On Saturday August 20 in the Social Club of the Venezuelan Social Services Insurance Institute (IVSS) the Marxist Revolutionary Current (CMR) organized a public meeting attended by over 125 people. The meeting was partly to celebrate the victory of the workers of the Social Security in Barquisimeto who, after three years of hard struggle, have succeeded in getting 9 out of 14 sacked workers reinstated. The struggle for the readmission of the remaining workers continues. But it was also to discuss the nature, problems and perspectives of the Bolivarian Revolution.
The main speakers were Ulises Suarez, president of the Union of Social Security Workers of Lara State, Osmary Escalona, a member of the same union and one of the sacked workers who has been readmitted, and Alan Woods, editor of Marxist.com. In his opening speech, Ulises Suarez said:
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Ulises Saurez |
“The bosses tried everything to break the spirit of the workers, but they failed. The working class will never give up a struggle until all its demands are met. The five remaining comrades will be readmitted (applause). The trade unions must be strengthened. We must increase the participation of the workers. The hospital directors must be elected by the workers.
“The Revolution must be in the hands of the workers, not bureaucrats installed in cozy offices and isolated from the realities of the life of the workers.”
Comrade Ulises went on to expose the scandal of corruption in the health service and the colossal misuse of funds. Hundreds of millions of bolivars have disappeared and nobody knows where they are: “The workers must decide when and how the Social Services budget is spent. The whole way in which the Social Services are financed must be changed.
“One way or another we must take the power into our hands. Without the workers nothing can work. We are the real motor force of production. We are the ones who run the schools, hospitals, factories and everything else. Therefore the participation of the workers is fundamental for the Revolution.”
In a militant but very coherent speech, Osmary Escalona, a young woman who is also a member of the Revolutionary Current, said:
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Osmary Escalona |
“We have learned many lessons from this struggle. Comrade Ulises said that we have won readmission. That is not the case. We have only won part of what we were demanding. But we have made big gains in our class consciousness. We have united the workers. We have got the support of our fellow workers in other workplaces. And this is vital, comrades, because any struggle that is isolated is doomed to defeat.
“We have also got international support. We were backed by the International Marxist Tendency. Comrade Alan Woods, who is with us today, wrote a letter from London. We also got the support of El Topo Obrero and the Revolutionary Marxist Current. All this made it possible for us to win.
“This is the only way to support the revolutionary process in Venezuela: by fighting for our demands and mobilizing the rank and file. We succeeded in getting the Social Services director removed (applause). But this is not enough. The workers must have the right to elect their management in an open assembly. We cannot permit a situation where management tramples our rights underfoot.
“Comrades, in a capitalist state all our efforts to win improvements will never be enough. We need a fundamental change in society. We workers must prepare ourselves by reading and discussing to give a lead to the masses and fight for a workers’ government where all the enterprises are in the hands of the workers.”
After this there was a presentation ceremony in which plaques and certificates were given to the comrades who had contributed to the success of the struggle. Among those given a plaque was comrade Josefina Mujica, a veteran leader of the local CMR and one of the founders of the newspaper El Topo Obrero. The message on the plaque read:
“In recognition of the revolutionary leader Josefina Mujica, member of the CMR and El Topo Obrero, for her valuable contribution with political orientation and militant presence which contributed to the victory and the readmissions, which is a victory of the working class as a whole. Hasta la Victoria Siempre!”
The editor of Marxist.com was given a certificate in recognition of his solidarity.
After this short but inspiring proletarian ceremony, Alan Woods delivered the lecture on “Socialism, Bolivarianism, and the way forward for the Venezuelan Revolution.” Following the lines of his earlier speeches in the meetings in Caracas, Alan stressed that the Revolution had reached an important turning point. The masses were pressing forward to socialism, but the whole process was being threatened by bureaucracy and reformist ideology.
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“I am tired of hearing people saying that the masses do not have a sufficient level of consciousness to carry out the socialist revolution,” he said. “Anybody who studies the history of the Bolivarian Revolution knows that this is false. The masses saved the Revolution on three separate occasions. Where is this low level of consciousness? On the contrary, the masses have shown a very great level of revolutionary maturity. It reminds me of the proletariat of Barcelona in 1936.
“The main threat to the Revolution does not come from outside but from within. It is absolutely necessary to carry out a struggle to clear out the bureaucrats and careerists. The working class must take control of the Revolution. It is the only way forward. (applause)”
Alan went on to criticize those who argued that “the time was not ripe” for socialism: “For these people the time will never be right. They remind me of Alice in Wonderland, who said: ´The rule is: jam tomorrow, jam yesterday, but never jam today. For the Bolivarian bureaucrat the rule is: socialism tomorrow, socialism yesterday, but never socialism today. (laughter)
“Can the workers run the industries? The bureaucrats say no. But the truth is that the people best equipped to run the factories are those workers who have worked in them for ten, fifteen or twenty years, who know every machine, every screw. What must be done is to nationalize the land, the banks and all the big industries under workers’ control and management. Then we can plan the productive forces in the interests of the overwhelming majority, not for the profits of a handful of wealthy parasites. That is the real basis of socialism, and anything else is just hot air. (applause)”
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Finally, Alan appealed to the vision of Simon Bolivar, for the unification of Latin America. “This marvelous continent of yours possesses all the necessary potential to become a paradise on this earth: oil, gas, copper and many other minerals, fertile land, forests, rivers and a vast supply of human labour. Yet 200 years after Bolivar, the landlords and capitalists have divided the living body of Latin America and turned an earthly paradise into a living hell for millions of men, women and children.
“The record speaks for itself. Capitalism has betrayed the vision of Bolivar. It has balkanized Latin America and placed it at the mercy of US imperialism. It is necessary to draw the conclusions. The idea of Bolivar can never be realized under capitalism. Therefore we must introduce one small amendment into Bolivar’s perspective; the unification of Latin America can only be carried out by the working class. The working class must take power, overthrow the oligarchies and set up a socialist federation of Latin America.”
Comrade Alan´s speech was greeted by a standing ovation.
Sunday, August 21
On Sunday morning at eight o’clock, Alan Woods appeared as the guest of one of the most popular morning television shows, Victoria Popular (People’s Victory), hosted by the Member of the Regional Parliament, Victor Martinez. It is the state channel with the biggest audience in the west central region of Venezuela and is seen in four states – Lara, Portuguesa, Yaracuy and Falcon.
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Television Interview |
The programme lasted 45 minutes and the editor of Marxist.com spoke for most of the time. Victor Martinez asked Alan what he thought of the perspectives and problems of the Bolivarian Revolution. Alan answered in much the same terms that he had used in the meeting on Saturday. He emphasized the threat posed by bureaucracy:
“There are plenty of people who wear the red shirt of the Revolution but who are not revolutionaries. Bureaucracy is a cancer that corrodes the entrails of the Revolution and destroys it from the inside. The counterrevolution, backed by imperialism, has tried on at least three occasions to defeat the Revolution by a direct assault and has been defeated by the masses. Now it resorts to other tactics, infiltration and subversion. The Revolution cannot succeed unless it wages war against the internal enemy, which is a lot more dangerous than any external threat.”
Alan pointed out that the Venezuelan capitalists were sabotaging the economy, closing factories “as if they were matchboxes” and throwing workers onto the street: “Only yesterday here in Barquisimeto the Paramalat factory that produces dairy products and is owned by an Italian company closed its doors leaving 80 workers on the street. President Chavez has stated that any factory that closes will be expropriated under workers’ management. That is very good. But why do we only nationalize the factories that make a loss? Why not nationalize the land, the banks and the big companies? Unless the economic power of the oligarchy is broken, we cannot say that the Revolution has been completed. There will always be the danger of counterrevolution.”
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Alan Woods on television |
Victor Martinez, who has been active in left wing politics for more than thirty years, is very popular with the people. There were many messages over the phone pleading with him to stand for the office of governor and also thanking Alan Woods for his remarks. Victor Martinez also expressed his thanks to the editor of Marxist.com and showed his interest by attending the public meeting called by the CMR in which Alan spoke on the French Revolution.
The discussion on the French Revolution commenced soon after this interview, at ten o’clock. 55 people attended, a good mixture of workers and students, to hear Alan Woods give a very interesting lecture in which he drew parallels between the processes of the Bolivarian Revolution and the Great French Revolution of 1789-93.
Alan first pointed out the fundamental difference: the French Revolution was a bourgeois democratic revolution, whereas the Venezuelan Revolution, starting out as a bourgeois democratic revolution, now necessarily posed the question of workers’ power and socialism. Alan explained that it was incorrect to say that the Bolivarian Revolution was a unique event without any historical precedent. After listening to his speech, which traced the whole development of the French Revolution, the audience had to agree with him.
There were many striking parallels between these two revolutions, above all the movement of the masses, which entirely determined the development of the French Revolution. The same is true of the Venezuelan Revolution. Alan said that in a way the parallel with the French Revolution was more exact than Russia in 1917 because in France the parliamentary struggle played a prominent role, whereas in Russia in 1917 it played no role at all.
“As long as the masses took the lead, the pendulum of revolution swung constantly to the left,” Alan said. “This was marked by the successive rise and fall of individual leaders, parties and groups. But the decisive role was always the intervention of the masses in Paris. They repeatedly saved the Revolution and purged the Convention, pushing out the treacherous and vacillating elements and preparing the rise of the extreme revolutionary tendency.”
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Lecture on the French Revolution |
Alan drew a parallel between this and the eruption of the masses in Venezuela in 2002, during the bosses’ lockout and the recall referendum of August 2004. He drew attention to the fact that, as in France, the Revolution had advanced under the whip of the counterrevolution. He poured scorn on those who were constantly warning the masses not to go “too far” for fear of provoking the Americans:
“In 1792 revolutionary France was surrounded by enemies. It faced the most powerful countries in Europe: England, which was almost as rich and powerful as the USA today, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain…It faced internal uprisings by reactionary sections of the peasants mobilised by fanatical priests. Its territory was invaded. Foreign troops stood at the very gates of Paris. Yet the Revolution did not falter and it defeated all its enemies both within and without.”
Alan described the insurrection of the masses of the summer of 1792 and quoted the phrase of Danton: “All the crowned heads of Europe have united against us. Therefore, we have thrown down the head of a king in answer to their challenge.” And he also quoted an even more celebrated phrase of Danton: “Audacity, audacity and still more audacity!” That is the only way to succeed.
Comrade Woods finally explained that the French Revolution entered into decline because the masses felt that their sacrifices had not brought them the results they aspired to. Ultimately, the French Revolution was limited to the confines of capitalism. Eventually, Robespierre turned the terror against the left wing and destroyed the basis upon which his revolutionary dictatorship rested. At this point the Revolution entered a process of decline, beginning with the Thermidorean coup of the summer of 1794 and ending with the dictatorship of Napoleon.
Alan warned that a similar result was possible in Venezuela if the Revolution did not advance boldly to destroy the economic power of the oligarchy. If the workers did not take power, together with their natural allies, the poor peasants and the semi-proletarian masses of town and villages, the basis for counterrevolution would be prepared:
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Victor Martinez intervenes |
“It is impossible to keep the masses in a permanent state of revolutionary excitement. Either the Revolution offers them the prospect of a fundamental change, or else sooner or later tiredness, exhaustion and demoralization will set in. In the period of revolutionary upswing in France the masses in Paris attended their clubs, debated and acted. But when weariness and disappointment set in, they fell into a state of apathy. Once that happens the Revolution is lost. The counterrevolutionaries who are waiting for just that scenario will go onto the offensive and nothing can stop it.”
Alan quoted the words of the American philosopher George Santayana: “He who does not learn from history will be doomed to repeat it.” Finally, he appealed to the vanguard to organise the revolutionary forces in democratically elected committees for the defence of the revolution: “Elect delegates in every workplace, in every school, in every university, in every village and every barracks. Send delegates to link up on a local, regional, state and national basis. Only in this way can the working class establish a power that can challenge the oligarchy and the bureaucracy.”
Once again the workers and youth showed tremendous enthusiasm for the ideas of Marxism. This is the real guarantee for the future victory of the Revolution!
Barquisimeto, 21 August, 2005.