No, Left-Wing Opponents of War Aren't Isolationists

As the Russian government’s criminal war in Ukraine continues, socialists in the US have forcefully condemned the invasion while focusing most of our energy on opposing the potentially catastrophic escalation in tensions between Russia and the United States. This in turn has resurrected a common accusation from the post-9/11 years — that in taking such a strong antiwar stance, the Left isn’t being true to our own values.

After all, the criticism goes, we’re supposed to be “internationalists.” But if we’re willing to “abandon” the Ukrainian people by criticizing the US government coming to their aid — or, in earlier versions of this accusation, if we oppose the military “liberation” of Iraqis or Afghans — aren’t we showing ourselves to be not internationalists but “isolationists”?

Absolutely not. Opposition to war and the militarism of our own government has always been at the heart of what leftists mean by “internationalism.”

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