[Marxism] Venezuelan Referendum

[Anthony Boynton]

For my money the referendum loss so far is not a big
loss. 

The silver lining is almost as important as the dark
cloud, because Chaves's immediate recognition and
acceptance of the loss thouroughly disorganized the
planning for a coup against him, and stripped the coup
plotters of most of the popular support they might
have otherwise enjoyed.

The election revealed that the opposition and the
Chavistas both can mobilize about the same number of
people on any given day of the week, and the rest can
go either way. (The Chavistas mobilized millions more
for the presidential elections where the issue was
clear cut, but could not mobilize them for this
referendum where the issues were mixed and confusing.)

This is not a new situation. 

The mistakes of Chaves have been discussed elsewhere
on this list, but those mistakes ocurred in drafting
the referendum. Chaves pulled the rug out from under
the reactionary offensive brilliantly at the end.

Now its back to the drawing board. Luckily oil prices
are not likely to fall below $60 (US) any day in our
lifetimes, so the venezuelan revolution has time to
find its way.

Anthony


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