The Communications Workers Union (CWU) invited Hands Off Venezuela
along with other Latin American solidarity campaigns and guest speakers to
speak at a Latin America fringe meeting held on the opening day of the Union’s
Annual Conference in Liverpool last Sunday. The CWU
is Britain’s largest trade union for the communications industry with 250,000
members, including post office and British Telecom workers. The CWU
renewed their affiliation to Hands Off Venezuela, reaffirming the importance of
the Venezuelan revolution to workers here in the UK.
William Roche from the Hands Off Venezuela campaign summarized many of
the most important developments that have taken place in Venezuela over the
past year. He explained that whilst enormous improvements to living standards
have been made thanks to the social welfare programs funded by oil revenues,
the key to transforming Venezuelan society in the long term lays in the factory
occupation movement, the communal councils, and in the building of a
revolutionary party that will implement, at a national level, everything that
is being fought for at a grass roots level. The United Socialist Party of
Venezuela (PSUV), which held it’s founding congress earlier this year, could
fulfil that role. A fifth of the country’s population has already joined the
party membership, and the party could win seats in the regional elections later
this year.
William also outlined the developments in the Venezuelan labour
movement, in particular the victorious campaign waged by the workers of
Venezuela’s largest steel plant, SIDOR. Their campaign was so effective that
they pressurised President Chavez into nationalising the plant, despite the
diplomatic problems created by pushing out Argentinean / Italian majority
shareholders.
But, William continued,every advancement that has been made toward
building socialism of the 21st century has been met with fierce
opposition. Inside Venezuela, a campaign of economic sabotage by local elites
is attempting to create chaos. The US is stepping up it’s media campaign of
slander and disinformation. And Colombia, the regional ally of the US, made a
cross border attack on Ecuador, killing 23, including one of the leaders of
FARC engaged in hostage release talks with Venezuela. A new US military base is
being planned in Colombia to be built right on the border of Venezuela. But
most worryingly, is the reformation of the US Navy’s Fourth Fleet, which will
patrol Latin American and Caribbean seas under the pretense of fighting terror
and Narco trafficking. At the same time a pretext for some kind of US military
intervention into Venezuela is being prepared in the US Congress in a bid to
add Venezuela to their list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorist
activities. Accusations that have been made but never proved true.
With Venezuela under increased attack, William appealed for continued
support for the revolution, and to the Hands Off Venezuela campaign. He
finished by recalling how workers in Venezuela, when asked how British workers
could best help defend the revolution, they replied; "by building revolution in
your own countries".
This final statement by the speaker led to a round of applause from the
audience of trade union activists, who followed up with a round of interesting
and inspiring contributions and questions.
