ON SATURDAY a National Assembly was held in the Black Sea city of Odessa, and other assemblies were held in all of the main cities of the Crimea and southern and eastern Ukraine.
The Odessa Assembly carried a resolution that stated: ‘We, citizens of Odessa and Odessa region, due to the fact that the Supreme Council does not consider the interests of our region, and to the fact that the people is the source of power according to the Constitution of Ukraine, have the following requirements:
• Adopt a law on the status of the Russian language as the second official language
• Carry out administrative-territorial reforms
• Preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the region, as well as the introduction of criminal liability for the damage and destruction that has already been caused.
• 70% of the financial income of the region should remain in the treasury of the region
• Hold a referendum on all the major decisions regarding foreign and domestic ways of developing Ukraine
• Cancel predatory pension reform
• Elect the Governor
• Conduct of elections for the regional council and the city council
• Judicial Reform (election of judges)
‘In the case that our demands are ignored, there will be held in Odessa, Nikolaev and Kharkov regions local referendums, according to the international law on self-determination of peoples.
‘If you try to resolve the issue against the citizens of Odessa, either using security forces, militants or the “right sector”, this will be regarded as direct aggression, in response to which we will exercise the right of the people to self defence.’
On Saturday, there were massive demonstrations all over eastern and south-eastern Ukraine and the Crimea.
In Karkhov and other cities where right-wing forces had earlier occupied administrative centres following the example of their co-thinkers in Kiev, workers self-defence units stormed the buildings and drove the reactionaries out into the streets after some fierce battles.
The working class in Ukraine is now on the march and their determination to defeat the EU-US-backed regime in Kiev has resulted in the Ukrainian armed forces in the east and south-east going over to the working class or giving assurances that they will not fire on the workers.
The intervention of the Russian army into the Crimea and into the surrounding areas is just as much to try to keep the workers movement under some control as it is to defend the people of the area from the Kiev fascist militias.
In fact, the working class is much stronger than the Maidan fascists and their EU and US backers, who are now being asked to fork out $35 billion to try to keep the Maidan gang in power.
The gang leaders themselves admit that all they have to offer Ukrainians is austerity on a massive scale to try to bring in the starvation model that the EU leaders have chosen for the Ukraine. The Maidan leaders have already called this economic mission ‘suicidal’ and issued an invitation of ‘Welcome to Hell’ to their supporters.
Such a regime will not last for long as it faces the power of the working class and the fact that the Ukrainian army, navy and air force wants little or nothing to do with them.
Even the Lilliputian politicians of the EU-US alliance are wondering just what they have got themselves into and just how are they are to get out of it, especially if Putin cannot be persuaded to assist them.
The Ukrainian working class must form assemblies or soviets in every town, village and city in the land to unite the workers and the minorities. As well they must invite delegations of soldiers, sailors and airforce members to attend all of the assemblies and to work out with the workers and the minorities action to overthrow the Maidan gang and to go forward to restore a Soviet Ukraine.
Such a move will be part of the world socialist revolution and spur on the revolutionary reconstitution of the USSR which will be a great victory for the workers of the world.
In fact it is almost 100 years since the 1917 revolution. We must see to it that the world revolution is successful and capitalism and imperialism overthrown by its centenary in 2017.
