When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, much of the political left across the western world were faced with a dilemma. Unlike in 2003 – when US oil interests seemed to explain the invasion of Iraq all too neatly – this time it was much more difficult to put a Marxist spin on things.
The left, sections of which have traditionally been critical of the US-led Nato alliance, was presented with an unpalatable choice: either to back a state propped up by Nato, the world’s most powerful military alliance, or to end up excusing a war of aggression.
The tension was in effect resolved by a split. A small group, including the influential socialist commentator Noam Chomsky and the Marxist theorist David Harvey, continued to argue that the invasion of Ukraine was ultimately the fault of Nato for pursuing expansion into eastern Europe. In doing so, they sided with the so-called realists who had long urged the west to respect Russia’s “legitimate” sphere of influence.
