. I’ll just say what concerns me most. Over the past year, the reactionary US president has done what the “antiwar” left has been calling for. What has this led to? Increased aggression, more civilian casualties, and more destruction. Things have only gotten worse. In this situation, I think the “antiwar” folks should have done some rethinking. But I still don’t see them doing that. ...

Jacobin identifies the interviewer and Taras Bious as follows:

Taras Bilous is a Ukrainian historian, the editor of Commons: Journal of Social Criticism, and an activist of the Social Movement organization.

Sasha Talaver, a PhD candidate in gender studies at the Central European University in Vienna, is a left-wing and feminist activist from Russia.

Full text:

https://jacobin.com/2026/02/ukraine-war ... g0aJjQ1JwA