12-08-2024: Another election in Venezuela, another attempt at regime change sponsored by Washington and its deep state. This one was another failure, like all previous ones since Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998, beginning the “Bolivarian Revolution”. Today, Nicolas Maduro continues the legacy and the politics of the Bolivarian process, with mixed results. The results of the July 28 presidential election in Venezuela, however, were clear. Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that Nicolas Maduro had won with 51.21% of the votes compared with 44.2%[1] for the right-wing US backed opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Gonzalez was a stand in for banned opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has incited violence against the government after previous elections. Predictably, after the July 28 election Machado claimed that the opposition has 73.2% of the voting tallies,[2] which supposedly meant that the opposition had won the election. This was the cue for the right-wing opposition to rampage on the streets in an effort to force regime change against the actual results of the election. Reactionary mobs blocked airports and initiated street violence in which 11 people lost their lives.[3]
East and West take sides
In the port city of La Guaira, right wing loons toppled a statue of Hugo Chavez, dragged it into the street and set it on fire. Over 700 were arrested[4] for acts including property destruction, but the opposition was unable to shake the system. One reason is that the results of the election reasonably reflected the actual balance of political forces in Venezuela today. More than half of the people strongly support the Bolivarian project and are prepared to defend the government against US sponsored regime change attempts. At the same time, around 40% of the people either support the opposition, passively or actively. Internationally, the divisions were again clear – Western governments generally refused to accept the election results, while governments from the “Global South” generally stood with the Venezuelan government. The European Union (EU) Council did not recognise the election results but refrained from recognising Gonzalez as President – unlike the governments of the United States of America (US) and Argentina.[5] The governments of the United Kingdom (UK) and Colombia likewise did not recognise the results of the July 28 poll. On the other hand, the governments of Russia, China, Cuba, Honduras and Bolivia all congratulated Maduro on a successful election.[6]
It should be recognised that Venezuela’s long standing and rock-solid friendship with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a big reason why Washington has been unable to reverse the Bolivarian revolution. Both Russia and the PRC offer Venezuela extensive political support, while Russia adds to this with large scale military co-operation.[7] In addition, Venezuela under Maduro is pulling out all stops to join the BRICS bloc, a now ten member non-imperialist alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates) which offers a much needed alternative to a declining capitalist West. President Maduro aptly describes the BRICS as a “powerful movement that…becomes today the spearhead or the vanguard of the processes of change, of world geopolitics and of world power”.[8] Washington is sparing no expense in attempts to derail the BRICS process, from regime change attempts and colour revolutions throughout the Americas, Africa and Eurasia, but imperialism today is a shadow of what it was even in the last part of the 20th century.
For real socialism
It is imperative that workers internationally defend Venezuela against the repeated efforts of US imperialism to abolish its sovereignty by external or internal means, and to defend its right to conduct international relations with whomever they choose. However, the claim from Western governments that Venezuela is “socialist” is belied by the fact that only between 15 and 20% of the economy is in government hands, and all of the rest is owned by the private sector.[9] No large-scale expropriations of private industry have taken place, and hence there is no planned economy. The “Bolivarian Revolution” from the start was never a movement based on real socialism – the organisation of the working class to take control of the commanding heights of the economy, and the transfer of political power to a workers’ state. The PSUV[10] (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) was never intended to be a Marxist vanguard party, and today operate as centre-left social democrats, if that.
In practice, the Bolivarian Revolution’s “Socialism of the 21st Century” turned out to be social democracy of the 20th Century. While the Bolivarian revolution has certainly politicised and mobilised large sectors of the Venezuelan masses over the last 25 years, it has done so only to a certain extent. The use of revenue from Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to fund health care and education, and to develop 100% food sovereignty is a huge gain for the working class and poor of Venezuela. Millions of Venezuelans have been taught to read and write, and millions more have seen doctors in their local communities for the first time. These victories form the basis for the mass support for Hugo Chavez (who passed away in 2013), the PSUV, the Bolivarian process, and Nicolas Maduro today.
Despite this, the PSUV’s avoidance of authentic socialist measures leaves Venezuela extremely vulnerable to covert US state interference, which constantly threatens its very existence. The PSUV’s commitment to bourgeois democratic norms, or even attempting to perfect them, leaves a wide path open to imperialist intrigue and subversion. Continuing to allow sworn and violent enemies to operate freely and openly in the name of “democracy” allows the right wing to win over millions who could be won to a real socialist project. The always false capitalist democracy needs to be replaced with a workers’ democracy, politically led by a genuine workers’ party or parties. At the least, there needs to be a political perspective of establishing a workers’ state. Real socialism would seek to link up with the workers of Latin America and the world, to finally rid the planet of capitalist sabotage.
Workers League
www.redfireonline.com
E: workersleague@protonmail.com
[1] www.irishtimes.com/world/americas/2024/07/29/venezuelas-maduro-declared-winner-of-presidential-election-after-six-hour-delay-in-releasing-results/ (07-08-2024)
[2] www.reuters.com/world/americas/government-opposition-both-claim-venezuela-election-win-official-results-2024-07-29/ (07-08-2024)
[3] www.local10.com/news/politics/2024/08/03/crisis-in-venezuela-human-rights-activists-report-79-teenagers-in-custody-after-deadly-protests/ (07-08-2024)
[4] www.dw.com/en/venezuela-maduro-defiant-as-protests-see-hundreds-arrested/a-69813131 (07-08-2024)
[5] www.barrons.com/news/calls-to-publish-venezuela-election-results-grow-as-pope-warns-against-violence-754918b5 (07-08-2024)
[6] www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/29/stark-split-in-world-reactions-to-disputed-venezuela-election (07-08-2024)
[7] www.venezuelablog.org/taking-stock-of-chinese-russian-relations-venezuela/ (07-08-2024)
[8] www.channelnewsasia.com/world/venezuela-applies-join-brics-alliance-bloc-emerging-economies-look-grow-influence-latin-america-brazil-russia-india-china-south-africa-3607771 (07-08-2024)
[9] www.globalresearch.ca/hail-rain-down-venezuela/5864598 (07-08-2024)
[10] ww.psuv.org.ve (07-08-2024)
Image: President Nicolas Maduro and supporters during the 2024 election. http://www.nytimes.com
Red Fire 