Now fresh presidential elections will be held probably in thirty days. Chavez’s appointed successor and PSUV candidate Nicolas Maduro will most probably win. Maduro has promised to maintain Chavez’s ‘revolutionary, anti-imperialist and socialist legacy’
In their millions, Venezuelan poured onto the streets of Caracas and other cities, towns and villages of the country to mourn and pay tribute to their iconic leader, Hugo Chavez, who championed the cause of the oppressed and the proletariat unforeseen in recent history.
But Chavez’s demise is not being mourned merely in Venezuela and Latin America, the shock of his death was palpable among the conscious workers and masses across the planet. While the mourners on the streets of Venezuela were chanting: “We are all Chavez” and “Chavez lives”, it is not accidental that there were jubilations in the bourgeois neighbourhoods of East Caracas as well as Miami. The reactionary escaulidos were openly celebrating.
The exuberance and glee of the imperialists, right-wingers and the ruling elites throughout the world was evident. Chavez, who had been fighting cancer for almost two years, died at a relatively young age of fifty eight. After serving fourteen years as president of Venezuela, the post for which he won several elections and referendums, he has left a legacy that will be a beacon of hope for generations of toilers and haunt the ruling classes and oppressors around the world.
Hugo Chavez, the son of a schoolteacher, was an army officer who tried to overthrow the regime of the vicious exploitative oligarchy in Venezuela through a military coup in 1992. The coup proved unsuccessful. He was arrested and imprisoned. After his release he campaigned on a programme demanding the emancipation of the oppressed. In 1998, he won the election. At that time he was not a declared socialist but more of a revolutionary democrat. However, as Chavez tried to carry out the tasks of the national democratic revolution, or the bourgeois revolution, and took measures to improve the lot of the Venezuelan masses, he was confronted by the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and imperialism. In April 2002, he was deposed by a military coup orchestrated by US imperialism and the Venezuelan oligarchy. But within 48 hours the coup was defeated by a spontaneous mass mobilisation that also won over the young army officers and soldiers. Chavez was brought back to Caracas and reinstated as the president by the revolutionary upheaval of the toiling classes.
It was a turning point for Chavez and the Venezuelan revolution. Now he embarked on the path to ‘twenty-first century socialism’. Massive reforms were carried out that lifted vast numbers of poor out of misery, poverty and squalor. Large sectors of industry, the economy and landed estates were nationalised, including imperialist monopolies and corporate capital interests. He was subjected to a vicious vilification campaign by the bourgeois media internationally.
Rejecting theories-fashionable-at-the-time such as the ‘end of history’ and ‘clash of civilisations’, he began espousing socialism and communism. His ideas proved infectious and caught hold of entire Latin America---even beyond.
But his popularity was not merely built upon hollow challenge to fashionable theories. The massive reforms he introduced transformed the lives of the people. Health and education were made free and universalised. Doctors began to dot, for the first time, every shanty town and village of the country. Poverty was reduced from 81 percent to 23 percent within a decade. The literacy rate shot up to 97 percent. Twenty-two new public universities were built in ten years.
In the ‘age of privatisation’, his first step was to nationalise the oil industry. This institution was responsible for funding the health sector directly. Cuba sent twenty-five thousand doctors and in return the oil supplies to Cuba were heavily subsidised. Women were granted an equal status. Consequently, Venezuela being a model swung Latin America to the left. In Bolivia, Ecuador and several other countries left-wing parties arrived at the helm and introduced poor-friendly reforms.
However, capitalism was not totally abolished and much remained in private hands, and this gave a foothold to the oligarchy and the imperialists. These reactionary forces tried to sabotage the economy and the reforms. They raised prices, hoarded essential commodities creating artificial shortages and carried out disinvestment. This in turn contributed to social problems, especially violent crime. But in every election and at every critical juncture, the masses came out in favour of Chavez and the revolution when it was threatened by the right-wing reaction and imperialism.
One of the main factors why this revolution has not achieved a decisive socialist victory is the lack of a Leninist revolutionary party, the necessary instrument for the proletarian vanguard for completing a victorious revolution. Although Chavez did create the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) from diverse left groupings, it was not a cadre organisation with unanimity of ideology and strategy. In any case, a Bolshevik Leninist party cannot be created from above while one is already in state power. Without the abolition of capitalism a workers’ democratic state cannot be formed. There are lots of opportunist elements that enter the parties in power for perks and privileges from the state.
Now fresh presidential elections will be held probably in thirty days. Chavez’s appointed successor and PSUV candidate Nicolas Maduro will most probably win. Maduro has promised to maintain Chavez’s ‘revolutionary, anti-imperialist and socialist legacy’. But the PSUV is not a homogeneous party and the imperialists will try to use the right-wing elements in the party to reverse the reforms and sabotage the revolution.
The working class and the rank and file must ensure that this is not allowed to happen. What is needed, are not sentimental speeches, but to put into practise the socialist programme that Chavez always advocated: the abolition of capitalism through the expropriation of the bankers, landlords and capitalists. This is the authentic legacy of Chavez. The revolution he started has to be completed. The Marxist current in the PSUV will have to play a decisive role of leading this endeavour. It will generate a socialist revolutionary wave that will engulf Latin America with revolutionary repercussions far beyond.
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Lal Khan is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and International Secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at |
