After Venezuelan Elections, Workers Propose a Cleaning Out and More Revolution

I want to give some preliminary and personal impressions, in
the heat of the moment, where many comrades are very preoccupied by the
significance of the [Chavista movement’s] loss of the Mayor of Greater Caracas
and of some important or key governorships in the country.

It’s time to calm down and sit down together in order to
evaluate in depth with the comrades. There are various points that we should
analyse in order to draw conclusions that truly reflect reality. It is
necessary to open a profound debate within the party [United Socialist Party of
Venezuela – PSUV], to reflect and proceed with self-criticism, as President
Chavez indicated on Sunday night.

First, I think it is necessary to stress the increase of
votes for Chavismo across the entire country compared to last December 2 [the
constitutional reform referendum]. At the same time the opposition has
demonstrated once again that there is a ceiling of votes that it cannot
overcome, even if abstention levels are much lower. Nevertheless, it managed to
reach a level of support that allowed it to obtain political victories in
important cities.

Second, I think it is necessary to stress that having gone
into these elections divided in many states, as is the case of Carabobo, the
candidates of Chavez carried out a very good election campaign although some of
them did not win.

Third, I think that the warning that we gave from Marea
Socialista [Socialist Tide] about some of the candidates, and above all the
indication that they are leaders that express something that the revolutionary
people profoundly reject, such as is the case of the endogenous right-wing, had
a very important weight in fundamental districts such as the governorship of
Miranda and others, for example Tachira. The action of previous governments is
what explains the defeat in Greater Caracas. This is one of the most serious
political problems that confronts the revolutionary process.

But there is a problem that is graver still. That is the
dynamic within the PSUV itself. It is necessary to transform the party into a
truly revolutionary party. We cannot continue with the method of an electoral
machine where the base only participates in an irregular manner, in limited
primaries, that in general are controlled by the power of the endogenous
right-wing.

The party demonstrates that it could be a great party, but
it is necessary to stimulate the participation of the workers, of the popular
sectors that are the fundamental base of the revolution. And this stimulation
should be political. The fact is the party has taken little account of its
trade union movement. These electoral results, although they are positive,
leave open the necessity of knowing that what is lacking is more democracy and
more participation. The militants must feel it is their party, not the party of
the leaders, otherwise it will run the risk of converting itself into just one
more party, just like the other ones.

Nevertheless, it is not enough to simply announce that there
should be self-criticism. The revolutionary people across the whole country
must participate. We, on our part, believe that the moment has arrived to clean
out the government and the party. A cleaning out and more revolution is what we
need in order to ensure that working people govern in this revolution.

[Stalin Perez Borges is a national coordinator of the
National Union of Workers (UNT), a militant of the PSUV and a national leader
of Marea Socialista.]

Translated by Kiraz Janicke and Federico Fuentes for Links
International Journal of Socialist Renewal