The Ukraine war has divided communists around the world. The worst position is that of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) which calls it “Putin’s war” and demands an unconditional Russian withdrawal from Ukraine – which is also NATO’s demand . They also denounced what they called “Russian military adventurism” in a joint statement the CPB sponsored that only attracted the support of nine other communist and workers’ parties. CPB election leaflets in the May local elections all carried the following statement "Communists opposed Putin’s invasion of Ukraine from the first hour. Putin and his cronies are opposed to Socialism and Communism. They stole what belonged to the Russian people. We say: Stop the war, Start the peace". It didn’t do them any good. Five of their seven candidates got less than a hundred votes apiece. The others got the majestic sums of 119 and 126 votes. The CPB’s Blackheath Westcombe hopeful was beaten by the Official Monster Raving Loony candidate by