[Marxism] A new interview with Stalin

[Walter Lippmann]

Nothing is good enough for these people. Only nationalization, and,
please, nothing partial, but absolutely, posolutely, unmistakably
everything, and, let's not forget, no compensation, nunca puhleeze.

Thanks to Socialist Action where this interview was linked. SA is,
of course bitterly opposed to the Bolivarian Revolution under the
leadership of President Chavez. Socialist Action has never had one
good word to say for Chavez. Now here we have the ironic weirditude
of a Proudly Trotskyist Group speaking highly of Stalin. 


Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California
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IV Online magazine : IV403 - August 2008
Venezuela

{excerpt}
 
The alliance with the employers is 
putting brakes on the march towards socialism

Interview
Stalin Peres Borges 

We reject this “alliance of national unity” because it is
counter-productive if we really want to advance towards socialism. 
It will even be reactionary if it is carried out, because it will weaken
the revolutionary process. We propose on the contrary an alliance of
popular power, of the workers and the exploited and oppressed sectors
of society, in order to resolve the question of state power. In the
second place, we need measures of economic policy that are consistent
with the discourse on the building of socialism and the working-class
nature of the government, measures which must respond to the real
problems and needs of working people.

Let us take the example of foreign trade. If there is an area in
which the state must have a monopoly of purchases and imports it is
certainly that of food. The nationalization of foreign trade and
particularly of the food sector is a fundamental tool for controlling
inflation.

Next, there is the question of wages. You cannot on the one hand
spend millions of dollars on incentives and subsidies to the
employers, without any control by the workers, while on the other
hand workers are affected every day by price increases. We must
install a periodic, monthly or quarterly indexation of wages in line
with inflation. Collective bargaining agreements concluded every two
years cannot respond to the situation.

One of the main issues whose gravity should be understood is that of
the control of finances, the banks and credit. The crisis of the
international economy will continue to deepen, just like the crisis
of the banking sector. In this context, it is not acceptable that
there does not exist any control on deposits in our country. We think
that the system of credit is a strategic sector just like basic
industries, oil, food, communications, etc. This sector cannot remain
in the hands of the private sector and even less of the
multinationals. At the very least, deposits would have to be
nationalized. Or else, the central bank should control and manage all
the money which is in the banking system.

http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1505
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FROM IN DEFENCE OF MARXISM

Declaration of the IMT on the nationalisation of the Banco de Venezuela  	  
By In Defence of Marxism   
Saturday, 02 August 2008 

Marxists welcome every step in the direction of nationalisation. 
At the same time, we point out that partial nationalisations are not
sufficient to solve the fundamental problems of the Venezuelan
economy. The nationalisation of the entire banking and financial
sector is a necessary condition for establishing a socialist planned
economy, along with the expropriation of the land owners in order to
carry out the agrarian reform, and the nationalisation of all big
private firms, under workers' control and management. This would
enable the mobilisation of the entire productive resources of
Venezuela to solve the most pressing problems of the people.
http://www.marxist.com/declaration-imt-on-nationalisation-banco-de-venezuela.htm

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     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Los Angeles, California
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
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