Azerbaijan: war, oil and the tasks of the communists

We have received the following letter from a group of young communists in Azerbaijan, which we are delighted to republish here and have no doubt will be of great interest to our readers, as it gives a very interesting insight into the present situation in that country.

The current perspective in Azerbaijan is defined by war and imperialism. The ruling class is using warmongering nationalism and naked repression to secure its position, growing fat off the profits yielded by a powerful oil and gas sector and propping up Israel’s slaughter abroad; while the majority of Azeris face poverty and precarity.

The Azeri economy is almost entirely dependent (91 percent) on energy exports, which it uses to balance between Russia and the West. Like the UAE before it, the Azeri regime has offered up its services as host of the upcoming COP29: helping to ‘greenwash’ polluting industries, while showing no interest in changing its own environmentally destructive practices.

While Azerbaijan is considered a de facto ally of Moscow in many fields (particularly military affairs) it also enjoys significant investment from western imperialism through major energy companies like British Petroleum. Ironically, much of the seaborne oil products Europe buys from the Azeri-owned STAR refinery, located in western Turkey, originate in Russia.

The Ukraine war initially dealt a blow to Azerbaijan’s critical energy sector by forcing it to reroute its pipeline deliveries away from the Black Sea. This has now stabilised, and Azerbaijan’s economic growth accelerated to 4.3 percent year on year in the first half of 2024.

Despite this blow, the minimum wage in Azerbaijan is 345 AZN (203 USD): an all-time high for the country, but still dismal, especially combined with high inflation since 2022. Azeris also work extremely long hours, with poor workplace protections. Moreover, while half the working population earns 410 AZN (241 USD) or less, the average monthly wage in the country is 997 AZN (586 USD), attesting to high levels of inequality. This is not to mention rampant corruption at all levels of state.

Nagorno-Karabakh

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which flared up between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 1988, led to tens of thousands of refugees and displaced persons in both countries, the deaths of thousands of civilians, and the occupation and depopulation of seven administrative districts populated predominantly by Turks and Kurds by Armenian forces.

International imperialism passed over the total ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 in complete silence / Image: own work

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict forced hundreds of thousands Azeris to flee their homes, resulting in a mass migration to Baku and creating artificial urbanisation. While official reports claim the population of Azerbaijan exceeds 10 million, independent economists estimate the population to be between 6-7 million, with nearly half concentrated in and around Baku.

This has exacerbated the severe crisis in the regions, stemming from the economic impact of Azerbaijan’s separation from the Soviet Union and the inaction of local governments, which led to the elimination of millions of jobs outside of the capital.

While ceasefire breaches continued periodically for 30 years, from 2020 to 2023 Azerbaijan launched military offensives, reclaiming all seven districts and bringing the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, populated primarily by Armenians, under Azerbaijani control. This culminated in a new crime last year, with the total ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population, which international imperialism overlooked in complete silence.

The war has significantly strengthened the Ilham Aliyev regime. Anti-war, left-wing opposition forces are very limited in Azerbaijan, and traditional opposition groupings have focused on Nagorno-Karabakh since the first war in 1990s, which the Azeris lost. The latest, decisive Azeri victory and ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh has cut this plank out from under the opposition and resulted in a rise of national chauvinism the regime has been able to monopolise, allowing it to temporarily distract a section of the masses from their real problems.

Repression

At the same time, since 2020, COVID-19 measures have enhanced the government’s ability to suppress dissent. Despite the global cessation of pandemic restrictions, Azerbaijan’s land borders remain closed to its citizens under the pretext of protecting against COVID-19 and are expected to remain closed until at least 2025.

In 2022, Azerbaijan’s rubber-stamp parliament revised the Law on Political Parties, which imposed unprecedented restrictions on political organisations “failing to meet international obligations.” One requirement was that a party must have at least 5,000 members to register officially, and any party with fewer than 4,500 members would be dissolved. Additionally, any political activity without official registration was banned. As a result, 31 of the 59 active parties in the country were forced to close.

Party officials have been continuously subjected to arrests and persecution. The nationalist Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP) and the Islamist Muslim Unity Movement are particularly frequent targets of repression. A recent example is the criminal case filed against the AXCP chairman Ali Karimli. The leader of the Muslim Unity Movement has been imprisoned since 2015.

The latest wave of arrests extends beyond political parties and includes civil society activists critical of the regime. Prominent figures like Anar Mammadli, involved in election monitoring, and Imran Aliyev, head of a parliamentary monitoring platform, were also imprisoned.

A significant expression of this intensified repression occurred between November 2023 and January 2024, when five journalists and one administrative worker from Abzas Media, one of the leading local media outlets investigating corruption among government officials and their associates, were arrested. They now face up to eight years in prison.

The Azeri regime is one of Israel’s key allies, as its largest oil supplier and an important arms supplier / Image: President.az, Wikimedia Commons

Then on 20 June 2023, the residents of Söyüdlü village in Gədəbəy district, located in the western part of Azerbaijan, protested against the toxic waste being dumped into artificial lakes near their village by a nearby gold mine. The villagers organised to repel attempts to create a new lake, blocking the roads into the village. Having received solidarity from all around the country, the villagers demanded the removal of the artificial lakes or the implementation of proper safety measures.

The government could not tolerate this protest given the need to protect the lucrative operations of the London–based Anglo-Asian Mining corporation. The village was sealed off, and violence was inflicted on journalists and residents, with at least five people arrested.

Moreover, the Azeri regime is one of Israel’s key allies, as its largest oil supplier and an important arms supplier. The media relentlessly portrays Israel as the rightful side in the conflict, silencing all dissenting voices, while the state’s goons attack any protestors against Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinians.

Labour front heating up

Despite the repression and attempts to rally the population around the flag, with living standards continuing to deteriorate we are seeing the first signs of the class struggle heating up.

Low wages and rising living costs have pushed relatively privileged layers of the workforce into precarity, with many professional people forced to take on second jobs in the informal sector as taxi drivers and couriers, for example. This situation, combined with resentment towards the government’s inaction and the absence of any political point of reference, has resulted in a turn to the labour front.

It is worth noting that free and combative trade unions have barely existed in Azerbaijan for decades. During the Soviet era, unions were under state control, and this formality continued after the restoration of capitalism.

Aside from a few labour rights organisations surviving on foreign donor support via NGOs (which are vectors of western imperialist interests) the question of workers’ rights is not discussed anywhere. Attempts to take up this struggle are met with a sharp reaction from the regime.

In 2022, workers employed by transnational courier and taxi service companies staged several strikes. Off the back of this, the Labor Desk Trade Union Coalition was established, chaired by Afiyaddin Mammadov. The strikes led by the coalition in 2022 and 2023 resulted in the arrests of Mammadov and three other labour activists – Möhyaddin Orucov, Ayxan Israfilov, and Elvin Mustafayev, who all remain in jail, their trials ongoing.

This is only a taste of battles to come, and the regime will not be able to stem the tide with repression alone.

A call to action

In Azerbaijan, the fight against the Ilham Aliyev regime is also very clearly against world imperialism.

The fight against the Ilham Aliyev regime is also very clearly against world imperialism / Image: President.az, Wikimedia Commons

Despite the government’s crimes, and its geographical ties to Russia, the ‘democratic international community’ seems curiously disinterested. This is because of the many western investments in the country; increased demand for Azeri oil and gas; and the fact that our government ultimately serves the interests of Israel, the West’s primary Middle Eastern ally.

The hypocrisy of the imperialists knows no bounds.

The next few years will see explosive developments. The chauvinist smokescreen arising from Nagorno-Karabakh cannot keep the masses passive forever. An impending economic downturn will create a strong impetus to the class struggle, which is already beginning to break into the open.

The reactionary mainstream opposition parties are all in crisis, meaning there is a total absence of any political alternatives. Our movement is rooted in the rich history of socialist ideology, drawing inspiration from the theoretical and revolutionary leadership of iconic figures such as Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.

With tumult on the horizon, and by bringing together dedicated comrades who share our vision and unwavering faith in our cause, we are confident that we can build a powerful revolutionary communist organisation in this country.

As we navigate this crucial stage, we recognise the importance of establishing strong international connections, which is why we have reached out to the Revolutionary Communist International.

We are committed to collaborating with socialist and revolutionary organisations worldwide, in the spirit of Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution, and building a unified front for the advancement of the working class.

The comprador bourgeois regime in Azerbaijan, serving as a puppet of imperialism, will not last long. Together, as workers, we will put an end to capitalism and imperialism.

Long live the socialist struggle! Long live socialist Azerbaijan! Long live the socialist world! Down with the compradors! Down with imperialism!