This is a slightly edited version of the article which
appeared on the website of the Venezuelan Revolutionary Marxist Current (CMR)
by Yonie Moreno and William Sanabria, to which we have added some additional
material for the benefit of an international readership. The original in
Spanish can be read here.
The non-renewal of the broadcasting licence to private TV
station RCTV in Venezuela
has been used by the Venezuelan oligarchy and imperialism to unleash the
coup-plotting campaign they were unable to launch at the time of the December
3rd elections.
Despite all the hue and cry over "freedom of expression" the
real aim of the oligarchy in Venezuela
is to create a situation of chaos, violence and confusion, and if they can, get
someone killed in one of the demonstrations. This would allow them to create a
favourable international climate and launch an open offensive against the
Venezuelan revolution with a combination of the following methods: military
coup, assassination of Chávez, imperialist intervention.
The Venezuelan capitalists and their international allies
are growing increasingly worried about the advance of the Bolivarian revolution
and its international repercussions. The recent nationalisations of CANTV and
EDC (even though they were carried out with compensation), the threats to
nationalise steel maker SIDOR and the banking sector (see Alan Woods' Venezuelan nationalisations – What do they mean for socialists?),
the proposals of Chávez to create "socialist companies", and the setting up of
the new United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), are clear signs (despite
this or that contradiction) of the willingness of the Venezuelan people and of
president Chávez to push forward in a leftward direction.
The counter-revolution is combining all forms of struggle
(economic sabotage, national and international media campaigns,
destabilisation), but with the mobilisations around the case of RCTV they have
decided to go one step further and to "test the water" of the mobilisation on
the streets.
Their modus operandi is clear: at nigh time the setting up
of burning barricades and organising of riots, mainly in the middle and upper
middle class neighbourhoods of Caracas.
During the day they organise so-called "peaceful demonstrations", mainly of
students from private and elite state universities. Organised
counter-revolutionary elements (paramilitaries, CIA agents, paid agents of
imperialism) are active in these demonstrations throwing stones, Molotov
cocktails and there have been several instances of shootings from these
counter-revolutionary gangsters (see for instance the video of the
demonstration outside the National Telecoms Office on Sunday night).
These riots, far from being spontaneous actions, are well coordinated,
encouraged, protected and organised by the opposition using the levers of power
they still control (in opposition controlled councils in the East of Caracas
mainly).
Alhough the counter-revolutionaries are trying to use the
students, a section not demoralised by the previous defeats of the opposition,
their numbers are not very impressive (10,000 at the largest demonstration so
far). What the media are not showing is that the chavista demonstrations
supporting the government decision on RCTV have actually been larger,
including amongst the students. Did anyone see reports in the international
media of the 30,000-strong demonstration of Bolivarian students? (See video here and a report in Spanish with pictures here).
The situation that is developing shows clearly that the
arguments of the reformists ("if we touch the means of production the
imperialists will have an excuse to attack us") are completely false.
Imperialists do not need excuses. If they do not have any, they invent them.
The measure taken of not renewing the licence to RCTV is perfectly legal, and
does not even affect other private coup-plotting TV stations (such as
Globovisión and Venevision). Despite this, they have launched an unprecedented
campaign around the so-called "defence of the freedom of expression".
One thing that must be said clearly is that the balance of
forces is still extremely favourable to the revolution, as shown in the massive
election victory in the presidential elections of December 3rd, the
largest victory since the beginning of the revolutionary movement. The masses
expressed their clear will to move towards socialism and put an end to
capitalism once and for all. That this mood is still present is confirmed by
the process of registration to the new United Socialist Party which has broken
all expectations with more than 4.5 million people registered (and there is
still a week left). If this force were mobilised in an organised way with a
clear aim, it would be more than enough to brush aside the
counter-revolutionary gangs currently occupying the streets in the East of
Caracas and the TV screens internationally.
President Chávez has called for a mass demonstration on Saturday,
June 2nd at which 2 million people are expected to turn out, and he
has warned that "if they come with another 11th we will respond with another
13th, and this time I will be leading it", in reference to the coup on April
11, 2002 and the revolutionary response which defeated it on April 13 (you can
see a video of Chávez's speech here).
This is a move in the right direction, but it must be accompanied by a plan of
struggle that will mobilise and prepare the revolutionary forces.
It is not enough for the revolutionary movement to have the
support of the majority of the population, this support has to be organised and
mobilised in a bold manner. The initiative cannot be left in the hands of the
counter-revolution.
Already before May 27 (the day the RCTV's licence expired)
rank and file revolutionary organisations had organised a number of actions.
Amongst them was the rally outside Globovisión and the occupation of the
headquarters of the business federation Fedecamaras. These actions were
organised as part of the "Oligarcas Temblad" plan (Tremble Oligarchs) by the
Ezequiel Zamora National Peasant Front (FNCEZ), the Simon Bolivar Coordination
Committee, the Alexis Vive Collective, and others. The slogan of the FNCEZ when
occupying the building of Fedecamaras was "if they take away our food, we will
take over their factories" (see a report of the action in Spanish with pictures
here and an interview in Spanish with FNCEZ leader Simon Uzcategui here).
In an extremely worrying development that shows the
seriousness of the situation in Venezuela,
two leading members of the Simon Bolivar Coordination were gunned down last
night as they were going back to their home. Carolina Azueje and Carlos Tovar
had participated in the actions against Globovisión and Fedecamaras and had
been shown repeatedly by Globovisión which singled them out in its reports of
the action.
Some leaders of the UNT, particularly from the left wing
class-struggle wing CCURA, have declared that, faced with any attempt to
sabotage the economy they will organise the workers to occupy the factories. In
Aragua (which saw a show of strength by the working class last week with the
regional strike in support of the Sanitarios Maracay workers),
the UNT has organised a detailed plan, listing the companies to be taken over
in case of an attempt at a bosses' lock out. At SIDOR, the Argentinean owned
steel maker in Bolivar, the workers have made statements along the same lines
and have warned that they will raise the Venezuelan flag (i.e. take over the
installations) if production is stopped. Already in the last few days some
workplaces of the food and beverages monopoly POLAR have stopped work and
"encouraged" workers to attend opposition marches.
The Revolutionary Marxist Current (CMR)
is calling for a plan of action so that the UNT, the FNCEZ, the Revolutionary
Front of Occupied Factories (FRETECO) and other revolutionary organisations put
themselves at the forefront of the struggle against counter-revolution (read
the full proposal in Spanish).
The proposal is for the calling of mass meetings in workplaces and factories to
pass resolutions in support of the government's decision on RCTV and to
organise concrete actions. In all places where this is possible, workers should
occupy the factories and run them under workers' control as a preventative
measure. In all other places elements of workers' control and vigilance must be
established to prevent economic sabotage.
This plan of factory occupations should start in the
agro-business sector, which has already been hit hard by economic sabotage
(see: Venezuela: Price regulation, food scarcity, speculation and socialism).
The FNCEZ has already expressed its willingness to carry out such actions and
has asked FRETECO for help and advice. An example of this kind of sabotage of
food supplies was the case last year of 5,000 hectares of sugar cane that was
not harvested because of the refusal of sugar companies to buy the produce,
despite the fact that there are problems of scarcity of sugar in the markets.
This year the figure could go up to 15,000 hectares.
As part of this plan of action, workers should set up
Workers' Committees in every factory and workplace and these should be linked
up to the Communal Councils that already exist to organise a coordinated
fightback against counter-revolution, but also to serve as the embryo of the
new state apparatus that the revolution needs in order to start the building of
socialism. The struggle against counter-revolution must turn into a decisive
blow against the capitalist state apparatus and move forward towards the
nationalisation under democratic workers' control of the main levers of the
economy (banks, large scale industry and the land).
The CMR is also proposing the immediate calling of
assemblies of PSUV members in workplaces and neighbourhoods, to get them
organised in Socialist Platoons to participate in an organised way in this plan
of struggle. This would be the best way of steeling the cadres of the new party
and of selecting the most capable leaders for it.
One of the first steps that need to be taken is to identify
and single out the counter-revolutionary elements, paramilitary thugs and CIA
agents that are operating under the cover of the opposition demos. Some of them
have already been exposed publicly. We must demand that the Bolivarian
government arrests them and expels them from the country. This would go a long
way towards exposing the real character of these protests and undermining the
international media campaign of imperialism.
Another important issue is the question of the Army. The
idea that the Army is under control and is loyal to the revolution could prove
to be fatal. In all revolutions we have seen how the revolutionary mood amongst
the masses spreads into the ranks of the Army, amongst the soldiers and
lower-ranking officers, but the higher echelons of the army officialdom usually
side with the counter-revolution. While the revolution is in ascent and going
forward these reactionary elements remain hidden and silent, waiting for the
right time to act. We should not forget that general Pinochet promised both
publicly and in private his loyalty to the Allende government right until the night
of the military coup that smashed the Chilean revolution in 1973.
While it is true that the defeats of the counter-revolution
produced a certain purging within the army, this was not complete and the
oligarchy still has many tools at their disposal (political, economic,
ideological) to win over these sections to their side. The only way to
guarantee the military defence of the revolution against internal and external
enemies is on the one hand to introduce full ranging democratic rights within
the army, including the right of revolutionary soldiers and officers to discuss
and organise politically, to organise mass meetings, etc. so that they can also
be vigilant, and on the other hand by moving towards the arming of the people.
The extension of the army reserve, the creation of the Territorial Guards, etc.
are important steps in this direction, but it is urgent to develop Workers'
Reserve Platoons and Workers' Territorial Guards, based on and accountable to
the mass assemblies of workers in the factories and their Workers' Councils.
Above all the main mistake would be one of complacency, of
thinking that because we are in a majority, we are right, we won the elections
and that everything is therefore alright. A revolution cannot remain halfway.
The only way in which the future of the revolution can be ensured is through
the expropriation of the means of production and the replacement of the current
state apparatus by a regime of workers' democracy. If the revolution takes up
these tasks it will spread like an almighty tidal wave throughout Latin America becoming a point of reference for workers
all over the world. This is the task that Venezuelan revolutionary youth,
workers and peasants have in front of them.
Last minute: 600 representatives of revolutionary organisations in
Venezuela led by the UNT-CCURA, FNCEZ and others (CMR and FRETECO
included), have established a national network of social organisations
to mobilise against the counter-revolutionary threat. The plan includes
factory occupations to fight sabotage amongst other measures. More
details in Spanish here.
