We publish here a video message by Alan Woods, along with a statement by the Venezuelan section of the IMT, in solidarity with the Venezuelan Communist Party (PCV), which is faced with an attack by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), aimed at taking away the electoral registration from the PCV’s democratically elected leadership.
Statement by Lucha de Clases
The Executive Committee of Lucha de Clases, the Venezuelan section of the International Marxist Tendency, strongly condemns the current onslaught being carried out by the leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) against the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), with a view to disenfranchising its leadership – legitimately elected at its recent 16th Congress – usurping its acronym and symbols, and hijacking its electoral registration, in an attempt to eliminate the possibility of the revolutionary left expressing itself politically in future elections.
This unacceptable and scandalous aggression constitutes a new violation of the political and democratic rights, not only of communist and revolutionary activists, but of the Venezuelan working people as a whole. Such a move marks an important escalation in the history of threats, smear campaigns, and censorship to which the governing party has subjected the PCV and the Popular Revolutionary Alternative (APR) since 2020
The current orientation of the PSUV leadership is based on a pact among the elites, a pact which the caste of nouveau riche (which emerged from the plundering of the public treasury), the traditional bourgeoisie, and forces of US imperialism, are trying to establish, with their backs to the people. This pact has meant the unloading of the full weight of the capitalist crisis onto the shoulders of working people; the criminalisation of protest and organised struggle; the persecution and prosecution of workers' and popular leaders; and a general assault on the democratic rights of the masses. This new escalation of aggression against the PCV unmasks in practice the increasingly right-wing, anti-worker and anti-people character of the PSUV leadership.
Despite the political differences and different traditions we have with the PCV, the comrades of Lucha de Clases are raising their voices in solidarity with and defence of this party, which is about to celebrate its 92nd anniversary. The shameful assault that is being prepared against the PCV could become the first step towards the proscription of the left in the future – at the hands of the same government that, in less than a decade, has buried almost all the gains and rights of the workers, rendering an invaluable service to the interests of the capitalist class.
We firmly believe that national and international solidarity is one of the best weapons with which the working class and the left can fight against all forms of oppression and glaring injustice. That is why we call on all worker, popular and left organisations, and even those that consider themselves consistent democrats – in Venezuela and worldover – to repudiate the PSUV's attacks against the PCV, and to show solidarity with this party. Despite these attacks, we know very well that the morale and will to struggle of the PCV members will remain firm and unwavering.
Executive Committee of Lucha de Clases
Venezuelan Section of the International Marxist Tendency
Caracas, February 18, 2023