Latin America is a huge area of the world, rich in human and material resources and yet a large part of its peoples live in poverty. Most of the countries that make it up speak a common language and have a common history. Simon Bolivar raised the idea of uniting all these countries to fight the imperialists. In today’s context this idea translates into the Socialist United States of Latin America – a socialist federation.

We are publishing the draft perspectives document of the Venezuelan Marxists. For now it is only available in Spanish, but shortly we plan to have it up in English. The document provides a detailed analysis of the process in Venezuela and highlights the fact that a growing number of activists feel that the revolution must be completed now. The Opposition is weak and divided and time must not be lost. But within the Bolivarian movement there are leaders and bureaucrats who are trying to hold the masses back.

On Wednesday January 25, while the attention of most people was on the events of the World Social Forum in Caracas, an important meeting took place in the industrialized Guayana-region. The meeting, which was held in the meeting hall of Venalum, attracted more than 200 people, mainly workers and trade union activists from the basic industries in Guayana.

ALCASA is an aluminium plant in Ciudad Bolivar in Venezuela. It is being run under cogestion, formally speaking workers’ participation. But when you take a closer look what we see is that in practice the workforce is moving more and more towards genuine workers’ control. Managers are elected and do not get higher wages than those they had before becoming managers, and so on. It confirms that the Venezuelan workers are in the vanguard of the world revolution.

Prior to the Venezuelan elections there were clear indications that elements within the oligarchy were planning a coup or even possible assassination of Chavez. The opposition parties boycotted the elections as part of this plan to destabilise the country. They failed miserably. The Bolivarian parties have now total control of the National Assembly. They could mobilise the masses while at the same setting in motion all the legal procedures to abolish capitalism once and for all. But will they do this? To vacillate now, to attempt a compromise, would mean giving the opposition a dangerous advantage.

There are many bourgeois historians who believe that history is made by “Great Men and Women”, kings and queens, statesmen and politicians. It is this unscientific approach that Marxism is opposed to. However, Marxists do not deny the role of individuals in history. History is made by people. But we need to uncover the dialectical relationship between the individual (the subjective) and the great forces (objective) that govern the movement of society and see this role in its historical context.

“This is an historical gathering. For the first time workers from occupied factories from across the continent are meeting together” (Serge Goulart, United Workers’ Council of Brazilian group of occupied factories)

“We have shown how the workers can run the companies, and this means we can run society as well” (Ricardo Moreira, PIT-CNT, Uruguay)

Workers' representatives and trade union activists from around the country met in Caracas on October 21-22, in the National Gathering of Workers towards the Recovery of Companies. The main aim of this meeting, called by Venezuela’s National Workers’ Union (UNT), was to bring together workers involved in experiences of factory occupations and different forms of workers’ management.

This book, originally published in May 2005, is a collection of articles written by Alan Woods and covers the momentous events of the Bolivarian revolution from the April 2002 coup which was defeated by the masses, up until 2005 when president Chavez declared that the aims of the Venezuelan revolution could only be achieved by abolishing capitalism. More than a decade has passed since the publication of the book and the warnings contained within it have come true: the failure to move towards socialism is at the bottom of the crisis facing the Bolivarian revolution today.

In his weekly Alo Presidente TV programme, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced that some 136 closed factories are being surveyed with the aim of expropriating them. Within the workers’ movement this has been enthusiastically received. The main discussion now is what is meant by socialism, how to apply “co-management” and what the role of the workers is in the revolutionary process and in the economy.

Alan Woods provides some very interesting insights into the processes taking place within the Venezuelan working class, the discussions on what kind of workers’ control is needed, on what is the next step facing the Revolution, and so on. His notes from his trip to Venezuela in April reveal a growing socialist consciousness among the Venezuelan masses. See also pictures from the visit.

It has now been two weeks since I landed in Caracas, the capital of insurgent Venezuela. The maelstrom of events that I have witnessed, both big and small, typical of a revolutionary process, are really fascinating. It is not something you only see in the streets, read in the newspapers, or see on the walls of the city, but something you feel. The whole atmosphere in the city is impregnated with this spirit. The revolutionary spirit, a spirit that knows all kinds of ups and downs, is still intact but seems to be of a different nature than a few years ago. The revolutionary movement was then in its infancy, and went hand in hand with limitless euphoria. Today this revolutionary fervour

“Socialism advances, capitalism retreats!” “Workers’ councils now!”, “For a decent wage!”, “Oil workers demand a decent contract!”, “Co-management is revolution”. These were some of the slogans which show the class struggle, militant and revolutionary mood of the enormous workers’ demonstration on May Day in Caracas. Hundreds of thousands of workers from all over the country assembled in the Avenida Nueva Granada, where La Bandera coach station is situated, to march to Avenida Urdaneta. This May Day celebration was marked by an upbeat mood in the working class, with the recent victories at Venepal (now Invepal), CNV (now Inveval), Arichuna, and the growing mobilisation in companies such

Without any doubt, today will be an unforgettable day for the brand-new INVEVAL (ex-CNV) workers. It was a day that started very early when the workers and their guests gathered at the factory awaiting the buses which would take us to the Miraflores Palace. As we waited we joked and drank coffee.

This letter which was sent to us describes a pre-conflict situation in the University Fermin Toro. The workers are preparing to give a firm and final response to the employers' abuses.