From: Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM
Date: Mon May 16 2005 - 19:50:03 EDT
[Previously I wrote:] > >Don't you think that the situation in Venezuela is exceptional? Surely, > >you wouldn't suggest that the path to revolution in other countries in > >Latin America or elsewhere is through the election of a radical > >democratic military leader? > >There is no one path to revolution. [Michael L responded:] > Presumably. But, I don't know if that makes the situation in Venezuela > 'exceptional' (unless you mean every country is an exception-- ie., there > are no generalisations that can be made). Michael, No, I didn't mean that every country is an exception (although a good case could be made that all socialist revolutions to date have developed under exceptional, country- and historically-specific, circumstances). What is exceptional about the situation in Venezuela? Well, let's see. A career army officer turned radical democrat runs for office and gets elected largely with the support of the poor and working class. Except for him being someone from the military, that's not too exceptional (although, the Venezuelan military itself may be exceptional in important ways). When they discover that they can't legally remove him from office, the right-wing -- with the support of US imperialism -- stage a coup. His supporters mobilize, take to the streets, and put him back in power. That's pretty exceptional, isn't it? It was exceptional that the coup leaders didn't kill him when they had a chance. He's one exceptionally lucky hombre in that respect. As his opponents both internally and externally organize against the democratic revolution (the Bolivarian revolution) he takes increasingly more radical steps including arming the people to defend the revolution, pushing for workers' control (so far, on a very limited basis in the public sector), encouraging the beginnings of land reform, etc. Instead of caving into the pressure from imperialism as so many other leaders in Latin America and elsewhere have done, he seeks international solidarity and expresses solidarity with anti-globalization struggles (at Porto Allegre and at other venues), attempts to build regional trade alliances (in Latin America and possibly elsewhere), and claims that his country will become socialist. Alongside his radicalization, the people themselves are increasingly radicalized and gain confidence and they push him forward and vice versa. Sound right? I'm sorry, but I don't see this group of conditions and circumstances developing in other nations. There have certainly over the years been a lot of radical democratic (and/or social democratic) leaders in Latin America who have been elected to power. Where else has that resulted in the turn of events that we see in Venezuela? All one has to do is to look at other countries in LA today to see examples of how the people have been betrayed by their "progressive" leaders once the latter had state power. Instead of consistently challenging imperialism, they almost always end up capitulating to it and eventually selling-out the working class and the poor. You wouldn't actually tell people in other countries that they should vote for a career military officer turned radical democrat in the _hope_ that s/he will eventually become a revolutionary socialist? Even Chavez himself didn't realize that he would eventually become a socialist when he was first elected. In short, almost _everything_ about the Venezuelan experience is exceptional. To think that these exceptional circumstances can occur in other countries is a fantasy, imo. In solidarity, Jerry
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