Thread by @ahatanhel

I lost my temper. A thread on Jacobin and their position on Ukraine. 1/

When I wrote my “Letter to the Western Left” two months ago, I hoped that the shock of the war and the criticism from the Eastern European left would force the Western left to reconsider their position. 2/

But I was disappointed with how many leftists continued to write complete shit. Jacobin published ten times more bullshit texts on ten normal materials about Ukraine. 3/

They even distorted the history of the socialist movement to justify their shameful position. Here is a good article by @lionel_trolling about it. 4/
johnganz.substack.com/p/ben-burgiss-…

When Russian Socialist Movement asked them to publish their anti-war statement, which our organization also signed, they refused. 5/
lefteast.org/against-russia…

They said that the statements were not their format. But this was a false excuse, because at the beginning of the war they published two Russian anti-war statements. 6/
jacobinmag.com/2022/02/russia…
jacobinmag.com/2022/03/russia…

The difference was that those two statements did not call for support military aid for Ukraine. Russian anti-war socialists risked being imprisoned to supported us, and Jacobin failed to publish their statement. 7/

LeftEast also does not support the supply of weapons, but they published with a preface. Instead, Jacobin not only refused to publish, but also lied. 8/

But a special place among Jacobin's materials is occupied by the texts of Branko Marcetic. He became an odious figure among the Ukrainian left because of his incompetence and manipulation. 9/

Here is a good article by Stephen R. Shalom, in which he analyzes one of the examples of Branko's manipulations. Jacobin refused to publish it. 10/

https://twitter.com/DannyPostel/status/1517322850113404930

Instead, Jacobin continues to publish the bullshit of this manipulative idiot. Yesterday they published his new article. 11/
jacobinmag.com/2022/04/united…

Marcetic wrote: “Zelensky announced early on in the war that he would give out weapons to anyone willing to fight.” This is true, but it was only a few days at the beginning of the war, and even then only a part of those who wanted to fight received weapons. 12/

Very quickly, the state began to tightly control the issuance of weapons. 13/

Our military unit is now in Kyiv, where it is calm. We do not fight, but are constantly trained. And we are forced to report for every fucking cartridge shot. Our officers are shocked, because in 2014 there was nothing like that. 14/

But Marcetic is not interested in the real situation in Ukraine and what the Ukrainian left can say. He uses statements that are convenient for him to justify his own shameful position. 15/

Marcetic wrote: “Ukrainian troops pick up trucks loaded with weapons mostly in Poland… before driving them across the border, at which point it’s entirely up to Ukrainians how and where they’re given out” 16/

Yes, because Ukrainians are fighting, and we decide where given out. Does this chauvinist want NATO generals to lead our defense? Fuck off! 17/

This is a 1944 Maxim gun. Nestor Makhno fought with the same machine guns on tachankas in Ukraine a hundred years ago. Therefore, when he was handed over to our unit, our anarchists were delighted. 18/

But in fact, the fact that Ukraine had to deconserve even such old weapons to have something to fight is not a positive fact. 19/

Against this background, the Western left, which criticizes military aid to Ukraine, are outrageous. What do they want us to fight with bows and arrows when we shoot all the bullets? Do they want the Russians to kill as many Ukrainians as possible? That there was more Bucha? 20/

Idiots have written since the beginning of war that military aid will increase casualties. At that time Ukrainian authorities requested in the first place air defense. Is it really so difficult to understand that the more we shoot down Russian missiles, the less Ukrainians die?21

“Anti-imperialist” idiots who call on Ukrainians not to resist imperialist aggression are a disgrace. To those assholes who want us to capitulate, I can only say: go fuck youself. 22/

PS. My “Letter to the Western Left” was translated from Ukrainian for publication. A mistake was made in the translation – the translator did not read Marcetic's article, which I criticized, so he replaced the word “intentions” with “actions”. 23/

This was unfair, because there is criticism of Putin's actions in the article. But Marcetic used the softest possible wording about his intentions. At a time when the Russian army was bombing Ukrainian cities, the words “signal less-than-benign ambitions” looked like mockery. 24/

When Marcetic wrote about misstake, we corrected it. The editor of openDemocracy sent a letter to anyone who translated or reprinted my letter asking for changes to the text. But this was not enough for Marcetic, he demanded to edit the text more. 25/

@jacobin @BMarchetich

The problem is not only that they refuse to support Ukrainian resistance. Fortunately, they have little effect on military aid policy. The problem is that these idiots discredit the socialist movement. And we will have to deal with the consequences of this for a long time to come