I have been challenged in my critical support of Russia for its invasion of Ukraine by Lenin who during the First World War said it was foolish to support Germany against Russia or vice versa, and that the people should seek revolution regardless.
This is written in The Defeat of One’s Own Government in the Imperialist War
The phrase-bandying Trotsky has completely lost his bearings on a simple issue. It seems to him that to desire Russia’s defeat means desiring the victory of Germany.
In all imperialist countries the proletariat must now desire the defeat of its own government. Bukvoyed and Trotsky preferred to avoid this truth
I think this is crucial, because Lenin writes as Russian on the position of Russians in a conflict between Russia and another country. Most of us clearly aren’t Russian, so our desire doesn’t have to be Russias defeat. That’s something the Russian comrades have to wrestle with and for them it might very well lead to a deviation from Lenin. If so, that doesn’t have to be bad. We shouldn’t be dogmatic about these things and as ksynwa pointed out the material reality in this conflict is significantly different to that of WW1 - mainly the global hegemony of the US and the fact Russia today probably can’t be called imperialist in the Leninist sense.
Still, for us Non-Russians and Non-Ukrainians we should desire the defeat of our own governments as he laid out. Beyond that our main enemy is US hegemony and Western imperialism, our main ally the international proletariat. A Russian defeat here would be a gigantic loss for the latter and a win for the former, so I don’t see how this is a position we could take, especially in a social and political climate as one-sidedly hostile to Russia as we’re in today.
One could argue that besides Russia defending its sovereignty, they are also defending the interests of Russian energy companies in this war. Mainly, because if Russia is cut off from Germany by anti-Russian states, it won’t profit as much or at all from the sale of Russian gas and oil to Europe. I don’t think that’s the case personally, but I can see it being part of the reason this war is happening.