Fraternal address delivered by Victor Rios to the International Marxist Tendency

At this summer's international school, organised by the International Marxist Tendency, Victor Rios, a long standing leader of the Spanish Izquierda Unida (United Left) and an adviser to Hugo Chavez, delivered a speech on his thoughts on the Venezuelan Revolution. We reproduce it here for our readers.

“Many thanks for inviting me to come and share this short time with you. I also want to personally thank Alan Woods because as you have heard from the way that he introduced me, he is a friend. For me it was really good to meet each other again in Venezuela, to meet again jointly defending from the same point of view the fundamental aspects of the revolutionary process in Venezuela and Latin America. Although some time had passed since we had last seen each other it was easy to find a unifying point in relation to the revolution in Venezuela and Latin America.

Alan Woods and Victor Rios

I don't think that this is accidental because when one shares a Marxism that lives, that is critical and open, without dogma, without catechisms [a rigid set of questions and answers learnt by heart, by rote - translator], with firmness of principles, but with great interest in the need to understand what is specific, concrete, the particular aspects of each process, with this attitude it is easy to understand each other.

I think that the tendency that you represent is a good example of the Marxism that is of use today, a Marxism that is needed to act as an instrument to understand revolutionary processes, to maintain convictions that are helpful when faced with so many doubts, so many problems and contradictions which arise during the process of a revolution. A critical Marxism like this is a good compass to be able to find one's way in processes that are complicated. In my opinion the revolutionary process that is taking place on a world scale is a complicated process and for that reason it is necessary to have a good compass, and you have one.

I think that in Venezuela today there is an open process that is of enormous interest and with many contradictions and for that reason it is important to be there and intervene in this process. From this podium I acknowledge the work that your comrades are doing in Venezuela, not only those who are from Venezuela but also those from the Iberian peninsula who are there doing very important work in this complicated process.

For me it is clear, as it is for all of you, that in Venezuela today there is a revolution underway. I say this because there is still a lot of entertaining confusion in discussing whether there is or there is not a revolution because what is happening does not sit squarely with the revolutionary catechism of some people.

I am in agreement with the characterisation of the process in Venezuela that is expounded in the pages of El Militante and as I am of the same opinion I am not going to repeat what you are able to read in El Militante. What can I therefore contribute here? The little that I am able to add will be in the sense of drawing attention to the contradictions and paradoxes which are there at this particular moment in the process, or which at least are going to arise between now and December 2006. I only want you to be on guard and alert to these developments.

The first is in the international arena. The more that the Venezuelan revolutionary process is consolidated in the continent of Latin America, the more the political and diplomatic strategy of US imperialism to isolate Venezuela will fail, but also the closer will be the danger of imperialist aggression. The greater the success, the greater the risk.

The second paradox is that the more the revolution is deepened within Venezuela, the greater that the advances are in consolidating the revolution, the greater too are the internal threats, because not everyone is of the opinion that the revolution has to be consolidated. I am not referring to the media, the employers or the traditional opposition from all areas of the media opposed to Chavez, but to those who are called “Chavism without Chavez”.

Now that I have raised the two paradoxes, the international and the internal, I am going to put forward a hypothesis. Between now and December 2006 US imperialism will use every means at its disposal to try and liquidate the revolutionary process in Venezuela - before the re-election of Chavez as president in December 2006 - and in order to succeed it will count on support from within the country.

If President Chavez manages to stay alive by the date of December 2006, with the level of support that he has at the moment, he would easily win the presidential elections by a wide margin and despite the fact that in the municipal and mid-term elections that are taking place within a fortnight [these took place in August - editor] the level of abstentions will be very high, there will be a comfortable victory of the parties that support Chavez. In the elections for the legislature in December of this year there will also be a resounding victory for the parties that support the revolutionary process and this will guarantee that Chavez will be re-elected. Externally and internally they will try and prevent this happening for four reasons.

The four reasons are: for another six years the Chavez government will be legitimised as a result of a democratic process and then they won't be able to talk of “dictatorship”, “dictatorship” … six more years and moreover the elections will be verified internationally and therefore there won't be any problems. Chavez will win by a mile.

The second reason will be the consolidation of the social policies - the missions - for another six years.

The third will be the strengthening of OPEC with fair prices for oil for another six years.

The fourth will be the spreading of the socialist base of the revolutionary process to other countries in Latin America.

For these four reasons imperialism will have to intervene to prevent the re-election of Chavez.

It is for these reasons that I say we have to be on guard. But how? What stance should we take? We have to strengthen the process within Venezuela and also in the international arena. We have to explain what is really happening and carry out acts of solidarity. For this reason all of you have a very useful role to play because of your understanding of the need for solidarity work internationally.

I don't believe that solidarity must ever be blind. It has to be critical but also politically committed. The best support that you and we as revolutionary Marxists can give to this process, apart from international support, is by contributing to the debate of ideas that is taking place in Venezuela today. What kind of socialism? How can we go forward in the revolutionary transformation of society that should take place today in Venezuela? This is the best contribution that a revolutionary Marxist can make wherever he or she may be.

Within the debate about which kind of socialism is needed in Venezuela and Latin America  and I am putting my money on various types of socialisms  the idea of socialism in Latin America is not the same as in the Islamic countries, but in both areas socialism is possible. The debate about socialism is not only one of ideas, it is also about practical questions because the struggle against bureaucratisation and corruption is not only an historical question in the international revolutionary socialist movement, it is also a practical question, it is about how we behave. There is an open struggle taking place in Venezuela today, a struggle against bureaucratisation and corruption, both of which could put an end to the Venezuelan revolution.

The debate about the role of the working class in the revolutionary process is also not merely a question of ideas and it is not a debate about whether the class struggle exists or does not exist. It is more a question of how to organise the leading role of the working class in this process, of how to raise the question of revolutionary workers' participation [in the original Spanish text the word “cogestion” appears, which is tanslated as “participation”, but in the process of what is happening in Venezuela the word does not have the same meaning as in Germany, for example, where it means that workers merely have a say in what is happening in the company where they work - translator], of workers' management in some companies, of workers' control of production, of how to organise the power of the working class in the process of the revolutionary transformation of society. It is a practical debate within which opposing forces meet up within the revolutionary process. Among these forces there are those of us who believe that the working class should not only play the strategic role in companies that have gone bankrupt or have been abandoned by their owners, but also within economically strategic companies because if this does not happen then workers' participation does not make any sense. This is the practical debate that we are having in Venezuela today.

Of course it is also a debate about the trade unions. What kind of trade unionism is needed in Venezuela today? When faced with an important informal sector, that is almost 50% of the economy, and when faced with a rise of cooperativism numbering about 8,000 cooperatives, many of which are not working very well, everything that glitters is not gold. Therefore it will be difficult for a strong trade union organisation, which is based primarily in large companies, to organise in the informal and cooperative sectors, and for this reason we must discuss how to intervene from the point of view of revolutionary trade unionism, just as your comrades are doing in Venezuela with a great moral authority and in a very interesting manner from within the UNT trade union.

The last question is the issue of the political leadership of the revolutionary process. How can this leadership be organised? How can the revolutionary socialist content of the process be guaranteed? On the one hand we have the role of Chavez, and his personal role in the process is beyond dispute. But as any revolutionary Marxist knows, this has advantages and disadvantages.

Then there are the parliamentary parties that support Chavez, known as the Bloque de Cambio (Block for Change). Within this Block the relative strength of the parties is not equal, with the MVR as the biggest party and the others not so big. However, the contradictory nature of what is happening is reflected in the fact that although they support politically from within the parliament the process that is taking place in the country, they are not the main source of support. And finally there is the revolutionary working class tendency which is being built and which should be built and which should be a guarantee, along with the people and the workers, that the process continues to develop.

This process is very open and the people of Venezuela are the main driving force behind it. At each stage the workers are becoming more conscious of their leading role in this process, but what is needed is that this continues to be strengthened through the contribution of all the revolutionary sectors and in the coming period this will be decisive.

It is for this reason that for me the time and space that you are devoting here in your school to the issue of Venezuela is very important and it will have repercussions not only in Venezuela and in the whole of Latin America, but also in the future where revolutionary socialist transformations take place. Given this, I will finish with some practical suggestions for all of you.

If you will allow me to say this, I believe that as a collective you have a very good analysis of the situation in Venezuela and Latin America. You know how to combine reason and passion, thought and feeling, and as a collective this is guaranteed. I believe that what will be interesting and challenging is to take an individual step forward so that everyone of you personally can do what you are already doing collectively. You can go to Venezuela for days, weeks or months to take part in what is happening, to get a feel for what is happening, to be infected by the process, because for people of my age what is happening has the same effect as vitamins. We are made younger, rejuvenated, by being infected by the process.

For you who are young you will see that it is possible to change the world, not only possible, but necessary and urgent. From the political position that you defend here you will be able to touch the sky with your feet firmly rooted on the ground, working and at the same time learning and benefitting from the process that is underway. For this reason I invite you to come and take part, to help, to be infected as individuals by the process, because as a collective you are already doing it.”


See also Inspiring 2005 World School of the International Marxist Tendency (September 15, 2005)

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