[From HoV] British trade union leaders support Venezuelan revolution

The leaders of British trade unions representing more than 5 million
workers sign Hands Off Venezuela appeal in support of the Bolivarian
revolution and the PSUV candidates for the National Assembly elections.

The Hands Off Venezuela campaign has been present at this year’s
meeting of the Trades Union Congress in Manchester explaining the
achievements of the Venezuelan revolution and the need to step up
solidarity in the run up to the National Assembly elections.

Hundreds of copies of the latest HOV Newsletter
were distributed to delegates and visitors who showed a keen interest
in the latest developments of the Bolivarian revolution. The newsletter
contains articles about the experiences of workers’ control, the
communal councils as well as a message from Venezuelan Ambassador to
the UK Samuel Moncada.

The British trade union movement has already expressed its support for the Venezuelan revolution in 2005 through a unanimous resolution which was ratified in 2007.

This time, as the TUC discussed coordinated action against the cuts
introduced by the Conservative-Liberal coalition government, there was
a lot of interest about the progress of the Bolivarian revolution.
Leading figures in the most important unions in Britain added their
names to the Hands Off Venezuela statement in solidarity with the
Venezuelan revolution and in support of the PSUV candidates to the
National Assembly elections. The statement has already gathered more
than 1000 signatures from 59 different countries around the world.

Amongst those signing were:

Jeremy Corbyn, MP
John McDonnell, MP
Derek Simpson, joint General Secretary UNITE
Tony Woodley, joint General Secretary UNITE
Paul Kenny, General Secretary GMB
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary PCS
Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary PCS
Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary PCS
Matt Wrack, General Secretary FBU
Mick Shaw, General Secretary FBU
Bob Crow, General Secretary RMT
Alex Gordon, President RMT
Billy Hayes, General Secretary CWU
Tony Kearns, General Secretary CWU
David Ward, Deputy General Secretary CWU
Sally Hunt, General Secretary UCU
Jeremy Dear, General Secretary NUJ
Pitt Murray, President NUJ
Joe Marino, General Secretary BAFWU
Colin Moses, National Chair POA

Text of the statement:

Faced with the elections to the national assembly in Venezuela on
September 26, we the undersigned would like to show our
internationalist support and solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution:
because it has courageously stood up to imperialism
because it has invested the money from the oil revenue in the
eradication of illiteracy and the extension of education at all levels
because it has made a gigantic effort in extending health care to the poorest sections of society with the Mision Barrio Adentro
because it has started a process of expropriation of the latifundia and the redistribution of land
because it has faced the monopoly of the mass media and moved towards the democratisation of access to the media
because it has reverted the process of privatisation of state owned
companies and utilities and has renationalised some of those which had
been privatised
because it has dared to occupy abandoned factories and put them to work under workers’ control
because it has started to introduce workers’ control in the basic industries
because it has raised the banner of socialism in the 21st century
because a defeat of the revolution would mean an advance of
imperialism, the oligarchy, the land owners and capitalists, of those
who organised the coup in April 2002
because the revolution has not yet been completed
for these and many more reasons, we support the Bolivarian
revolution and the candidates of PSUV in September 26 and we remain
alert to counter the campaign of lies and provocations on the part of
imperialism and the counter-revolution.