Americas

Roberto Chavez, the general secretary of the FSTMB (Bolivian Miners’ Union), spoke to Alan Woods about the conditions of the miners and their role in the class struggle in Bolivia. Their view is that the Morales government is not going far enough. They want serious, radical change.

One year after the swearing in of the Morales government in Bolivia it is possible to make a sober balance sheet of the situation. Morales has attempted to carry out some reforms while trying to appease the oligarchy. The masses are drawing conclusions: that compromise is not possible. The struggle must go all the way.

At the swearing in of his new government, Hugo Chavez announced radical new measures, including an enabling law that would allow for the nationalisation of key sectors of the economy. He also explained that it is necessary to “dismantle the bourgeois state”. All this confirms what the Marxists said after the elections in December. The balance of class forces has tilted enormously in favour of the masses.

After the massive electoral victory on December 3, Chavez has put a big emphasis on the need to turn towards socialism. As part of this he is proposing a new party, built from the bottom up, to bypass the bureaucracy.

One thousand people marched yesterday through the main streets of Caracas, in what was the largest demonstration in favour of the expropriation of an occupied factory that has ever taken place in Venezuela. This was truly an historic march. It was the real and genuine spirit of the working class taking over the streets of Caracas and pointing the way the revolution must advance.

The death of Pinochet sparked off celebrations in Chile and around the world. He was a hated figure, a living example of the real nature of capitalism. He died without being brought to justice. But his was merely the fate of one man. The task is to make sure that the system that created Pinochet is buried once and for all. That task lies ahead of us.

As we have reported in earlier articles,some 691 delegates from 12 countries met in Joinville, Brazil from December 8-10 for the Pan-American Gathering in Defence of Jobs, Rights, Land Reform and Industry. The delegates discussed their different struggles, achievements, and how to organise assistance and solidarity for workers and farmers in struggle across the continent. The following resolution was adopted at the Gathering.

The second day of the Pan American Conference provided a real taste of the most advanced workers’ struggles in Brazil and other countries in Latin America. Peasant leaders, Bolivian miners’ leaders, factory leaders, all spoke about the terrible conditions and expressed their determination to struggle. The idea of factory occupations as an answer to the bosses’ closing of factories dominated the discussion, as did a deep-seated desire to struggle for international socialism.

On Friday one thousand workers gathered in the Cipla plant in Brazil and decided to reduce the working week in the factory to 30 hours. The factory is run by the workers and they are doing it in a very efficient manner, an example to workers in all countries. Workers can run factories and therefore they could also run society. Alan Woods was among the comrades who addressed the meeting, getting a rapturous applause from the workers present.

On Wednesday Alan Woods spoke to 200 workers at the occupied CIPLA plant in Joinville, Brazil. He was invited to speak on Workers’ Control and the Struggle for Socialism.

Yesterday, Alan Woods spoke at another meeting in the Camara de Vesadoria in Joinville, where around 200 workers had gathered to listen to him speaking on the general world situation. The meeting was introduced by Serge Goulart, leader of the occupied factories movement in Brazil, and present in the audience was also Roberto Chavez, the general secretary of the Bolivian Miners’ Federation.

After his successful trip to Venezuela, the editor of Marxist.com, Alan Woods, accepted an invitation to speak at an important conference of workers in occupied factories from all over Latin America. The conference is taking place this weekend in the industrial city of Joinville in the south of Brazil. It is being organized by CIPLA, an occupied plastics factory in Joinville.

It is clear that Castro is now very ill. The fact that he has not appeared in public for some time would seem to confirm this. The capitalists of the world are now looking eagerly to the post-Castro era where they hope to make deals with some sections of the Cuban state bureaucracy to introduce measures favourable to the return of capitalism. But the swing to the left in the whole of Latin America and especially in Venezuela is working against this.