The coup in Honduras and the stepping
up of a US military presence in Colombia are serious warnings to the
masses of Latin America. On top of this the present world economic
crisis is having an impact on the Venezuelan economy. All this is
posing very sharply the need for a turn to a genuine revolutionary
programme on the part of the Bolivarian movement.
In the last couple of months events in Venezuela and other Latin
American countries have enormously sharpened the contradictions between
revolution and counter-revolution. First there was the coup in Honduras
at the end of June, which acted as a warning for the masses in El
Salvador, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Then there was the
announcement of the plans to upgrade the US military presence in
Colombia, which has provoked a severe diplomatic crisis between
Venezuela and Colombia and a state of alert among the Bolivarian
masses. Most importantly, however, the world economic recession has had
profound effects on the situation in Venezuela, where workers are now
facing ferocious attacks from the bosses.
The US military bases in Colombia
After the shock which the coup in Honduras represented for the
masses, the signing in July of an agreement between the USA and the
Colombian government allowing the former to use military bases in
Colombia, has provoked a new social earthquake across Latin America.
According to military experts, the most important of the seven bases
that the US military is now allowed to use is Palanquero, which will
allow them to retain full control over the Pacific coastline. The
American government has invested 46 million US dollars in Palanquero
alone.
The reaction of Chávez was swift. All diplomatic relations have been
broken with Colombia and so has all commercial exchange between the two
countries. Ecuador and Bolivia have also firmly opposed the
Colombian-US agreement. Indeed Colombian president Álvaro Uribe found
himself completely isolated at the recent UNASUR encounter in
Bariloche, Argentina, where one left-wing president after another ‑ at
least in words ‑ rejected the agreement.
The aim of the military bases is clearly not to “counter
drug-trafficking”, but rather to keep any revolutionary movement in
Colombia and other Latin American countries in check. Over ten years
Colombia has increased its military budget from 2.5% of GDP to 5%. In
fact, Colombia is now the country that spends most on its military
budget as a percentage of GDP, only exceeded by Israel and Burundi.
This new agreement with Colombia was reached after the contract for the
US military base in Manta, Ecuador, expired and was not renewed by
president Correa.
Despite Obama’s smiles and the apparent new line of dialogue with
the Latin American presidents, no one should have any illusions. The US
remains an imperialist power and needs to strengthen and reassert its
presence in the region, which it considers as part of its spheres of
influence. As a representative of US imperialism, Obama is obliged to
defend US interests in Latin America. The sharpening of the class
struggle and the spreading of revolutionary movements across the whole
of Latin America is putting the US imperialists in a position whereby
they must find a way of curbing the process. That is what this new
treaty with Colombia represents.
Venezuelan economy in crisis
While Venezuela enjoyed significant rates of growth in the period
2004-2007, the latest figures clearly demonstrate that the country’s
economy has now definitely been hit by the effects of the world crisis.
In the second quarter of 2009, GDP fell by 2.4%. The figure for the first quarter was a minimal growth of 0.5%.
of the reason for this is the lack of private investment in industry
and manufacturing. According to the Central Bank of Venezuela, private
economic activity dropped by 4% in the second quarter of this year. A
recent study revealed that the Venezuelan bourgeoisie has closed 4,000
large or medium-sized enterprises during the last ten years.
One should also add to this the huge fall in state income from oil
production. In the second quarter of 2008 the state earned US$28.597
million from oil production compared to only US$13.576 million in the
same period of 2009. This represents a drop of 51.9%. This is
particularly bad in a country where income from oil exports accounts
for 30% of GDP and for 50% of the state budget. World market prices of
other raw materials that Venezuela exports, such as aluminium and iron,
have also fallen.
Together with other Latin American countries, Venezuela has also
been hit by the effects of the overall fall in FDI (Foreign Direct
Investment). Already in 2008, in the period January to October, FDI
fell by 18% compared to the same period in 2007. All these factors have
contributed to worsening the situation the Venezuelan economy finds
itself in.
Representatives of the reformist wing within the Venezuelan
government, such as Alí Rodríguez, Minister of Finance, hope that oil
prices will recover quickly and thus provide some new oxygen for the
Venezuelan economy. However, although in the past couple of months we
have witnessed a small recovery in the economy, it is not at all
guaranteed that this will continue in the next few months. Actually
OPEC is predicting a fall in total demand for oil in 2009 compared to
2008.
Whatever the immediate prospects are, any possible slight recovery
of oil income cannot make up for the serious problems that the
Venezuelan economy is facing; such as the strike of capital, sabotage,
speculation and hoarding, on the part of the bourgeoisie. To the normal
effects of the economic cycle, in Venezuela we need to add three other
factors which are affecting the economy. One is the fact that there is
a revolution unfolding and the ruling class does not feel confident to
invest. The second is the conscious campaign of economic sabotage on
the part of the oligarchy. And finally, the fact that all the attempts
on the part of the reformists to regulate the market economy only serve
to create further economic dislocation.
The crisis has already had direct consequences on the situation
being faced by the Venezuelan working class. Recently General Motors,
which supplies Venezuela with 40% of all its vehicles, closed all its
production plants for three months and with the effect that thousands
of workers were temporarily laid off. In Barcelona, we witnessed the
illegal, and politically motivated, bosses’ lockout at Mitsubishi which
put more than 1.400 jobs in danger. The lockout, whose aim was clearly
the smashing of the revolutionary trade union the workers had
organised, was defeated by the decisive and militant action of the
workers. Similar events could unfold in factories across Venezuela and
thus bring about new explosions in the class struggle. Already the
unemployment figures show a rise from 7.8% in June to 8.5% in July.
PSUV and the setting up of workers’ patrols
In the Socialist Party, PSUV, significant events have taken place
over the last few months. Chávez has given the go ahead for the setting
up of “patrols”, a new type of party branch that will allow a greater
participation of the rank and file. Around two million people have
registered to be active in the patrols. Even more significantly, Chávez
has advocated the creation of “workers’ patrols”, i.e. PSUV party
branches to be set up inside the factories. Workers in many factories
have taken up this call. In factories such as Mitsubishi, Vivex,
Inveval and SIDOR, PSUV branches have been set up with significant
numbers of workers participating.
The national congress of the party was scheduled for this coming
October, but will most likely be postponed by the leadership to
November or December. Whatever the date will be, the party congress –
which is supposed to coincide with a congress of the PSUV Youth – will
be the scene of new and probably quite harsh clashes between the right
and the left, between revolution and reformism. With the setting up of
numerous party branches in the factories, it is possible that the
working class will exercise a much more decisive influence within the
party and this can be very dangerous from the point of view of the
bureaucracy. The scene is set for new critical debates within the PSUV.
Perspectives
After various attempts at open counter-revolution, the right-wing
(or at least the most decisive sectors) seems to have adopted different
tactics. What they are now aiming at is more akin to the tactics
adopted by the counter-revolution in Nicaragua in the 1980s. Their aim
is to slowly but surely undermine the social conquests of the
revolution, intensify economic sabotage and thus undermine the
revolutionary morale of the masses.
In the recent demonstrations against the LOE (New Education Law)
there were indications that there has been some growth in the
Opposition’s forces. Although the Bolivarian masses achieved bigger
turnouts in their pro-LOE demonstrations, we cannot underestimate the
fact that the Opposition this time was able to mobilize significant
numbers.
In December 2005 they made a big mistake by boycotting the elections
to the National Assembly. Thus they were left without a single MP. Only
with the betrayal of PODEMOS (a social-democratic party that used to
support Chavez but jumped ship to join the Opposition in 2007) were
they able to obtain a small parliamentary representation. But this time
they will certainly not make the same mistake. Through their slow but
painstaking work they will probably be able to present a serious threat
in the upcoming February elections to the National Assembly.
Their goal is clear: to win a significant number of MPs and use them
in their ongoing campaign of pointing the finger at the deficiencies of
the government, bureaucratic mismanagement, food scarcity, etc. In this
manner they wish to build up of a mood of opposition against the
government among the middle classes and one of apathy within the
working class and among the poor. That is the kind of social
environment they require to get rid of Chávez and strangle the
revolution, be it by parliamentary or extra-parliamentary means.
The masses of workers and poor, who have defended the Venezuelan
revolution time and again over the last 10 years, will not let the
counter-revolution get on with these plans without a fight. But after
10 years of revolution and now with a worsening economic situation,
many of Chávez’s supporters are getting tired of the slow pace of the
revolution, of the talk about socialism, but with no decisive action to
back it up and with the lack of any real radical change.
The masses, beginning with the most advanced layers, are beginning
to understand that the revolution cannot be carried to a successful end
without destroying the source of the oligarchy’s power, i.e. private
ownership of the means of production. This idea is already being
discussed by activists in the trade union movement, the PSUV and the
PSUV-Youth. This is an important development. Life teaches, as the
saying goes, and the experience of the Bolivarian revolution over the
past decade is full of lessons. If the advanced layers within the
movement were to adopt a genuine Marxist programme they would be able
to win over the masses to such a programme. Only by such means will the
success of the Socialist Revolution be assured in Venezuela. There is
no middle way!
(First posted on www.marxist.com 10th September 2009)
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