Continued threat of counter-revolution
In contrast to any other President or head of
state in the world today, Hugo Chávez, has been
re-elected for a third term by a landslide. With turnout reaching 70%, it
appears that Chávez has been re-elected with
approximately 60% of the vote compared to approximately 38% which went to his
right-wing challenger, Manual Rosales. However, at the time of writing it is
not clear if Chávez succeeded in his objective of
winning 10 million votes.
In acknowledging his victory Chávez,
declared it a defeat for "the Devils" and promised to develop the
"Bolivarian and Socialist revolution".
This welcomed massive victory represents a
further set back for the right in
This election once again revealed the massive
class divide which has widened since Chávez was first
elected in 1998. In the tin roofed shanty towns on the hills around
Yet this welcomed victory however, also has
revealed the continued threat and dangers facing the
working class and masses in
These developments are a warning that the threat
of counter revolution remains and can gain ground in the coming period if the
revolution is not taken forward by the working class. The reason for this is
that although Chávez has declared that the revolution
in
Only a handful of bankrupt companies have been
nationalised and state intervention has been limited to the introduction of
price controls on some food items and petrol with limits placed on the buying
of foreign currency and caps on lending rates.
At the same time some oil revenues have been used
to finance social welfare programmes especially for health, education and food.
These have been combined with the development of some prestige projects and
infrastructure like the building of new bridges and developing the metro
system.
Welcome as many of these reforms are, which have
massive support amongst the poor and most downtrodden, the continued existence
of capitalism has resulted in a growing gap between the rich and the poor.
The high price of oil resulted in a certain
growth in the economy which has also allowed some companies with contracts with
the state to make massive profits. José Guerra, the former chief of economic
research at
This year the government predicts an annual
growth of 10%. The rush of oil revenue into the economy has resulted in bank
deposits rising 84% in the last year. Since 2003 the bank assets have surged
ahead by more than US$20 billion. It is the wealthy upper middle class who have
largely gained from this. Ford and General Motors now boast they will sell
300,000 new cars this year in
At the same time, 25% of the population is left
living on less than 1 US$ per day. While the richest 10% of the population
still took 50% of national income the poorest 10% took a mere 2% according to a
series of reports in
Chávez’s speeches about
socialism have been positive in the sense that he has put the question of
socialism back on the agenda for the first time following the pro-capitalist market offensive of the 1990’s. However, he has not moved to
overthrow capitalism.
At the Caracas Country Club, a world away from
life in the shanty towns, some of the wealthy gave their comments to the
Guardian journalist, Rory Carroll about the "socialist revolution". (
To this must be added the growing complaints
about corruption and nepotism amongst sections of the state bureaucracy.
Sections of organisers of government reform programmes can be seen driving
around in the most modern 4x4 cars – the new rich ‘Chavistas’.
Following the election victory, the future
direction of the revolution is now set to develop as a major issue. Chávez, during the campaign posed the question of merging
together all the pro-government parties into one unified "revolutionary
party". At the same time, according to the Spanish daily
El País (1 December 2006) he has now raised the question of amending the
constitution to allow him to run indefinitely for president for the rest of his
life. By raising this proposal he is giving a weapon to the opposition
to raise the issue of a one party dictatorial regime being established. Yet the
central question is not how many times Chávez can
stand for President but the need for the working class and poor peasants to
democratically take the running and planning of society into their hands.
Both these steps point towards a growing tendency
of concentrating power into the hands of sections of the bureaucracy around the
government and the ‘Chavista’ leadership. These
layers are increasingly denouncing those in the workers’ movement who are
raising criticism and concerns about the increasingly authoritarian methods and
bureaucratic features of the regime as "foreign agents".
All these developments pose a serious threat to
the revolution and could increasingly undermine its support. If not checked by
the independent organisation of the working class these developments can be
exploited by the right-wing and assist it to further regroup and consolidate is
support.
Following the election victory of Chávez it is urgent to strengthen the independent
organisation of the working class by building democratic organisations with a
genuine socialist revolutionary programme. The democratisation of the trade
union confederation, UNT, with the election of its leadership, subject to
recall and its transformation into a combative revolutionary union federation
is an urgent task.
Together with the building of elected committees
in the work places, working class communities and universities to introduce a
system of democratic workers’ control that can also investigate allegations of
corruption and take the necessary steps to end it, is a vital task. Such committees
could also link up on a city wide, regional and national level to elaborate a
genuine revolutionary socialist programme to take the movement forward.
Such a programme would need to include the
nationalisation of the major monopolies in industry, banking and the service
sector and together with the establishment of a system of democratic workers’
and control and management. The establishment of a workers’ and peasants
government with such a programme would allow the introduction of a democratic
socialist plan of production to break with capitalism. A
workers’ and peasants government in
Following the victory of Chávez
in this election it is urgent that a mass socialist revolutionary party is
built to fight for such a programme to defend the revolution and take it
forward and overthrow capitalism. This is the most effective means to defeat
the continuing threat of counter revolution.