War fever (Alex Alder)

Revised text published online by Libcom and others and translated into both French and Czech languages so far. This sets out the basic anarchist critique of war and militarism and asks “what’s going on?”

In February 2022, the Russian Armed Forces invaded Ukrainian territory, beginning an occupation and open warfare. This followed eight years of smouldering conflict between the Ukrainian state and Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region of Ukraine, and the annexation of Crimea. Some anarchists, antifascists, and other anti-authoritarians in Ukraine decided to participate in the armed forces of the state to combat the Russian invasion. This was an organised, collective project with a political manifesto, under the banner of ‘The Resistance Committee’ and ‘Operation Solidarity’.

Many anarchists in Britain responded with uncritical support for the project and began actively aiding the Ukrainian war effort, raising funds for military supplies and spreading war propaganda. A minority of anarchists, on the other hand, raised the banner of “no war but the class war”, opposing war itself while advocating for working class internationalism, against all factions of the ruling class. This latter position, previously an uncontroversial expression of anarchist-communist politics, was all of a sudden anathema.