Investigating Venezuela's Grassroots lain Bruce, The Real Venezuela: Making Socialism in the Twentieth Century Pluto Press, 2008
Tal Truee THE REAL VENEZUELA
Makin Salaam ate 1a Coun REVIEWED BY ANDREW KENNEDY In March, President Chávez has ordered troops into rice mills across Venezuela to safeguard production of a food staple. Private companies have created shortages because they do not want to supply cheap rice to the poor. In response, Chávez has ordered the expropriation of one multinational-owned rice mill, and has threatened other plants with the same fate Perhaps we are seeing the beginning of a long-postponed polarisation. Not simply political this time, but economic, between those who want an economy based on profit, and those who want an economy based on need. If so, what will be the role of mass mobilisation, of democratic participation? Or, if things escalate, will the government simply continue to order in the army? lain Bruce has conducted interviews with activists all over Venezuela in order to discover examples of struggles for democratic control over resources, and to assess what part such struggles can play in the social conflicts that continue to unfold The value of this book lies in this emphasis on what is happening at the grassroots. It's only after reading about these experiences that we are invited at the end of each section, to consider theoretical questions about the role of the state, the working class and the poor "Hm, you seem to start with empirical reality and derive your theory from that," I said to lain at the booklaunch. "What a terrible method!" he responded. In fact, although it is not immediately obvious, the book is conceived from the beginning within a Marxist framework, but it's refreshing to find a pedagogical method that is so open and undogmatic. "There is no response lain begins, not with the industrial working class in the 'normal' Marxist way, but with the urban poor in the Caracas barrio of Carapita. In 2002, with government encouragement, they formed land committees so that shanty-dwellers could acquire title to their plots. Thousands were to benefit from such claims across the country, but only in cases where the land was already public. In Carapita, on the other hand, the shanties were built on private land. Unfortunately, the Bolivarian Constitution of 1999 recognises private property as a essential right. Faced with endless legal machinations, the land committees in Carapita were
31 effectively demobilised. "No one is going to waste their time if there is no respuesta" [response from above], says one activist. Nevertheless, even these failed committees became a starting point for later forms of community selforganisation. Co-ops - the way forward? lain surveys examples of 'endogenous' (home-grown) development, where money from PDVSA, the governmentcontrolled oil corporation, is channelled to co-operatives, with varying degrees of success. lain cites Marx to argue that coops show how workers can run society differently. But, as he says, how can co-ops function in an economy still based on the law of value, on profit rather than need? He also considers the occupations of the Vestey ranch by the landless. The state eventually responded by buying (not expropriating) some of this land from Lord Vestey and giving it to the landless. Corruption and bureaucracy mean however that progress in breaking up big landholdings has been extremely slow and piecemeal. ALCASA -'socialism in one factory' A key chapter focuses on the experience of workplace democracy in a crucial industrial location, the state aluminium plant of ALCASA. The new managers elected by the workers ensured a big increase in plant efficiency, and hours lost to strikes fell! The workforce could discuss all factory operations; but this was only "socialism in one factory. To succeed, the experiment needed to spread to the rest of the sector, but this met with resistance from management at other plants and from the right wing of the Chavista movement. Hence the right won back control of the ALCASA union. In spite of this, the management are still partially elected and subject to checks by the Democracy, party and state Lastly, lain focuses on the new communal councils, each representing 200-400
They show, he argues, that it is possible to bypass the machinery of the existing state and begin to exert local political and economic sovereignty. He notes that the councils have been
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Please pay NatWest, Temple Bar branch, PO Box 10720, Strand, London WC2R 1AL, Sort code 60-80-08, for the credit of Respect Renewal Conference, A/c No 32 much more successful and widespread than the sporadic and short-lived attempts at workplace democracy represented by ALCASA. But, as lain says, the pro-Chávez mayors have obstructed such projects at every turn. Only at this point does lain raise the issue of 'the party', and he does it in such a way that it seems to flow naturally out of the discussion. A key problem, he says, is the "absence of a political organisation or party capable of conceiving, developing and implementing policies of change". As one activist remarks "When Chávez speaks, we listen. But we don't listen to those around him". This is the paradox, as lain points out in his conclusion: "The vision of a transition to socialism based on grassroots control", yet promoted by "a single, omnipresent, charismatic leader". lain questions the notion that there has to be one decisive moment of rupture with the old capitalist state, or that all the projects to devolve power to the people are inherently limited by the existing structures. 1 Respect This way to join Respect! Illembership form Name Address
Post code Phone(s) Email Return to Respect Renewal c/o PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU Surely, he argues, struggles to extend democracy have the potential to pose a revolutionary challenge to the status quo over an extended period. They educate and prepare the masses to exercise power and thus make decisive shifts of power at state level much more likely. But the masses need their own political instrument, which is why lain returns in the last few pages to the question of the party, asking whether the United Socialist Party (PSUV) can take up the struggle for real popular sovereignty, or whether it will fall under institutional domination. For those used to sweeping and magisterial analyses of the kind offered by Alan Woods, this book may be unsatisfactory. But it offers crucial evidence to support Woods' argument that there has to be "a revolution in the revolution". And rightly, in my view, it emphasises the role of democratic struggles in a way that Woods does not. It could perhaps give more emphasis to the role of organised workers. Overall, however, this is an extremely valuable contribution to the debate. Standing order mandate Amount £... Date of 1st payment: Name of bank: .. Address of bank:. Account holder's name: A/c No: Signed
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