Daily Times

The elections being held
today, October 7, 2012 in Venezuela are of immense historical significance. The results of this election will have a crucial impact not just in Venezuela but far beyond its frontiers on the consciousness of the masses and the dynamics of the class struggle. There has been an enormous consternation and interest in the outcome of these polls by the strategists of capital and the oppressed youth and workers the world over. The scathing attacks on Hugo Chavez by capitalist media are not without reason. They are terrified at the prospects of a Bolivarian victory. The rhetorical attacks on Iran, North Korea, and Islamic fundamentalism, etc, are a different ball game. In Venezuela, the challenge of a class war poses a real challenge to US imperialist hegemony.

The imperialists and the Venezuelan oligarchy are fervently campaigning for their forged joint opposition’s presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski to win by hook or by crook. Electoral sabotage is one option. They want to put the clock back and return to the orgy of pillaging the oil wealth and resources of Venezuela. Their malicious intentions were pertinently blurted out by Robert Zoellick, the outgoing president of the World Bank in June this year: “Chavez’s days are numbered. A Capriles victory was an opportunity to make the Western Hemisphere the first democratic hemisphere.” Chavez, whom they malign as a despotic autocrat, has won eight elections and referendums during his 14-year term, endorsed even by the so-called ‘neutral’ observers, including the Jimmy Carter Foundation.

But what these imperialist strategists mean by democracy is the freedom of free market enterprises and an inexorable access for corporate capital to unhindered exploitation and extorting colossal rates of profit. In the guise of being for an ‘apolitical’ and ‘mixed’ economy, Capriles wants to impose the doctrine of trickledown economics and free private enterprise. The rightwing opposition is being heavily financed by the big oil conglomerates craving Venezuela’s huge oil reserves. Capriles led an attack on the Cuban embassy during the coup that toppled Chavez in 2002, supported by this ‘democratic’ opposition. Capriles has announced a foreign policy of appeasement of imperialism, dismantling state control of oil reserves and strained relations with the Left governments in Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other countries, being elected in the wake of a resurgent class struggle in South America. But the masses can see the ugly physiognomy of the oligarchy that lies concealed behind the smiling mask.

Chavez was a colonel in the military commandos in the 1980s. He took part in a military operation against a guerrilla campaign in the mountains launched by the communist party at the time. One of leaders of the communist fighters was Comrade Maria Leon, who later became a senior minister in the Chavez government in the previous decade. This was a unique rendezvous. When Chavez was elected in 1998, he was not a socialist but a revolutionary democrat, but when he tried to carry out the tasks of the bourgeois revolution, he was confronted by belligerent hostility from the capitalist oligarchy and imperialism. Through experience, he came to the conclusion that the tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution cannot be accomplished within the confines of capitalism itself. That is what led him to raise the slogan of 21st century socialism and took measures beyond capitalist limits. It ultimately led to the coup of 2002 covertly instigated by US imperialism. Every dirty tactic under the sun has been used to destabilise his government or make it difficult for him to govern, as stated by the former US State department chief, Lawrence Eagleburger. Chavez’s support amongst the vast majority of the lower ranks of the army and the mobilisation of a million people in Caracas defeated the coup and within 36 hours, he was back in power in the Miraflores Palace. From then onwards he embarked upon radical reforms including nationalising the oil industry and large chunks of the economy. His policies have resulted in the reduction of poverty by 21 percent from 1999 to 2010. Illiteracy was abolished. There was full and free healthcare for the poor. More than 250,000 housing units have been built for the homeless. Weekly working hours have been reduced from 44 to 40 hours. Pre- and post-natal leave for women has been extended to 26 weeks. Gender equality has been the hallmark of the revolutionary process.

But capitalism has not been abolished and the oligarchy is sabotaging the economy. Electricity outages and increasing crime rates show that an appropriate infrastructure cannot be build under state capitalism. Chavez was not a trained cadre of a Marxist-Leninist party. But the necessity of a party led him to launch the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). However, this was an amalgamation of diverse left groupings with little ideological and organisational cohesion. This has led to the formation of the right wing of the PSUV, mainly comprising reformists and opportunist elements. They do not believe in revolutionary socialism and are enjoying the perks of being in power. Sections of this bureaucracy even sabotage the implementation of radical reforms that Chavez often announces. The revolution has sustained for almost a decade but is far from complete.

The masses in Venezuela, in spite of certain exhaustion, have rallied around Chavez against sabotage by imperialism and counter-revolution. They fight to defend the gains of the revolution. Once again, they are faced with the threat of a counter-revolution. A rightwing pollster firm Datanalsis places Hugo Chavez’s support at 43.6 percent ahead of Capriles’s 27.7 percent, if a victorious Chavez plans to further “deepen socialism”. He wants to set up a system of communes or socialist local entities across the country as a way of devolving power to the people. According to an analyst quoted in The Economist, “It is the Leninist idea of the soviets.” The article continues, “And what if Chavez loses? He said earlier this month that a Capriles victory would lead to a “profound destabilisation of Venezuela, which might even cause ‘civil war’. The opposition worries that the army might back the president if he decided not to recognise defeat.” One of Chavez’s strengths is his strong support within the armed forces that are “wedded to Mr Chavez’s socialist project”. After his victory, aggression from the imperialists and oligarchy will only push him to complete the socialist revolution. The vividly rising forces of Marxism in the PSUV will play a decisive role in such a consequential transformation.

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