From: michael a. lebowitz (mlebowit@SFU.CA)
Date: Fri May 21 2004 - 09:06:41 EDT
Paul Z asked about the question of arming the people, etc in Vzla. Here's an excerpt from a long piece by someone from the 'Revolutionary Marxist Current' here (a group linked internationally to the tendency of Ted Grant/Alan Woods in the UK): But we must stress that Chavez in general has made a shift to the left, one that revolutionary Marxists must support and push forward. On Friday May 14, in a phone interview with the state television channel, VTV, he declared that there are discussions about the "expropriation of any building, property or installation where t! here is proof that these paramilitary groups have been training". We add that these measures of expropriation must be extended to means of production as a whole, the banks, and all property in the hands of the Venezuelan oligarchy which are involved in this attempt to prepare an invasion. This would be the first step towards the complete expropriation of the means of production and the banks in the hands of the Venezuelan ruling class. Even more significant is the speech which closed the march on Sunday. Previously we had already pointed out that it was a mistake if such a mass demonstration were called and not given clear tasks. But this was not the case on Sunday. Chavez pointed out clear aims for the workers' and peoples' leaders. He said that "in every neighbourhood, in every mountain pass, field, university, factory, jungle, in every place where there is a group "revolutionaries must start to organise and to form workers an! d peoples' militias." He added that "it is time for revolutionary s ecurity, to change the concept, reorient it, because we are still working with (old fashioned bureaucratic) IVth republic schemas". Chavez has understood the danger facing the revolutionary process by leaving the bourgeois structures intact upon which the state apparatus, including the Armed Forces, are based. Chavez made an appeal, not only to the existing power structures, but also to the movement of the workers and the people to take the need of arming the people into their own hands. "In the next weeks, with the advice of the National Defence Council, I will start to give out directives and lines, I appeal for the support of the local councils, the social movements, the popular currents (…) Adult men and women, who are not in the reserve, but who are ready, in a different way, to become soldiers without having to go through the barracks, to receive military training and organise militarily for the defence of the country. (…) ! Nothing, nor nobody will be able to defeat Venezuela, with a conscious and organised people." The Minister of Defence, Gral Garcia Carneiro has already declared that they are mobilising within the Armed Forces to coordinate these tasks. It is interesting to see the effect that the president's speech had on many layers, since even some of the trade union leaders, who had used conciliatory and pacifist rhetoric until now (calling on people to be passive) have been pushed to change their language. UNT (trade union) leader Marcela Maspero, declared that the UNT is already starting to coordinate its different federations and unions to form these Workers Brigades. (UNT leader Stalin Perez Borge has also declared that the "UNT will ask for a meeting with the defence minister so that the workers' militias can start receiving military training"). It is the responsibility of the rank and file to make sure that these slogans are put into p! ractice. Workers in all factories must demand that their trade unio n leaders become involved and start the formation of these Workers' Brigades. As president Chavez said this is the duty of all. It cannot be left in the hands of the leadership only, we must all be involved, challenging the trade union, party and community leaders to play a role in the immediate organisation of workers' and peoples' self-defence brigades. This is the only way forward. This is the only real defence when faced with the advances of counter-revolution. Michael A. Lebowitz Professor Emeritus Economics Department Simon Fraser University Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6 Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at Residencias Anauco Suites Departamento 601 Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1 Caracas, Venezuela (58-212) 573-4111 fax: (58-212) 573-7724
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