China Worker: Venezuela: Where are Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution heading?

20.7.12

China Worker: The Current Political Context

Johan Rivas, Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI in Venezuela)

The Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution has once again reached a crossroads in the forthcoming Presidential elections. For the first time in a long time there is a real electoral threat by the right wing. The growth of the right wing, organised and ‘united’ under a loose electoral formation, united by one common objective - to defeat Chavez - reflects the failures and weaknesses of the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’. The biggest weakness since Chavez came to power has been the failure to overthrow capitalism and introduce a genuine democratic socialist alternative.

There have been key moments during the last 13 years when this would have been possible. Although today raised by the Chavez government only as a radical discourse empty of content, the working class and the majority of ordinary working people in various moments have actively raised the need for and demanded a socialist transformation of society. Unfortunately, these demands were and continue to be held back or played down by sectors of the government in whose interest it is to maintain a capitalist system and their own personal wealth and power.