Trotsky's comment,
“Installed within the Guomindang and its leadership, the national bourgeoisie has been essentially an instrument of the compradors and imperialism. It can remain in the camp of the national war only because of the weakness of the worker and peasant masses, the lack of development of the class struggle, the lack of independence of the Chinese Communist Party and the docility of the Guomindang in the hands of the bourgeoisie.” (p 21)
could be applied, in its entirety, to Ukraine, because the reality is that, if the Ukrainian workers were organised independently, and effectively, to defend and advance their interests, including against the limitations of Zelensky's regime, in fighting for independence, then the current, anti-worker measures, implemented by Zelensky, would be multiplied ten-fold, the paramilitary forces of the Azov Battalion, and Right Sector, would be turned immediately against those Ukrainian workers, rather than Russia, and NATO would be pressing for a peace deal with Putin, to save all their hides from a rising workers revolution!
“It is a gross mistake to think that imperialism mechanically welds together all the classes of China from without. That is the position of the Chinese Kadet, Dai Tshi Tao, but in no wise ours.” (p 21)
It is also the position of the USC, when it comes to Ukraine, when they ignore the issue of class, and talk about a “people's” war, i.e. a war of the whole Ukrainian people, irrespective of class. It is the position of bourgeois nationalism and Stalinism. But, of course, what is happening, in Ukraine, is not an anti-imperialist struggle for national independence, anyway, because Ukraine is already an independent nation state, as was say, France, Britain and Germany, prior to WWI, and is massively armed and supported by NATO imperialism. What is happening is, rather, an inter-imperialist war, like WWI and II, for strategic advantage.
“Imperialism is a highly powerful force in the internal relationships of China.” (p 21)
And, it is in Ukraine too, with the massive connections to US imperialism (visibly in its connections to the Biden family and regime), and its subordinates in the EU.
“The main source of this force is not the warships in the waters of the Yangtze Kiang – they are only auxiliaries – but the economic and political bond between foreign capital and the native bourgeoisie. The struggle against imperialism, precisely because of its economic and military power, demands a powerful exertion of forces from the very depths of the Chinese people.” (p 21-2)
That was the last thing the Stalinists wanted in China, as they promoted the Popular Front “bloc of four classes”, and its the last thing their modern equivalents, in the USC etc., want, in relation to Ukraine. And, the same applies to those who adopt a similar, but mirror image, in their support for Putin.
“But everything that brings the oppressed and exploited masses of the toilers to their feet inevitably pushes the national bourgeoisie into an open bloc with the imperialists. The class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the masses of workers and peasants is not weakened, but, on the contrary, is sharpened by imperialist oppression, to the point of bloody civil war at every serious conflict. The Chinese bourgeoisie always has a solid rearguard behind it in imperialism, which will always help it with money, goods and shells against the workers and peasants.” (p 22)
The extent to which what is happening in Ukraine is not an anti-imperialist struggle, is also demonstrated by this. The Ukrainian ruling class, and its state are not opposing US/NATO imperialism, they are embracing it.
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