Colin Turbett's Website

Social History, Social Work, Socialism - and a bit about bikes

Slava Ukraina!

Building Solidarity With the People of Ukraine

Writing and researching the USSR books brought me into contact with people in Ukraine, and Valentina Kudinova and her family in Kharkiv more than anyone else. I made contact with her as soon as the full scale invasion started, and have kept in touch regularly since - hearing her stories of the attacks on her city and the repulsion of attempts to capture it in 2022.  This has been quite dramatic and emotional and guided my views on the war, its causes, and how it might be ended.

In 2023, I terminated a long membership of the Scottish Socialist Party after they confrmed a position on the war in Ukraine that took no account of the views of people there - including those in the trade union and socialist movement who opposed the Russian invasion (the vast majority).  The SSP's support for an arms embargo was (and is) tantamount to handing victory to Putin and his supporters. Later in the year I joined with others to form the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Scotland (USCS). This was aligned closely with the UK wide Ukraine Solidarity Campaign - formed after the Russian invasion of Crimea and Donetsk in 2014. Our aim is to build links with the left and trade union movement in Ukraine, support their resistance to invasion, help them resist neoliberalism encroachment, and counter the Kremlin narrative that Ukraine was under the control of nazis and extreme nationalists. 

In April 2024, having raised funds through a Crowdfunder, I visited Kharkiv for a week, meeting trade union and community activists, and social work services (see images above). I was able to deliver some immediate practical support, and bring back news and requests for further help, to Scotland. This has aided USCS efforts to forge links between trade unionists in Scotland and colleagues in Ukraine. This activity continues.

Unison Scotland Branches Visit to Kharkiv September 2025.

I was pleased to help organise the recent delegation to Ukraine by stewards from Lothian Health, North and South Lanarkshire Branches. Prior to their visit we raised about £19,000 from other Scottish Branches, ASLEF Scottish Region, UCU Scotland and NUJ, and GMB branches. Unison's International Committee donated £1000. 

I posted the following briefing on the Crowdfunder:

Our delegates returned from Kharkiv on 4th October after a very full week in Kharkiv - hopefully you followed our daily updates posted on social media. In brief and with the enthusiastic assistance of our friends and trade union comrades in Ukraine, they visited and met with numerous activists, and along the way met many people in different settings. They also got an opportunity to see this city that retains its beauty despite the best efforts of the Russian invaders to wreak ongoing havoc and destruction. Visits included:

- an underground school

- an undergound kindergarten

- the site of a new kindergarten in a nearby town

- a sports complex

- a sports school partially destroyed by the Russians

- a university

- a social work setting

- a hospital

- city administration

- an LGBTQ support centre

They also met with Razom We Stand - an environmental organisation in Kyiv - and attended a public sector trade union conference, on their way home.  Altogether a full week, some of which (at night), was spent in air raid shelters during attacks on the city.

Now they are home, decisions are being made about where all the funds you helped raise will go - nearly £17,000 including direct donations from trade union branches (UNISON, ASLEF, NUJ, UCU, GMB).  So far we have resolved to donate to:

-  trade union training

- a foodbank

- a power source for a social work day centre for the elderly

- resources for Spectrum LGBTQ centre

- drone detecting equipment for journalists

- Rehabilitation materials for the city farm and Aquarena Sports Centre

Enquiries are underway to establish other need before final decisions are made.

Our delegation leader, Stephen Smellie, is completing a full written report on the visit which will be distributed widely. Our delegates are also keen, where possible, to report back direct to trade union and other organisations - if you have an idea about this please get in touch. We will also be doing an online report back with an open invitation to attend - watch this space - and keep the evening of Monday 3rd November clear in your diary for this.