Alan Woods, editor of marxist.com and leading member of the International Marxist Tendency appeared on a well known Venezuelan programme last week, to discuss Friedrich Engels’ work “The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man.”

In the last few weeks, there has been an escalation in the verbal attacks from the Venezuelan government against the revolutionary left. These attacks, by president Maduro and National Assembly speaker Jorge Rodríguez, have been directed particularly at the APR: the Popular Revolutionary Alternative, a political platform that gathers several parties and organisations to the left of Maduro’s government. Very serious allegations have been made, including the charge that the left opposition to the government is acting in cahoots with US imperialism.