Simon Bolivar’s dream of a united Federation of Latin America

www.vheadline.com Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 By: Jorge Martin

International commentarist Jorge Martin writes: On Thursday February 20, at midnight, the Venezuelan police arrested Carlos Fernandez, the president of the employers’ organization Fedecamaras, accused on five charges: betrayal of the fatherland, rebellion, instigation to crime, association to commit crime and devastation.

Carlos Fernandez, together with the leader of the trade union confederation CTV, Carlos Ortega (for whom there was also an arrest warrant) had been the main public faces of the employers’ lock-out and sabotage of Venezuela's oil industry in December and January through which Venezuela's ruling class tried to overthrow the Chavez government.

The justice system's action clearly reflects the pressure of the revolutionary movement and the new balance of forces after the complete failure of the attempted coup in April last year ... from the beginning of this latest action on December 2, the reactionary forces went from defeat to defeat, basically due to the initiative of the public masses who fought back decisively at every stage.

Each one of the reactionary forces' actions had the effect of increasing support for the revolutionary process and raised the level of consciousness and organization of the Venezuelan people in general and the workers in particular.

The most important factor was the extraordinary reaction of oil workers who fought back and overcame sabotage by managers, directors and a large section of PDVSA technicians in refineries at Puerto la Cruz, El Palito, the Yagua distribution center and elsewhere ... oil workers who went to work and re-established normal functioning of the oil industry under workers’ control in an organized way. It can be said, without fear of exaggeration, that it was the oil workers who saved the Chavez government, since bringing the oil industry to a halt was a key element in the oligarchy's strategy.

This is a marvelous example of the capacity of the working class to struggle and to organize production by itself ... in a few days, the oil workers destroyed the myth that the managerial layer of PDVSA were the only ones who know how to organize production.

Furthermore, this experience of workers’ control took place not in a small bankrupt company which the workers were forced to reopen, but in Venezuela's main industry ... one of the 50 largest companies in the world. It's of enormous political significance and sets an important precedent ... the qualitative leap forward which took place in the struggle against the lock-out is that, for the first time, the working class participated in the revolutionary process as a class where it had previously only participated as a part of the general population.

We should add here that the oil workers had the support of revolutionary masses who defended PDVSA buildings and refineries all over the country ... and the National Guard which, in agreement with the workers and the people, organized and controlled the distribution of fuel during the 63 days of the lock-out.

At the beginning of January, the so-called Democratic Coordination (popularly known as the anti-Democratic Conspiracy - CD) decided to up the stakes by declaring the non-resumption of school activities after the Christmas break. Once again this was a serious mistake, since their actions only provoked an increased level of popular organization. All over the country, communities organized themselves to ensure the opening of schools and teachers who refused to teach were replaced by volunteers (unemployed teachers, university students, etc).

Likewise, in the universities, there was a strong student movement demanding resumption of lectures ... they finally managed to force the reopening of most universities ... strengthening an organized left-wing students' movement which had been quite weak before.

The peak of the process was a massive march, January 23, in support of the revolution: called “the taking over of Caracas.” The opposition had created a climate of panic and fear among middle classes, spreading the idea that the march was going to mean an invasion of “Chavista hordes” coming down from the “cerros” (the hills which surround Caracas where most poor people live) to loot middle-class neighborhoods.

For weeks, opposition leaders had been organizing “contingency plans” which included a census of all available firearms, accumulation of food and water, the organization of the armed defense of streets, buildings and neighborhoods, blocking of streets with gates, barricades, etc.

The aim was clearly to create a climate of fear, using the middle classes as shock troops for the oligarchy to provoke a violent clash which could justify foreign intervention under the mandate of the Organization of American States ... and with the support of a section of the armed forces in order to overthrow Chavez.

Counter-revolutionary provocations: One of the pinnacles of the strategy was a clash in Los Proceres, outside Fuerte Tiuna (the main army barracks in Caracas) in the first days of January. The opposition had called for a rally outside Fuerte Tiuna demanding freedom for an army officer who was under arrest for participating in an earlier coup attempt.

All of the opposition media publicized the call for the rally presenting it as the “final battle” which would finally overthrow Chavez ... a clear provocation prepared down to the last detail. The government did not do anything ... and did not call for the masses to organize a serious counter-demonstration. However, thousands of Bolivarians gathered to defend the revolutionary process against reactionary provocation. After hours of verbal clashes, the reactionaries opened fire and killed two Chavez supporters. To add insult to injury the opposition-controlled Metropolitan Police (PM) attacked the funeral parlor where the next-of-kin were mourning their dead. Clashes on that day also reflected the feeling of the masses' powerlessness, witnessing how the opposition was carrying out its plans without a serious fight-back on the part of the government or organizations which support it.

It was under this framework that the massive January 23 mobilization of took place with some 2 million people taking part in an impressive show of strength to defend the government ... a demonstration that was the last nail in the coffin of the December-January attempted coup. The CD had no other option but to admit defeat and publicly announced an “easing of the strike” ... calling it off altogether later. It was a sorry spectacle in which all the contradictions within the CD exploded into the open ... nobody wanted to take responsibility for having called an “indefinite civic strike,” and the “it wasn’t me” slogan once again became the rule of the day.

Under these conditions, Chavez has adopted a very different strategy to the one he used after the April 11 coup last year. On that occasion he had tried to conciliate, negotiate, he even asked for forgiveness and reinstated the old directors at PDVSA. He was already warned that the attempt to appease reaction through negotiation would only have the effect of strengthening the resolve of the reactionary ruling class, which would inevitably use the opportunity to prepare for a new coup.

Even during the attempted December-January coup, Chavez' position was extremely legalistic, faithfully following all legal proceedings while the opposition used all sorts of illegal methods to paralyze Venezuela and sabotaged the justice system from within. The workers' and the peoples' fight-back took place despite lack of any nationwide revolutionary leadership which could coordinate and organize their efforts, for ... despite the fact that there are tens and even hundreds of thousands of rank and file organizations all over the country ... the revolutionary movement in Venezuela still lacks a nationwide coordinating body.

Revolutionary offensive: Starting with his speech at a massive demonstration,January 23, President Hugo Chavez Frias made it clear that this is the time to go on the offensive, calling for a deepening of the peoples' organization ... the government has implemented a series of measures to fight reaction, starting with the suspension of foreign exchange while control mechanisms are put in place (in order to fight capital flight), price controls over basic products (to fight speculation) and a discussion in parliament of a new law of social responsibility covering the media (which had played a crucial role in the organization of every single coup conspiracy).

In his “Alo Presidente” program, February 16, he said that organizations created to defend the right to education should now became organizations of revolutionary vigilance over price controls. At the same time Chavez has broadcast a number of TV programs from different oil refineries where he recognized and thanked oil workers for their role in the defeat of the attempted coup. Mass rallies were organized in States which have opposition governors and Chavez calls for these to be recalled (a mechanism which is part of the new constitution) before the end of the year.

The arrest of coup conspirator Carlos Fernandez is part of the offensive, and is obviously welcomed by the majority of the people. The most widespread comment is that this was long overdue. In fact popular organizations, demonstrations and graffiti on the walls in the main cities had been demanding “strong action” to be taken for a long time.

The leader of the telephone workers union, Jose Mora, declared that he was happy that Carlos Ortega had gone into hiding because this meant that, now, the workers could go and find him themselves and settle accounts. However, even this action shows the limits of government action since a few hours after being arrested, the judge in charge of the case was replaced by another who immediately placed him merely under 'house arrest' and withdrew some of the charges.

This is a scandalous decision since there is already the precedent of Pedro Carmona's escape ... he was the main figure in the April 11 coup, and was also remanded to house arrest. Meanwhile the 'Defenders of Puente Llaguno,' who defended the democratic government on April 11, rot in jail waiting for a trial, despite the fact that one of them is dying of cancer ... it is clear that the judiciary is still largely in the hands of reaction.

However it would be foolish to think that the reactionaries are dead and buried. It is true they were dealt a heavy blow with the defeat of their December-January attempt, but the Venezuelan ruling class is far from having been defeated once and for all, and continues to agitate in the media, waiting for a new opportunity.

Economic crisis: The main challenge that faces the revolutionary process right now is the collapse of the Venezuelan economy as a result of the oil sabotage and the conscious disorganization of the productive process, particularly in the food sector. The oligarchy is trying by all means to create chaos and shortages in order to undermine the social basis of support for the revolutionary process. In this respect, the measures taken so far by the government are completely insufficient and limited.

Firstly one must discuss the question of the reorganization of PDVSA. So far the government has appointed new directors which, following the people’s call for a “cleaning out PDVSA,” has already sacked 12,000+ employees ... the overwhelming majority of them directors and technicians of the upper echelons of the company.

However it is not enough to replace one set of directors with another who might be more or less loyal to the revolutionary process. On the contrary, the impressive experience of workers’ control over production during the sabotage must be used to spread it to the running of PDVSA as a whole.

Oil workers have saved PDVSA, and they are the ones who should be running it from now on. A national congress of oil workers must be called to unify all workers and establish the mechanisms of workers’ control ... this is the only way to guarantee that “PDVSA belongs to the people” and that it is run for the benefit of all. Workers’ control of industry should also spread to all State-owned companies where many of the directors had also declared themselves to be “in rebellion.”

Another front is that of the private companies where the bosses are trying to make the workers pay for the cost of the employers’ lock-out. Workers must resist, in an organized fashion, any attempt to totally or partially paralyze their factories, any attempts to cut wages, to declare unpaid holidays, etc. In several factories around Venezuela there have already been important examples of such struggles. The Convencaucho workers in Barquisimeto (Lara) had to force a change of union leaders and occupy the factory to force their employer to pay their wages in full and to keep the factory open.

Also in the Carabobo car industry, workers have so far defeated employers' attempts to make them pay the effects of the lock-out ... one of the main discussions amongst class struggle and democratic trade union activists right now is the issue of factory occupations and their running under workers’ control. .

At a recent meeting of 350 trade union leaders from all over Venezuela called by “Trade Union Autonomy” there was a discussion on the issue based on a document which called for “the occupation of all companies which are abandoned, declared bankrupt, closed down or semi-paralyzed, creating workers’ committees to force their statization under workers’ control of production,”

The “Workers' Mole” trade union currently in Lara openly demands that “faced with crisis the government must reactivate industry, applying the principle of ‘company closed, company opened under workers’ control’...” Even within the Ministry of Labor there are discussions on workers’ control, and how to legalize any factory occupations which might take place.

Another important question is that of control over the finance sector. Together with measures already taken on foreign exchange, there must be an offensive against the private banking sector ... the banks adopted a clear line of support for opposition sabotage and therefore should be deprived of the means of doing it again.

It is true that the government has already withdrawn part of its assets held in private banks, but this is not enough.

The nationalization of Venezuelan banks (which in the main use resources which belong to the State) would allow the government access to a large amount of money which could be used to alleviate the economic crisis through a massive program of public works, and which would guarantee the payment of wages to public employees and the normal functioning of public services, like health and education, which are currently under threat for lack of resources. The nationalization of the banks would also allow the government to finance the statization of occupied factories.

As a part of the offensive there have been discussions about the setting up of a new trade union confederation to replace CTV leaders ... however, this process has received strong criticism from trade union activists from the beginning because of methods used. The proposal has come from a number of trade union leaders who are close to the government ... which had raised the idea from above without any real consultation of the rank and file and without organizing a campaign within the existing unions. It would seem that for them, the most important thing is to set a date for the founding of the new trade union center and to decide who is going to be on the leadership executive.

These are clearly wrong methods.

In order to move towards a real re-founding of the trade union movement in Venezuela, a serious campaign of explanation, discussion and struggle must be organized in order to win over the overwhelming majority of workers who still belong to unions affiliated to the CTV, and to organize all those who are still un-organized.

The practical experience of the last few months and weeks clearly shows that CTV leaders (who appointed themselves at the end of a rigged election process) are completely discredited in the eyes of their own members.

The political moment is favorable ... such a campaign, culminating in a nationwide workers’ constituent assembly, to set up a new trade union confederation based on the principles of class struggle, democratic and militant trade unionism, would have a massive impact.

One of the main weaknesses is still the lack of nationwide coordination of committees and organizations which have been set up over the last few years ... all Bolivarian Circles (of which there are now 300,000), democratic unions, urban land committees, student organizations, committees to defend education rights, etc. should establish coordination bodies at neighborhood, local, state, and national level, through the democratic election of delegates with the right of recall at any time. This would enormously strengthen the movement and give it a democratic leadership, helping to generalize experiences and advance in its political conclusions.

It is also time to make a balance sheet of the political perspectives ... Hugo Chavez Frias' project, which opened the doors for the process of mass mobilization and popular organization, was based on the development of Venezuela’s productive forces, defending national sovereignty and applying a number of measures in favor of the oppressed. But this project never raised the question of going further than the limits of a capitalist system.

On occasion, Chavez has spoken of “humane capitalism” but there can be no independent national capitalist development in any country ... the epoch of bourgeois revolution was more than 200 years ago ... the last four years of Venezuela's revolutionary process have shown quite clearly that decisive sections are unable to play any progressive role at all. They will give the government no respite.

The only way to reach agreements with the employers is on the basis of making the workers pay for the crisis ... and this would provoke a decisive fight back from a labor movement which now feels confident.

On the contrary, the defeat of the employers’ lock-out has shown the central role of the working class ... there is no other way to defend and deepen the revolution than by placing the means of production, distribution and exchange in the hands of the people in the interests of the majority of the population.

Only on the basis of a democratic planning of the economy would it be possible to develop Venezuela’s productive forces and use its enormous wealth to improve living conditions for the overwhelming majority ... not to fill the Miami bank accounts of an idle minority.

Venezuela's revolution will be a powerful beacon of light to the whole of Latin America, which would orientate the struggle of workers and peasants, setting the basis for the fulfillment of Simon Bolivar’s dream of a united Federation of Latin America.