On April 3, Chávez announced the
nationalisation of the cement industry. This measure, which
accompanies the nationalisation of a dairy plant in the Andean region
and now the nationalisation of SIDOR, is clearly to be welcomed by
revolutionaries and socialists. It will encourage the workers in
other companies to struggle; it will make them more confident in
raising their demands for nationalisation.
After the cement industry, now Chavez has nationalised SIDOR
with its 15,000 workforce. This has come about thanks to the pressure of the
SIDOR workers who were able to contact Chavez directly. The decision is a
correct one. It must now be followed by a general nationalisation of the
commanding heights of the Venezuelan economy and finally complete the
revolution.
Almost overnight, the media, corporate CEOs and government officials
have gone from proclaiming that the U.S. would somehow avoid an
economic slump, to all but recognizing that the country has probably
already entered a recession. They are simply acknowledging what
millions of workers have known for months and even years: the economy
is in trouble, and working people and the poor are being hit hard.