Note: this is a more detailed version of the article of a similar title that appears on the public page of Oaklandsocialist. If you find it too detailed, I suggest you go to the public page and find the more easily readable version there.

Russia’s fascist connected Putin is creating great confusion within the left, including the socialist left. He and his agents and assets (both conscious and otherwise) are drawing significant numbers of lefts, including tens of thousands of internationalist-minded youth, into what is really a vast, far right web led by Putin. A major advance in this drive to lure the left into the far right web was the confusion Putin’s assets and agents sowed around  the Syrian counter-revolution. Since then, he and his agents have sowed even more confusion around the left’s understanding of and response to Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine. In order to fight against this counter-revolutionary process, we must first understand it, and in order to do that, we have to look at its historical precedents.

In this article we will detail:

• Historical precedents for the Putinized politics of the left
• The Putinist left’s support for the regime of the fascistic Hafez Al Assad in Syria.
• How the “left” got drawn even further into supporting Putin after his 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
• The role of different “independent” and “left” journalists.
• The role of political compromisers on the left who have enabled this disastrous development.
• The political weaknesses of socialism that created a fertile soil for Putinism.
• Looking ahead: The future needs a healthy socialist movement.

Gregor Strasser addressing some of his fellow Nazis 

Gregor Strasser and “Strasserism”
The historical precedents started in the 100 years ago with what is called “Strasserism”.

In the 1920s, there was a German Nazi named Gregor Strasser. Strasser became known for using left-sounding rhetoric to entice Germans, including workers, into the Nazi party. He built the National Socialist Workers Association, which sounds as socialist as it gets, as part of not a socialist party but the German Nazi Party. Hitler’s infamous Joseph Goebbels got his start as Strasser’s lieutenant. For a time, Strasser’s wing of the Nazis even published their own newspaper –in other words, he was not some isolated individual. Strasser actually began to be seen as a rival to Hitler within the party. Strasser gave speeches in which he spoke similarly to socialists at the time: “We National Socialists want the economic revolution involving the nationalization of the economy…We want in place of an exploitative capitalist economic system a real socialism, maintained not by a soulless Jewish-materialist outlook but by the believing, sacrificial, and unselfish old German community sentiment, community purpose, and economic feeling. We want the social revolution in order to bring about the national revolution.”

Gregor Strasser and many of his followers were assassinated by Hitler in 1934 during a political purge that is known as the “Night of the Long Knives.” Stasser’s murder remains a poignant  reminder of the deadly consequences of the “left” playing with fascism–both then and now.

A living example of the so-called “red brown alliance”:
The “left”, Medea Benjamin (center), happily hanging out with supporters of the fascist connected Putin at the “Rage Against the War Machine” rally in Washington DC. The “Z” on the backs of those two symoolizes support for the invasion of Ukraine, as the invaders painted “Z” on their vehicles. That rally itself brought many “lefts” and fascists together.

Strasser’s brand of fascism with anti-capitalist rhetoric came to be known as “Strasserism” and it is not unique in history. In fact, we are seeing something somewhat similar today. It is called the “red brown alliance”, (red for communist, brown for the Nazis’ brown shirts). However, a “red-brown alliance”  is not entirely accurate; that implies an alliance of equal but distinct forces, and that is not what is happening. Instead, what has been developing for the past two decades is layers of the left, including the socialist left, being lured into the far right, including the fascist right. Leftists around the world are falling under the influence and, in some cases, the control of the far right. This modern far right largely orbits around the fascist-connected Putin regime but also around the Xi regime of China; both are imperialist powers who are locked in a rivalry with US imperialism. If the 1920s version of  “left cover” for fascism could be called “Strasserism”, then today’s version of a similar development can be called “Putinism.” Moving forward, that is the term I will use here, rather than the “red brown alliance,” as it most accurately reflects the dynamic on the global left at this time. 

Some were drawn into Putinism for the perks and money involved. Money is rare on the left and $10 or $20 million goes a long way in buying influence. Then there is a far wider layer on the left who see the power and influence of the recipients of this money and want to be in their good graces, even if they receive none or only a very little of this money. That is the immediate material basis of the rise of Putinism. There is also a political environment which is in the background, and which we will also discuss.

Syria: Some Background
In 2011, a popular revolution from below came close to overthrowing the fascistic Assad dictatorship. This dictatorship was  rescued for now by a counter-revolution led by Putin. However, the struggle continues and there are still daily (and heroic) protests against the regime. The claims that the US was trying to impose an Iraq-style “regime change” are false and Syrians will be the first to point out that they themselves demand regime change – what else is a revolution? Some of those on the US left who were already disposed to defend Putin were further drawn into this Putinist world view nonetheless. .

Those who are unclear on this can read the excellent book Burning Country – Syrians in revolution and war by Robin Yassin Katab and Leila Al-Shami. This is a gripping book written from the point of view of Syrians themselves. Leila Al-Shami also blogs at this site. There is also the excellent book The Impossible Revolution, by Yassin al-Haj Saleh, who also does this blog. I reviewed Burning Country here and put the history of Syria from the perspective of the “Permanent” or Uninterrupted Revolution here.

Former KKK leader David Duke at a regime sponsored rally in Damascus, Syria in 2017.

Syria and the far right
The far right in the United States, including outright fascists, support Assad. New Lines reports that many of the racist “Unite the Right” marchers in Charlottesville in 2017 were Assad supporters as was the racist Trump supporter who calls himself “Baked Alaska”. Matthew Heimbach, a representative of the “left” fascist and now defunct Traditionalist Workers Party and a promoter of the racist “Unite the Right” rally, supports Assad. The fascist former leader of the KKK, David Duke, was an Assad supporter as early as 2005. And Tucker Carlson has also helped cover up for Assad’s crimes. Leila Al-Shami thoroughly documents and explains these links in her article Why the U.S. far right loves Bashar al Assad.

Internationally, Al Jazeera reports on fascist and semi-fascist groups throughout Europe that support Assad. These include Italy’s fascist Casa Pound, the Greek fascist Golden Dawn, Poland’s National Rebirth, the British National Party. Together they have formed a fascist coalition called the European Solidarity Front for Syria. Newlines reports on the support for Assad by a former leader of the French far right National Front (now the National Rally), Alain Soral. Many if not all of these groups also have links to Putin.

Far “left” support for Assad
Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution against the Assad regime, and increasingly more so over time, many individuals and groups on both the left, and the so-called far left in the United States, have allied with the previously mentioned fascist and semi fascist groups in the US and Europe. These so-called left and far left individuals and groups parrot fascist, and semi fascist, talking points. Many so-called leftists hide behind the existence of Islamic fundamentalism in a way that in effect supports Assad. This is the exact same line that the far right supporters of Assad take. These same “lefts” also repeat the lie that any opposition to Assad equates to a US inspired or CIA backed attempt at “regime change” and that Assad is some sort of anti-imperialist fighter, both of which are forms of politically gaslighting revolutionary Syrians.

That is what the Black Agenda Report does, for example in this article. The same for Green Party presidential candidate (in 2016 and probably again in 2024) Jill Stein. In a post which she subsequently deleted but which can be seen here, Stein claimed that the US was trying to create “regime change” in Syria.  Her running mate Ajamu Baraka (also of the Black Agenda Report) even more clearly parroted Trump’s position. He characterized the pro-democracy opposition to the Assad dictatorship as being “Salafi-Wahhabi fundamentalists who reject representative democracy and support the imposition of sharia law in Syria.” Again to emphasize: This is the same as the position of the far right, including outright racists.

Top: Assad receives delegation from semi-fascist French “National Rally”. Bottom: One week later, these alleged “lefts” went on this Assad sponsored tour of Syria.

Others on the far “left” went on an Assad regime sponsored tour of Syria and came back reporting favorably on Syria under his rule. Participants in one example of this junket journalism, as shown in the bottom photo to the left, include: Rania Khalek, founder of the Russian propaganda site “Breakthrough News” and Max Blumenthal, both of whom are both pro Assad “independent” reporters; Yasemin Zahra of US Labor Against War, Paul Larudee, former US government representative to Saudi Arabia and presently with the International Solidarity Movement (a Palestine support group based in the U.S.); Ajamu Baraka of the Green Party and Black Agenda Report; Rick Sterling, a Putin asset who has appeared on Russia’s Sputnik News and is a regular on the conspiracist and pro-Putin Mintpress news; Anya Parampil who writes for the Putinist Grayzone and previously worked for Russia’s RT television channel; and Judith Bello, who is a member of the United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC).

These regime sponsored tour guests had no objection to the fact that just a week before their September 2019 visit, Assad had sponsored a tour of representatives of France’s far right nationalist National Rally (formerly the National Front).

The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which is now somewhat prominent in the Palestine support movement, is an unabashed defender of the fascistic Assad. Among other things, and along with the rest of the Putinized “left”, they engage in the lie that Assad was not responsible for the poison gas attacks on Syrians. They along with their fraternal twin, the Workers World Party, are part of the misnamed Syria Solidarity Movement (SSM), which should be called the Assad Solidarity Movement. A founding member of the SSM is the fascist connected Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross.

Muhammed Idrees Ahmad denounced the role of these lefts as being “a global laundering service for blood-splattered autocrats.” He went on to explain that participants “are acutely aware of the regimes’ repressive character and the odiousness of their role. Both Blumenthal and Khalek have in the past acknowledged the Assad regime’s criminality and, in the case of Blumenthal, denounced those who serve as its apologists. Their embrace of the same role shows self-aware intention.” Blumenthal had made a miraculous conversion to Assad/Putin defender after his pilgrimage to Moscow in 2015. This visit included the infamous RT dinner attended by Putin and the fascist Michael Flynn and the Green Party’s Jill Stein. There has been much speculation on what sort of cash payments Blumenthal may be receiving.

Ukraine
The same lineup of far right and racist figures who support Assad also support Putin. Donald Trump was infamous for his fawning over Putin. His performances were recently repeated by the racist Tucker Carlson’s fawning interview of Putin. Much of the far right’s support for Putin stems from their view of him as a savior of the “white race.” Thus a recent conference of the racist and nationalist America First erupted in chants of  “Putin! Putin! Putin!” The former KKK leader David Duke has said that Putin’s Russia is “the key to white survival”. Matt Heimbach, the racist/nationalist of the former “Traditionalist Workers Party” said that “I see President Putin as the leader of the free world.” The male supremacist QAnon Republican US senator Tommy Tuberville sounds just like the “left” Putinists. He said that Putin “ is open to a peace agreement, while it is DC warmongers who want to prolong the war.” Stephen Bannon and the racist Richard Spencer have similarly expressed their support for Putin. It’s the same in Europe, where such far right nationalists as France’s Marine Le Pen have repeatedly expressed admiration for Putin.

Anti Globalization Movement of Russia and “globalization”
But it’s not only the racist and nationalist far right. An event that really helped crystallize the collaboration of these forces with the Putinized left was a conference of the Anti Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR) held in December of 2014. The AGMR was founded by Putin agent Alexander Ionov, who as we will see has been quite active in US politics since then. 

Before discussing attendance at the conference, it is necessary to explain how terms like “globalization” are used.

In Putin’s political world, “globalization” is the opposite of a “multipolar” world. The former means a world dominated by US imperialism. What socialist could oppose that? In fact, what opponent of US imperialism can oppose a “multipolar” world, one in which no nation is dominated by others? In actuality, however, that’s not what the AGMR and its sycophants really mean. The anti-fascist group “Three-way fight” explains: “The AGMR position statement seems carefully designed to appeal to both leftists and rightists. For the leftish side, it criticizes ‘the global dominance of transnational corporations and supranational trade and financial institutions.’ For the other end of the spectrum, it warns against ‘the attempts to impose a “new world order’’ and the threat of ‘a single mega-totalitarian world state,” both of which are standard targets of right-wing conspiracy theories. AGMR also “aims to promote all aspects of the national security and traditional moral values.” In other words, this is 21st century Strasserism. (According to Interfax news service, the AGMR joined with several rightist groups in 2013 to plan a public protest against same-sex marriage outside the French embassy.)

Three-Way fight continues: “The AGMR position statement also includes a lot of language about tolerance and self-determination, for example, ‘respect for other peoples and their sovereignty, value systems and lifestyles.’ Such phrases appeal to both leftists and liberals, but are also favored by the neo fascists of the European New Right (ENR), who have replaced traditional fascist talk of national or racial supremacy with slick appeals to ‘ethno-pluralism’ and ‘biocultural diversity.’ [The Russian fascist] Aleksandr Dugin is the ENR’s leading representative in Russia.” This opposition to “globalization” of course would also oppose a different sort of internationalism – international working class solidarity.

Various far right and outright fascist groups attended the conference. These included fascist Dugin’s Eurasian Youth Movement, Russia’s far right Rodina Party, Italy’s neo fascist Millenium party. From the U.S. came the far right Texas Nationalists as well as the openly racist League of the South. The fascist group of Lyndon LaRouche was given special recognition. And rubbing elbows with them were representatives of the “left” wing of the Putinist tendency. They were: Margaret Kimberley of Black Agenda Report (BAR) and the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC); Joe Iosbaker of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression and UNAC; Bill Dores of the International Action Center: women’s rights activist, Mo Hannah; Marina Nova of UNAC; and Joe Lombardo, co-coordinator of UNAC. They published several reports  on the conference, such as this one from Workers World, and others which have since been scrubbed, like this one from the International Action Center. I have read all of these and in none of them is there a mention of the participation of the far right. In fact, during a zoom forum Margaret Kimberley threatened to sue me for revealing her collaboration with fascists at that conference.

Top: “left” attendees at AGMR converence
Bottom: Openly right wing attendees at same conference

More on Alexander Ionov
Since that AGMR conference, Ionov has been quite active in US politics. He has contacted and given money to leading members of the “African People’s Socialist Party” (APSP), aka Uhuru.  APSP/Uhuru  allegedly is a black liberaton organization. In 2015 a representative of Uhuru traveled to Moscow to attend a follow up meeting of the AGMR.  In 2017 and again in 2019, the group ran members for city council and mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida. According to Ionov himself, he “supervised” their election campaign. Within one month of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the central leader of Uhuru, Omali Yeshitela, held a news conference  in which he said, ““African People’s Socialist Party calls for unity with Russia in its defensive war in Ukraine against the world colonial powers.” He also supported Russian annexation of Donetsk. Elsewhere, they have directly said they “are in support of Russia.” There is also the mysterious “Taylor” who contacted a black martial artist to help him build some black-oriented martial arts groups. This same “Taylor” then turned around and used the existence of these groups to stir up white racist fears of black people supposedly wanting to attack whites. “Taylor” apparently also tried to provoke violent confrontations between white and black people. It seems likely that “Taylor” was an Ionov representative. There is also the case of Maria Butina, who was at least in part financed by Ionov. She joined and promoted the far right and racist National Rifle Association.

Roy Singham
Supplementing Ionov’s initiatives are those of the US born and Chinese invested capitalist Neville Roy Singham, who also is connected with the Chinese ruling party. Singham is a denier of China’s genocide of the Uighurs. He also was deeply involved in undermining the independence and rank and file control over South Africa’s most militant union, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA). For an all round view of Singham, see this article which links to all the main sources on him as well as interviews with individuals who have direct experience with his role. We will focus here on Singham’s role in the United States. In 2021, Fashbusters documented Singham’s donations of tens of millions of dollars to PSL and the People’s Forum. This was done through a Goldman Sachs fund he established called the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund.

Roy Singham’s Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund as found by Fashbusters. They call these groups “astroturf” groups – simply Singham fronts.

As you can see over the three year period of 2019-21, Code Pink received slightly over $2 million from Singham. Another source of influence lies in the fact that the co-founder of Code Pink, Jodie Evans, is married to Singham. In general, it is widely believed that a far greater portion of Code Pink’s budget comes from a real estate trust fund set up by Medea Benjamin’s father, who was a real estate developer. As supporters of the corrupt and repressive Iranian theocracy, Code Pink was already firmly into the Putinist agenda for several years. In 1999, Medea Benjamin went on an Iranian government sponsored tour of that country which was organized by Global Exchange. Also on that tour was SF State University professor Stephen Zunes. Starting at least in 2008, and continuing at least into 2020, Code Pink  organized tours of Iran just like the Assad-sponsored tours of Syria. Zunes also participated in the 2019 Code Pink tour.

Vijay Prashad’s Tricontinental received slightly over $13 million over these three years 2017-19. Prashad not only apologizes for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he also supports Eurasianism, which is a theme originally developed by fascists and today is also used to support Russian imperialism.

The major funding went to the People’s forum ($26.18 million), the Justice and Education Fund ($47.1 million) and the United Community Fund ($40 million) for a total of $120 million over three years. Singham (and possibly the Chinese ruling party behind him) made sure to get a payback on this investment through their influence in US “left” politics. Probably the most prominent of this triumvirate is the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), which as we will see is directly linked to the People’s Forum. Along with their sponsor, Singham, they deny the fact of genocide against the Uighurs. And in articles like this one they give cover to Russia’s imperialist invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

Other “left” Putinists
Other “left” Putinists simply revolve around those who receive Singham’s and Ionov’s big bucks. One example is Jill Stein and the Green Party. Stein excuses Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and opposes any aid to help that country defend itself. She calls for the conditions that would enable a victory for Putin’s invasion. It’s the same for Cornel West, who apologizes for Russia’s invasion and, like Stein, Benjamin and others, calls for the conditions which would enable Russia to crush Ukraine. So does Veterans for Peace and the Black Agenda Report. Margaret Kimberly gave a spirited defense of Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine in this debate with Howie Hawkins. Some socialist groups try to square the circle by “opposing” the Russian invasion while calling for the steps that will guarantee its victory: the end of US military support for Ukraine and an end of U.S. sanctions against Russia. The sanctions have put a dent in Russia’s ability to produce modern weapons, so in practice this means no arms for Ukraine but help Russia arm itself. Socialist Alternative is another example of such a position. (Mention should be made of the Freedom Socialist Party, which to their credit actually supports Ukraine.)

Party for Socialism and Liberation
The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) merits special mention because it is starting to play an increasing role in the Palestine solidarity movement. They are one of the most hardcore pro-Putin groups on the “left”, and they are part of the Singham constellation. Fashbusters explains the connection: “The fact that both People’s Forum executive directors—Manolo De Los Santos and Claudia De La Cruz—are party members means that the forum will never stray far from the party line which means People’s Forum is effectively a PSL front, or at best a satellite organization.”  Today, PSL is running two young women for president and vice president on a “vote socialist 2024” platform. De la Cruz has resigned from her position as co-director of People’s Forum since the start of her campaign for president.  PSL is one of the hard core Putinist groups. Here’s how they depict Russia’s imperialist invasion of Ukraine: “At this critical moment, it is imperative that the U.S. government change its reckless, provocative stance of encircling Russia and relentlessly expanding NATO eastward. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States has attempted to incorporate almost every former Soviet/Russian European ally into NATO, which is an offensive military alliance.” Like all effective right wing propaganda, this claim contains a seed of truth (that NATO expanded) to present a completely false picture. Even Colonel-General (retired) Leonid Ivashov, who heads the All Russia Retired Officers Association, wrote just days before the 2022 invasion “Nobody [meaning NATO] threatens us.” In actual fact, Putin’s invasion was driven by his increasingly right wing turn and his drive to restore a Tsarist-like Russian empire. He made this clear in his infamous interview with Tucker Carlson, in which he repeated once again his claim that Ukraine has no right to exist as a country.  

Claudia de la Cruz and fellow pro-Putin “leftists” at the Singham-funded People’s Forum event. They don’t care about these Syrian babies killed by Assad’s sarin gas attack.

The position of PSL is to be expected since they and their closest allies or linked organizations were the major recipients of Singham’s tens of millions of dollars. However, in their public appearances inside the Palestine solidarity movement, PSL hardly ever mentions their support for the reactionary Putin and his imperialist invasion of Ukraine. In fact, some recent recruits to PSL don’t even know about that. Instead, they are drawn to the radical rhetoric of PSL and their presidential candidate, Claudia de la Cruz, who recently appeared at a forum with the hard core Assad supporter, Rania Khalek, and Abby Martin, a former RT contributor and current founder of the Russian propaganda site “The Empire Files”, and Katie Halper, an alleged “comedian”. In that forum, no mention was made of their support for Assad and Putin, of course. Instead, they engaged in friendly banter and denunciations of US imperialism.

Claims of tolerance for r*pe within PSL
Trigger warning: Some people may be triggered or upset by the material in this paragraph. A series of former members of PSL have accused the organization of tolerating sexual harassment and even r*pe. Newer members are certainly unaware of this. Fashbusters did an expose of this issue when they republished a 2022 open letter from a female former member of the Philadelphia chapter of PSL. The open letter was scrubbed, presumably due to the doxing and harassment that senders of such letters have been subjected to. However, they were found on the internet archives. In this letter, the author said that she’d been harassed and r*ped by a prominent male member of that branch. The open letter states in part: “An ex-member, C,  informed me of the business model aspect of PSL and how they care very much about their numbers. They cannot afford to lose members, and will maintain the more established members at the expense of the “less important” members, a second ex-member, L, told me. L gave the example of a similar situation where a known rapist was protected by PSL in the Albuquerque branch.” Fashbusters also alleges similar complaints of r*pe or sexual harassment by other former members of other chapters in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Sacramento.

R*pe and sexual harassment on the “left”
The issue is not confined to PSL, as the case of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) demonstrates. It is directly related to an internal regime that must repress independent thinking and action in order to maintain their indefensible politics. Under conditions of capitalist male supremacy, some men will inevitably use this repression for the purpose of male domination. We will return to the issue of the historical basis for the indefensible politics later.

(r)Max Blumenthal, (c)Ben Norton on Chris Hedges’ RT television show, paid for by Putin. All three are Assad and Putin apologists.

“Independent, left” journalists and academics
Let us now turn to the “independent” reporters. We have dealt with one or two of them, Rania Khalek and Max Blumenthal, already. There is also the example of Chris Hedges, who for a long time worked for Putin’s RT tv and is a defender of Assad. Today, he makes the classic apologies for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The influential Noam Chomsky is another such example of an apologist for Russia’s invasion. As academics and journalists who are linked with Putin, these types have all lived privileged lives disconnected with ordinary, working class people. They never have had any any organic connection with their own working class or with working class movements. It is therefore inevitable that they would also have none with the working class of Syria or Ukraine.

We must accept that the Putinized “left” cannot recover
Just as Gregor Strasser’s toying with left rhetoric while he helped build fascism led to his physical death, so any socialist’s financial or political links with Putin has led to their political death. In the natural world, a species can evolve down a certain road and when the environment changes that species must become extinct because it has evolved too far down that road and cannot return. So it is with the evolution of the Putinist “left”. They have crossed a rubicon. They can never recover and an entirely new socialist movement will have to develop completely outside of and opposed to them.

Unfortunately, because the Putinized “left” has a lot of influence, there are some socialists and others on the left who oppose the Putinist propaganda, but refuse to accept that the Putinists have made more than an isolated “mistake”.

Howie Hawkins debated Margaret Kimberley about Ukraine. He supports Ukraine but is unwilling to expose Kimberley’s links.

These left opponents to Putinism continually make concessions to them and refuse to really reveal who they are in order to avoid making a full break from them. The 2020 Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins is an example. In a debate with Margaret Kimberley, he pretended that the difference was simply a matter of a different interpretation of the facts. He refused to reveal the fact that Kimberley had actually collaborated with fascists at the Aleksandr Ionov’s Anti Globalization of Russia conference. This failure to explain Kimberly’s connections would inevitably have left uninformed listeners confused at the vast presentation of Kimberly’s alternative “facts”, unable to distinguish what was what. It was similar regarding his debate with Jill Stein. There was no explanation of Stein’s connection with Putin, no mention for example, of her infamous dinner in Moscow with Putin Michael Flynn et al,. Nor did Hawkins mention the fact that in her 2016 campaign for US president Stein actually supported Putin’s friend Trump,. In a subsequent discussion with this writer, Hawkins explained his failure as being due to not wanting to burn his bridges with these people. Bill Fletcher jr. exhibits a similar approach when he refers to the Putinized left as “our friends on the left”.

Part of the reason for this refusal to “burn their bridges” with these Putinized “lefts” like Margaret Kimberly, Medea Benjamin and Jill Stein is due to the fact that these individuals and groups have a lot of influence due to their access to money. The political reason for their refusal to “burn their bridges” flows from the refusal to accept the reality that these “lefts” have crossed a rubicon and an entirely new socialist movement must develop outside of and opposed to them. The refusal to accept this reality can be seen in the recent statement of the Ukraine Solidarity Network (USN) of which Howie Hawkins is a leading member, along with similar figures like Bill Fletcher jr. and Dan La Botz. The USN statement marking the second anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine opens not with a denunciation of the invasion but with a denunciation of US hypocrisy. It is true that Biden & Co. are being hypocritical in their support for Ukraine, but even there the main point is how slow and inadequate that military support has been. The USN statement doesn’t mention that. Nor do they mention that USN supports Ukraine’s right to get arms from any available source. The emphasis on Biden’s hypocrisy is exactly the position that the Putinized left takes. This is compounded with the statement’s failure to point out Biden’s refusal to provide all the arms Ukraine needs when it needs it. This reflects their refusal to cut their ties with and their orientation towards the Putinized left. The statement mixes this with a denunciation of US airstrikes in Syria, while ignoring the fact that it was overwhelmingly Russia that has carried out such strikes since 2015 and until this very day. Overall, it balances between denouncing Biden and Zelensky and opposing the invasion despite them. It is an attempt to “support” Ukraine without driving away the Putinist “left”, and it is no accident that Counterpunch – that journal that publishes both sides of the “debate” – has published their statement. Their statement should be contrasted with the statement of the European Network in Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU). Theirs is a simple statement in solidarity with Ukraine and denouncing Putin and the invasion. Period. It will assuredly put off the Putinist “left”. However, if one is to take a principled position regarding Russia’s imperialist invasion and occupation of Ukraine, there is no avoiding putting off the Putinized “left”. It is impossible to take a clear, principled position on Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine without putting off the Putinized “left”, but the USN statement tries to avoid exactly that. The USN sacrifices principles for the false hope that the Putinized left will come to their senses.

The compromising approach of USN was further revealed in several forums in which leading members participated and in one case actually helped organize. The first was on January 29, 2023 in which Bill Fletcher jr. debated Medea Benjamin about Ukraine. Fletcher opposed Benjamin’s pro-Putin views, but at the same time he emphasized how much he respects this supporter of Putin and the Iranian theocracy. More recently, a “Marxist” group held a forum on the “New” labor movement. All three the speakers – two of whom are leading members of USN – were supporters of the “progressive” union bureaucrats. However, these are the same union leaders who help make sure that there is no socialist or working class alternative to the corporate-controlled, pro-Israel Democratic Party, which supports Israel. These union leaders are in the pockets of the Democratic Party, and are therefore an obstacle to principled socialist and leftist political organizing within the unions. These leaders should not be celebrated. Nor did any of the panelists at this forum mention the issue of U.S. labor and Ukraine. The third was a panel/forum:  Axis of reaction: Putin and the Global Far Right. One of the panelists, John Feffer, played down Putin’s connections to the global far right, and none of the other panelists contradicted him. Blanca Missé, another leading member of USN, was another one of the speakers. She and the entire panel completely failed to address the Putinization of the left, which supposedly was the central topic of the forum. By so doing, Missé ensured that she would not antagonize that exact Putinized “left”.

The roots of the degeneration of the socialist movement in the US
It is important to understand the roots of the degeneration of the socialist movement because in the past it played an important role in the U.S. working class. Both the early Socialist Party and the early Communist Party had a strong base in the US working class. And socialists played a fundamental role in building the unions in the United States, for example in the unionization of heavy industry in the 1930s. The Communist Party lead the way in campaigning against racist lynchings in the South in the 1930s. Following WW II, there was an all-out attack on “communism”, which largely drove socialists of all stripes underground. This was the so-called “red scare” and it was exactly this process that enabled a reactionary and pro-employer bureaucracy to seize nearly unchallenged control over the unions. We are still suffering from this bureaucratic control over the unions to this very day.  Here is a general explanation of the roots of the degeneration of the socialist movement in the US. For a more in depth explanation, we suggest seeing this article on fascist ideas on the left. Here, though, are some general points from that article:

• Because of the unique way that capitalism developed in the United States, class consciousness has always tended to be somewhat weaker here than elsewhere. At the same time, pragmatism (looking for easy, “practical”  shortcuts) and anti-intellectualism have tended to be stronger. This has opened the way for left wing populist movements to flow over into far right, including racist, populism.
• The perversion of the Russian Revolution and the rise of Stalinism had a disastrous impact. On the one hand, it further misled and even betrayed socialism. On the other hand, it helped further isolate not only the supporters of the Soviet bureaucracy but all socialists from the working class.
• Once isolated from the US working class, it was inevitable that those socialists would be isolated from the working class abroad. This meant that they do not see the working class in the former colonial world as anything more than the passive objects of rather than the subjects of history. It also means that they do not consider the actual lived experience of the working class masses nor do they listen to their voices.
• One effect of Stalinism was to implant into the socialist movement the focus on “opposition to US imperialism” to the exclusion of all else, including the class struggle outside the United States. The result was that socialists of all stripes tended to automatically oppose anything that the US government supported and support anything that US capitalism’s imperialist rivals like Putin stood for. That has been a strong factor in their effective support for or defense of Assad and for the invasion of Ukraine.

A future regeneration of the socialist movement
Given this history, a new socialist movement that is truly dedicated to international working class solidarity will not be born overnight nor out of the efforts of any small group of socialists. It will be born out of objective developments beyond our control. Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians, especially but not only in Gaza, is one such development. This genocide is bringing about the birth of a new layer of activists, especially among Gen Z. They will be bringing their own experiences and world views into the movement. That will include both their own dismal economic perspectives as well as the looming environmental disaster. It will also include a deeper liberation from both male supremacy and the gender straight jacket that capitalism imposes as well as the ableist treatment of disabled people, including those suffering from long covid (which seems likely to be a widespread phenomenon). It will also include recognizing the rising threat of the far right, including the fascist far right as we in the US see up close and personal in the QAnon Republican Party. Also, the support of the Democrats for Israel’s genocide as well as their weakness in combatting the QAnon Republicans is critical and must be addressed.

Young people at San Francisco protest against Israeli genocide. They will be one of the most internationalist minded generations ever and will bring their own experiences and views, including their dismal economic perspectives, liberation from a lot of capitalist “morality” and a lot more, into a new movement.

Gen Z has not grown up in the era of the Soviet bureaucracy, so anti-communism has little effect on them. On the other hand, the globalization of capitalism to an unprecedented level, the rise of global social media, the fact that climate change is a totally global phenomenon – they all combine to make a truly international consciousness more natural than ever.

That is why it is easy (and necessary) to bring into the Palestine solidarity movement the issue of the invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

It is also why it is equally as easy and necessary to bring in the issue of the necessity of building a mass working class party that is opposed to the Republicans and the Democrats.

From the role of Gregor Strasser and Strasserism to the role of Stalinism, and all points in between (and since), clearly it’s necessary to learn from history. And if presented in the right way, there will be a tremendous thirst for that. 

A new and healthy socialist movement will not necessarily have to originate in the United States, nor in fact in the so-called “West”, where as we have seen Putinism has made serious inroads. In fact, we should look at Eastern Europe and also Iran and Syria. There, the masses of workers – and socialists among them – are all too familiar with what Putin and Putinism stand for. It seems there could be reasons for the birth of a healthy, non Putinized movement first and foremost in one or more of those countries. It’s true that the prejudice against “socialism”, which can be associated with Stalin’s reign, is fairly widespread in much of the region. But, on the other hand, capitalism has not exactly been a bed of roses for workers and the oppressed either in eastern Europe or in Syria and Iran. Wherever it is born, the rise of a healthy socialist movement will be a huge impetus towards the development of a new, and health global socialist movement.

The fact that objective conditions are required to create a new and more healthy socialist movement does not mean we can simply wait for that to develop on its own. On the contrary. We can play a small but vital role in helping prepare the way for those developments.

Just as socialists and workers the world over have much to learn from each other, so do the older generations – or at least those few who have maintained the banner of working class independence and international working class solidarity – and the younger generations born into a very different world. The best of the old socialist and working class traditions should not be dismissed; combined with what the new generations offer, those old traditions can play a vital role in rebuilding a new, dynamic socialist movement based first and foremost on international working class solidarity. In honor of those who came before us and in concern for those who are yet to come – and in concern for all species on the planet –  we have no choice but to continue in this process and to struggle together.

The global struggle for liberation will be the basis for a healthy socialist movement.