Venezuela
Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela (PCMLV)
Venezuela is going through a very important time, the physical departure of President Chavez has created a series of reactions that are stirring up the political climate. The death of the main leader of the Bolivarian process has left huge fears among the popular masses. These show the need to consolidate a new direction and advance in the struggle to avoid the possibility of stagnation or reversal, especially in social policy; but it also creates the expectation among reaction of an onslaught to stop the democratic gains.
The first step in this process was marked by the removal of the local bourgeoisie (at the service of U.S. imperialism) from the government, and their replacement by the petty bourgeoisie united under the leadership of Hugo Chavez. Utilizing the historical demands of the people and his great ability as a communicator, he consolidated revolutionary democratic ideals among the popular masses, promoted the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as a general legal framework, an expression of the interests of this petty bourgeoisie and of the aspirations of the people. He enacted laws such as the law of the land, of the communes, of labor, of control of the oil and mining industry, major works of infrastructure, emergency plans to take care of the socio-economic needs of the majority and the social missions. Political liberties and the possibility of participation of the workers, peasants and communities also were expanded and they were engaged in an intense debate on the model of the country.
It is undeniable that during this first stage, marked by the charismatic leadership of Chavez and an “attitude of blind trust of the masses toward the government," the political consciousness and the level of training of the Venezuelan people has risen significantly. Not only have they felt some benefits, schools, colleges and universities were also created, debates, programs, discussions, workshops, courses, economic action and hundreds of activities were developed that gradually succeeded in changing the reactionary vision that was cultivated in the people for years by the ideological influence of the right and by repression. The anti-Cuban and anti-communist conceptions have been transformed into friendship towards Cuba and tolerance of communist ideas, but mainly in the consolidation of Bolivarian patriotism, opening the way for a real work of revolutionary transformation that has been limited by the reformist conceptions prevailing in sectors of the political leadership of the process.
The challenges to advance and maintain unity
Today there are great challenges to maintain the unity and deepen the process, because the contradictions will necessarily arise to cause rearrangements in the protagonists in the government, the opposition and the popular and revolutionary forces. This period should serve the popular and revolutionary forces to advance, strengthen and consolidate their positions, since those who run the government have to create levels of dialogue and participation for the various organized expressions of the people, to avoid initiating a process of decomposition and disintegration of that great democratic front that has managed to unify the Bolivarian project.
After 14 years a new government is beginning, led by Nicolas Maduro, a man from the ranks of the left, a trade unionist, close to Cuba and, regarding the political command of the revolution, since March 5 Maduro has defined it as a political-military leadership, not just a political leadership. He brought together the 20 governors of the PSUV, among these 11 retired military officers, the ministers, heads of the governing party and military high command to collectively define the course of government policy. While it is certainly a collective body, which still does not include representatives of the workers nor of the exploited majority much less is it led by them, it is an advance that expresses, as every political leadership, a class character, in this case that of the petty bourgeoisie in control of the government that needs the working class and the people to be able to govern.
The program of the first stage has not been fulfilled, and only the working class and the revolutionary people can do this with their energy, decisiveness and drive subduing the bourgeois opposition, in order to move to the second stage, the construction of socialism. There are forces that are holding back this fulfillment, others are pushing for its conclusion; with the emergence of the proletarian force that obstacle will be overcome, necessarily changing the class composition in the government.
The so-called Fatherland Plan, 2013-2019 contains elements towards this end, such as the development of the productive forces, overcoming economic dependency, technological, industrial and food sovereignty, international relations of solidarity, the beginning of building alternative forms of power, but the petty bourgeoisie is subtly sabotaging or openly hindering this fulfillment in order to defend their economic interests linked to businesses and corruption.
Lenin states: "therefore our task is, as long as this government yields to the influence of the bourgeoisie, to present a patient, systematic, and persistent explanation of the errors of their tactics, an explanation especially adapted to the practical needs of the masses." Based on this we understand that our party must, at the present stage, make clear to the proletariat that neither the bourgeoisie nor the petty bourgeoisie will resolve their problems, for that the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat is a necessity, to subdue those who attack the people, creating a climate of insecurity and attacks on the worker, peasant and popular leaders, speculating with high prices, hoarding food, with a firm and class response, because the revolution is not made with velvet gloves. Thus the abolition of private ownership of the means of production, workers' control, closing of media that conspire against the proletariat, handing over the land to the peasants, creating large agricultural enterprises under state control, are the only measures that can subdue the bourgeois.
For these reasons, the achievement of the objectives of this first stage will not be possible under the leadership of the bourgeoisie or the petty bourgeoisie, since they do not have the material or ideological conditions to seriously confront imperialism and the bourgeoisie, to implement energetic measures; they would rather negotiate with one or another of the imperialist groups to keep the country subjugated, mortgaged to wealth, completely dependent, profiting from businesses. Only the working class, the peasants and the people, led by the Marxist-Leninist party, can create the material basis for liberation.
Venezuela has not escaped the effects of the crisis
It is very likely that the effects of the general crisis of capitalism, from which Venezuela cannot escape, will be the first real test of fire for Maduro’s government; the budget deficit, inflation, shortages of products, bourgeois hoarding and sabotage can only be defeated by the decisive action of the working class, the peasantry and the people by subduing, without consideration or concessions, the most harmful bourgeois and reactionary elements, by expropriating them, limiting their media, confiscating their enterprises, repressing their groups of armed men in order to ensure food to all the people, land to the peasants and personal security throughout the country.
The opposition is making public speeches calling for calm; it also raises the idea of a new stage but raises it as a stage of stagnation and reversal of popular gains, of reconciliation, of consolidation of their power doing business with the government and appropriation of the State resources, becoming tolerant and even a partner of the government, against which they have not stopped conspiring and preparing the conditions for violent action to overthrow it and repress the working masses.
The social-democratic and reformist leaders are a brake on the global level
The social-democratic leadership, despite the image of "leftist" demands and phrases, are an obstacle to the most important objectives, because they are based only on superficial reforms to the political-economic system, only on economist demands that coincide with the aspirations of the labor aristocracy, with the bourgeoisie and landowners, against the aspirations of the proletariat.
We Marxist-Leninist Communists are fighting to put forward our proposals, programs and leaders, while denouncing the weakness inherent for the working class, peasants and people if social democracy puts itself at the head of the protest movement. But this is not enough for the revolutionary movement; only to the degree that we advance and displace the reformists will we create the conditions for the revolutionary leadership to really lead the actions carried out by the masses, and for the struggles to be directed along the revolutionary path, destroying the system of capitalist exploitation; this is the only real and definitive solution for the oppressed of the world.
Each day also shows that the social-democratic organizations are unable to lead the proletariat to victory, not even temporarily, much less to the end. It reaffirms that the reformists and revisionists do everything in their power to conciliate, to continue with capitalism, using a populist, supposedly "revolutionary," discourse and therefore their function is to deceive and betray the interests of the proletariat.
Experience teaches the revolutionaries to fight for the political leadership of the actions that the peoples carry out against global capitalism, to confront the bourgeoisie and its agents in different scenarios, to strengthen our parties, strengthen propaganda and agitation, the spreading of our programs, to put our programs of struggle in the hands of the masses, to consolidate common fronts with other fighting organizations to organize the revolution.
The vacillations of the reformists and revisionists result in deep disappointment among the workers and popular sectors in general; only consistent, revolutionary leadership, identified with the interests of the workers, that a Marxist-Leninist party should exercise, can lead correctly and precisely the revolutionary struggle of the proletariat to victory.
This delicate situation requires, in the first place, the strengthening and consolidation of the structures of the party, their limks with the masses, expanding the possibilities of leading street action with clear tactics and organs that express this widely.
It is necessary to advance, to unify all possible forces in order to: 1) Stop the attempts of the fascist right and imperialism, 2) Take steps in the popular organizations for the revolution, 3) Overcome the social-democratic leadership to go in the direction of the proletarian revolution, 4) Place the party and its mass organizations at the forefront of struggles through action.
We must fight the bourgeoisie openly, which for its own interests expresses its desire to dialogue, of wanting national unity, but what they are trying to do is to reduce the levels of combativeness, to put the masses to sleep, to paralyze their struggles while they continue to occupy more spaces of power in order to strike the "extremists."
Similarly it is necessary to denounce the positions that claim that one should not deepen the revolutionary struggle, that the socialism of these new times must promote unity with the bourgeoisie, consolidate private ownership of the means of production, that the destruction of the capitalist state is necessary.
In short, these positions are reactionary, but the one is hidden in a "sensible revolutionary" discourse and the other in a bourgeois discourse that is also "sensible." So much sense that it aims to stop the revolutionary advance of the masses.
Ultimately it is necessary to spread revolutionary politics, to spread the most advanced proposals, to reach every corner, the popular sectors, every factory, every field in order to mobilize for the new society while preparing ourselves for the battles that are to come.
Socialism is built only with the worker peasant alliance in power and the people in arms.
CC of the PCMLV
March 2013
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