"THE MOST dangerous man in the region" is US secretary of state
Condoleezza Rice’s description of Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president who
is visiting London this week.
Karl Debbaut
Not to be outdone, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld likened Chávez
to Hitler. Rumsfeld, one of the principal architects of the Iraq war,
declared troops would be welcomed in Iraq with flowers and victory
parades. It turned out to be mortars and roadside bombs.
Chávez is regarded as dangerous to the interests of US imperialism in
Latin America because of his politics. Chávez, who has been
democratically elected eleven times, and his social reforms are seen by
Latin America’s workers and poor as an antidote to big business and
capitalism in the continent.
Chávez has turned sharply away from the ‘neo-liberal’ policies pushed
by the US and its flunkies in Latin America. He has restructured the
oil-industry to guarantee that a higher percentage of the profits are
reinvested in Venezuela. He has started ‘missiones’ ie social programmes
aimed at helping the poorest Venezuelans and providing for example
education and cheap food.
More than anything he has come out sharply against capitalism and
argued for what he calls "Socialism in the 21st century". That is why US
imperialism has backed Venezuela’s right-wing rich elite in their failed
attempts to remove him, including an abortive military coup in 2002.
Time and again, the mass of the Venezuelan working class and poor have
come out to defend Chávez and his reforms against the attempts by the
opposition at overthrowing a democratically-elected government.
The reaction to the 2002 coup was a mass demonstration and defiance.
The Chavez regime was saved by the working class. The same happened in
response to the bosses lock-out in December 2002-January 2003. Under the
slogan: "An idle factory is an occupied factory," they occupied the most
important workplaces and broke the resistance of the bosses.
Breaking with capitalism
While the Chávez regime has made significant steps forward and is to
be applauded for breaking with neo-liberalism it has not brought about
fundamental change in Venezuelan society.
Capitalism means that employers can control society and run it in
their own private interest because they own the factories, land, and
other means of production. The state was shaped to defend their
interests. While Chávez may have the best of intentions, one man or one
movement cannot break this system of exploitation without breaking the
power of the employers and the power of the employers’ state.
This has not happened in Venezuela. Workers still find it difficult to
organise in trade unions. Workers’ rights are not respected. The minimum
wage and other rights, guaranteed in the constitution, still have to be
fought for. This is a battle that more often than not is lost with the
employers.
The Socialist Party stands shoulder to shoulder with the struggle of
workers and youth in Venezuela.
A struggle for socialism can be won by nationalising the most
important sectors of the economy under democratic workers’ control and
management. This means a struggle for a democratic plan to fulfil the
needs of the majority of the population instead of maintaining the
privileges of a few.
for more info on Venezuela see
www.socialistworld.net
Hugo Chávez public meeting
Sunday 14 May, 4pm
Venue: Queen Elizabeth ll Conference Centre, London, SW1.
Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez will speak about the social reforms
of the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’.
(The Conference Centre is situated in Broad Sanctuary, Westminster,
London SW1, opposite Westminster Abbey.) Nearest tube: Westminster
