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The Michigan Socialist | Opinion |
Letters
Venezuela: Workers should not
hold back
Dear Editor,
I thought that the article on the Venezuelan
situation (“Revolution or
counterrevolution?” Michigan Socialist, Vol. 2, No. 4,
July-August 2004) was extremely good and informative.
I would, however, stress and clarify a couple of
things that I feel are major and vital.
The working class, the poor, and the peasantry in
Venezuela are under no obligation at all to hold back from taking
power because of what Chávez or the Constituent Assembly say, or
even how the recall referendum goes. They need to chart a completely
independent course and move ahead with the revolutionary process.
This does not mean that Chávez is an enemy or that
the Bolivarian movement might not evolve into a really revolutionary
force, but nothing should be delayed while all of that plays out.
Indeed, as you have said, there has been way too much delay already.
For all their apparent honesty and idealism,
Chávez and the mainstream Bolivarians still constitute a capitalist
government, albeit with deep going populist and quasi-revolutionary
momentum. People can evolve, but the masses can not and should not
bank on that or wait for it.
It would be wonderful if everything could play out
neatly in a constitutional, legalistic manner with all the ducks in
a row on the road to real working class revolution.
It would certainly make it more difficult for the
imperialists and native capitalists to carry out and justify their
murderous intent. But they will always find a way.
he oppressed and exploited masses are going to
have a bitter fight on their hands, and so illusions must be
dispelled and they must prepare and move to take state and economic
power.
The real missing ingredient here, of course, is
the same one that is missing in the rest of the world — the absence
of a revolutionary socialist party or parties that have the
political savvy to tell the masses the truth and organize the
seizure of power and the creation of a workers’ republic, leading
the way toward real socialism.
Jim Griffin
Detroit, MI
The author replies: Thank you for
your comments. While I agree that the working people of Venezuela
should not depend on Chávez or any single leader of the Bolivarian
movement, I also think it is important to continue to put pressure
on them to move the Revolution forward. Through that kind of
systematic campaign, it would be possible to build a movement that
can establish a workers’ republic, and would hasten the time when
the workers of Venezuela no longer have to “hold back.” |
