On the function of fascism in the Ukrainian war

Fascism has repeatedly played an important role as a dangerous power factor in the history of Ukraine. This is true again today, if one considers the influence that fascists – armed with Western weapons – have on the current state leadership.

What is the role of fascism in the current war in Ukraine? A qualified discussion of this question requires recognizing the functional connection between fascism and war and putting it into clear terms. Otherwise, the attempt to understand the developments remain a helpless effort and misconceptions will be the result.

In an essay published in 1974 the Marxist political scientist Reinhard Opitz pointed out that monopoly capital exercises its power in fascist forms precisely when it decides to act »in the interest of the uncompromising enforcement of its maximum interests«, whose nature is such that they require the rigorous violent elimination of all resistance.

The investigation of what constitutes the decisive maximum interests in this Ukrainian war and to what extent their uncompromising implementation makes it necessary for the imperialism of the »Wertewesten« to resort to fascism opens the perspective on the functional connection between fascism and war. Only based on the insights this analysis provides does it become possible to answer the following questions in a qualified manner: Is fascism merely an unpleasant biproduct of the present war? Or does it function as a power factor? And if so – what power? Who is the bearer and who ordered it?

Large parts of the anti-fascist movement and the peace movement have lost sight of how to apply the analytical tools of the historical-materialistic theory of fascism or have completely abandoned them. Their self-inflicted helplessness leads to blind guesswork and has severe consequences. Thus, the refusal of Western politicians and journalists to recognize fascists as such – even if they stand in front of them wearing Nazi symbols – often remains unchallenged. And activists, who consider themselves to be on the left, and mobilize against the peace movement with a supposedly anti-fascist impetus, attach themselves to a united front with NATO propagandists and use a history-falsifying image of »Querfront« to polemicize against politically valid positions. On the other hand, some fellow activists refrain from critically assessing the objective interests expressed in the theory and practice of supposed »friends of peace«. They are content with the verbal anti-war-declarations of these »friends« and fail to recognize the demagogy of the real Querfront-strategists, who always are fascists (!). All this is reason enough to rediscover the lost tools of the historical-materialistic analysis of fascism and to consistently apply them in accordance with their intended purpose.