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Roger Annis said (in part), March 20 And it is very disconcerting because this happens to include the most important issue emerging in world politics--the rising threat of imperialist war and dismemberment against Russia. Ken Hiebert replies: Would the loss of the Ukraine to NATO be "dismemberment" or would it be encirclement? That depends on what you think Russia is. Is the Ukraine actually part of Russia? Some people have seen it that way. As Roger said on March 4th "For many people during the 19th and early 20th centuries, Russians, Belorussians, Malorussians (Ukrainians) and Rusins (in the Carpathia region) in that part of Europe were considered to be branches of a common nationality." Does Roger consider the Ukraine to be part of Russia? I do not see it that way. The political current that I identify with has for a long time recognized the Ukraine as a nation, going all the way back to Trotsky's advocacy of an independent soviet Ukraine. This is how our view was presented in the publication Fourth International in 1949. "Leon Trotsky’s article, The Problem of the Ukraine, which we re-published in the November Fourth International, aroused widespread interest and discussion in revolutionary circles at the time of its appearance in May 1939. However, the only open opposition to Trotsky’s slogan of independence for the Ukraine came from the small sectarian Oehler group. Despite the political insignificance of this group, Trotsky seized the opportunity to further clarify his position His reply, first published in the Socialist Appeal, September 15th and 17th, 1939, proved to be a permanent contribution to the Marxist analysis of the national question. It sheds considerable light on the present-day relationship between the Great-Russian Soviet bureaucracy and the countries of Eastern Europe." _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
