hugo chavez death and the way forward for venezuela

7/29/2019 Hugo Chavez Death and the Way Forward for Venezuela

1/12

1

Hugo Chavez Death and the Way Forward for Venezuela

With the following observation from the thespec.com1 we hope we can dispense with the illusions ofZKDW%ROLYDULDQLVPDQGst&HQWXU\6RFLDOLVPDUHSUHVHQWHGDVDQGLGHQWLI\WKHDFWXDOFODVVFKDUDFWHURI

the state that thePartido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) administers, what road-blocks still exist forworkers on the path to socialism, and what defending and advancing the social gains already made in the anti-imperialist struggle means and how it can be done.

9HQH]XHODWRGD\KDVWKHIDLUHVWGLVWULEXWLRQRIZHDOWKLQWKH$PHULFDVZLWKWKHREYLRXVH[FHS

tion of Canada.

9HQH]XHODV*LQLFRHIILFLHQW ZKLFKPHDVXUHVWKHZHDOWKJDSEHWZHHQWKHULFKDQGWKHSRRU

is 0.39, whereas the United States is 0.45 and Brazil, even after 10 years of reforming left-winggovernments, is still 0.52. (A lower score means less inequality of income.)

)RUDOORI&KDYH]VUDQWLQJDERXWFODVVVWUXJJOHDQGKLVDGPLUDWLRQ IRU)LGHO&DVWURWKLVZDV

not achieved in Venezuela by taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor. It was ac-complished by spending the oil revenue differently. He changed the political psychology of the

FRXQWU\DQGLWQRZKDVWKHSRWHQWLDOWREHD6DXGL$UDELDZLWKGHPRFUDF\

CLASS WAR

&KDYH]SUHVHQWVDFRS\RI6LPRQ%ROLYDUVVZRUGDVDJLIWWRWKHEORRG\EXWFKHUDO-Assad


2/12


3/12

3

Between two Imperialist Blocs

Today the same forces that call Obama socialist peg Venezuela as such, but by any scientific or Marx-

ist measure we must conclude Venezuela remains a semi-colony of imperialism looking for the best deal be-tween its two major trading partners, the competing imperialist powers US and China.

While Chavez hand-in-KDQGZLWK+X-LQ7DRLQ$SULOFXWRLOGHDOVZKLOHWUXPSHWLQJWKH1HZ th Interna-

WLRQDODQGWKHEXLOGLQJRIst&HQWXU\6RFLDOLVPWKH&KLQHVH'HYHORSPHQW%DQN&'%KDGVRPHWKLQJ

else altogether in mind. The Financial Times3bloggers comment:

6WDWH-owned CDB has agreed to lend Venezuela $42.5bn since 2008, or around half the loans

the country received during that period. Almost all of those loans are backed by sales contractsIRUFUXGHRLO

6KLSPHQWVRIRLOWR&KLQDE\9HQH]XHODVVWDWHHQHUJ\JLDQW3'96$KDYHLQFUHDVHGQHDUO\WHQ

WLPHVVLQFHDQGWKHFRXQWU\QRZVHOOVDURXQGSHUFHQWRILWVRLORXWSXWWR&KLQD9HQH]XHODVVHFRQGELJJHVWWUDGLQJSDUWQHUDIWHUWKH86

But a glance at the terms of the loans extended by CDB so far show that the Chinese lender hasbeen thinking for a long time about how it would get its money back when Chvez eventuallyleft the stage.

As well as securing most of the loans with oil contracts, CDB has insisted that most of the loansare spent on projects that directly benefit the Venezuelan people, particularly housing and pub-lic infrastructure projects.

3DUW RI &'%V VWDWHG PDQGDWH LV WR VXSSRUW &KLQHVH EXVLQHVVHV WR H[SDQG RYHUVHDV DQG VR

large chunks of the loans it gives to Venezuela and other countries are also conditional onChinese companiesgetting the contracts to build that housing and infrastructure. (Emphasis ours)


4/12

4

6RXUFHVFORVHWR&'%KDYHWROGWKH)7WKDWWKHEDQNVWKLQNLQJLQ9HQH]XHODZDVWKDWDVORQJ

as the money was spent on projects that obviously benefit the nation then whoever comes after&KiYH]ZLOOQRWEHDEOHWRHDVLO\GHIDXOWRQWKHORDQV

Rather than building socialist internationalism the Chinese foreign investment/trade model is relativelyindistinguishable from that of the IMF loan-to-build model except that it is wrapped in Red Flags, easily em-

braced by the populist and eclectic leader, yet rendering long term and disastrous effects for the people of

9HQH]XHODZKRVHZHDOWKLWLVWKDWZLOOEHSD\LQJRIIWKH&KLQHVHFRQWUDFWV7KLVZHHNV Latin America Herald

Times reports:

2LO0LQLVWHU5DIDHO5DPLUH]VDLG7KXUVGD\WKDW9HQH]XHODLVVHQGLQJEDUUHOVDGD\RI

oil to China, of which 270,000 barrels a day are used to repay the loans, according to Ramirez.A confidential US cable from the US embassy in Caracas to the State Department in Washing-ton revealed by WikiLeaks in 2010 documented that a PDVSA director had revealed that the

state oil company "had analyzed its crude sales to China and determined that China had only

paid $5 a barrel of crude on a couple of deals." (Emphasis ours)

According to the Venezuela Central Bank, in December there was a 78.1% shortage of sugar;76.8% of wheat flour; 86.1 shortage of sunflower seed oil; 56.8% shortage of corn oil; 67.1%

shortage of mixed vegetable oil; and a 43.3% shortage of pre-cooked corn flour. ShortagesZRUVHQHGLQ-DQXDU\

'HIHQGDQG([WHQGWKH*DLQVRIWKH9HQH]XHODQ5HYROXWLRQ

While joining in the worldwide mourning among the workers and oppressed, the major gains made

GXULQJ&KDYH]VWHUPKDYHEHHQKLJKOLJKWHGDQGFHOHEUDWHGE\PXFKRIWKHOHIW2QH0LNH3RQD6DQ)UDQ

FLVFR%D\$UHDFKDWWKUHDGVVHQWLPHQWVH[HPSOLI\WKHYLHZVRIPXFKRIWKHOHIW

7KHSDVW\HDUVRI3UHVLGHQW&KDYH]UXOHKDVVHHQ9HQH]XHODLPSURYHE\DOOHFRQRPLFLQGL

cators education indicators, health care indicators, housing indicators and especially the build-ing from the bottom, a true democracy. The latter is in danger today as USA is currently spend-ing tens of millions of dollars inside Venezuela to defeat the Bolivarian Revolution and rein-

VWDWHWKHROGROLJDUFK\

Many of us will miss Chavez greatly, but we take solace in knowing he did all he could to pre-SDUHKLVFRXQWU\IRUWKLVPRPHQWWKHSHRSOHRI9HQH]XHODZLOOGHIHQGWKHJDLQVDJDLQVWRXUJRYHUQPHQWVFRPLQJDVVDXOWZHFDQVWDQGVKRXOGHUWRVKRXOGHUZLWKWKHSHRSOHLQ9HQH

zuela to protect their gains, while learning form the good people of Venezuela what it means to

EXLOGDVWFHQWXU\VRFLDOLVP

We salute the enthusiasm of comrade Mike and join his defense of the gains accomplished in Vene-]XHODDQGDJUHHWKDW2EDPD&KDYH]VFKRLFHLQWKHODVW86HOHFWLRQZLOOPRELOL]HWKHPLJKWRILPSHULDOLVPWR

XQGHUPLQHWKRVHJDLQV2XUGXW\DVLQWHUQDWLRQDOLVWVLVWRGHIHDWLPSHULDOLVPVLQWHUYHQWLRQVDJDLQVWWKHSHRSOH

of Venezuela; be they overt military, covert, diplomatic, economic, ideological, propagandistic etc. To support

the people of Venezuela we advocate a united front of workers organizations to educate American workers andtheir allies about imperialist interventionism and set networks in place to launch the types of mass actions, po-

litical and general strikes needed to stop the imperialist intervention. To put an end once and for all to imperi-


5/12

5

alist intervention workers must put and end to imperialism and this requires the socialist revolution in the im-perialist homelands.

A Sober Assessment: Limits on the Bourgeois Nationalist Revolution

:HGLVDJUHHZLWK0LNHVDVVHVVPHQWKRZHYHUWKDW&KDYH]GLGDOOKHFRXOGWRSUHSDUHKLVFRXQWU\IRU

WKLVPRPHQW$VREHUDVVHVVPHQWRI&KDYLVPRWKH%ROLYDULDQ5HYROXWLRQDQG stF6RFLDOLVPLVUHquired if workers in Venezuela or here at home can be mobilized to defend and advance its gains described

above.

Chavez came to power as a radical populist democrat, a Venezuelan nationalist. And as is the history

of radical democracy in Latin America, populists who come to power quickly run up against the limits imperi-

alism sets for the semi-colonies. Seemingly democratic and nationalist tasks such as purchasing the wealth of

WKHQDWLRQEDFNIURPLPSHULDOLVPH[SRVHVWKHOLPLWVZKLFKWKHZRUOGVELOOLRQDLUHVZLOODOORZUDGLFDOQDWLRQDOist/democrats in semi-colonies to go before attempting to destabilize and replace them. From Arbenz to Al-

lende to Zalaya, from Mosaddegh to Lumumba to Aristide imperialism has shown over and again it has only

so much patience. The aspirations of the liberal national bourgeois in the semi-FRORQLHVIRUPRGHUQGHPRFUDF\IUHHGRPDQGRSSRUWXQLW\DUHOLPLWHGE\LPSHULDOLVPVLQVDWLDEOHWKLUVWIRUSURILWDQGWKHQXPHULFDQG

material weakness of their class. Modern revolutions against imperialism in these nations depend on populist

mobilizations of the masses which can either be constrained by a populist leader committed to defending capi-talist property for the national bourgeoisie but willing to make concession to the populace, or become

unleashed (think Fidel Castro) resolving the contradiction of the semi-colonial bourgeois revolution by making

the revolution against imperialism permanent by seizing the power and wealth of the national bourgeoisie and

spreading the revolution beyond its borders.

Had Bush/Cheney not gotten US imperialism bogged down in Afghanistan, which served as a jumping

off point to invade Iraq, and had the masses not been mobilized, the 2002 coup-GpWDWDJDLQVW&KDYH]PLJKW

have been successful. Despite the media blackout of the anti-war movement building internationally with mil-lions out on the streets in February 2003, the imperialists knew they were pushing the patience of the masses

and as dim-witted as Bush was, there were some real calculating bastards running the show who understood

how far they could push our patience and that military intervention, at least for a time in Venezuela, would notbe an option.

Chavez survived the failed 2002 coup, came back re-invigorated with anti-imperialist sentiment and

FRPPLWWHGWREXLOGLQJKLVYHUVLRQRI%ROLYDULDQ6RFLDOLVP)RUWKLVKHFUHDWHGDSRSXODUIURQWFURVVFODVVSDUW\ WKH 3689 ZKLFK UHMHFWHG 0DU[LVP DQG HVWDEOLVKHG LWV YHUVLRQ RI VRFLDOLVP EDVHG RQ WKH VWDWHV

FRQTXHVW RIWKHQDWLRQVRLOZHDOWK &KDYH]UHMHFWHG WKH OHVVRQVRIUHYROXWLRQDU\0DU[LVPDQG XQGHUWKH

JXLVHRIGHYHORSLQJDQHZURDGWRVRFLDOLVPFRQWDLQHGWKHSUROHWDULDWVUHYROXWLRQDU\PRYHPHQWFRQILQHGWKHrevolution to capitalism with welfare and minimal distributional gains of the oil rent. Today much of the left

HPEUDFHVWKLVZLWKRXWVD\LQJGLUHFWO\LWLVWKHEHVWZHFDQGRXQGHUWKHFXUUHQWFRQGLWLRQV6RPHORQJ-timesocialists even praise Bolivarianism as a socialist revolution and Chavez as the first great Socialist leader ofthe 21st century.


6/12

6

The US Communist Party (CP-USA)4which long ago abandoned the revolutionary road to socialism

states:

ZH ZHUH GHOLJKWHG ZLWK WKH SURJUHVV WKDW9HQH]XHODPDGHXQGHU&KDYH] ZLVH DQG ILUP

leadership, in eliminating poverty and illiteracy, in providing for the health care and housingneeds of the Venezuelan people, and in rechanneling the country's oil wealth away from corpo-rate greed and toward meeting the needs of the people.

We were no less enthusiastic about President Chavez's role in international affairs. His work increating ALBA) (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples' of our America), PETROCARIBE andCELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), as well as his government's ac-tivities to develop MERCOSUR and UNASUR, have had a revolutionary impact in correctingthe imbalance of power between the Latin American and Caribbean countries on the one hand,DQGWKH8QLWHG6WDWHV&DQDGDDQG(XURSHRQWKHRWKHU

Thus, like the Bolivarians the CP sees these new capitalist trade alliances, rather than socialist revolu

tion (the expropriation of the capitalists and the construction of a planned economy,) as the road to liberatingthe masses from imperialism. Alongside the Bolivarians they ignore or willfully hide from the masses the fac

WKDWHYHQWKHVHOLEHUDWHGWUDGH]RQHVDUHPHGLDWHGE\WKHFRQVWUDLQWVRIWKHFDSLWDOLVWSURGXFWLRQF\FOHDQGthat their reliance on an alliance with their own weak comprador bourgeoisie, traps the workers as wage slavein a multi-class party and popular front government which enforces the capitalist property relations at the poin

of production through the vehicle of the state.

REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST OR BOURGEOIS BONAPARTIST?

Chavez is quoted in Aporrea (7/29/07) as stating that the PSUV will not be Marxist-Leninist, as Marx

LVPLVDGRJPDWLFWKHVLVWKDWLVQRZRYHUDQGLVQRWLQDFFRUGZLWKWRGD\VUHDOLW\+HZHQWRQWRVD\WKHZRUN

LQJFODVVLVQRWWKHPRWRURIVRFLDOLVP7KHIROORZLQJGD\-RUJH*LRUGDQL0LQLVWHURI3HRSOHV3RZHUDQGPlanning stated, 7KHUHGRHVQRWH[LVWDQ\FRQWUDGLFWLRQEHWZHHQSULYDWHHQWHUSULVHDQG9HQH]XHODQVRFLDOLVP

To which Earl Gilman, long time revolutionary worker and editor of El Nuevo Topo, commented:

,IWKHZRUNLQJFODVVLVQRWWKHPRWRURIWKHUHYROXWLRQWKHQDSSDUHQWO\WKHRIILFHUFRUSVDUH

that motor. Though he may make justified criticisms of Marx, by rejecting the Marxist methodhe is following the footsteps of such figures as General Velasco of Peru and General Juan3HURQRI$UJHQWLQD

&RQWUDU\WRFRPPRQYLHZRIPRVWVRFLDOLVWVWKH5HYROXWLRQDU\&RPPXQLVW,QWHUQDWLRQDOLVW7HQGHQF\(RCIT) pointed out in their obituary for Chavez:

7KHWUXWKLVWKDW&KDYH]ZDVQRVRFLDOLVW+HZDVUDWKHUDERXUJHRLV -Bonapartist politician who usedsocialist rhetoric but led a capitalist regime for 14 years. Under his government, between 1998 andWKHSULYDWHVHFWRUVVKDUHRIWKHHFRQRP\JUHZIURPWRDWWKHH[SHQVHRIWKHSXEOLF

VHFWRU,QSDUWLFXODUWKHSDUDVLWLFVHFWRURIILQDQFHDQGLQVXUDQFH LHPRQH\FDSLWDOJUHZUDSLGO\

in this period, by 258.4%.... According to United Nations UNCTAD and other sources, the share ofZRUNHUVZDJHVLQQDWLRQDOLQFRPHLVWRGD\EHORZWKHOHYHOZKHQ&KDYH]WRRNSRZHU


7/12

7

In addition, militant workers who organized strikes or factory occupations faced reprisal, dismissaljail or even murder. A well known example for this is the union leader Ruben Gonzalez, a member ofWKH&KDYH]VSDUW\3689ZKRZDVVHQWHQFHGWR\HDUVLQSULVRQZKLFKDFFXVHGKLPRIYLROHQFHGXU

ing a strike at the state-owned Ferrominera Orinoco. While he was freed after one year in prison because of mass protests, at least 125 worker militants remain in prison for being involved in variousVWULNHDFWLRQVRURFFXSDWLRQVDQGPRUHWKDQDFWLYLVWVKDYHIDFHGFULPLQDOL]DWLRQ

7KH5&,7JRHVRQWRDQVZHUWKHTXHVWLRQWKDWLIKHZDVQRWDVRFLDOLVWZK\ZDVKHGHVSLVHGE\WKHULFKDQGSRZHUIXO"

7KH\KDWHGKLPEHFDXVH&KDYH]VWRRGDWWKHWRSRIDUHJLPHZKLFKKDGWKHVXSSRUWRIRQO\DPLQRU

ity of the Venezuelan capitalists and which had to rest on the lower grades of the army and the millionsof workers and poor. It was a regime similar to those which Trotsky analyzed in Mexico in the lateVDQGZKLFKKHFKDUDFWHUL]HGDV%RQDSDUWLVWVXLJHQHULVRIDGLVWLQFWLYHFKDUDFWHU

Therefore the Chavez regimes was forced given the massive pressure from the workers and urbanpoorWRVXEVLGL]HFHUWDLQVRFLDOUHIRUPVPLVLRQHVZKLFKZHUHEHQHILFLDOIRUWKHSRRUHVWVWUDWDRI

the population and which have contributed at least according to official statistics - to a certain re

duction of the extreme inequality of income in the country. The regime could do so because Venezuelais the fifth largest oil producer of the OPEC member states and its oil production and trade accountsIRU URXJKO\RI*'3 RI H[SRUWHDUQLQJV DQGPRUH WKDQ RI WKH FHQWUDOJRYHUQPHQWV

EXGJHWUHYHQXHV7KLVJDYHWKHUHJLPHWKHPDWHULDOEDVLVWRILQDQFHFHUWDLQVRFLDOUHIRUPV

In their rejection of Marxism not only does the PSUV abandon the centrality of the working class in

making its own revolution, they reject the need to end capitalist exploitation at the point of production, to expropriate the big bourgeoisie and foreign capital-without compensation. They reject the Marxist theory of the

state as they ignore the lessons of the Paris Commune-that the working class can not just lay its hands on the

bourgeois state and administer it for its own historic interests and that instead, the capitalist state apparatus (th

military, the legislature, the judiciary, the executive, the bureaucracy, the police and the prisons) must besmashed and replaced by the armed workers assemblies, guiding the task of social and economic reorganiza-

tion to advance and protect the process of the expropriation of the bourgeoisie and the socialization/negation o

capital. Chavez rejected building up the workers assemblies to replace bourgeois legislative and executive institutions. The popular assemblies in Venezuela were not organized to replace the rule of the bourgeois stat

but rather to buttress it.

IN THE PANTHEON OF SOCIALIST LEADERS

Taking his place alongside the defunct socialism of the Kautskyian Social Democrats, the Mensheviks

Stalinists and Maoists, Chavez rejected the revolutionary Marxist insistence upon the political independence o

the working class. In his theory and practice he opposed the workers organizing their own party and forming

their own working class dictatorship. His populist democratic credentials were exposed as mere rhetoric as heUHMHFWHGWKHEHVWWUDGLWLRQVRIZRUNHUVGHPRFUDF\WKHULJKWWRIRUPSROLWLFDOIDFWLRQVLQVLGHWKH3689ZKLOH

drawing to it layers of the national bourgeoisie including former coup plotters.

Indeed embryonic stirrings of the new proletarian state (emergent whenever class independence, sel

organization, and self armament takes place, such as in cordones industriales and workers councils) inside theROGVWDWHUXQFRXQWHUWR&KDYH]VSURMHFWDQGQHHGHGWREHPDQLSXODWHGDQGGHFODZHG7KHWKHRUHWLFDOIRXQGD


8/12

8

tion upon which Chavismo is based is flawed and will have to be defeated theoretically and organizationally

replaced with a revolutionary socialist workers party in order to fight back the counter-revolution and make the

socialist revolution possible.

It follows, like the cart follows the horse that if the task of expropriating the big capitalists is takenoff the table and foreign capital is compensated for properties nationalized, there is no need for the workersto have their own class independent party, or their own mass assemblies, or their own armed brigades. Thebourgeois legislature, the bourgeois courts, the professional army are, in the Chavez theory and practice

WKHDJHQF\RI%ROLYDULDQ6RFLDOLVPWKHHQWLUHKLVWRU\RIFODVVVWUXJJOHXQGHUFDSLWDOLVPWHDFKHVXVWKLVLVa formula for the defeat not the triumph of the working class.

7+(6(&21'7,0($6)$5&(

Instead of basing the Bolivarian Revolution firmly on materialist footing as Lenin had in 1917, Chavez

a moralist and idealist used his charisma, his moral certitude (in himself-a strength of will) based upon hi

roots from among the impoverished. His democratic credentials became heroic when he led the failed coupagainst the oligarchy in 1992, winning to himself a following among a small layer of the capitalist class, the

%ROLERXUJHRLVLH This layer was fed up with the power of the oligarchy and the subservience of the economyto imperialism, yet was too weak itself to fight for independence from imperialism and to establish sufficientQDWLRQDOGHPRFUDF\ WRPHHWWKHLUFODVVQHHGVDQGGHVLUHV 7RGD\ LQWKHSRZHUYDFXXP IROORZLQJ&KDYH]

death, it will aim to drive the PSUV further to the right.

This alliance that formed around Chavez of a sector of the capitalist class on one side, the strong popu-list Bolivarian revolutionary leader mediating the state and the unfulfilled masses striving for socialism on the

RWKHULVQRWDQRULJLQDOKLVWRULFDOGUDPD&KDYH]LJQRUHG0DU[VDQDO\VLVRIWKH)UHQFK5HYROXWLRQZKHUHLQ

Bonapartism was identified. Therein Chavez may have glimpsed a mirror image of himself bridging the gulbetween irreconcilable social classes, limiting the drive of the most downtrodden toward socialism by sharing

some of the wealth recouped from the oil rent bought back from imperialism, yet maintaining the social rela-

tions inherent in the capitalist mode of production, through which the workers exploitation is perpetuated.

THE POPULIST ALLIANCE BURIES THE WORKERS PROGRAM TURNING MARXIST THE

ORY INSIDE OUT!

,Q&KDYH]VWKHRU\DQGSUDFWLFHKHGUHZDURXQGKLPDOOWKHIRUFHVRIWKHOHIWZKRWUDGLWLRQDOO\MRLQR

give left cover to popular fronts and cross-class alliances. Among those who have abandoned the fight foclass independence there is a coalescence of anti-Leninism, neo-Kautskyianism, World Social Forum (WSF

and layers of fake Trotskyists (like Alan Woods whose IMT drops its programmatic independence to join the

PSUV,) and those who argue that underconsumption rather than overproduction6

is the explanation for thecause of the capitalist crisis replacing the need for social planning with Keynesian pump priming on the con-

sumption side.

7KLVLQWHUVHFWLRQRI%ROLYDULDQ5HYROXWLRQ -st&HQWXU\6RFLDOLVPDQGWKH0DUNHW6RFLDOLVWH[ample of China is held up by both the Bolivarians and the International Communist League (ICL/Spartacist) as

a model of a post capitalist state, albeit one which is market-driven and fully integrated into the world of capi-

talist system of finance, production for profit and market driven-distribution.


9/12

9

If preparing the masses for the task of socialist construction is what Mike P. was referring to, then de-spite the gains made by the masses during the era of Chavismo, el Commandante did not prepare the people

for the task ahead. Not unless his intention was to replicate the super-exploitation for capitalist accumulation

which, for a strange confluence of the Bolivarians, Marcyites, Robersonites, Castroites, and even the Chinese

Stalinist-capitalists themselves, is passed off to the international workers as varied and sundry forms of a post-capitalist Workers State--that is China today (21st C. Socialism for the Bolivarians, Market Socialism for the

CCP, and Deformed Workers State for the ICL.)

To build socialism, the workers need their own revolutionary socialist party which must build a revolu-tionary international which refuses to compromise with exploiters and oppressors. How can the exploited

Venezuelan workers make common cause with and expect the support of the workers revolution in Colombia,

for example, when the PSUV collaborates against the FARC; or solidarity with the super exploited diamondminers of Zimbabwe when Chavez embraces their exploiter-Mugabe; otherwise the international proletarian

unity needed to overthrow imperialism and all their lackeys will not be assembled.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

As a leftist icon Chavez and his movement became a magnet for professed anti-capitalist, progressives,

the WSF, leftists, self-styled socialists, and even the Hollywood set. From Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, and

Sean Penn, to Tariq Ali (one time leader of the USEC-Fourth International and current editor of New Left Re-view,) Madea Benjamin (Code Pink,) Cindy Sheehan (the Peace mom,) Alan Woods (leader of the fake Trot-

skyist IMT) and the Castro brothers (capitalist restorationist leaders of the beleaguered Cuban people);

SURJUHVVLYHVRIDOOVWULSHVIRXQGVRPHWKLQJLQ&KDYH]WRFHOHEUDWHHQFRXUDJHDQGVXSSRUW -a spark of hope ina dark world.

Cindy Sheehan, Jodie Evans, Hugo Chavez, Medea Benjamin, Caracas, Venezuela, January 28, 2006. Photo by Code Pink

And as could be expected, Chavez sought allies among the enemies or supposed enemies of imperial-

LVP+HIDPRXVO\JDYHRXWFRSLHVRI6LPRQ%ROLYDUVVZRUGWRKHDGVRIVWDWHZKRVHDQWL -imperialism and na-WLRQEXLOGLQJKHOLNHQHGWR%ROLYDUV


10/12

10

%HIULHQGLQJ LPSHULDOLVPV OLVW RI EDG ER\V Ahmadinejad, Gaddafi, al-Assad, Castro, MugabeMorales as well as the moderates Lula, Zalaya, Kirchner and others, Chavez sought protection for Venezuela

building alliances with other semi-colonial states. Yet, aside from Cuba, all these nations were capitalist, inthe worst of them crony capitalism elevated the leaders families, clan and tribes while the masses and/or mi-

grant labor were exploited and oppressed. In an advanced semi-FRORQ\OLNH%UD]LOWKH:RUNHUV3DUW\V37Vsocialism had been reduced to ODEROVDGHIDPLOLD DPLQLPXPJURFHU\SDFNDJHIRUWKHSRRU,QVRFLDOLVW&XEDDSULYLOHJHGEXUHDXFUDF\UDWKHUWKDQWKHPDVVHVUXOHGDQGZHUHILQGLQJWKHPDLQWHQDQFHRIWKHLUSULYL

leges threatened by the isolation of the Cuban deformed workers state, so they were busily restoring capital-

ism, turning beachfront property over to imperialist hoteliers, inviting Spain, Canada and China to reap profiat the expense of the Cuban people who, in the name of liberalization and reform, found themselves thrown

RXWRIZRUNE\WKHWHQVRIWKRXVDQGV,WZDVLQ&DVWURWKDW&KDYH]IRXQGKLVVSHFLDOIULHQGPHQWRUDQGWUDG

ing partner. Indeed it was the oil for doctors and educators trade that resulted in the most progressive advance

for Venezuela and helped alleviate some of the economic (read oil) isolation Cuba had felt since the counterrevolution in the USSR.

2IFRXUVH\RXFDQWEODPHWKH3UHVLGHQWRIDQDWLRQZLWKRQHRIWKHZRUOGVODUJHVWRLOUHVHUYHVIRUEHing feted and photographed with every imperialist thug and practically every comprador bourgeois tin pot dic-

tator on the planet. When you are in the oil business and the social programs you promised to the people de

pend on your selling and burning every drop of fossil fuel rather than expropriating big capital and negating

the exploitative relations of production, you have to be very friendly; so friendly in fact that this unsustainableDVSHFWRI%ROLYDULDQ6RFLDOLVPDQGLWVLQKHUHQWWKUHDWWRWKHHQYLURQPHQWLVLJQRUHGE\WKH*UHHQVDQG*UHHQ

Red alliance.

As the unfolding events in the Middle East and North Africa have shown, imperialism will toleratemany a tin pot dictator if they provide a service and are able to contain the national revolution by keeping the

working class in check. Mubarak contained the Egyptian masses and kept a lid on the Palestinian Revolution

Gaddafi, a thorn in the side of imperialism for decades made nice and was accepted back into the fold in 2003DQG6\ULDVDO$VVDGOLNH0XEDUDNZDVDFRQWUDFWWRUWXUHUIRUWKH&,$DQGERWKNHSWWKH3DOHVWLQLDQUHYROXWLRQ

in check for Zionism. The imperialists stand by these thugs until it becomes clear they could no longer contain

the masses, sending imperialism to look for a new strongman, or comprador layer, who while posing as democrats, step into the leadership vacuum over the top of the unfolding revolutions and contain them and re-

VWRUHFDSLWDOLVWVWDELOLW\IRULPSHULDOLVWH[SORLWDWLRQ

So it should have come as no surprise to the supporters of Gaddafi who place the responsibly for hisdownfall and death on imperialism rather than on the righteous uprising of the Libyan masses, or to Cindy

Sheehan, whom Chavez dubbed 6HQRUD(VSHUDQ]D that rather than supporting her campaign for vice presi

GHQW LQZKLFKVKHSUHVHQWHGKHUVHOIDVD UHYROXWLRQDU\VRFLDOLVW DQWL-imperialist and a friend/supporter o


11/12

11

&KDYH]+HFKRVHWRVXSSRUW:DOO6WUHHWVSLFNIRUWKH&(2RI86LPSHULDOLVPFDOOLQJ2EDPDDJRRGJX\ 5

and stating that, "If I were American, I'd vote for Obama."Ironic?Go Figure!

THE REVOLUTIONARY SOCIALIST ROAD FORWARD

While socialists oppose the interventions and exploitation by imperialism of the semi- colonies we do

not for a moment abandon the masses there who, in order to survive find themselves in revolutionary struggle

against capitalism as it is brutally maintained by the likes of Ahmadinejad,Gaddafi, al-Assad, Mugabe,

Morales as well as Dilma, Kirchner and others. Yet there are many fake socialists who fawn obsequiously andabandon the socialist revolution wherever a national liberation movement arises that forms a bloc of classes,

makes some progressive gains against direct imperialist domination and exploitation, even when these regimes

support and maintain the power of the local bourgeoisie and cut new deals with imperialism at the expense ofsocialist revolution.

These self-styled Marxists from Alan Woods to Tariq Ali and Cindy Sheehan, make common cause,

through their uncritical alliance with Chavez, with the criminal exploiters of the masses in Syria, Libya, Zim-babwe, Iran, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Cuba and China.

Overcoming the legacy of Chavez, the international working class, that of Latin America and of Vene-zuela in particular, must come to major theoretical understanding of the role of a Bonaparte, the strongman

who mediates between social classes but allows the dominant mode of production to remain intact. Out of

such a theoretical reevaluation an international revolutionary Marxist workers party must be built to re-establish the working class program.

&RPUDGH(DUO*LOPDQZDUQVWKDW WRGD\IROORZLQJ WKHSDVVLQJRI&KDYH]D SHULRGRIGXDOSRZHU LV

opening as the Bolibourgeoisie in the PSUV and the government seeks to appease the counter-revolution. We

GRQRWVHHWKLVDVGXDOSRZHULQWKHFODVVLFDOVHQVH )RUGXDOSRZHUWRHPHUJHWKHZRUNHUVQHHGWREUHDNfrom the popular front and assert class independence. To defend the gains of the workers movement, revolu-

tionary workers in Venezuela need to advocate for the formation of workers, farmers and soldiers councils and

militias and for seizing all power by a workers council government. That demand will split the working class

base of the PSUV and the regime away from the Bolibourgeoisie and state bureaucracy. Then we would havedual power, which will open the road to socialism. To advocate for and make this real the workers need their

vanguard to be organized as a combat party of professional revolutionaries.

Liaison Committee of Communists (March 10, 2013):

Revolutionary Workers Group Zimbabwe

Communist Workers Group USA

Communist Workers Group Ao/NZ

____________________________________

1. http://www.thespec.com/opinion/columns/article/899068--venezuela-after-hugo-chavez

2. http://venezuela-us.org/tablas/gini_e.html

3. http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/08/after-chavez-will-china-still-fund-chavismo/#axzz2Mymljr6g

4. http://cpusa.org/hugo-chavez-1954-2013/

5. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/30/hugo-chavez-says-hed-vote_n_1927024.html

At first glance these appear to be two sides of the same coin. But they are not. Underconsumption means that all you have to do is increase the incomesumers and the problem is solved. This is the underlying assumption of that branch of neo-classical economics (value is set by supply and demand) dresse

Marxism. It means that by increasing demand you can match it with supply. And since capitalists cannot be trusted to do this,WKHVWDWHKDVWRLQWHUYHQHWRRYHUFRPHXQGHUFRQVXPSWLRQ7KLVZRXOGSUHYHQWWKHILQDQFLDOLVDWLRQRIVXUSOXVFDSLWDODQGFULses such as the one we are facMarx, the crisis is caused by overproduction of capital, both commodities and money, when insufficient profits are realized, even when those commoditiesconsumed at their values. The solution for the capitalists is to increase their rate of profit by reducing the costs of plant, machinery, raw materials and lab

7KHZLSLQJRXWRIFDSLWDOGRHVQRWRQO\UHIHUWRWKHGHVWUXFWLRQRIILFWLWLRXVRUXQSURGXFWLYHFDSLWDOEXWWKHGHYDOXDWLRQof productive capital, both over-

plant, machinery and raw materials, and variable capitalthe value of labor-SRZHURUZDJHV&ODVV6WUXJJOH6HSW2FWhttp://www.geocities.cocommunistworker/
http://www.thespec.com/opinion/columns/article/899068--venezuela-after-hugo-chavezhttp://www.thespec.com/opinion/columns/article/899068--venezuela-after-hugo-chavezhttp://venezuela-us.org/tablas/gini_e.htmlhttp://venezuela-us.org/tablas/gini_e.htmlhttp://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/08/after-chavez-will-china-still-fund-chavismo/#axzz2Mymljr6ghttp://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/08/after-chavez-will-china-still-fund-chavismo/#axzz2Mymljr6ghttp://cpusa.org/hugo-chavez-1954-2013/http://cpusa.org/hugo-chavez-1954-2013/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/30/hugo-chavez-says-hed-vote_n_1927024.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/30/hugo-chavez-says-hed-vote_n_1927024.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/communistworker/http://www.geocities.com/communistworker/http://www.geocities.com/communistworker/http://www.geocities.com/communistworker/http://www.geocities.com/communistworker/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/30/hugo-chavez-says-hed-vote_n_1927024.htmlhttp://cpusa.org/hugo-chavez-1954-2013/http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/03/08/after-chavez-will-china-still-fund-chavismo/#axzz2Mymljr6ghttp://venezuela-us.org/tablas/gini_e.htmlhttp://www.thespec.com/opinion/columns/article/899068--venezuela-after-hugo-chavez


12/12

Communist Workers Group USA

Subscribe to Class War: [email protected] www.cwgusa.wordpress.com

Labor Donated

Historically, capitalism expanded world-wide to free much of hu-

manity from the bonds of feudal or tribal society, and developed

he economy, society and culture to a new higher level. But it

could only do this by exploiting the labour of the productive

classes to make its profits. To survive, capitalism became increas-ngly destructive of "na-ture" and humanity. In the early 20th cen-

ury it entered the epoch of imperial-ism in which successive cri-

ses unleashed wars, revolutions and counter-revolu-tions. Today

ZHILJKWWRHQGFDSLWDOLVPVZDUVIDPLQHRSSUHVVLRQDQGLQMXV

ice, by mobilising workers to overthrow their own ruling classes

and bring to an end the rotten, exploitative and oppressive soci-ety

hat has exceeded its use-by date.

What we Fight For

We fight to overthrow Capitalism

By the 20th century, capitalism had created the pre-conditions for

socialism a world-wide working class and modern industry ca-

pable of meeting all our basic needs. The potential to eliminatepoverty, starvation, disease and war has long existed. The October

Revolution proved this to be true, bringing peace, bread and land

o millions. But it became the victim of the combined assault of

mperialism and Stalinism. After 1924 the USSR, along with its

deformed offspring in Europe, degenerated back towards capital-

sm. In the absence of a workers political revolution, capitalism

was restored between 1990 and 1992. Vietnam and China then fol-

owed. In the 21sst century only Cuba and North Korea survive as

degenerate workers states. We unconditionally defend these states

against capitalism and fight for political revolution to overthrow

he bureaucracy as part of world socialist revolution.

While the economic conditions for socialism exist today, standing

between the working class and socialism are political, social and

cultural barriers. They are the capitalist state and bourgeois ideol-

ogy and its agents. These agents claim that Marxism is dead and

capitalism need not be exploitative. We say that Marxism is a liv-

QJVFLHQFH WKDWH[SODLQVERWKFDSLWDOLVPVFRQWLQXHGH[SORLWDWLRQ

and its attempts to hide class exploitation behind the appearance of

ndividual "freedom" and "equality". It reveals how and why the

reformist, Stalinist and centrist misleaders of the working class tie

workers to bourgeois ideas of nationalism, racism, sexism and

equality. Such false beliefs will be exploded when the struggleagainst the inequality, injustice, anarchy and barbarism of capi-

alism in crisis, led by a revolutionary Marxist party, produces a

revolutionary class-consciousness.

The bourgeois and its agents condemn the Marxist party as

totalitarian. We say that without a democratic and a centrally o

ganised party there can be no revolution. We base our beliefs

the revolutionary tradition of Bolshevism and Trotskyism. Such

party, armed with a transitional program, forms a bridge that joithe daily fight to defend all the past and present gains won fro

capitalism to the victorious socialist revolution. Defensive stru

gles for bourgeois rights and freedoms, for decent wages and co

ditions, will link up the struggles of workers of all nationaliti

genders, ethnicities and sexual orientations, bringing about mov

ments for workers control, political strikes and the arming of t

working class, as necessary steps to workers' power and t

smashing of the bourgeois state. Along the way, workers w

learn that each new step is one of many in a long march to revol

tionize every barrier put in the path to their victorious revolution

We fight for a Revolutionary Party

Communism stands for the creation of a classless, stateless s

ety beyond socialism that is capable of meeting all human ne

Against the ruling class lies that capitalism can be made "fair"

all, that nature can be "conserved", that socialism and commun

are "dead", we raise the red flag of communism to keep alive

revolutionary tradition of the Communist Manifesto of 1848

Bolshevik-led October Revolution, the Third Communist Inte

tional until 1924, and the revolutionary Fourth International u

its collapse into centrism, with the closing of the International

ter. We fight to build a new Communist International, as a w

party of socialism capable of leading workers to a victorious st

gle for socialism.

We fight to defend Marxism

We fight for Socialism.

We fight for Communism.

Join us: where overthrowing capitalism is all in a days wo

:RPHQRUJDQL]HDUDOO\RQ,QWHUQDWLRQDO:RPHQV'D\LQ,QGLD
http://www.cwgusa.wordpress.com/http://www.cwgusa.wordpress.com/

hugo chavez death and the way forward for venezuela

Documents