The Working Class Needs Communist Workers’ Power
On August 10, the Venezuelan Constituent Assembly was elected and declared to be the maximum authority in Venezuela. This is the political power that will reform the constitution.
The struggle between the capitalist opposition (supported by the US imperialists) and the Chavista capitalists (supported by the Russian and Chinese imperialists) is increasingly intense. However, the material basis of capitalism remains intact and unquestioned by either side. The limits of “21st Century Socialism” are becoming clearer, offering some small reforms to the working class to keep private property, exploitation and capitalism alive.
Real political power will only be forged through the masses mobilized for communism, on their road to building a society without exploitation, without money, or banks. That is, a society without bosses or wage slavery, where everything will be produced collectively to meet the needs of all workers and their families.
The Constituent Assembly is only one more attempt of “21st Century Socialism” to stay alive. This has been adding defeat after defeat of “leftist” politicians throughout Latin America. This is not for the reasons that the reactionary propaganda wants to paint, but instead because of its reformist program. They deny even the old principles of socialism; from the beginning, they distanced themselves from Marxist-Leninist processes. And history shows us that even the most radical processes of socialism (Russia and China) failed to advance towards communism, but instead built state capitalism.
Our confidence that the masses will accept communist ideas and make them their own and the decision to eliminate the material basis of capitalism immediately after an armed revolution is what sets us apart from all previous processes. This will ensure the victory of communism.
Constituent Assembly or Communism
Since the beginning of Chavismo (the rule of President Hugo Chavez, starting in 1999), the Constituent Assembly was justified as a way of seeking dialogue with the ultra-right Venezuelan opposition. The new Constituent Assembly has 500 assembly members, of which 364 represent specific territories and 173 represent different sections (mostly workers, students and community leaders with five positions for entrepreneurs). President Nicolás Maduro states that the three objectives of this Constituent Assembly are “to achieve peace, legal security and perfecting and expanding the constitution of 1999.” Some more militant sectors demand that the assembly members make decisions to stop the economic crisis and to advance to a socialist revolution. There are many illusions about a very fragile project.
The Constituent Assembly consolidates the power of Maduro and strikes a blow at the opposition, but it does not have the capacity or the intention to eliminate the material base of capitalism, which is the cause of the crisis that the working class in Venezuela is suffering.
Only the mobilization of the working class masses for communist revolution will make it possible to put an end to the capitalists’ state power and put the means of production and control of the new society into the hands of the communist masses. This real power is through a communist party where the masses are directly involved in the decisions we will have to make to fight for and organize communist society.
Inter-Imperialist Rivalry in Venezuela
The political and economic crisis in Venezuela is the result of the intensification of the rival imperialists’ struggle for control of this oil-rich territory. Trump said there is a possibility of military intervention in Venezuela, while Russia has sent military officers in support of Maduro’s government. This is not surprising. The country’s oil reserves are the largest in the world, even greater than those of Saudi Arabia. This is a huge attraction for the imperialists.
Maduro and Chavismo, rather than being at the forefront of a revolutionary process, defend and maintain capitalist economic interests that in no way benefit our class. The direct conflict between the bosses in a world war is inevitable. The masses have no choice but to organize ourselves. Workers and soldiers in Venezuela will be decisive to in turning this scenario in our favor.
We don’t need to go down the wrong road again. The direct struggle for communism is increasingly necessary in the eyes of thousands and thousands of people. Every member of the party has to strengthen their commitment to our project. Each of us must fight to organize every day for Communism. Spreading our ideas and our party will make possible the elimination of the roots of capitalism and the building of the communist society that we deserve.
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