No finished governmental programme could be drawn up because of internal differences both within the P-SOL and between this and the other parties of the Front.
Another political limitation of Heloisa's campaign was that she spoke much more in the first person than as the representative of a political project. To some extent, this was inevitable and the logic of presidential contests.
Nonetheless, to win more than 6.5 milion votes. or 6.85% of the valid votes, in the historical context of Brazil and the world today, is a very impressive result.
The overall vote for the PSOL and the Left Front did not keep pace with Heloisa's. Where we had strong candidates for state governorsnips, we managed to win more than 4%. But in most states our candidates got barely 1% or une vole, or even less.
In the elections for the National Assembly, the PSOL got 1.4% and elected three federal deputies. But we lost part of the political capital we brought from the PT - fundamental economic and social questions, the neo-liberal model.
Secondly, he set up an arc of alliances that took in a large part of Brazil's most right-wing parties. It was not therefore a question of a candidate who represented a left block.
However the P-SOL did not campaign in favour of casting a blank vote. Its position was a way of respecting the views of those who had voted for Heloisa and now felt inclined to vote for Lula.
The P-SOL now needs to think carefully about exactly what its political project is. Any project which aims to win hegemony and open the way for a transition to socialism, will have to face two big challenges.
Firstly, it will have to reorganise the political intervention of the organised industrial working class and active sections of the middle class and inteligentsia - combining earlier aspirations around growth, jobs and wages with new issues around ecology, sexuality and global Liam Mac Uaid The second Hands Off Venezuela conference - and the second that I've attended -took place on November 4. It was a breath of fresh air when contrasted to the highly stagemanaged events that are all the rage on the British left.
There were about two hundred delegates, roughly the same size as last year but with a rather younger age protile. There has just been a tour of universities which seems to have gone well.
Diana Raby from Liverpool University was interesting, observing that this is the first experience in the post-Stalinist period which shows that the left can come to power.
The Chávez regime has been progressively taking control over sectors of the state apparatus from the bourgeoisie, in particular the army, the judiciary and to some extent the police.
This in contrast to other Latin American countries where guerrilla movements have either been defeated or, like Colombia, have contributed to decades of misery. She was very clear on the distinction their conditions of life.
He added the essential qualification that the revolution has not yet been completed and its fate is still in the balance.
The powers of the old state apparatus has still to be decisively broken and that sooner or later a showdown with the old ruling class is inevitable and must be prepared for. I agree with this.
Supporters of Socialist Resistance continued our gallant tradition of being on the losing side in the major political debate, though here at least it was a real debate. Supporters of Socialist Appeal consistently make the point that the best way to defend the Venezuelan revolution is to fight for socialism in Britain. This is true and that's what socialist organisations are supposed to be for.
However supporting the theory of permanent revolution should not be a requirement for membership of a solidarity organisation and the line was becoming very blurred between being in a solidarity organisation is a desire to solidarise with the revolution or an objection to imperialist the two things.
This was expressed in the discussion around the motion that HOV support John Mc Donnell's campaign. SR supports it. I'd love to see him win. It would mean that we are in a pre-revolutionary situation. The trouble is that it's not the function of solidarity organisations to take sides in internal debates in political parties.
Most Brownites will be hostile to the Venezuelan revolution and virtually every Mc Donnell supporter will defend it. That's not the point.
The only requirement for weing in a solidarily organisation is a desire to solidarise with the revolution or an objection to imperialist interference.
We lost the vote by a large margin with some surprising people not agreeing with us but I still got elected onto the HOV steering committee.
I lost the race to publish the first account of the conference to Louise at Stroppyblog by allowing my social life to get in the way.