 Farmer working on land that was seized from a wealthy cattle rancher in Hato el Viejo, Venezuela. Photo: Howard Yanes/Reuters |
“We are not going to support capitalists so that they can exploit others. No! They will not see a single penny of this money, which is intended for cooperative-driven endogenous development,” Chávez told the nation on his Oct. 3 radio program ‘Alo Presidente.’ (BBC, Oct. 7)
This reform is meant to help change the balance of ownership in Venezuela and empower millions of poor and landless Venezuelans.
The Venezuelan working class is playing a key role in defending and strengthening this revolutionary process. Struggles in towns and cities throughout the nation are breaking out with workers leading the charge against greed and exploitation. Support for President Hugo Chávez and his progressive, anti-imperialist policies, like land reform, are increasing by leaps and bounds.
Workers are taking initiative to push ahead with the revolution.
In Morón, a city in the industrial state of Carabobo, workers in the Venepal paper mill are engaged in a fierce struggle for control of the mill. The owners have threatened to shut it down and sell to a Colombian multinational corporation because the workers dared to seize control of the mill and manage production on their own.
The Chávez government did not direct the workers to take over the mill. This welcome development is the product of heightened class consciousness and struggle on the part of the workers. The Bolivarian Revolution, led by Chávez, has emboldened workers across Venezuela and provided a catalyst for revolutionary action.
The mill workers are affiliated with the militant trade union federation UNT (National Union of Venezuelan Workers), which was created after the pro-Chávez labor forces were unable to wrest control of the reactionary Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV). Bureaucrats in CTV supported the failed coup attempt in April 2002 and the two-month lockout at PDVSA, the state-owned oil corporation.
Morón is a progressive, working class city. Support for Chávez in the August 15, 2004, referendum reached 73 percent in Morón. The struggle of the mill workers reveals the revolutionary potential of the Venezuelan working class.
The Venepal workers first occupied the mill in July 2003 in response to a shutdown by the owners, who declared bankruptcy. Rowan Jimenez, a trade union activist and member of the mill’s struggle committee, said “the workers organized production, broke all productivity records and reduced unproductive waste to a level never seen before.” (El Topo Obrero, Sept. 16, 2004)
The mill reopened under the old private owners after three months of worker control. Although the mill workers no longer completely directed production when the owners reasserted themselves, the union won important concessions, like payment of back wages and job security.
On Sept. 7, 2004, the owners ceased production again. The workers took over the mill once again. This time, they demanded that the mill be nationalized. The workers offered to run production for the benefit of educational missions and other government social projects that form the core of the ongoing Bolivarian revolutionary process.
The people of Morón and the labor unions have been organizing to help the mill workers win their demand. Alexis Polanco, a UNT leader in Morón, stated in a mass solidarity meeting: “This struggle must become a rallying banner for the whole of the revolutionary movement. … The struggle of Venepal is the struggle of all those who support this revolutionary process, of all the exploited, and we can win this struggle.”
More than 700 people joined a march in the streets of Morón on September 30 to support the Venepal workers.
The actions of the Venepal mill workers and the corresponding community solidarity signify the widespread success of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Deepening the revolution
The Venepal workers and millions of other Venezuelans support the presidency of Hugo Chávez. Working and poor people spoke loudly in favor of Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution when they voted overwhelmingly against the anti-Chávez referendum on August 15 of this year. They have been emboldened by Chávez’s reforms and government-sponsored political, social and economic programs.
After the August 15 referendum in Venezuela, Chávez declared, “The recall referendum was not just a referendum on Hugo Chávez, it was a referendum of the revolutionary process, and a majority of Venezuelans articulated their support! It is time to deepen the revolution!” The Bolivarian Revolution has entered a new phase.
The initial phase of the revolutionary process was political. In 1999, the Venezuelan people approved a new constitution by referendum. The constitution called for reorganization of the government by creating new ministries and reorienting old ones in a progressive direction. In 2000, the people overwhelmingly re-elected Chávez in country-wide elections.
The political phase led to the social phase of the Bolivarian Revolution. This phase included the creation and implementation of land reform, among other laws. The law on land and agricultural development, passed in November 2001, taxed idle land, limited the size of large landholdings and distributed land to landless peasants. Between that time and December 2003, more than 75,000 peasant families obtained title to 5 million acres of land, much of it operated by cooperatives.
The Chávez government also mobilized the military to support social programs in the poorest sections of the country. Between 2001 and 2004, the government mobilized projects, called missions, to improve the social conditions of Venezuela’s poor and working people. One of the most impressive missions, “Into the Neighborhoods,” involves 13,500 Cuban doctors and countless community volunteers who provide free healthcare to the poorest communities. Another, Mission Robinson, has taught 1.2 million people how to read.
The newest phase of the revolutionary process is economic. It focuses on what Chávez calls endogenous development-development from within. The core idea is to transform Venezuela’s vast natural resources into goods and services to meet people’s needs. It is a step toward economic sovereignty.
President Chávez announced the creation of the Ministry of Popular Economy on September 12. That same day, he put $170 million into “Vuelvan Caras,” a national social program that combats unemployment and currently has an enrollment of 287,000 people.
Land reform is part of the economic phase of the revolutionary process. According to a 1998 census, 60 percent of Venezuela’s farmland is owned by less than 1 percent of the population. (AP, Oct. 23, 2004) Chávez has prioritized reversing this historical inequity.
He has also noted that cooperation with this process is essential. In his Oct. 3 ‘Alo Presidente’ address, Chávez referred to the big landowners and factory owners who oppose the process: “Whoever does not work inside the endogenous development model will not get any aid.”
In regional elections held on Oct. 31, the Bolivarian Revolution increased its mandate to govern in the interests of the people. Chávez supporters won all but two of the country’s 23 governorships and 80 percent of the mayoral offices. In the wake of this electoral victory, the Venezuelan government called for a new joint-work stage and a meeting to discuss how to continue to deepen the revolutionary process.
 The masses defend the Bolivarian Revolution against U.S. interference, Feb. 29, 2004. Photo: Radio Nacional Venezuela |
Three times now the big business oligarchy has suffered defeats at the hands of Venezuela’s working and poor people who form the base of the Bolivarian Revolution: the failed coup in April 2002, the lockout of December 2002 through January 2003, and now the August 15, 2004 referendum.
But the opposition still remains a threat to the Bolivarian Revolution. In his October 17 radio show, “Alo Presidente,” Chávez said that he had received warnings of assassination attempts spurred by the gains of the revolutionary process: “We are undertaking a great, firm and sustained effort to change the capitalist exploitation model.”
The referendum victory also further delegitimized the U.S. ruling class’s efforts to undermine and demonize the Chávez administration and the Bolivarian process.
“The resounding victory was a blow to the Bush administration. … Now the United States has the challenge of constructing, from the ground up, a new relationship with Mr. Chávez.” (New York Times, Aug. 20, 2004.)
While the objectives of U.S. imperialism in Venezuela may have been derailed by the referendum, the threat has by no means disappeared. The St. Petersburg Times ran an article on August 25 entitled, “Chávez threatens U.S. influence more than ever.” President Bush declared on Sept. 10 that Venezuela was not standing strongly enough against human trafficking.
The U.S. ruling class is also hoping that Chávez will now ease his anti-imperialist stance. After the referendum, former president Jimmy Carter pleaded, “I would hope that President Chávez would now cool that anti-U.S. rhetoric.” Chávez, however, has not heeded this call.
U.S. imperialism and the bourgeois opposition in Venezuela will have to face the determination of the Venepal paper mill workers and the millions of Venezuelans who are deeply involved in the Bolivarian Revolution. The Chávez government and its supporters are determined to end poverty and exploitation in Venezuela.
