If it is to succeed, the Venezuelan revolution must be taken to the very end, with the expropriation of the capitalists and landlords who still control two thirds of the economy. This is a powerful lever in their hands that they are using to organise economic sabotage to undermine the government. The right-wing, reformist fifth columnists within the Bolivarian movement are attempting to hold back the revolution. That is where the danger lies.

On May 15^th, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez took a bold and historic initiative, when he decided at a meeting in Puerto Ordáz in Guayana, Bolívar state, to put workers at the forefront of the running of the primary industries located in this region.

A decisive battle has been going on within the PSUV in Venezuela, a battle over who are to be the parliamentary candidates for the party in the elections later this year. The left have been fighting an unequal battle, where more right-wing candidates have had much more resources and official backing locally than candidates who genuinely represent the workers and poor. It is a key battle in the Venezuelan revolution.

At a gathering of 150 PSUV activists held in the Teresa Carreño Theatre in Caracas a critical mood was evident after it had become clear that the right-wing bureaucracy within the party had manoeuvred to get its candidates adopted in the selection process for the prospective parliamentary candidates to be presented in September’s general election.

In Venezuela on May Day members of the IMT marched with the workers of the occupied factories. In Mexico they put up a tent in the Zocalo with a large amount of Marxist material. They also intervened in Brazil, with the inauguration of the "Mario Pedrosa" Cultural Centre, in El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina.

Alan Woods was interviewed by the Venezuelan daily Correo del Orinoco, where he comments on the importance of the Fifth International, but stresses the need for it to be under the control of the rank and file and warns against bureaucratism.