Towards the Abyss

December 18, 2023
In this pugnacious debut, sociologist Ishchenko accuses Ukrainian “national-liberal intellectuals” of using the Russian invasion to promote a narrow political agenda while silencing “voices of discontent” within Ukraine, especially those of “Soviet Ukrainians,” who live in the southern and eastern parts of the nation and who tend to be older, Russian-speaking, anti-West, and pro-left. Also targeted, according to Ishchenko, are “opposition left-wing bloggers and activists” who are subject to “a worrying growth” in “searches and arrests.” Taking pains to caution that raising these issues plays into Moscow’s inflammatory propaganda about “Ukraine’s ‘Nazism’ problem,” Ishchenko, who emigrated from the country in 2019, explains the “asymmetries” between Ukraine’s “Eastern” and “Western” political camps, and how they evolved historically. He comments on Ukraine’s revolutions in 1990, 2004, and 2014, contending they became marred with “pretentious patriotism and radical nationalism.” Accusing post-Soviet Ukrainian leaders of “authoritarian tendencies” (including the 2015 disbanding of all Communist parties), he criticizes current president Volodymyr Zelensky for being too cozy with “radical nationalists” and corrupt oligarchs. (Russian president Vladimir Putin also comes under fire for using “brutal violence” to protect the “interests of the Russian ruling class.”) The chapters are adapted from articles published over the past decade, and some are more academic than others, making for uneven reading. Still, those wanting a better understanding of the Russia-Ukraine conflict would do well to check out this left-wing analysis.