Letter on political prisoner Bogdan Syrotiuk

Last month, Permanent Revolution received a letter alleging that the “political leadership of the ICFI is responsible for the arrest of Ostap Rerikh (Bogdan Syrotiuk).” This was sent from a (now presumably ex-) member of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) concerning the leadership’s responsibility for the SBU’s arrest of Ostap Rerikh/Bogdan Syrotiuk and their effort to cover up their reckless decisions after his arrest. The campaign coordinated by the ICFI to free Ostap uses his pseudonym, Bogdan Syrotiuk, however, in this piece Ostap's real name will be used in line with the author of the letter featured below. 

Bogdan Syrotiuk

Bogdan/Ostap was arrested on April 25, 2024, and has been held in Nikolaev prison since then. Further, information about his incarceration and health is unknown to us. He was arrested on charges of undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine and serving the interests of the Russian state. These are completely bogus charges that do not align with Ostap’s political statements on the war nor those of the Young Guard of the Bolshevik Leninists (YGBL) which he founded. The charges against him could carry a sentence of 15 years.

Since his arrest, the World Socialist Web Site (which is run by the ICFI) has launched a campaign for his freedom. However, unbeknownst to members of the party and supporters of the campaign, the editorial board of the WSWS bears more responsibility for Ostap’s arrest at the hands of the SBU than it has thus far cared to disclose.

The letter received claims that far from protecting a young socialist activist working under a fascist infested regime, the ICFI’s leadership recklessly endangered him by publishing his legal name on the WSWS and allowed him to share their materials on the highly monitored VK social network. The letter further claims that this information has been deliberately hidden from the ICFI membership.

We have been able to establish the identity of the sender, however, we will not undermine their wish to remain anonymous.

We asked a representative of the WSWS for a comment but we did not receive a response.

Here is the letter received:

The arrest of Ostap Rerikh and leadership accountability

The arrest of Ostap Rerikh, a member of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists, marks a profound failure of the leadership of the International Committee of the Fourth International. This failure, which directly contributed to his detention, remains largely unaddressed by the leadership. The events surrounding Ostap’s arrest expose a troubling lapse in both political responsibility and operational security within the ICFI, and these issues must be thoroughly examined.

In 2023, the World Socialist Web Site published multiple articles in which Ostap Rerikh was identified by his full real name, despite the highly repressive political climate in Ukraine. Ostap's name, "Ostap" (or "Остап" in Ukrainian), is a well-known and culturally significant Ukrainian name. Given the severe political climate in Ukraine, using his real name in such a public and easily accessible manner was a reckless decision, exposing him to grave risks. The ICFI leadership did not take the precautionary steps necessary to protect Ostap, such as advising him to maintain a low profile or severing communication for his safety. Instead, they publicly revealed his identity, thereby increasing his vulnerability to persecution.

The first article that used Ostap’s full name was published on February 28, 2023. A second article appeared on October 17, 2023, and the third and final article with his full name was published on January 22, 2024. Each publication exposed Ostap to further risks by disclosing his identity, demonstrating the leadership’s disregard for operational security in a highly volatile environment.

In addition to the public articles, Ostap was active on the Russian social media platform VK, where he communicated with Clara Weiss, who joined the platform in 2022. Despite his arrest on April 25, 2024, his VK account remained active, continuing to be monitored by Ukrainian intelligence. The last recorded activity on his VK account occurred on May 7, 2024. Clara Weiss had reposted six comments from Ostap’s VK page, titled "Молодая гвардия большевиков-ленинцев ★" (Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists), further compounding the security risks. The decision to use VK, a widely monitored platform, to communicate about politically sensitive matters was another significant security breach.

Ukrainian intelligence services thoroughly reviewed the content of Ostap’s VK account, particularly the links and materials related to the WSWS, which ultimately led to the banning of the WSWS in Ukraine. This investigation played a key role in building the case against Ostap, leading to his capture. Had the ICFI leadership been more cautious, Ostap’s identity might not have been exposed.

After Ostap's arrest, the ICFI leadership sought to distance itself from responsibility by ceasing to use his real name and instead adopting the pseudonym "Bogdan Syrotiuk" in subsequent WSWS articles. This change in approach, while acknowledging the leadership’s mistake, fails to take full political responsibility for the consequences of exposing Ostap’s identity. Instead of openly acknowledging their error and taking responsibility for the resulting harm, the leadership's actions suggest an attempt to evade accountability.

In 2023, Russian state media played a crucial role in amplifying WSWS articles on Ukraine, which drew the attention of Ukrainian intelligence services. Major outlets such as URA News, Rambler News, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and ProGorod Chelny republished WSWS articles widely, thereby increasing the likelihood that Ukrainian authorities would discover Ostap's identity. The republication of these articles, combined with his public online presence, provided Ukrainian intelligence with direct leads that led to his identification and arrest. The failure of the ICFI leadership to protect Ostap’s anonymity indirectly facilitated Ukrainian intelligence's efforts to track and apprehend him.

The use of Ostap’s full name in publicly available, unencrypted communication channels such as VK compounded the risk to his safety. These platforms are heavily monitored, and the information they contain is readily accessible to state authorities. By publishing Ostap’s real name in their articles and allowing him to use such unsecured platforms for communication, the ICFI leadership failed to protect him from the very real dangers posed by a repressive state apparatus.

For an organization claiming to uphold revolutionary principles, especially one rooted in the Trotskyist tradition, this failure to prioritize operational security is deeply troubling. The Trotskyist movement has a long and painful history of state persecution, with figures like Leon Trotsky himself falling victim to assassination due to lapses in security. The ICFI leadership’s inability to learn from these historical lessons reflects a profound failure to protect revolutionaries working under hostile regimes.

Moreover, the ICFI leadership’s handling of Ostap's arrest raises further concerns. The apparent attempt to exploit his imprisonment for political gain - while failing to acknowledge their responsibility for his arrest - reveals a deeper issue of detachment from the realities faced by revolutionaries in repressive states. The leadership's actions, including the adoption of a pseudonym and their lack of accountability, reflect a troubling pattern of political opportunism and negligence.

The mishandling of Ostap's case is part of a broader pattern of poor decision-making, misjudgment, and failure within the ICFI leadership. This is not an isolated incident but part of a systemic problem that undermines the organization's credibility as a vanguard for revolutionary struggle. The failure to recognize the risks of exposing Ostap’s identity, the lack of operational security, and the subsequent evasion of responsibility all point to deeper structural issues within the ICFI.

The leadership’s failure to do so not only damages its reputation but also endangers the lives of its own members.

Anyone who is intellectually honest and has investigated this case will arrive at the same conclusion: the leadership of the ICFI bears political responsibility for Ostap's imprisonment and has failed to take accountability for it.

 

Anonymous

 

For readers unfamiliar with the leadership structure of the ICFI and WSWS, the final decision to use Ostap's real name in articles ultimately lay with the WSWS editorial board, whose chairperson is David North. Clara Weiss is a leader of the ICFI's youth group, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, who also writes for the WSWS and is notable for significant articles on the history of Eastern Europe and the Holocaust. 

From my own time in the party, I can confirm that the management of contacts with comrades in the former states of the Soviet Union was guarded very closely by the international leadership. In that respect, I can corroborate the author's claim that the political responsibility for these oversights ultimately lies with North, Weiss and the small group of loyalists around them. 

The letter’s claims about the use of Ostap’s real name on the WSWS and that he posted multiple WSWS articles to a VK page using his own name are independently verifiable. Ostap’s VK account under his personal name is still online. Here, one can see him posting WSWS material in Russian: https://vk.com/id546530628. Also still online is the Young Guard of the Young Leninists page that he ran: https://vk.com/vnkpm.

Despite Ostap’s arrest his legal name remains in the text of the three articles referred to in the letter. These can be found at the following links:

In, “Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists in the former Soviet Union celebrates the centenary of the Left Opposition” (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/17/vshc-o17.html) from October 17, 2023.

In “Trotskyists in the former Soviet Union commemorate centenary of Lenin’s death” (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/01/23/mkge-j23.html) from January 22, 2024.

And in “Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists celebrates 5-year anniversary” (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/02/28/jvtr-f28.html) from 28 February 2023, Ostap is still listed as “the head and co-founder of the YGBL.”

In the latter two articles Ostap’s pseudonym also appears in image captions, alongside his real name in the main text.

Ostap was a young revolutionary in an incredibly dangerous national environment. In an age of powerful state surveillance, particularly on the internet, by publishing under his legal name the editors of the WSWS massively increased his exposure to the SBU. The WSWS has reported multiple times since the beginning of the war on SBU roundups of socialist and anti-war activists of all stripes. While it can of course be claimed the WSWS could not stop him from posting materials on his personal social media accounts, the same cannot be said about articles on the WSWS that disclosed his legal name and his position in the YGBL.

Using political pseudonyms is the most basic precaution taken by Marxist revolutionaries and is required for party members who wish to publish on the WSWS in its American and European sections. In national conditions an order of magnitude more dangerous, how could this basic precaution not have been taken in the case of Ostap? It is difficult to disagree with the author’s conclusion that, “the leadership of the ICFI bears political responsibility for Ostap's imprisonment and has failed to take accountability for it.”

The failure to adequately protect Ostap’s identity is a consequence of the opportunistic nature of the internal regime. For decades, David North and the closed circle around him have held on to power using methods more commonly associated with Stalinism: keeping their political failures secret from the membership and unceremoniously dumping out anyone who brings them up.

Such methods have enabled this group to lead the party unchecked for decades despite any major political success. Up until now the complacency bred by this lack of accountability has only led to unprincipled expulsions and wasted political opportunities. With Ostap’s arrest, however, we see that in dangerous political climate this complacency has had infinitely more tragic consequences. As a result, a young man’s life is now at the mercy of a fascist infested Ukrainian legal system.

The campaign to free Ostap must continue, but it effectiveness will be severely limited until the sectarian methods of the ICFI are overcome and the political failings of the leadership are able to be discussed freely within the membership. 

 

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