00:03 John Riddell: Now, another thing about Syriza [that] we have to consider is: are there really the objective conditions for a socialist revolution and the establishment of a workers' state in Greece, as things stand in that country? I'm not going to try to answer that, but it's got to be considered. Could you win a majority of Greek workers today for a break with the European Union, with all that entails, with all the problems for them that that entails — in terms of, like, going into other countries to work? Okay. I'm not sure that's true.
00:34 I'm not sure it's true in Venezuela either. And here I thought the comments by Suzanne were significant: that is, the fundamental axis of what they did in Venezuela was Bolivarian — that is, to unify the peoples of Latin America against imperialism and for their sovereignty in that region, so that they could pursue their different experiments in social change. Now, that Bolivarianism is not referring to something that happened two hundred years ago, but to the urgent situation they are in today.
01:08 And if you pursue that line of thought, it explains a lot about Venezuela. They're trying to create the material basis for a genuine and successful socialist revolution in that part of the world, through the unity of different peoples who can combine their economic foundations and strengths together and make a go of it. There's a lot could be said to explain that.
01:08 But one of the big problems in Venezuela is the limitations of that process over the last decade. Yes, it has gone forward on some fronts, more diplomatic, but has not gone forward as much as one could hope on the front of mass struggles, and that creates a problem in Venezuela.
01:38 Now, I raise these two questions of Venezuela and Greece because I think that there is, in this wonderful discussion today among all of us including me, a certain impatience which we're going to have to control [in order to] understand the process going forward.
02:09 When was the last socialist revolution in this world? Well, I'm not sure if we'd agree on that, but I think we'd agree it's a good while back. How many countries are there in the world today where a genuine objective situation for socialist revolution is really posed? Are there any? What is the significance of the fact that the working class has been in a process of retreat for several decades — moreover a process involving some degree of disintegration and recomposition of the working class, which is, I would say, in its early stages, not complete yet? What does all that mean for us?
02:41 And so here, while I agree with Adam and the other comments that emphasised the importance [of] bewaring against the rightist dangers in all united front and workers' government talk — the big problem we face, we who have been trained in the school of the Russian Revolution, is to know how to take these lessons and then apply them creatively in new situations. And I think that, for all their weaknesses and problems, Syriza and the Bolivarians in Venezuela have been strong on that front, and we must be strong on it too.
03:13 And what does that mean practically? I have no idea. But just to take one example: why are socialists so backward on ecology? It's so much our question. It's so obvious that ecology is a key question for socialism. So why are socialists [backward]? Because socialism is a conservative current today. It's a current longing to recreate the conditions of the past, when things were so much better; and longing to find ways to take the models which we know and apply them in circumstances today when the circumstances simply do not permit that.
04:15 So that's our problem. Let's turn it on its head, and free ourselves to apply the spirit and inspiration of our historical lessons in new and as yet not fully understood circumstances. Thank you.
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