Some Thoughts on
the Venezuelan Concept of
Socialism of the XXI Century[1]
Maria Páez Victor
Friday, 4 October 2013
As a sociologist, one is urged to be as
transparent as possible of one’s own ideological perspectives. So as Bolivarian
Socialist I can say that my intellectual background is rooted in the
socio-economic analysis of Karl Marx -one
of the founders of my discipline- and the philosophical and ethical values of
Liberation Theology, a formative influence upon me, through the works of Gustavo
Gutierrez, Leonardo Boff, Jon Sobrino, Paulo Freire, Pope John XXIII, Monseñor
Oscar Romero, and my professors at the university in Caracas that I attended in
the late 60’s. This background of varied influences is rather suited to the particular
Socialism of the XXI Century that Venezuela is developing.
At the World Social Forum on the 30th
of January 2005, President Chávez famously stated that socialism was the only
way to defeat savage capitalism that was devastating the region. His words went
around the world. Many ridiculed him; even some on the left were disparaging.
But his people, the people of Venezuela and the Americas listened to this man
who had proven without a doubt that he was on their side. In the following year’s election his campaign slogan
was: “a vote for Chávez is a vote for Socialism” and astonishingly, 70% of the
voters agreed with him.
In a world where even left wing politicians
and thinkers hesitated to even talk about socialism, in a region where the
forces of the Cold War had done everything to demonize socialists and
communists in the eyes of the common people, Hugo Chávez dared to champion
socialism as the only road, the only alternative, to a better world. He unequivocally
told the USA that the Washington Consensus was unacceptable, and that
Venezuela seeks a different path. When visiting England, at a meeting with Labour
Party MPs he had the courage to tell them not to be afraid of the word
socialism and to stand up for it in their country.
Hugo Chávez managed to trigger a
discussion of socialism throughout the world, a concept that many thought was
dead or impossible. That is the kind of courageous man he was, not afraid of
controversy when he had strong reasons.
However, to define Socialism of the XXI
Century exactly is not an easy thing, as there is no definite blueprint. It is
coming into being in the actual political struggles in Latin America,
especially in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and yes, Cuba. To add to
the complexity, throughout the years, President Chávez said a number of things
that did not fit in a systematic way; hence there are diverse interpretations
to some of his thoughts and actions.
However a sketch can be made of what in
Venezuela is taken to be Socialism of the XXI Century, based on the words of
President Chávez, the Venezuelan Constitution, the principles of the United
Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and the policies and achievements of the
Bolivarian government.
The Bolivarian Revolution is basically
revolutionary socialism, although many would also say that it could equally be called
revolutionary democracy, because one of its main pillars is a participatory and
protagonist democracy. This is a crucial distinction, because Chávez believed
true socialism has to separate itself form any idea of state-ism, or
totalitarianism, just as liberalism – taken in its finest sense as the primacy
of the individual’s human rights as intended by the philosophers of the Enlightenment-
must separate itself from capitalism and the supremacy of market economics.
Democracy has to have the people actively involved, not just in elections, but
also in governing.
Chávez said: “ We have taken up the commitment of leading this Bolivarian Revolution
towards socialism, socialism of the XXI Century, that is based on solidarity,
fraternity, love, liberty, and equality… We must transform this type of
capitalism and advance towards a new socialism that must be constructed each
day.” (2006)
And the then Venezuelan Vice-President,
Jorge Rodríguez, has said: “ Let there be
no doubt about it, that our struggle is a struggle against all forms of
impunity, injustice and inequality. To struggle in favour of life, we have
confronted the most ignominious, most powerful empire humanity has known and we
have forced them to recognize our fundamental principles of self-determination,
sovereignty, and especially, our unwavering decision to remain on the side of
the people.” (28 Feb. 2007)
The Bolivarian Revolution does not purport
to be a one-fits-all pattern for other countries. There can be no one path,
each country must form its own revolution based on its conditions, needs and
political culture. Each country’s sovereignty must be respected.
There can be many roads to socialism.
Lenin himself said: “ Marxism is the
concrete analysis of concrete situations.”
And Karl Marx firmly understood that it is men and women who posses
things and fight battles, not static ideas, ideologies or postures. The self-creation of human beings is central
to Marx’s thought, the unity of the subjective and the objective factors, which
is present in all history; people developing and changing their relationship
with the world, nature, making history through their class struggles.
This is what Venezuelans are doing,
creating their own model. They have become class conscious, conscious of their
role in politics, in steering the country, in making a real participatory
democracy and hence, a real revolution. They have realized how the elites,
lackeys of imperialism, squandered Venezuela’s patrimony and kept them in
abject poverty, and in oppression for 40 years of fake “democracy”. And, that
the only way to have a government that is truly of the people is to have the
people as government. As President Chávez said: “The only way to empower the poor is to give power to the poor.”
The main tenets of the Socialist
Bolivarian Revolution, clearly enunciated by the PSUV are: equality, social
justice, anti-capitalism and anti-imperialist; it is humanistic, Indo-American,
Judeo-Christian, internationalist, a defender of the environment and human
rights, and dedicated to the working class
Its
intellectual roots are:
· From Europe:
the influences of Marx, Engels and Lenin in terms of the economy and the class
struggle.
· From Indo-American
roots: The communal harmony of the indigenous
peoples of the Americas that has endured and their struggles and those of
enslaved black people, against injustice, racism and oppression: as exemplified
by Guaicaipuro, Cuactemoc, Tupac Amaru, Leonardo Chirinos, among many others.
· From the ideals of
Latin American patriots: equality, freedom, wealth distribution, sovereignty and
integration of, for example of Simón Bolívar, José Martí, Simón Rodríguez,
Ezequiel Zamora, Artigas amongst others.
· From the Cuban
Revolution: the ideas and examples of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. Cuba’s solidarity
has been formidable. Chávez said:” Without
Cuba there would not be today a revolution like we now have in Venezuela” (La Habana, handing out Marti Prize of
UNESCO)
· From Judeo-Christian
social morality as exemplified in Christ’s messages, the first Christian
communities, and the social justice focus of Liberation Theology.
One of the
reason many Marxist in other countries have kept their distance from the Bolivarian
Revolution is because, while it accepts Marxist socio-economic analysis, it does
not confine itself within material determinism but in an inclusive way, makes room
for the spiritual dimension, incorporating the cosmologies of its indigenous
peoples and its mainly Christian people.
As Chávez famously stated (which did not amuse the conservative Venezuelan Church
hierarchy) " Christ was a socialist". He
also repeated warned that the oligarchy supporting “savage capitalism ” has the
strategy of promoting selfishness and combating altruism and universal
solidarity. This dimension includes Liberation Theology, which is based on the
principle that there is a moral duty to eradicate poverty and inequality since
its causes are the grievous sins of greed, selfishness, hedonism, cruelty, and
that our solidarity and first priority has to be foremost with the poor and
marginalized. Even Che Guevara was
convinced of this moral dimension, when he said we needed “ a new man” meaning
a new education and socialization based on values of solidarity and compassion.
Simón Bolívar’s influence is essential in
terms of what a Bolivarian government should be, he said:
“ The most perfect system of government
is that which provides its people the greatest amount of political stability,
the greatest social security and the greatest possible happiness”
This has been interpreted as the duty
of the government to provide education, health care, social security, housing, and
all the basic social needs, as fundamental social human rights, along with civic
human rights. Karl Marx did an extensive study of the French Revolution to try
to discern why, having started with such excellent principles, it ended up in
tyranny. He concluded that it was because it failed to solve the fundamental
problem of the redistribution of social wealth.
The 35 “Misiones”, diverse and creative
social programs aimed at attacking the social determinants of poverty were and
continue to be the instruments of the Bolivarian government to increase the
quality of life of the people, as well as all the fiscal and economic
regulations and measures to redistribute the oil revenues so they reach its
rightful owners, the people.
In terms of foreign policy, Bolívar’s
contribution has been twofold, first the need to defend national sovereignty,
and secondly, an urgent plea for the unity of Latin America, which he believed
was its only defense before the power of the United States.
Giving political form to this integration
dream of Bolívar has been one of the most amazing achievement of President Chávez.
It was his leadership that led to the establishment of an infrastructure of
Latin American integration composed of TELESUR, RADIO DEL SUR, ALBA, (new)
MERCOSUR, PETROCARIBE, PETROSUR, BANK OF ALBA, BANK OF THE SOUTH, UNASUR AND
CELAC. These institutions are displacing the imperialist instruments of OAS, IMF,
World Bank, CNN, and it has allowed the region to pull their natural and human
resources together to help one another, not just for commercial reasons, but to
meet their people’s needs. With a majority of progressive countries that are
enthusiastically embracing integration, Latin America is no longer the “back
yard” of the USA.
The main characteristics of Venezuela’s
Bolivarian government are:
·
New Constitution: A legal framework
solidly based on human rights: civic and social, including rights of the
indigenous peoples, women’s rights, and environmental rights. It re-designed
the government and closed the loopholes that allowed elites to reign. Many of
those elected to write it were themselves victims of the previous governments
that had horribly violated their human rights. Private property is respected,
but the Constitution also recognizes equally different types of property:
community property, (indigenous, campesinos, cooperatives), and public state
property.
·
Participatory
and protagonist democracy, which means that representatives of the people
cannot be decoupled from the direct expression and will of the people. The key
vehicles for the people’s participation in government are:
o
Communal
Councils and Communes. There are 31,670
communal council, 1,150 communes in the country plus 16,005 registered
citizens’ organizations. [2]They
are the backbone of the projects to enhance the local living standards of the
people. They have constitutional status and independent finances.
o
There is involvement of the social movements in policy
and elections; lately there Gran Polo
Patriótico, a coalition of parties and social movements, which includes the
Communist Party. It is the largest coalition, which garnered votes for
President Maduro in the 2013 election just above those of the PSUV.
·
Endogenous Economy: Venezuela is a petroleum economy, with the oddities and
problems that it entails. Typically an
oil economy is one where the government is a renter whose main function is to
distribute monies obtained from oil companies, not taxpayers, and where the private
sector is more a client of that rent rather than a producer of wealth, as in
other capitalist countries. Before the Chavez government, Venezuelan economy was
subservient to international capitalism and was particularly unjust and
inadequate. One result of the government’s economic policies is that today it
obtains as much revenue from taxes as it obtains from petroleum, a key
indicator of the redistribution of wealth that it has accomplished. Such as:
· Taking full control
of the state owned oil company, PDVSA, using the oil income to finance the
“social debt” the country owed to its people in terms of its welfare. Just by
controlling the oil the government tacitly controls the main means of
production.
· Diversifying the economy: breaking up monopolies, increasing trade with
many countries not just the USA, encouraging enterprises at the small and medium
level, and socialist enterprises, providing microcredits, promoting
cooperatives – of which there are about 108,000- and encouraging and supporting
worker management, worker takeover of factories, and backing unions and the
working class.
· Endogenous enterprises
are promoted, those geared toward internal markets, not international ones, so
the needs of the people are met.
· President Chávez
realized that petroleum itself could be a geopolitical tool, and therefore
established PETROCARIBE and PETROSUR, which integrated Venezuela in the region,
and which allowed the use of that key resource for the development of the
region, not just to support the over-consumption of rich nations.
·
The Environment:
the
dilemma for Venezuela is that petroleum extraction is polluting and is the
first step of the process that has led to climate change. President Chávez
openly talked about “when the oil will runs out”, being very aware of its un-renewable
quality. He said: petroleum is much too precious to be burning it for fuel and
gasoline. And the Bolivarians have increased awareness of the environment and
work with environmental groups. They couple environmental protection with the
political struggle of socialism vis-à-vis capitalism. The idea of Buen Vivir, or
Good Life is promoted to oppose consumerism.
The thrust is in the long term, to seek sustainable development, to protect
Venezuela’s rich biodiversity and prepare for an oil-less future.
The success of 15 years of Bolivarian
government can be ascertained by some of its main achievements:
·
It has the lowest
economic inequality in Latin America, according to the Gini Coefficient,
having reduced inequality by 54%; poverty was at 70.8% (1996) and it was
reduced to 21% (2012) and extreme poverty went from 40% (1966) to 7.3% (2012). [3]
·
It has eliminated illiteracy, and is the 3rd
country in the region whose population reads the most. 10% of its GDP goes into
education, has created 23 new universities and thousands of schools in its free
public system which serves 93% of children, including daycare for 73% of young
children. University education is free.[4]
·
In 1998, 21% of the population was malnourished; in 2010
malnutrition was at 8% and infant malnutrition at 2.9%. Schools provide nutritious
meals. The UN recognized that Venezuela is one of the first 18 countries that
has most fought against hunger and now 94.6% of homes eat 3 or more times daily.
(June 2013) A network distributes food at 40% discount, in 13,000 outlets in
the country.[5]
·
The public health care system is excellent, thanks to
Cuba, which includes subsidized drugs, eye and dental care. In 13 years the
government build 13,721 clinics and hospitals – whereas the governments of
previous four decades, managed to build only 5,081. Infant mortality was
reduced from 25/1000 (1990) to 13.9
(2010).[6]
·
Unemployment is down to 7,7%, it has low public and
external debt. Venezuela is among the 5 Latin American countries whose GDP has
grown consistently at 5%. The predictions of Venezuela’s economic collapse have
been grossly exaggerated by its enemies.[7]
·
Venezuela has jumped 7 places in the UN Human
Development Index.[8]
·
And Bolivar would be very pleased to know that Venezuela
ranks as the 5th happiness country in the world, tied with Finland, according
to the 2010 Gallup Poll (30 Feb. 2010), and according the UN World Happiness Report
of 2013, released last month, Venezuela ranks first, as having the happiest
population in South America.[9]
In conclusion, the Bolivarian Revolution is unique in that it obtained power not
with an armed struggle but through an electoral process. It is a peaceful
revolution, but not an unarmed one. It has been a non-violent, parliamentary
way towards socialism, not orchestrated by an elite but backed by the majority
in a very active way through citizen participation. It abandons Euro centrism –
that has been the prism through which Latin America and the Caribbean have been
judged consistently by North America and Europe - and it is a great challenge
to the hegemony of the USA and its allies, because it is a vibrant example of a
successful alternative to the neo-liberal economic status quo.
The USA has channeled, since 2002, $100
million to opposition groups in Venezuela and has been behind every
destabilizing maneuver against the government. [10]Currently,
they are attempting to discredit President Maduro’s government with a vicious
economic war, with the help the industrial and financial elites, - almost
identical to the one unleashed against President Salvador Allende’s government-
to try to bring down the government.
But they shall not succeed because the
Bolivarian government is solidly backed by the Venezuelan people and the loyal
armed forces who are committed to the legacy of the Eternal Comandante, Hugo
Chávez. And they are not alone. The Bolivarian Revolution is a beacon of light
for the peoples of Latin America and all the oppressed people of the world.
[1]
This article is based on a talk given to the Communist Party of Canada,
Davenport Club, Toronto, 4 October 2013
[2]
Data of the recent 2013 census of citizens’ organizations reported by the
Agencia Venezolana de Noticias (AVN), the Venezuealn news agency, 9 September
2013
[3] C.
Muntaner, J. Benach, M. Páez Victor, “The Achievements of Hugo Chavez”,
TRUTHOUT, 20 December 2012; UN Human Settlement Report (UN-Habitat) YVKE, 22
August 2012
[4]
Enrique Alfonso Rico Cifuentes,,”Venezuela en el caos?”, ARGENPRESS, 18
septiembre 2013
[5]
Cifuentes, op.cit.
[6]
Muntaner et al, op.cit.
[7]
Muntaner et al, op.cit.
[8]
Munganer et al, op.cit.
[9]
Gallup Poll published in the Washington Post: http://www.gallup.com/poll/147167/High-Wellbeing-Eludes-Masses-Countries-worldwide.aspx#1;
UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, World
Happiness Report for 2013, September 19, 2013
[10]
Eva Golinger, “US: #20 million for the Venezuelan Oppositon in 2012”, http://www.chavezcode.com/2011/08/us-20-million-for-venezeulan-opposition.html
Wikileaks: “15 million to anti-Chavez opposition groups
2004-2006; SibCI, 05/04/2013; http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad(view)90847-usaid-eeuu-venezuela-chavez-oposicion-ong
Dan Beeton, CEPR, “You Probably Didn’t Hear that
Venezuela was again ranked the Happiest Country in South America”,
Venezuelanalysis.com, 20 September 2013
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