Recently we have seen many important events
happening in Venezuela, such as the devaluation of the bolívar and the
nationalisations in the banking sector, which needs to be analysed
carefully. The movement of occupied factories made important steps
forward last year, but still faces sabotage by counter-revolutionary
managers and workers are still struggling for nationalisation under
workers’ control. In order to defend the conquests already made, the
revolution must put the nationalisation of the commanding heights of
the economy on the agenda. Only this can destroy capitalism and provide
the necessary prerequisites for a socialist planned economy.
Venezuelan revolution remains key to the understanding of developments
in Latin America and indeed throughout the world. President Chávez
recently visited Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was the only one – apart
from Evo Morales – to point out that capitalism is the main root-cause
behind the global climate crisis. In the words of Chávez; “If the
climate had been a bank, they would already saved it.” The speeches of
Chávez and Morales on the need to destroy capitalism and to build
socialism on a world scale found an enthusiastic echo among thousands
of workers and youth in Europe and also throughout Latin America where
the speeches were broadcast on the continent-wide TeleSur.
From the very beginning of the Venezuelan revolution, the Marxists
of the IMT have defended the revolution and highlighted its
significance for revolutionaries throughout the world. This occurred,
while many so-called leftists denied that a revolution was taking place
and categorically wrote off the possibility of a turn towards a
socialist path. Eleven years after the beginning of the revolution we
can understand the extreme miscalculation of these people. Even though
the revolution has not taken the decisive step towards socialism, it is
clear that the idea of socialism has gained the ear of the masses who
are fighting to achieve exactly this aim.
While defending the revolution against the attacks of imperialism
and the national oligarchy, at the same time we defended the idea, that
the revolution has not been carried to its conclusion and that this
cannot take place while the bourgeois state of the 4th Republic is
still in place and while the commanding heights of the economy are
still in the hands of the oligarchy. As we shall see, this remains the
main contradiction of the Venezuelan revolution to this day.
Venezuela’s economy in recession
In his new year’s speech of December 30, president Chávez had to
admit that 2009 was a difficult year for his government. The world
crisis of capitalism had a big impact on the Venezuelan economy which
ended 2009 with a contraction by 2.9% in the GDP, compared to a 4.8%
growth in 2008. The years 2003 to 2008 had seen a big upswing with one
of the highest growth rates in Latin America. All figures point to a
sharp downfall in production: manufacturing (which represents 16% of
the GDP) fell by 7.2% in 2009[i] and production of cars fell by 17.39%[ii].
According to statistics from the Banco Nacional de Venezuela, the
country’s exports have fallen by an average of 5.1% per year over the
last four years. Exports of non-traditional Venezuelan goods fell by an
abrupt 60%. The same source indicated that overall oil export revenues
dropped 35.3%, from US$ 89.1 billion in 2008 to US$ 57.61 billion in
2009[iii].
This obviously created major problems for the government. Chávez has
stayed firm on the line of no cuts in social spending or in the welfare
reforms and projects financed by oil revenues. But with the fall of the
price oil per barrel on the world market, the state budget has come
under threat. To maintain public spending, Chávez had to take new
measures. On January 8 he announced a devaluation of the Venezuelan
currency, on two levels; the “normal” exchange will be 2.60 bolívares
to the dollar and the “oil” exchange will be 4.60. This measure is
aimed at giving the state much wider room for social spending, as the
dollars obtained through oil sales can now be exchanged at 4.6 Bs.F
compared to only 2 or 3 in the past.
The problem is that this measure will not help in the long run. On
the contrary it will boost inflation, which has tormented Venezuelans
during the last couple of years with rates of 30.9% for 2008 and 25.1%
for 2009, the highest in Latin America. Just a couple of days after the
devaluation, prices began to soar on all kinds of products; the cost of
flights doubled and so did that of many electronic devices, such as
computers and laptops, etc. The government has promised to fight
against inflation, by sending out Eduardo Samán, the Minister of Trade,
to all shops that speculate and raise prices artificially.
This has already taken place in a number of shops, where the
government is threatening with closure, suspension of the enterprise or
even with expropriation. In his weekly “Aló Presidente” of Sunday,
January 18, Chávez announced the expropriation of the supermarket chain
Éxito. He argued that this company had systematically speculated with
its products and that this constituted a “robbery of the people”. He
added more general threats against the capitalists; “Remember that
they, the employers, are robbing the people […] It is robbery and I
don’t want to continue with that. This situation will end with the
expropriation.”[iv]
In the same programme he ordered the expropriation of Sambil in
Candelaria, a shopping centre in a Central Caracas neighbourhood.
The economic policies of the government are still very much
contradictory. While nationalisations of small and medium size
enterprises have continued, the commanding heights of the economy
remain untouched. While the measure of devaluation is supposed to give
an impulse to national production and to Venezuelan exports, the
capitalists remain unwilling to make major investments. The Venezuelan
oligarchy has always been completely parasitic and preferred to import
all consumer goods instead of starting a national production. But with
the Bolivarian revolution, they feel even more insecure, because they
fear government regulations and the threat of expropriation. This
dilemma was expressed very well in a recent editorial of the right-wing
financial daily “Reporte diario de la economia”:
“Chávez is sending mixed signs to the private sector: he threatens
with expropriating enterprises which raise prices without a good
reason, but he offers 1 billion U.S. Dollars in credit and subsidies as
incentives and calls for dialogue with the employers.
The weakening
of the Bolívar makes the Venezuelan products relatively cheaper, but
the employers are doubting whether to invest during a recession.
Furthermore they have been through years of intimidations from the
president, who has nationalised wide-ranging industrial sectors.”[v]
The recent figures do not point to any increase in domestic
production and exports. As we have seen, exports have declined over the
last years. What is even worse, is that the idea of “soberania
alimentaria” (food sovereignty), where a boost in agriculture was
supposed to lower the dependence of imported foodstuffs, has not
materialised at all; National agricultural production has seen a fall
in most important products; Maize -26%, Coffee -27%, Sugar cane -12%,
Potatoes -15% and Oranges -25%.[vi]
The problem is that the task of developing the Venezuelan economy
cannot be left to the capitalists. For decades they have shown a
complete disinterest in this, preferring to maintain an economy with
high oil incomes and very little domestic production. The problem is
that the capitalist system remains. This was even admitted by the
president of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, who in a recent
interview to El Universal reminded us of the fact that 70% of the GDP
is still created by the private sector. “The economy remains
capitalist”, he said.[vii]
While capitalism remains in place, the Venezuelan workers and the
poor will be haunted by the evils of inflation, unemployment and cuts
in social spending. All attempts to manoeuvre within the bounds of the
market economy will end up creating new contradictions. The continued
existence of the conquests of the revolution, such as Barrio Adentro,
the Misiones and the Universidades Bolivarianas, is doubtful if the
economic situation continues to worsen. Chávez has refused to implement
any cutbacks, but the measures taken are not at all sufficient to
guarantee this. To really defend these conquests, the revolution must
put the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy and a
state monopoly on foreign trade on the agenda. Only this can destroy
capitalism and provide the necessary prerequisites for a socialist
planned economy.
Crisis in the banking sector and expropriations
Another remarkable development has been the recent bank crisis which
took place from November last year onwards. When major fraud,
speculation and mismanagement was revealed in a number of banks, the
government intervened. Of the banks taken over, Canarias Bank, BanPro,
Baninvest and Banco Real were liquidated, while Confederado, Banco
Bolivar, Banorte, and Central Banco Universal, were nationalised and
merged with the state-owned bank Banfoandes to form a new public
investment bank called Banco Bicentenario. A further 10 banks were
sanctioned in January with fines totalling US$ 5.34 million, for
failing to comply to Venezuelan laws, including the law on credit for
peasants as an incentive towards agricultural production.
The nationalisation and merging of these banks, has increased state-control of the financial market to around 20-25%.[viii]
The interesting thing is that these measures did not just hit the
financial bourgeoisie, but even a number of Chávez’s close allies, such
as Arné Chacón Escamillo, (the owner of Banco Real and brother of
former Science and Technology Minister Jesse Chacón), and Antonio
Márquez, (the former president of the National Securities Commission)
who were both arrested and charged with bank fraud. Chávez said that he
would clean up the mess in the financial sector, “no matter who falls”.
The arrest of Arné Chacón provoked the resignation of former Science
and Technology Minister Jesse Chacón, who was always part of the
endogenous right-wing of the government. According to opinion polls,
the measures adopted by the government were approved by 61% of the
Venezuelan population, while 39% disapproved.[ix]
The nationalisation of these banks is indeed a step forward, which
should be welcomed by all revolutionaries. The capitalists of the
financial sector have plundered the economy for years and will now
attempt to let the workers pay the crisis. But the nationalisations of
these banks are far from enough. A socialist planned economy will never
materialise unless we can control credit on a large scale. The major
banks must all be nationalised in order to plan investments and benefit
the masses of workers, peasant and small shopkeepers with cheap credit.
If this is not done, we will see much more speculation and fraud in the
future by the capitalists of the financial sector.
Workers fight for trade union unity
The crisis has already been felt by the working class. Although unemployment has grown relatively little (from 7.4 to 8%[x]),
there has been an overall attack of the bosses against the working
class. In the car industry this was seen both in Valencia with the
temporary lay off of the workforce in General Motors and in Barcelona,
Anzoátegui state with the continued struggle at Mitsubishi (MMC). In
the latter, the employers first tried to sack 250 sub-contracted
workers in the month of January, which resulted in a factory occupation
starting on January 11, 2009. The bosses wanted to teach the workers a
lesson and bribed regional police forces to make an assault on the
occupied factory on January 29, which resulted in the death of two
workers. While a temporary agreement was reached in early March, the
struggle between the trade union and the bosses continued and in August
an illegal lockout was attempted on the part of the latter. This was
declared illegal by the Venezuelan Minister of Labour and the lockout
was defeated towards the end of August. However, the bosses remained
hell-bent on crushing the trade union and went on to sack 11 of its
main leaders. Unfortunately this action was endorsed by the Ministry of
Labour.
The struggle at Mitsubishi acted as a warning for workers throughout
Venezuela and pushed them to fight for a renewal of the workers’
movement and concretely for the reunification of the UNT (National
Workers’ Union) which had been paralysed since fractional struggles
broke up its 2006 congress. By mid-October 2009 the UNT federation of
workers in the car industry held a gathering of more than 200 workers
which argued for unity. On November 4, 2009, a successful regional
congress of the UNT Anzoátegui was held with representatives of 40
trade unions. Finally on December 5, a national assembly of the UNT was
held in Caracas with some 700 workers from all over the country. The
preparations have now begun for a national congress to be held in April.
This congress will undoubtedly be very important for the future of
the Venezuelan workers’ movement. The criminal division of the UNT in
2006 had an extremely negative impact on the class struggle and was a
big factor in the defeat of several factory occupations, such as that
of Sanitarios Maracay in 2006-7. The pressure from below has now forced
the leaders of the different wings to come together and try to unite
the UNT. But any lasting unity of the UNT can only be achieved on the
basis of a plan of action, linked to the perspective of putting the
working class as the vanguard of the revolution. The question of price
speculation and food scarcity provides a golden opportunity for the UNT
to draw up a plan of factory occupations of all the industries that
conduct sabotage against the revolution. A new wave of factory
occupation, led by the UNT, in defence of the revolution, could push
the government to take decisive action against the bourgeoisie. Such a
policy could change the whole course of the revolution.
Occupied factories and struggle for workers’ control
Workers in the movement of occupied factories are still struggling
for nationalisation under workers’ control. On August 31, 2009, a
partial victory was won, when president Chávez publicly announced the
nationalisation of INAF, a factory located in Maracay, state of Aragua,
which produces mechanics for the train industry. Since the owner
abandoned the plant in 2006 the workers had continued production under
workers’ control and set up a factory committee to manage all
operations. From the very beginning they demanded nationalisation under
workers’ control. The declaration of Chávez meant that they now have
been provided with more raw material in order to step up production,
but apart from this no action has been taken and no decree has been
signed. The workers, all of them active PSUV members, are now
campaigning for the fulfilment of Chávez’s decision.
The nearby factory Gotcha, which produces t-shirts, is another
example of the militancy of Venezuelan workers. The female workers at
this factory have fought for several years for different labour demands
and since 2008 the factory has been occupied. They are continuing
production of t-shirts, which they are selling to national
distributors, but they are demanding nationalisation as the only way to
produce t-shirts that can benefit the wider population:
school-children, public employees, and so on.
The situation in industries that have been nationalised recently is
quite critical. This is especially the case in Guayana, where several
industries have been nationalised from 2008-2009. In SIDOR, workers
complain that sabotage by counter-revolutionary managers who are still
in place, is having a disastrous effect on production outcome. A fire
broke out in MITREX, one of the smelters of the plant, which caused a
sharp fall in production. Mismanagement and corruption seems to have
worsened this. Normally SIDOR produces 4.6 million tons of iron per
year, but in 2009 only 3 million has been produced. Workers organised
in the Revolutionary Front of Steelworkers are fighting for the
implementation of workers’ control as the only way to open the books,
elect managers and put the company on a sound basis. They have
denounced that the conscious sabotage on part of a sector of the
managers is aimed at lowering production and thus “proving” that the
nationalisation of the company in 2008 was a mistake. Similar
experiences are being made by the workers in Orinoco Iron and the other
four briquette factories that were nationalised by Chávez in May 2009.
The workers’ in the newly nationalised companies have thus learned
in a very short space of time, that nationalisation in and of itself
does not solve everything. Without the democratic control and
leadership of the workers, counter-revolutionary elements can
infiltrate and conspire to sabotage production. Mismanagement and
corruption can only be fought effectively if the workers use their
collective strength to impose their will and take over the very running
of the factories, linked to a socialist plan of development in the
whole of Venezuela.
Internal struggles in the Socialist Party
The First Extraordinary Congress of the PSUV was opened on November
21, at a huge rally in Caracas with Chávez giving a very left-wing
speech and calling for the creation of a new Fifth Socialist
International. The congress was originally planned to last only towards
the end of December, but president Chávez proposed to the delegates
that it should be prolonged until the month of April, so that the
documents can be discussed thoroughly. This proposal was approved by
the delegates.
From the very beginning, it was clear that this congress would be
characterised by a struggle between left and right. This was even seen
in the process of the election of delegates, when the Caracas PSUV rank
and file rioted against irregularities in the electoral committee that
was supposed to supervise the process. At a mass assembly towards the
end of October, the representatives of the PSUV branches voted to
recall this committee and replace it with other people that could be
entrusted with this task[xi].
Similar protests against irregularities happened in other places of the
country and in the campaign for the delegate elections of November 15
left-wing alliances were formed on a local and regional basis.
In the congress itself the revolutionary mood of a big sector of the
delegates has been felt. The top has tried to control this by
organising the workshop-discussion on a state by state level rather
than in mixed commissions where delegates from different states can
discuss together, regardless of their origins. In spite of this, they
have failed to prevent the organisation of the embryo of a left-wing
among the delegates. The prolongation of the congress has allowed the
delegates to travel back from congress sessions (which are held in
weekends) in between the week and discuss the proposals with the
representatives of each branch who in turn is responsible for
discussing with his or her branch.
Up until now, the congress has discussed themes such as the
political and economic situation in the country, the bank crisis, the
plans for saving energy and water, the creation of a national police
force and the conformation of the V International. In the last December
session of the congress, the delegates were presented with a new
proposal for a draft Programme and draft Declaration of Principles.
This ignored all the old documents of the 2008 Founding Congress, where
the left was clearly able to leave its mark on the Declaration of
Principles. The proposal to ignore the old documents was rejected by a
majority of the delegates. The discussion on these documents will now
take place in the weeks ahead and will surely be a point of polemic
between right and left.
The left must urgently organise around a concrete programme of clear
demands, including the expropriation of the commanding heights of the
economy. The potential is there for a big left tendency, which
organises tens and even hundreds of delegates in the congress and in
turn thousands of rank and file activists in their respective regions.
The PSUV has 2.5 million members who are registered in branches
(“patrullas”). The vast majority have joined to fight for a
revolutionary victory. It is the duty of all revolutionary socialists
to organise these workers and the poor, beginning with the vanguard, in
a Marxist tendency capable of winning the majority in the party and
fight against the bureaucratic right-wing. Upon this question will
depend the future of the Bolivarian revolution.
The tactics of Imperialism and the counter-revolution
When Chávez spoke to the UN General Assembly in New York last
October, he explained that there were two faces of Obama – the smiling
and diplomatic Obama on the one hand, and on the other hand the Obama
who accepts the legitimacy of the fraudulent Honduran elections and the
installation of seven military bases in Colombia. “Who are you, Obama?
Obama number one or Obama number two?” Chávez asked. There is indeed a
grain of truth in this statement. Obama is and remains the
representative of U.S. Imperialism and those who thought that his
foreign policies would differ radically from Bush’s must now be very
disappointed.
Imperialism is hell-bent on putting an end to the revolutionary
process that is taking place in Latin America. Venezuela is the
undisputed vanguard of this process and the internationalist policies
of Chávez and his continued calls for world revolution, even in its
limited and confused form, is a beacon of light to all anti-imperialist
fighters throughout the world. The Venezuelan revolution represents a
mortal danger for the ruling classes throughout the Americas. This
explains why U.S. Imperialism has taken new steps to control the
situation: the installation of seven military bases in Colombia, the
coup d’etat in Honduras and last but not at least the agreement for
setting up new military bases in Panama, which will effectively
surround Venezuela with U.S. Military presence.
The lackeys of imperialism, i.e. the Venezuelan
counter-revolutionary opposition, are trying to take advantage of each
and every mistake committed by the government. Unsolved problems such
as housing, the growth in crime-rate and recently the blackouts in the
energy system, leaving many houses without electricity for long hours,
are being used by the opposition to generate apathy among the masses
that support the revolution. The same is happening with issues such as
inflation and food scarcity. The fact that the opposition was able to
win the elections for mayors and governors in poor areas, such as
Petare in November 2008, is a clear warning sign. If the government
does not take decisive action to solve the needs of the masses,
demoralisation can spread and manifest itself in the form of abstention
in forthcoming elections.
The next electoral test will be the September parliamentary
elections. If no big change in the situation occurs, the opposition
stands a fair chance of winning a sizeable number of seats in the new
National Assembly. They will then proceed to use these MP’s to sabotage
the workings of the government, mobilise the middle class and provoke
unrest wherever possible. Their ultimate goal is to destabilise the
country and create a situation where they can get rid of Chávez, be it
by parliamentary or extra-parliamentary means.
The creation of action committees in the factories, poor
neighbourhoods, schools and universities is on the order of the day.
Their tasks would be to take up the great tradition of dual power from
2002, link up on a local, regional and national level, with elected
representatives subject to the right of recall, and make concrete plans
to defeat the counter-revolution in all areas of society. In many
places such embryos of dual power will stem from the PSUV branches
and/or the communal councils.
If the counter-revolutionaries sabotage, say food production, the
UNT and local PSUV branches should show the way forward by occupying
the plants concerned and running them under workers’ and peoples’
control. An element of this has already been present with the constant
controls of INDEPABIS (the price and quality control commission, led by
Eduardo Samán), which in many cases has encouraged workers to take over
the processing plants and demand expropriation. The recent
nationalisation of the Éxito super market chain found the whole-hearted
support of the vast majority of the workers. This example must be
followed in every corner of Venezuelan society.
The strengthening of the Marxist tendency inside the ranks of the
PSUV, the PSUV Youth and the UNT would be a powerful tool in advancing
this process and defeating the counter-revolution once and for all by
destroying its economic power and thus completing the Venezuelan
Socialist Revolution.
Caracas, January 23, 2010
[i] El Mundo, 12 de enero, 2010, pag. 3
[ii] Últimas Noticias, 8 de enero, 2010, pag. 14
[iii] Venezuelanalysis.com, December 31, 2009
[iv] Correo de Orinoco, 18 de enero, 2010, pag. 2
[v] Reporte diario de la economía, 13 de enero, 2010, pag. 11
[vi] Últimas Noticias, 18 de diciembre, 2009, pag. 19
[vii] El Universal, 9 de enero de 2010
[viii] Venezuelanalysis.com, December 229 2009
[ix] Ibid.
[x] Venezuelanalysis.com, December 31, 2009
[xi] Aporrea.org, 24 de octubre de 2009
