After yesterday’s letter from the Venezulean Ambassador, Alan Woods replies by stressing the contribution of the many comrades who have worked for several years to build up the Hands Off Venezuela within the British and international labour movement.
To Alfredo Toro Hardy,
Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic in the UK.
Dear Ambassador,
Many thanks for your letter, which I received yesterday. Please convey my best wishes to President Chavez and my gratitude for his support. This message will undoubtedly encourage the supporters of the Hands off Venezuela Campaign and everybody who is fighting to support the Venezuelan Revolution against the monstrous aggression of US and world imperialism.
However, I consider that the President’s thanks should not be taken as a personal recognition of myself, or any other individual. I believe it is the elementary duty of every member of the international labour movement to do everything in their power to defend the Venezuelan Revolution and to defeat the plans of imperialism to isolate and undermine it. If I have been able to play a modest role in the necessary work of international solidarity, I consider that I have fulfilled my duty.
The passing of Resolution 79 at the TUC congress was achieved by the tireless work of many supporters of Hands off Venezuela over the last months and years. In the past few months, as you know, we have intervened with resolutions and meetings in practically every trade union congress in Britain, consistently raising the question of Venezuela, with excellent results. The vote at the TUC was the culmination of this work.
There are far too many people to mention individually. But I cannot fail to mention the important part played by outstanding trade union leaders like Jeremy Dear (NUJ) and NATFHE President John Wilkin, who presented Motion 79 at the TUC congress. Both unions have consistently supported HOV for a long time.
I must also mention the vital role played by John MacDonnell MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP, the leading figures in the left wing Labour Representation Committee, both of whom have shown themselves to be dedicated supporters of the Venezuelan Revolution and have given tremendous support to HOV.
My own contribution has been mainly in the field of international contacts. As you know, this year alone, I have visited Venezuela twice and maintained regular contacts with the revolutionary forces, and in particular with the leaders of the main trade union federation, the UNT. But all the credit for organizing the campaign’s work in Britain must go to the very able team of comrades organized by Jorge Martin and Rob Sewell, who have worked tirelessly for the cause. I could mention many others, but they are too numerous.
Finally, I cannot fail to mention my friend and comrade Orlando Chirino, a veteran of the Venezuelan workers movement and in my opinion the most outstanding trade union leader in Venezuela today, who came to the TUC at the invitation of the Hands off Venezuela campaign, defying a ferocious behind-the-scenes operation designed to prevent him from coming to the congress at all costs.
The Hands off Venezuela campaign was established almost three years ago, in response to the bosses’ lockout, when the counter-revolutionary oligarchy was preparing to overthrow the elected government of Hugo Chavez, which they had failed to do in the April 2002 coup.
At that time, HOV was only a small group of people in London. The great majority of the Left was not yet aware of what was really happening in Venezuela. We had very little support and very sparse resources. On the other hand, the reactionary forces of imperialism and the oligarchy had at their disposal colossal resources, including the might of the mass media.
At the present time, I am happy to say, the situation has varied substantially. More and more people are becoming aware of the real situation in Venezuela. The campaign against imperialist interference and bullying in Venezuela is gathering strength. And Hands off Venezuela has grown from very modest beginnings to a powerful campaign that is now active in more than 30 countries in five continents.
The work of HOV in Britain has put a lot of time and effort into the Labour and trade union movement because we have always believed that the international workers’ movement is the natural ally of the Bolivarian Revolution, and its best defence against imperialist aggression.
Our work has been constantly opposed, not only by the imperialists, but by the right wing of the movement, which does not want to have anything to do with socialism or revolutionary tendencies anywhere in the world. Backed by the state and the powerful mass media, they have been supporting the reactionary CTV “trade union” and doing their utmost to prevent the truth about the Bolivarian Revolution being known.
These right wing elements have attempted by every coneivable means to block the advance of HOV and to split the solidarity movement. In order to sow confusion, they have organized a campaign of disinformation that tries to present HOV as an “ultra-left” and “sectarian” campaign. This is entirely false.
Although the original initiative for setting up the HOV campaign came from the Marxists like myself, I should like to make it clear to you that, as a solidarity campaign, it is open to any individual or organization that is prepared to defend the Bolivarian Revolution and fight against imperialism.
As a Marxist, I have never concealed my own political views and have always advocated the position that the Bolivarian Revolution can only achieve final victory through workers’ power and socialism. That is my firm conviction, which I will always defend with all the energy I can summon.
But HOV is a broad solidarity campaign, in which people of different political persuasions participate freely and defend their views with equal conviction. All are welcome to participate – Marxists and Social Democrats, atheists and Christians, anarchists and flat-earthists. There is only one condition: that we must combine in action to defend the Venezuelan Revolution.
Socialism is democratic or it is nothing. A passionate debate on socialism and the future of the Bolivarian Revolution is taking place in Venezuela. That is very positive, and we are participating in this debate. The same debate will necessarily be reproduced in the international solidarity movement. That is a healthy development. Only reactionaries and bureaucrats fear such debate. Only through a free and democratic debate on policies and ideas can the workers’ movement advance and raise itself to the level of the tasks posed by history.
As time goes on, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the attitude of various tendencies to the Bolivarian Revolution is becoming the touchstone that determines the nature of every tendency in the world labour movement. The right wing reactionary forces and the bureaucracy are naturally hostile to it. The left wing and the working class rank and file are instinctively sympathetic.
The passing of a resolution unanimously by the TUC in support of Venezuela and opposing imperialism represents, as you say, a step forward of great significance in the struggle against the media misinformation campaign regarding Venezuela and the actions of its government. It represents a victory for the truth against the avalanche of lies, distortions and misinformation, which has been orchestrated in Washington, but which has been replicated by the reactionary forces in London and every other capital city in Europe. But it is also something more than this. It is a great victory for the Left in Britain and a defeat for the reactionary forces.
Therefore, Mr. Ambassador, in defending the Bolivarian Revolution, we are defending our own class interests. In fighting imperialism’s aggressive actions against Venezuela, we are also fighting imperialism and reaction everywhere else in the world. And in fighting those forces within the labour movement that are hostile to Venezuela and, either openly or secretly, support US imperialism, we are fighting to transform it from top to bottom and to return it to the path of socialism.
When President Chavez calls for world socialism as the only alternative to the nightmare of capitalist barbarism, he is expressing the fervent wishes of millions of working people, not only in Venezuela, but in Britain and in every other country in the world. This is a message that is far too important to be confined to the frontiers of any state. It is a message that corresponds to the actual needs of the world in which we live. It is a call to action that echoes through every continent and country.
John Wilkin said at the TUC “We need a bit of Bolivarianism in Britain”. But that is only another way of saying: the British Labour movement must return to its original aims. It must break with Blairism, capitalism and imperialism. It must reject privatisation and so-called market reforms and inscribe on its banner the socialist transformation of society.
Therefore, in expressing our solidarity with the Venezuelan Revolution, we are defending our own class interests. We are advancing the fight for socialism in Britain and internationally. We do not see these things as separate aims, but as one single, indissoluble struggle that is taking place on a world scale.
I thank you again for your kind interest in our work and wish you every success in your efforts to defend the Bolivarian Revolution.
Yours fraternally,
Alan Woods
London, 19 September 2005.