[Marxism] The Socialist Revolution in Venezuela

[Joaquin Bustelo]

Paula takes exception to my objections to her use of Purchasing Power Parity
(PPP) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures in trying to bamboozle people
into thinking that there's something to her idea that Venezuela might be an
imperialist country.

"Why bring this up again? We discussed it only a few weeks ago. Anyone who
has followed my train of thought here knows that Joaquin is setting up a
straw (wo)man.

"I do not claim PPP figures make the case that any particular country is
imperialist; I am asking that we conduct proper case studies of each
country."

However, I did not "bring this up again." Paula tried to pull off the
*swindle* of comparing the PPP GDP figures for New Zealand (population 4.1
million) with Venezuela (population 26 million) to buttress her suggestion
that Venezuela might be an imperialist country.

This is how the discussion evolved. Paula originally wrote: 

>> Venezuela is one of the richest and most powerful nations in Latin 
>> America, and one of the world's largest oil producers. I suspect it 
>> is imperialist, but I cannot say for sure until I know more about how 
>> Venezuelan capitalism operates.

To which Louis replied, "This is an incredibly naïve statement."

In a third post, Paula quoted both of those and then added: 

"In 2006, Venezuela's GDP was $176bn; New Zealand's was $93bn (PPP figures
from the World Bank, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29);

"Venezuela's military expenditures are 1.5% of its GDP (2004); New Zealand's
1% (2002) (according to the CIA World Factbook,
http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcindex.htm)

"Venezuela became independent in 1811; New Zealand in 1907.

"The naive thing is to assume, without further investigation, that New
Zealand is 'imperialist' while Venezuela is 'semi-colonial'."

*  *  *

I leave aside the complete cluelessness that Paula displays about WHO are
the Venezuelans and WHO are the New Zealanders, which population is in the
main the descendants of indigenous people and African slaves and which is a
white, European colonial-settler state, what country's independence came
about through an entirely peaceful evolution of relations with the mother
country and what country had to smash the chains of colonialism by violent
revolution.

Paula's response to Louis saying that the suggestion that Venezuela might be
imperialist was "naïve" was to quote the PPP GDP figures for Venezuela,
contrasting them with those of New Zealand. SHE is the one who brought PPP
figures into this discussion: all I did was to call her on it, and the
transparently bogus way she used those figures.

She could, of course, have chosen countries with populations closer to
Venezuela's like Australia (20.4 million) or Canada (33 million), but since
the PPP GDP of Australia is close to $700 million, and Canada's well over $1
trillion, those would hardly have been very convincing.

I answered Paula with an explanation of WHY using PPP figures in this way
was wrong (because it hides from view by accounting ledgermain one of the
main ways imperialism exploits third world countries, through unequal
exchange) and not only that, showed how the CONTRAST between PPP figures and
current exchange rate figures for GDP illustrates this phenomenon. 

To which Paula responds with a disingenuous evasion: "I do not claim PPP
figures make the case that any particular country is imperialist" and
WHINING about how I'm setting up "a straw (wo)man" by talking about the PPP
issue when all she's doing is "asking that we conduct proper case studies of
each country."

And WHICH countries might THOSE be? Why places like Iran and Venezuela, to
name two, who just happen to be --what a coincidence!-- major oil producers
and in Washington's gun sights.

Joaquin