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Thank you to comrade Kutnii for providing additional historical information on this issue although I am still at odds over Lou's characterization of Russian speakers in Ukraine as an oppressive settler/colonizer class. Sergii wrote: "I would say that SE Ukraine is analogous not to Ireland or Algeria but to some parts of the US..." I am reminded that the shipyards of Belfast were not only Protestant owned but every job there was reserved for Protestants. It was a neat bit of vertical class collaboration that was the whole point of this in migration. That is to say that this Irish minority was there to create a permanent economic and political elite to suppress any signs of nationalism directed at the ruling class. The same can be said for French colonial Algeria and the Boer "Republic" in Southern Africa. Did this happen in Ukraine? My specialized knowledge is limited but it seems to me that the oligarchs in power in Kiev before, and afte,r the Euromaidan insurrection were all native Ukrainian speakers. At the same time I believe that many of the coal miners and industrial proletariat of Eastern Ukraine were and are native Russian speakers. On the very street were the people were burned to death in Odessa, there were violent clashes during the Bolshevik Revolution between Reds, Whites, and supporters of Ukrainian independence. This is obviously a very complicated, and multi-layered tragedy unfolding before us. At this point I simply can not accept Lou's assertion that the right wing street fighters, animated by a disturbing vision of who is a "Ukrainian," must be supported as a manifestation of a national liberation struggle. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
