Streiks, Gewerkschaften und Arbeiterrate. Die Ratebewegung in Deutschland am Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges
Der Begriff der Räte oder Räterepublik ist in der globalen Erinnerung untrennbar verbunden mit der Russländischen Revolution von 1917. Räte oder Arbeiterräte sind mitunter ein Synonym für den kommunistischen Einparteienstaat. Ihre Ursprünge liegen jedoch woanders: die europäische Bewegung der Arbeiterräte entstand gegen Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges aus Streikversammlungen. Räte ersetzten in einer Krise Parteivorstand und […]
Socialism, Yidishkeyt, Doykeyt: A Brief History of the Jewish Bund
The latest round of horrific bloodshed in Israel/Palestine prompts us to recall not only the sad fate of this troubled region, but also Jewish history. Today, everything related to Jewry and its past is “monopolized” by the State of Israel. But this was not always the case. In Eastern Europe, there were alternatives to the […]
The Waffen-SS “Galicia” Division: The Dead End of Glorification
On September 22, during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the Canadian Parliament, the audience gave a standing ovation to 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, who was invited by Parliament Speaker Anthony Rota. Rota introduced the guest as a “hero of Ukraine and Canada” who “fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.” As it turned out, Hunka was […]
De-occupation of Crimea: Crimean Tatars and the Path toward Decolonization
In 2020, when I conducted my ethnographic fieldwork in Crimea, few expected it to be de-occupied any time soon. In mainland Ukraine too, the saying “next year in Bakhchisaray” sounded naïve and awkward as those who uttered it understood their self-deception perfectly well. Yet, three years later, de-occupy Bakhchisaray is becoming a real possibility. Moreover, many […]
The main goal of trade unions is to remind everyone that governments serve the people, not vice versa
Every year left-wing and trade union communities celebrate Labour Day – the day of resistance and solidarity in fighting for peace and worker’s rights. In Ukraine we constantly have discussions around this date’s meaning and importance. May Day as a day off not for picnics but for demonstrations of left-wing and trade union solidarity. We […]
Eastern Europe’s Tragedy. How the Spheres of Influence Policy Amplifies Reaction
Should the Left support the division of the world into imperialist spheres of influence? A year ago, the very posing of such a question would have surprised me, since the answer seems obvious: of course not. Unfortunately, the apparent sympathy with Russian aggression against Ukraine by many on the Western left has shown that this […]
Hillel Ticktin: I have not met any Marxist in the Soviet Union
Among the many Western Marxists who have attempted to understand and politically define the Soviet Union, Hillel Ticktin is perhaps the most interesting. Unlike many other theorists, whose reflections on the subject were often deductive speculation based on fragmentary data, Ticktin set out to thoroughly analyze the political economy of "real socialism" based on what […]
Ilya Budraitskis: Left-Wing Dissidents Were the Link between the Pre-Soviet Socialist Tradition and the Post-Soviet One
A few years ago, your collection of essays Dissidenty sredi dissidentov (Dissidents among dissidents) was published. The central issue in it was the history of left-wing dissidents in the USSR. The book will be published by Verso in 2022. How did you become interested in this topic? I found this topic interesting back at the […]
Between Drahomanov and Marx: The Political Life of Lesya Ukrainka
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, socialist views were more the norm than the exception among the younger generation of Ukrainian cultural and political figures. Many Ukrainian activists of the first half of the 20th century gained their first experiences in political participation, journalistic writing, and encounters with police repression within the […]
Marko Bojcun: “We Moved From Ukrainian Nationalism To Radical Socialism, And Some Of Us To Trotskyism”
Maksym Kazakov: Marko, in Ukraine you were known as an excellent analyst of contemporary Ukrainian affairs—politics and socio-economic development. Now people have also come to know you as a historian and a researcher of the working class and the national question. But today I would like to ask you about your life and work as […]
