Bulletin février mars 2025 The CGT, CFDT, CGC, CFTC, UNSA, FSU, and Solidaires trade union confederations published a press release on February 18th on the imperialist war in Ukraine. We had already had the opportunity to react several months ago to a press release along the same lines, that of the warmongering drift and support for two Ukrainian "unions," one of which holds records for corruption and the other has Nazi leaders linked to the infamous Azov regiment. This support is also renewed in this text.
But, a number of dikes have burst, to use Sophie Binet's somewhat idealistic expression. In this text, there is only one imperialism: Russia. The text has the dual effect of denying the imperialist nature of the war and, at the same time, defending and illustrating one of the imperialisms involved in the war: that of France and the European Union.
But, a number of dikes have burst, to use Sophie Binet's somewhat idealistic expression. In this text, there is only one imperialism: Russia. The text has the dual effect of denying the imperialist nature of the war and, at the same time, defending and illustrating one of the imperialisms involved in the war: that of France and the European Union.
A mischaracterization of the war
From the outset, the war is summed up as "Putin's intolerable aggression," with no context given. This text does not mention the 2014 Maidan coup d'état, organized by the USA and the Ukrainian Nazis, nor the incessant bombing of Donbass by the kyiv army, nor, above all, the real issue at stake: the riches of Ukrainian soil that all the imperialists covet and that Trump wants to seize in exchange for aid to Ukraine. On the contrary, we are treated to this intolerable sentence: "As a reminder, since 2014 Ukraine has suffered the horrors of the annexation of part of its territory." This means that the inter-union group condemns neither the Maidan coup d'état nor the massacre of trade unionists in Odessa, but the secession of the self-proclaimed republics, which it equates with annexation. The narrative of the dominant Western ideology is even amplified. For the seven organizations, this is a war of aggression, motivated by who knows what, but there are no economic causes. The words imperialism and NATO do not appear in this text. And while the Russian regime is heavily criticized, the Ukrainian regime is met with approving silence. This is enough to characterize it.
A variable geometry concern
Furthermore, the press release strongly denounces the Russian army: "Russian forces continue indiscriminate attacks targeting civilian infrastructure." or "The war has a strong impact on children," while the same inter-union is silent on the genocide of the Palestinians!!! This double standard is unworthy and the confederal leadership will have to account for its deafening silence in the ongoing war of colonization and national liberation in Palestine.
A deafening silence on desertions in Ukraine
Nor does this text make any reference to desertions in Ukraine. Like the press, the confederal leaderships of French trade unions are keeping a low profile on the scale of desertion in Ukraine, a phenomenon that is in reality massive.
Recently, the desertion of a significant portion of the soldiers of the Anne de Kiev Brigade, trained in France at the initiative of President Macron, created a scandal, hushed up in France, which is shaking the political and military authorities in Ukraine. 1,700 soldiers from this brigade deserted en masse on January 5, 2025, before even reaching the battlefield.
This event is not an isolated case. More than 100,000 soldiers have been charged under Ukrainian desertion laws since the engagement of Russian military forces in Ukraine in February 2022. In 2024, Ukraine opened 60,000 desertion cases, twice as many as during the previous two years of war.
It is in this context that a few days ago, a "special" XXL security operation by the Ukrainian authorities took place. The SBU, the special police, carried out, in the regions of Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Poltava and Kharkiv, the violent arrest of suspected activists of the RFU, the Workers' Front of Ukraine. This organization of communist and internationalist workers is accused by the Ukrainian authorities of having initiated the organization of a collective refusal to participate in the fighting, of organizing itself into "soldiers' committees", of refusing conscription, of not carrying out command orders and of deserting.
Of course, this repression against the forces opposed to the war is not the first of its kind. By March 2022, around ten left-wing political parties had already been banned, while the Communist Party was banned following the coup in kyiv in 2014. None of these events were contested or even mentioned by the union leadership in France.
Recently, the desertion of a significant portion of the soldiers of the Anne de Kiev Brigade, trained in France at the initiative of President Macron, created a scandal, hushed up in France, which is shaking the political and military authorities in Ukraine. 1,700 soldiers from this brigade deserted en masse on January 5, 2025, before even reaching the battlefield.
This event is not an isolated case. More than 100,000 soldiers have been charged under Ukrainian desertion laws since the engagement of Russian military forces in Ukraine in February 2022. In 2024, Ukraine opened 60,000 desertion cases, twice as many as during the previous two years of war.
It is in this context that a few days ago, a "special" XXL security operation by the Ukrainian authorities took place. The SBU, the special police, carried out, in the regions of Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Poltava and Kharkiv, the violent arrest of suspected activists of the RFU, the Workers' Front of Ukraine. This organization of communist and internationalist workers is accused by the Ukrainian authorities of having initiated the organization of a collective refusal to participate in the fighting, of organizing itself into "soldiers' committees", of refusing conscription, of not carrying out command orders and of deserting.
Of course, this repression against the forces opposed to the war is not the first of its kind. By March 2022, around ten left-wing political parties had already been banned, while the Communist Party was banned following the coup in kyiv in 2014. None of these events were contested or even mentioned by the union leadership in France.
Trade union leadership for war
On the contrary, our unions reiterate their solidarity with the corrupted "unions" that are in favor of the war and not with those who organize the fight against this same war. These "anti-war" activists are forgotten, just as on the Russian side, there is no mention of them. It would have been possible, for example, to mention the conscription centers that opponents set fire to and the tens of thousands of young people who fled Russia to avoid being drafted into a war they do not want. But the goal of the unions that signed the appeal is not to promote peace or to highlight those who want to stop it and thus stop making the Russian and Ukrainian people pay for it, but, on the contrary, to ensure that it continues according to the wishes of the EU imperialists.
The last part of the text is enlightening on this subject. The big US capitalists have no interest in the continuation of the war. More than 90% of Ukrainian companies are owned by US capitalists; Black Rock, in particular, is taking the lion's share. This explains why their new attorney, Donald Trump, is advancing his pawns for stopping the war. Beyond the ritual invocations to the UN, the inter-union text repeats word for word the statements of the leaders of certain EU states and of Von der Leyen herself: "But it cannot be imposed on them from outside, by validating the military aggression and occupation of their country. Nothing must be discussed and done without the Ukrainians. The fate of Ukraine also depends on that of Europe, which therefore cannot be excluded from the discussions." Behind these pretty phrases, the demand is to support Zelinsky (and not Ukraine) and the EU multinationals that no longer have a foothold in Ukraine, who risk not having access to the riches it contains in its soil and could be excluded from the manna of reconstruction. At a time when the main imperialists involved seem to want to agree to stop the war, our unions want to continue it.
The last part of the text is enlightening on this subject. The big US capitalists have no interest in the continuation of the war. More than 90% of Ukrainian companies are owned by US capitalists; Black Rock, in particular, is taking the lion's share. This explains why their new attorney, Donald Trump, is advancing his pawns for stopping the war. Beyond the ritual invocations to the UN, the inter-union text repeats word for word the statements of the leaders of certain EU states and of Von der Leyen herself: "But it cannot be imposed on them from outside, by validating the military aggression and occupation of their country. Nothing must be discussed and done without the Ukrainians. The fate of Ukraine also depends on that of Europe, which therefore cannot be excluded from the discussions." Behind these pretty phrases, the demand is to support Zelinsky (and not Ukraine) and the EU multinationals that no longer have a foothold in Ukraine, who risk not having access to the riches it contains in its soil and could be excluded from the manna of reconstruction. At a time when the main imperialists involved seem to want to agree to stop the war, our unions want to continue it.
Let's call for a halt to the fighting
This war is not a people's war, neither on one side nor the other. It perfectly illustrates this famous quote from Anatole France: "We think we are dying for our country, we die for the industrialists." The peace that is emerging in the talks between Trump and Putin will not give any place to the people, we know that, any more than a peace imposed by the EU imperialists would.
It is all the more a rearguard action that our union leaderships are waging since the UN Security Council, to which they claim to belong, has just voted on a very short text proposed by the USA which "urgently demands that the conflict be ended as soon as possible and calls for a lasting peace." The four EU states currently on the Council, as well as the United Kingdom, abstained, all the others voted in favor. The EU appears increasingly isolated on the international stage; our union supporters of this imperialist conglomerate should perhaps question the reasons for this disenchantment.
On the contrary, it's time for the unions, and particularly the CGT (General Confederation of Trade Unions), to support a halt to the fighting. Because the battle isn't over yet; Macron and others' antics in Washington and the maneuvers in Kiev to save the corrupt Zelinsky indicate that the EU's warmongers haven't given up.
It is all the more a rearguard action that our union leaderships are waging since the UN Security Council, to which they claim to belong, has just voted on a very short text proposed by the USA which "urgently demands that the conflict be ended as soon as possible and calls for a lasting peace." The four EU states currently on the Council, as well as the United Kingdom, abstained, all the others voted in favor. The EU appears increasingly isolated on the international stage; our union supporters of this imperialist conglomerate should perhaps question the reasons for this disenchantment.
On the contrary, it's time for the unions, and particularly the CGT (General Confederation of Trade Unions), to support a halt to the fighting. Because the battle isn't over yet; Macron and others' antics in Washington and the maneuvers in Kiev to save the corrupt Zelinsky indicate that the EU's warmongers haven't given up.
No to the Sacred Union! Stop the imperialist war!
As the Ukrainian Workers' Front, which we mentioned above, said in 2022: "Whichever oligarchs win this war, the working class has nothing to gain from it." The only way to stop a war and satisfy the demands of the working class is to transform the imperialist war into a revolution, as the Bolsheviks and the workers of the future USSR did in 1917, at the cost of territorial concessions far greater than those that Ukraine and its imperialist backers will have to accept. But the situation today is not revolutionary, neither in Ukraine nor in Russia; the cessation of fighting is the minimum desirable, whatever part of Ukraine the capitalists of Russia, the USA or the EU will grab.
On the contrary, the union leaderships are digging in their heels on the line of sacred union, like the leaderships of the parties of the Second International and that of the CGT in 1914. The task thus assigned by these leaders to the organizations of the workers' movement is to defend their own imperialism against others, Russian or US.
When the Revolutionary Communist Party expresses its solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance, this solidarity includes those who are fighting. How can we not characterize in the same way this sentence at the end of the inter-union communiqué: "Solidarity with Ukraine, which is resisting!" Yet, there is a major difference. The Revolutionaries are right to support the struggle in all its forms of the Palestinian people, who are waging a struggle for national liberation. On the contrary, in Ukraine, it is a war between imperialists; the workers' movement cannot choose sides; there are no "good guys" in an imperialist war. All we have to demand is an end to the fighting.
To organize, workers in Russia and Ukraine need peace and, above all, no trust in their leaders, who serve Big Capital. The Revolutionary Communist Party renews its demand for an end to the imperialist war and its solidarity with the workers of all countries involved in this war.
On the contrary, the union leaderships are digging in their heels on the line of sacred union, like the leaderships of the parties of the Second International and that of the CGT in 1914. The task thus assigned by these leaders to the organizations of the workers' movement is to defend their own imperialism against others, Russian or US.
When the Revolutionary Communist Party expresses its solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance, this solidarity includes those who are fighting. How can we not characterize in the same way this sentence at the end of the inter-union communiqué: "Solidarity with Ukraine, which is resisting!" Yet, there is a major difference. The Revolutionaries are right to support the struggle in all its forms of the Palestinian people, who are waging a struggle for national liberation. On the contrary, in Ukraine, it is a war between imperialists; the workers' movement cannot choose sides; there are no "good guys" in an imperialist war. All we have to demand is an end to the fighting.
To organize, workers in Russia and Ukraine need peace and, above all, no trust in their leaders, who serve Big Capital. The Revolutionary Communist Party renews its demand for an end to the imperialist war and its solidarity with the workers of all countries involved in this war.