Daily Times

The resounding victory of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (USPV) in last Sunday’s local elections yet again demonstrated the astonishing resilience of the workers and youth of Venezuela and their support for the ongoing revolutionary process. It also shows the pent up revolutionary zeal of the masses that are still fighting against all the odds so that the revolutionary movement keeps going strong since Chavez started the process in 2002. The socialists won more than 54 percent of the vote against 43 percent for the right wing opposition, and won office in 196 municipalities against the opposition’s 53. The advantage of the Bolivarian revolution over the opposition significantly increased, from only 1.49 percentage points in the April 14 presidential election to 6.52 now. As for the number of mayors, with most results already in, the PSUV and allies elected 234, for the opposition’s 67. The turnout was 58.92 percent, much higher than in most European countries for equivalent elections.

The corporate international media maintained a criminal silence on these results and did its utmost to make this victory as elusive as possible. However, in fact these results were a fitting response to the vitriolic propaganda of the bourgeois media against the revolutionary measures that have been taken in this important Latin American country. An AFP report said the following, “The poll seen as a referendum on Maduro confirmed the socialists as the country’s top political force of the land.” At an outdoors post-election rally President Nicolas Maduro said, “The Venezuelan people have told the world that (Chavez’s) Bolivarian Revolution continues with even more force.” He also pledged to intensify the offensive against the “economic war”, the campaign of hoarding, speculation and sabotage of the economy launched by the “parasitic bourgeoisie” and bureaucratic corruption.

The most significant aspect of this victory is that inspite of the pernicious propaganda against socialism and the obscene slanders and lies spread against Marxism and communism, the revolutionary fervour that began with the beginning of the new millennium that Chavez termed as ‘21st century socialism’ is still gaining momentum. The clichés of “socialism and communism are finished and Marxism is dead” are being defied and admonished in the cities and villages of Venezuela and elsewhere in Latin America. This is despite the fact that capitalism has not been completely overthrown and a socialist transformation not completed. This is a rebuke to all those ex-leftists that had capitulated to capitalism in the name of ‘civil society’, ‘reconciliation’, ‘pragmatism’, etc. and had become overt and covert cohorts of imperialism.

At a time when Venezuela has been experiencing record 54 percent inflation, a pollster Luis Vicente told the AFP, “A crazy paradox occurs: the one who is benefiting from the crisis is Maduro.” Inflation and scarcity of basic products were the main factors eating away at the social base of support for the Bolivarian revolution. There is a deliberate campaign of politically motivated sabotage of the economy on the part of the ruling class and imperialism. This is the same strategy used against the Allende government in Chile when US president Nixon ordered Kissinger to “make the economy scream”.

On the other hand, there is the rebellion of the productive forces against the regulations introduced by the Bolivarian revolution since 2003 to defend access to basic food products for working people (through price controls) and prevent the flight of capital (through foreign exchange controls). The last 10 years have proved that the capitalist economy cannot be regulated. The capitalists have found many ways of going around these controls, legally and illegally.

However, train lines, roads, bridges, underground systems and public transportation have been built. In the past, the ruling class was appropriating the oil revenue. Now, the same money is being used for public works and social programmes. Not only is the ruling class extremely unhappy about this state of affairs but also since this investment is not matched by increased production, it leads to inflation.

The fact is that the Bolivarian revolution has emboldened the workers, led them to occupy factories, demand workers’ control and, in many cases, their claims have forced the government to back them. This is not a ‘business-friendly’ environment. How are capitalists to invest if they do not know whether tomorrow workers will demand higher wages and better conditions, and in the course of the struggle set up a socialist workers’ council and then occupy the premises? The bosses cannot even trust the government and the state to be fully on their side in such a conflict!

This economic war is not new. It can be traced back to 2001. To counter Chavez’s radical measures, the Venezuelan ruling class and its masters in Washington began a campaign to overthrow Chavez and destroy the Bolivarian revolution. The sabotage continues, and has adopted different forms over the years: open military coup, media lies and distortions, assassination attempts, diplomatic bullying, imperialist aggression and disruption of the economy, all to wrest control of the state in order to make profits and push the masses out of the political arena. Back in September, the government was against the ropes and then it changed direction in November by scrapping plans to liberalise foreign exchange. The authorities seized warehouses full of goods and forced businesses to sell them at ‘fair prices’. Dozens of businessmen and capitalists were arrested in the process.

The government measures, introduced with widespread publicity, had a two-fold impact. On the one hand, they managed to make products available to people that were previously scarce or too expensive. On the other hand, they rekindled the revolutionary spirit of the rank and file. Clearly, it was this offensive that allowed the Bolivarian movement not only to win these elections but also even to increase its lead over the opposition.

The writing is on the wall. Capitalism cannot be regulated. The oligarchy will not stop conspiring against the revolution. In order to prevent further dislocation and sabotage of the economy, the means of production, the banks and the big landed states should be expropriated and run under workers’ control so that a democratic, planned economy can be established. The bourgeoisie and imperialism will ferociously resist this but, with the widest mobilisation of the working classes led by Marxist leadership, the revolution can be completed. A thorough purge of right wing, corrupt and infiltrated elements within the Bolivarian movement is vital. A socialist victory completed will herald a surge of similar and new movements across Latin America and far beyond. This will illuminate a way forward and be a beacon of hope for the toilers of the world against the tyranny and drudgery of capitalism and imperialist hegemony.

The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and international secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com