Luis Primo is a leading member of the UNT (Caracas-Miranda) and the Corriente Marxista Revolutionaria. He was one of the first 3,000 PSUV promoters who, on March 24, were sworn in before President Chávez in the Theatre Teresa Carreño to launch the building of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). El Militante briefly interviewed Luis on the tasks that the working class and, in particular, the UNT must take on in relation to the occupation and expropriation of companies, the development of workers' councils, and the construction of the PSUV.
El Militante: One of your tasks is the building of the PSUV Socialist Battalions of in the factories. As a UNT leader, how do you see the birth of the PSUV and what is the role of the working class in its development?
Luis Primo: What President Chávez has said in relation to the PSUV and the working class; that it must put itself at the forefront of the revolutionary process and that the United Socialist Party of Venezuela has a fundamental role to play in this historical moment. Capitalism is in crisis throughout the world, but it is not going to fall on its own accord. A revolutionary process is needed throughout the world. The unity of the world working class in this struggle for socialism is also required. The revolutionary process at this moment is centred in Latin America and, concretely, in Venezuela. The Venezuela working class has the responsibility - you could say - of attaining political unity to fully develop the consciousness of the working class and group the whole class around the task of expropriating the capitalists and taking control of the State. This is the fundamental task that the working class faces at this moment, along with the creation of the PSUV.
We think the orientation and decisions of some union leaders have been mistakes at this moment when the central task of the working class should be to fight to build a revolutionary state and to seize power. To only focus on the most immediate demands, like saying that if the government offers a 700,000 Bs minimum wage we should ask for 1,400,000,for instance, or identifying the first objective of the Venezuelan union movement as the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements or a general rise in wages.
It is not about abandoning the work place demands, which are just and necessary. We are not going to forget about collective bargaining, which has to be developed, but obviously, this collective bargaining, the increase in wages, etc. has to be subordinated to the great political revolution. In Latin America, in the world and, especially, in Venezuela we are living in a revolutionary period, the moment to build socialism; a moment to elevate the workers' revolutionary consciousness to heights that would allow the completion of the revolution and that the working class constitutes itself as the power, building a new revolutionary State to expropriate the capitalists. If the working class puts itself at the forefront of the Venezuelan revolution and carries out these tasks, this will encourage the revolutionary mobilisation in the face of the world crisis of capitalism.
El Militante: You were one of the few UNT leaders that in 2002-2003, right from the beginning, paid attention to the occupation of factories and companies and the you were one of the first to elaborate concrete proposals and defend the nationalisation under workers' control and the development of the workers' councils. How do you see this at this moment?
Luis Primo: The Revolutionary Front of Occupied Factories (FRETECO) is a plank that, oriented to the rest of the workers organised in the UNT, can play a decisive role in elevating the consciousness of the workers, a fundamental tool in the forging of workers' unity and the deepening of the revolution. FRETECO is doing a great job, particularly in two key factories at this moment: INVEVAL and Sanitarios Maracay. These are companies in which an extremely important experience concerning workers' control and management is being carried out.
The task of the UNT at this moment is precisely to put forward a programme of struggle for the workers. A very important part of this must be the organisation and occupation of companies and, at the same time, to push forward the creation of workers' councils. This will serve to elevate the consciousness of the workers and allow for the workers' management of the companies taken from the capitalists. Right now we think it is necessary to start, particularly in the food industry, developing factory committees so that the workers can exercise their control over finances, production, etc. That is the only way to fight against hording and scarcity of food stuffs provoked by sabotage.