It's true that they claim a de jure statehood, but from what I've read the Leftists there are highly decentralized and are managing to fight based on disorganized urban guerilla tactics, with an essentially insurrectionist strategy. This may not be the case, however, you surely would be more able to describe it than I. How is it like in reality?
Sorry comrade, I could not answer earlier.
The leftists in the Donbass are scattered, but the reason is that they were not united in Ukraine before. It's a long story.
Military detachments were formed on the basis of the principle of attitude towards a coup d'état (Maydan). Supporters of the coup are on one side, opponents on the other. At the same time, attitudes toward political preferences were less significant. For example, the hero of Novorossia Igor Strelkov is a monarchist, his ideology is even closer to fascism. But he fought against the Maidan-fascists, then it was more important. Now in one unit you can meet atheists and very religious people, right and left. They are united by hatred for the Maidan and the junta.
Concerning tactics. Dombas is very specific. 95% of the population live in cities (there is essentially a huge urban agglomeration). But the terrain where the fighting is going consists mainly of low-rise brick and concrete buildings in the cities. Partly countryside (the village on the Donbass is a small brick house and many small household buildings on a small piece of fenced territory) are partly fighting in the field.
The fields also have specific features - rectangular areas about 1 mile wide are separated by narrow forest belts along which the road goes. The rest is steppe.
We have had a Civil War once before, and it was fought without much infrastructural damage because the victorious side had a massive economic and logistical advantage. Should Civil War happen again, we shall be careful not to damage our infrastructure, as we have been quite conscious of throughout our history.
The civil war in the United States was very, very long time ago. Now they do not fight like that. In the civil war on the Donbas (this comes back to the question of tactics) ~ 85% of the loss falls on artillery fire. Such are the realities of modern warfare. The soldier has more chances to perish than to see the enemy. The destruction of infrastructure at the same time is enormous.
Given that according to the latest data in the United States, the largest number of barrel artillery and most buildings are very fragile - theoretically your civil war will lead to the shooting of cities by artillery. (it's not because I think your military is bloodthirsty, it's because this type of combat for the military is the simplest and minimizes losses among the military themselves, and civilian casualties are not a problem for the state, they can be called terrorists, separatists, enemy agents. .. Anyone ... The Ukrainian government has been doing this for 3.5 years without problems.)
So I would not in your place have hoped for the preservation of infrastructure and historical monuments.
Maybe in a very, very small way. I should certainly say that economic collapse and political instability were more significant factors.
Еconomic collapse and political instability were before the coup, but the Donbas from Ukraine did not separate (unlike the Crimea, the Crimeans tried to separate in the early 1990s). in western Ukraine there is almost no industry, unemployment there is even higher, but they also do not separate.The main reason is political. In the Donbass most people differed from the inhabitants of the rest of Ukraine.
1. These are industrial workers.
2 Russians by nationality.
3 Many Communists.
Propaganda of the Maidanovites drew these three factors as an absolute evil (including industry!) Residents of the Donbass were portrayed as second-class people, they did not want to be untermens, so they separated. Similarly, in the United States they want to show the Confederates (in any case, it looks like it from the outside).
Yes but in those days the Soviet meant something very different from what it eventually became in the 60s-80s. They were workers councils that more closely resembled a commune than a state, no?
In Russia there was a community in the pre-revolutionary era. It was a very archaic system, the tsarist government and the Soviet government fought against it. The community you are writing about is a more forthcoming phenomenon, a collective of collective and state farms. There, too, everything was not perfect, I saw it live.
But these communities were part of the state, supported by the state and the state supported them. (the capitalist state, for example, supports the big companies) The collective farm is a cooperative integrated into the agricultural system. The state gave the collective farm a plan - what and how much to grow. Guaranteed bought products. Sold at a bargain price equipment, fuel, trained specialists. Without a state and a plan (one for the whole country) this is immaterial. After the destruction of the USSR, the collective farms plundered the former members of these collective farms for 10 years.
By itself, such a self-organized community can plow the field, build a farm. But it can not self-reproduce doctors, scientists, build large factories, factories, etc. Not the scale.
The state is not necessarily the only way to organize leadership in human society. In fact I disagree that leadership should be organized at all.
If you need an example of self-organization - try to organize a community with a group of like-minded people. There are many such examples throughout the world. The results are very different. If it does not work, there will be experience. If possible, there will be a base for meetings of like-minded people, conducting exercises, etc.
Another option is to educate compatriots. If what they show about America - you have a ghetto in your country where low-educated citizens live. In tsarist Russia, this also happened. Even worse. Known revolutionaries go to these people, dressed like them, lived with them and taught them.
ps:
If you can, tell about the ghetto in America. We have no such phenomenon in our country. The fact that they show on TV does not cause confidence.
- How do people get there?
- Why do not they organize themselves and do not induce order there?
- How does the government fight this?