On the creation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic Statement of Union Borotba (Struggle)

In a referendum with a high turnout on May 11, the vast majority of voters supported the creation of an independent Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic. Both from the media and from our friends living in the DNR and LC, we know of the great enthusiasm and active participation of the population in the referendum.

There is no doubt that the desire for separation is not due to the influence of some mythical “separatists,” but to the anti-people policies of the Kiev junta, the terrorist attacks on Slavyansk, Mariupol and Kramatorsk, the punitive expedition of neo-Nazi gangs in Odessa, and right-wing terror in Kiev. It is clear that people do not want to live in such a "Ukraine."

We understand that the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics will not be socialist. It is likely that part of the large and medium-sized businesses will retain their positions. Russian capitalist corporations will try to extend their influence. But at the “bottom,” the creation of the people's republics, the experience of the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist and anti-oligarchic mass struggle, has undoubtedly moved not only South-East Ukraine, but also the entire post-Soviet space, to the left.

We support the decision of Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the People’s Mayor of Slavyansk, to nationalize all industry in the city, and we urge that this be extended to the whole territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic.

Union Borotba, together with others on the left, will fight for the development of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic toward people's democracy and socialism.