Workers World Dec. 28, 2000: Venezuela & the aspirations of the oppressed

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------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 28, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------

Venezuela & the aspirations of the oppressed

From a talk by Monica Somocurcio at the Dec. 2-3 Workers World Party conference.

Latin America is undergoing a general economic and political crisis fueled by the new era of International Monetary Fund-style globalization during the last 10 years. Conditions of recession and outright depression are seen throughout the hemisphere. Social programs that existed have been dismantled and privatization has become the rule rather than an exception. The result has been a tremendous rise in poverty, hunger and unemployment.
Venezuela is undergoing a particular kind of process. President Hugo Chavez calls it a revolution, but it is actually a multi-class coalition that bases itself on the aspirations of the oppressed.
Chavez's movement arose from the deepening discontent of the masses, which was the basis for many strikes and demonstrations. In 1989 over 1,000 people were killed by the military for demanding lower food prices.
In 1992 Chavez led a junior officers' coup against then-President Carlos Andres Perez, which landed him in prison for two years. The coup backed the massive anti-austerity demonstrations that had rocked the country in the previous two years. In 1997 unions staged a massive general strike against low wages and price hikes.
It's within this context that the Chavez Patriotic Pole coalition took office after the 1998 elections. It brought with it a view toward pan-Latin American unity called Bolivarianism, named after the father of Latin American independence, Simon Bolivar. The government has also taken progressive international positions, like Chavez's recent visit to Iraq and its oil-for-medicine deal with Cuba.
Chavez created a Constituent Assembly that changed the Venezuelan Constitution, dealing a blow to the traditional bourgeois parties that have been removed from the government.
The state apparatus, first and foremost the military, has not been dismantled, even though some of the outward symbols like the parliament have been dissolved. The military is a tool of the ruling class. But, like in many other countries, it's also the only institution where oppressed people can rise in status. It contains the class struggle within it. How long will the high command refrain from influencing this process?
As the struggle intensifies and imperialism attacks the Chavez regime, the military will have to respond. Chavez is not softening the struggle, but has allied himself with the masses.
The Venezuelan government exists in a dynamic situation where the factors are sharply opposed. On one hand there's U.S. imperialism and its designs for Venezuela and the entire region, which it views as its back yard. Then there are the struggles throughout Latin America, particularly the revolution in Colombia, which surely stands as an example and is a force the Chavez government has aligned itself with.
The question we have is: Can this process end in the dictatorship of the proletariat? Will the inevitable imperialist assault bring to the fore a wider class struggle that could open the door for a socialist movement? Surely there are forces within the Popular Front coalition, which includes communists, preparing for this situation.
Does the Chavez movement represent a trend in the hemisphere? Probably not. We only have to look at the situation in Ecuador, where the mass movement attempted to unite with forces in the military only to be betrayed in the end.
Chavez is the result of the particular conditions of Venezuela: a country with a weak traditional left, that had lived through better economic times that raised both the standard of living and the expectations of the masses; a country that is more developed than most other Latin American countries and yet is suffering economically.

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