The Bolivarian Revolution

Here we publish the speech by Jose Antonio Hernandez, the Venezuelan activist from Caracas who was in Scotland for a speaking tour. Jose Antonio looks at the roots of the Bolivarian Revolution and its development, illustrated by his personal account of the revolutionary events.

 The Bolivarian Revolution was born out of the contradictions of capitalism in Venezuela, especially in the last two decades of the 20^th century. Let's have a look at some examples of those contradictions; for instance what happened on February 18^th 1983. This day is known as "Black Friday". That was the day when our country, with its human wealth and all its natural resources, was declared poor.

Of course we were a poor country long before that, but a deep economic crisis produced a recession and a massive wave of lay-offs in many companies and different industries.

We were living under governments that were puppets of imperialism, in alliance with the Venezuelan oligarchy, like the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez which implemented the plans of the IMF - his government was the worst of all.

It was on February 27, 1989 when, overnight, the people woke up to a nasty increase of around 100% in the price of basic products. Transport suffered an increase of between 200% and 300%.

A strong feeling of disgust went through the most vulnerable layers of society, who took the streets of Caracas to demonstrate their indignation and to fight for their rights - the most important rights of all - the right to live with dignity, like human beings.

The answer of the government was to send in the army with the motto "shoot first, and ask later". According to official figures there were about 2500 people killed, though this of course is an underestimate. In reality more than 5000 people were killed. This day is known as "the Caracazo", and is engrained in the memory of our people. It was an event that shocked Venezuelan society and had an important echo in the army.

This event was the catalyst for the development of the Bolivarian movement that had been brewing within the army for a period of time. It provoked a premature Bolivarian uprising on February 4^th, 1992 under the leadership of lieutenant Hugo Chávez Frías. This movement did not triumph but managed to rally up to 12 battalions of the army.

We can highlight an anecdote, in a building called Naiquatá (near where I live) in a popular neighbourhood.  There were revolutionary soldiers in hiding that decided to surrender (as Chavez said "for the moment") and give up their weapons - that it was time to stop a possible bloodbath and that we will live to fight tomorrow.  The moment the soldiers came out of the building there was a big rally of men and women with red flags and placards singing revolutionary slogans and the national anthem. This was the seed of what is happening today in Venezuela. They saw in the courageous soldiers a hope in the current chaos and anarchy that dominated the country. They were the ones that faced up to the government that attacked peasant and working class families.

Later on during 1995 and 1996 another deep economic crisis provoked the closure of one the most important banks of Latin America - the "Banco Latino". It was during the government of Rafael Caldera. During this time Chavez was released from prison along with the other generals involved in the coup attempt.

Chavez then started a tour of the country, and made his first visit to Cuba where he met Castro for the first time. Chavez stands a Presidential Candidate. Then a campaign of attacks starts against him, with accusations like he wants to install a dictatorship like Cuba or that he is a mad communist, when he was not even talking of socialism at the time. Nevertheless he wins the elections with a large majority.

The bourgeoisie tries to buy him off, and when they realise that this is not going to happen, they start a campaign of attacks against him and the revolution. This leads to the counterrevolutionary coup on April 11^th, 2002 and the oil sabotage and lock-out against PDVSA, the oil company, that is the heart of the Venezuelan economy.

On April 11^th when the opposition, with the private media at the forefront, manage to mobilise a big crowd, they re-route the demonstration to the presidential palace where a big crowd of men and women were demonstrating in defence of the revolution. They wanted to create an open clash to destabilise and to oust the President from the palace, as they succeeded in doing.

Hugo Chavez decided to hand himself over and declare that what is happening is a coup d'etat - the opposition generals having threatened to bomb the presidential palace. It was the same tactic that they used against Allende in Chile in 1973.

The next day (April 12) there was a great silence in the streets, in the workplaces, in the schools... throughout the masses.

During that day the president of the bosses organisation, Mr Carmona Estanga, proclaims himself the President of Venezuela along with the rest of the opposition leaders, and they start to dissolve all the constitutional powers, the Supreme Court of Justice, the National Assembly, etc.

They began a campaign of persecution against all those MP's, governors and mayors that were not in favour of the coup - there were arrests and some executions of trade union leaders and community organisers.

There is another anecdote that I consider important, when in the night of the 12^th, morning of the 13^th, I hear on the radio that 20 people have put a contingent of the National Guard out of operation. That was clearly a lie. In the background there was a lot of noise. In reality the National Guard was going from the state of Vargas along the Coast to Caracas.

I left the house very early and in Catia square (where I am from) there were already hundreds of people clashing with the metropolitan police. The whole of Caracas was blocked by midday and the masses were heading to the presidential palace at Miraflores. Through the length and breadth of the country the masses were taking over barracks and government buildings. This pushed the more revolutionary wing of the army to declare the necessity of rescuing Chavez, who was locked up on a little island called Orchila.

While all this was happening the media was broadcasting cartoons such as "Tom and Jerry" and the like. The order to the media was to block any sympathisers of the revolution. Then the media companies were also taken over by people.

In only 48 hours the oppressed masses on the move were able to smash and overthrow the imperialist coup and its local lackeys. This has only one name: Revolution.

Another important defeat for the counterrevolution was the failure of the oil lock-out and sabotage of the country's oil company. When the managers decided to close it down and threatened the workers if they tried to re-open it, they managed to reduce the production of oil to nil, which harmed the country in a big way. However the workers started to open it up with the help of retired workers, and through workers´ control they manage to rescue it.

Petrol was in short supply. The words of an old man express how the people were feeling: "I can cook with wood or charcoal, but Chávez is not going!"  Once again the opposition was defeated.

The opposition has also suffered nine electoral defeats. The two most important were at the recall referendum on August 15^th, 2004 (which Chávez won with 60% support) and the election to the National Assembly where the opposition, with a weakened base, was not able to rally enough support to get elected.  They decided to boycott the elections - claiming fraud. This did not work and now they do not have any representatives in parliament.

All this has generated a very favourable balance of power for the revolution. The practical experience has led the president to declare that the third way is a lie and that the only alternative path to capitalism is socialism. This has an enormous importance because it reflects an advance in consciousness, which is very important.

He said once, "our stated aims in the constitution cannot be achieved under capitalism, we must transcend the limits of capitalism". He is talking about the fight against the monopolies, the big estates and the private banks. 

Especially after the victories over the opposition like the ones I have talked about - April 11, the oil sabotage, the lock-outs - important social plans were started. They are the "misiones".

For instance, there is Misión Robinson which allowed Venezuela to be declared an illiteracy free country and produce a network of primary and secondary schools.

Misión Barrio Adentro, with the assistance of our brothers and sisters of Cuba, has allowed us to supply basic medical care to the most remote corners of the country. Now Mision Barrio Adentro II aims to create popular clinics and diagnostic centres with the latest technology absolutely free.

Mision Mercal guarantees good quality food at cost price to 15 million people out of a total population of 26 million. Mision Cultura, Mision Ribas and Sucre are other funded programs, which include the creation of more than 3,000 Bolivarian schools and the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, with no taxes.

All these social plans mean that the living conditions of the most vulnerable layers of society have improved, but there is something even more important than that. Something that the people really thank Chávez for - that he has awakened the political life of millions of Venezuelans. They see life through different eyes, they question the existing social order that is the root cause of the poverty and misery in society. They are now aware that it is not enough to just be aware of it, but to change, to transform their reality.

All this alongside their own victories have created a mood of confidence in their own strength. That is why the masses support Chávez. That is why they defend him from the oligarchs and from the attacks of the right-wing. Because he has not sold out and he stands up against US imperialism the people now feel that not only can they face up against US imperialism, but that they can defeat it. Chavez is the only one that has given an alternative to all the social problems and the existing contradictions in society. He has always stuck with the masses in the most difficult moments. Whatever his critics might say, he has never abandoned the movement.

Chávz himself has said more than once that it is a great mistake to personalise the revolution in one man. He has said, "that he is a weak straw pushed by the revolutionary hurricane".

If the bourgeoisie was worried, now they are even more worried because the working class is putting its imprint on the Revolution in a conscious and organised way.

What is known as co-management in the current context of class struggle, where the masses are on the move and the revolution is advancing, has a very important meaning. Chávez has called for "the revolution within the revolution" and for the "deepening of the process". This means that co-management is a threat to the privileges and interests of the rich and powerful.

Despite the impossibility of the formalists seeing the real meaning of revolutionary co-management, this is not the same reformist co-management that has been implemented in other places.

This co-management is oriented towards workers´ control, such as in INVEPAL, INVEVAL, INVETEX and ALCASA (four factories under workers´ control and which are well-known in Venezuela - Ed). All this has its origins in the struggle of the workers of Venepal, now INVEPAL, when they took it 4 years ago. Formalists in our movement said that nationalisation under workers´ control was impossible because the government would not defend such a demand.

We defended that it was possible because the government did not have one sole policy on that issue. What was needed was to extend the struggle and to link it up with the peasants in the countryside to deepen the revolutionary process.

The key to deepening the process are the links between the struggles in defence of the Bolivarian Revolution, and how these struggles were won.

We felt great joy and enthusiasm after the victory of those workers, but it was not a sign of joy but to point out the way forward to the rest of the movement - to be able to have a concrete plan of action to unite the working class for a victorious campaign of factory occupations.

President Hugo Chávez has demonstrated himself to be an honest man and a great revolutionary, but on his own he cannot make a triumphant revolution, and he is aware of that. That is why the tasks of the Marxists are to defend and deepen the co-management campaign and lead it to self-management of the economy by the workers.

The workers of those factories are aware that in order to advance it is necessary to nationalise the principal components of the economy that are still in the hands of the ruling class. The monopolies, the big estates and the private banks, with all their economic power, are used to finance the attacks of mercenary groups against the revolution. We have recently seen attacks by paramilitary groups in some cities. They were armed and some university rectors have allowed those groups to use university laboratories to develop Molotov cocktails. Also in the countryside there is a terror campaign, where more than 200 peasants have been killed.

But we are sure about the victory of the revolution. The victory of the factory occupations provoked a domino effect. With a new wave of factory occupations and by the initiative of the workers a new organisation has been created. The FRETECO, the Revolutionary Front of Workers of Factories Occupied and under Co-management, the main aim of which is to coordinate the different conflicts, which at the end of the day are all part of the same struggle.

Using this as a way to unify the rest of the working class, workers from occupied factories, under co-management and on struggle are the first battalion in this war - they know that to achieve victory they need the rest of the army to follow. That army is the rest of the working class.

Now the revolution depends on whether the working class will place itself at the forefront of the revolutionary struggle with the oppressed and exploited to achieve socialism. This is the key for the victory of the Bolivarian Revolution.

The Bolivarian Revolution can only survive as long as the different struggles around the world are successful, in other words, the World Socialist Revolution. To use an expression of Chávez, "capitalism has to fall internationally or it won't fall".

Long Live the struggle of the exploited and oppressed because they will change the world!

Long live the World Socialist Revolution because the world belongs to all peoples!

We must support Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution!

Workers of the world unite!