[Marxism] "Hugo Chavez faces political crisis as allies desert him"

[Fred Fuentes]

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 1:04 PM, Fred Feldman <ffeldman at bellatlantic.net> wrote:
> Loss of allies is given as national democratic revolutions proceed and as
> class aspects of it come more to the fore, as the must at some point. So my
> submitting this article is not an expression of opinion, but a request for a
> rounded picture of where things are headed.
>

Michael Lebowitz: The spectre of socialism for the 21st century

..........Three years ago, I gave a talk in Venezuela called
``Socialism doesn't drop from the sky'', which has been very widely
circulated in Venezuela (largely because Chavez has talked about it a
number of times on television); it is also a chapter in my book, Build
it Now: Socialism for the 21st Century. One aspect of the title of
that essay refers to the obvious point that socialism obviously is
necessarily rooted in particular societies -- which is to say that it
must be developed in societies with particular histories. To
understand the possibilities for success in Venezuela, you have to
know something about the nature of that society.

Now, I can't give you a complete, balanced account of Venezuela in the
time left. So, I'll just stress just some of the characteristics which
suggest significant obstacles to building socialism for the 21st
century in Venezuela.

When you talk about Venezuela, you have to begin with oil. Not only
the effect of oil exports upon the hollowing-out of the economy such
that local manufacturing and agriculture effectively disappeared as
the result of an exchange rate which made it much cheaper to import
everything rather than to produce it domestically. It's an extreme
example of what is called the ``Dutch disease'': despite rich
agricultural land, Venezuela was importing 70% of its food. So,
massive migration from the countryside to live in the cities, e.g., in
the hills surrounding Caracas -- 80% of the population is urban, maybe
10% engaged in agriculture. And as for industry, it was largely import
processing -- processing food, assembling cars and assorted other
import-related sectors. Oil production itself doesn't generate many
jobs, so we have to think about unemployment, an informal sector
(about 50% of the working class) and poverty -- extreme social debt
and inequality.

Add to that economic effect, the effect upon state and society. Unlike
the classic picture of a state resting upon civil society, upon the
social classes, in Venezuela, civil society rests upon the state.
Contrary to Engels' sneers at Tkachev, in Venezuela the state indeed
has been suspended in mid-air -- or, more precisely, suspended upon an
oil geyser. Thus, the state has been the supreme object of desire --
or, more precisely, access to the state for the purpose of gaining
access to oil rents has been a national preoccupation. And, in this
orgy of rent seeking within a poverty-stricken society -- a culture of
corruption and clientalism, parasitic capitalists who don't invest, a
labour aristocracy with trade union leaders who sell jobs, a party
system which functions as an alternating transmission belt for
elections and access to state jobs, a state which mostly does not work
because it is filled with incompetent sinecurists but, when it does,
is completely top-down. These are just a few characteristics worth
mentioning.

All of this was present in Venezuela when Chavez was elected in 1998.
And, you would have to be truly naïve to think that it disappeared
when Chávez came to office. On the contrary, it pervades Chavism --
the corruption, the clientalism, the nature of the state, the nature
of the party (including the new party – PSUV -- currently being
built), the gap between the organised working class and the poor in
the informal sector -- it's all there! And, you will recognise that it
is entirely contrary to everything in the concept of socialism for the
21st century.

Socialism doesn't drop from the sky. It is necessarily rooted in
particular societies. And, these two souls which currently beat in the
breast of Venezuela are clearly at war. Chavez often cites [Italian
Marxist Antonio] Gramsci about how the old is dying and the new cannot
yet be born (although he leaves out the part about how a great many
morbid symptoms appear at that time). Precisely because of these two
opposed tendencies, when I write about Venezuela, I always stress the
internal struggle within Chavism as the main obstacle to the success
of the Bolivarian Revolution. Obviously, it is not the only obstacle
-- there is the existing oligarchy, the latifundists (who are the most
reactionary and violent part of the opposition), the existing
capitalists in their enclaves of import processing, finance and the
media (which has been their main weapon) and, of course, US
imperialism. Not only was the US complicit in the 2002 coup which
briefly removed Chavez and in the oil lockout and sabotage later that
year, but it also funds and trains the opposition, orchestrates the
international media blitz against Venezuela (currently with the
assistance of magical laptop computers produced by its Colombian
clients), and it is in the process of bringing the US navy back to
patrol the waters off Venezuela.

Imperialism is no paper tiger. And, clearly, solidarity with the
Bolivarian process is essential by those outside the country who value
the concepts and developments I have described. However, I stress the
internal obstacles to socialism within Chavism -- the emerging new
capitalists (the ``bolibourgeoisie''), the high officials (both from
military and vanguardist traditions -- it is difficult to see the
distinction) who are opposed to power from below in workplaces and
communities (and, thus opposed, in this respect, to human development
and revolutionary practice), the party functionaries and nomenklatura.
Why do I stress this? Because I consider this the ultimate
contradiction of the revolution; and, I think the struggle between
this ``endogenous right'' (the right from within) and the masses who
have been mobilised is the ultimate conflict which will determine the
fate of the Bolivarian Revolution.......... read the rest at
http://links.org.au/node/503