Analysis: Labor and Workers' Control

¿Cogestión es Revolución? Workers' Participation During The First Chávez Administration (1999-2006)

By Federico Fuentes, Apr 14th 2014

An outdoor worker assembly in the Alcasa steel factory, August 2011 (Prensa Alcasa)

Attempts to analyse Venezuela's experiments in cogestión (generally translated as "co-management") during the first Hugo Chávez administration (1999-2006) have tended to centre on form rather than content. Almost all have concluded that the government ultimately abandoned cogestión, and with it, support for workers' participation.

Venezuela: Chavistas Debate the Pace of Change

By Steve Ellner- NACLA, Apr 8th 2014

Mural in the barrio of La Vega, Caracas. Photo by Sujatha Fernandes.

The violent anti-government protests that shook Venezuela in February have once again thrust the issue of the pace of change into the broader debate over socialist transformation. Radical Chavistas, reflecting the zeal of the movement’s rank and file, call for a deepening of the “revolutionary process,” while moderate Chavistas favor concessions to avoid an escalation of the violence. The same dilemma confronted the socialist government of Salvador Allende in the early 1970s, but under different political circumstances.

The New Federation of Automobile and Related Industry Workers is Born (Interview)

By Marea Socialista (Socialist Tide) / Christian Pereira, Oct 28th 2013

View of the plenary session of the founding congress of the Federation of Automobile and Related Industry Workers (Aporrea.org)

On Saturday 26 October in the Municipal Theatre of Valencia, Carabobo state, the founding congress of the new Federation of Automobile and Related Industry Workers was held.

Letter from the Workers of the Automobile Industry to President Nicolas Maduro

By Workers of the Venezuelan Automobile Industry , Sep 9th 2013

Car assembly workers request that the government reconsider aspects of the Law Regulating the Purchase and Sale of New and Used

Union representatives of car assembly workers request President Nicolas Maduro to reconsider aspects of the new law regulating vehicle sales, and suggest changes to Venezuela’s automobile industry to spur national auto production.

Hugo Chávez and the Bolivarian Revolution: Legacy and Challenges

By Manuel Larrabure – The Bullet / Socialist Project, Apr 1st 2013

An image of Hugo Chavez at a recent memorial event in Mérida, Venezuela (Ewan Robertson /Venezuelanalysis.com)

The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has prompted the international left to acknowledge two key features about him and Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution, writes Manuel Larrabure.

The Revolution Will Not Be Decreed: An interview with Gonzalo Gómez

By Gonzalo Gomez, Jeffery Webber and Susan Spronk, Aug 19th 2012

Gonzalo Gómez and Jeffery R. Webber (socialistproject)

In this interview, Gonzalo describes his own path to militancy, the different phases of the Bolivarian process, and the dangers of bureaucracy, the “boli-bourgeoisie,” and the stultifying internal life of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (United Socialist Party of Venezuela, PSUV).

On the Ferrominera Elections: Defeat of Bureaucratic and Pro-Boss Trade Unionism

By Roberto Lopez Sanchez - Marea Socialista, Aug 7th 2012

Ruben Gonzalez upon winning the union elections in Ferrominera del Orinoco (El Universal)

The defeat of the official United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) candidate in recent trade union elections in state company Ferrominera has generated great media interest in Venezuela in light of the upcoming presidential elections. Roberto Lopez Sanchez of Socialist Tide, a radical current within the PSUV, gives his view as to the current situation in the Venezuelan labour movement.

Revolutionary Democracy in the Economy? Venezuela’s Worker Control Movement and the Plan Socialist Guayana

By Ewan Robertson - Venezuelanalysis.com , Aug 3rd 2012

An outdoor worker assembly in Alcasa, August 2011 (Prensa Alcasa)

In this in-depth investigative analysis, Ewan Robertson evaluates the advances and setbacks of the worker control movement in Venezuela, and what Venezuela's experience in worker control means for the Bolivarian revolution and movements for radical social change worldwide.

Chapter by Chapter Summary of Venezuela’s New Labour Law

By Venezuelanalysis.com, May 9th 2012

Venezuelanalysis.com brings readers this detailed, chapter by chapter summary of the new Organic Law of Work and Workers (LOTTT), a law which has been under discussion in both the national assembly and by workers and movements since 2003. The law contains 554 articles.

Interview: Stalin Perez Borges: “A Referendum is Necessary so the Working People Can Approve the New Labour Law”

By Marea Socialista Press, Mar 27th 2012

We conducted this interview in order to convey the opinion of Stalin Perez Borges, national coordinator of Marea Socialista [Socialist Tide] in relation to the creation of the new labour law and unity within the union movement.

A Multiple Socialist Administration Model and Enterprises of Social Property (ESP) in Venezuela - Success, Difficulties, Prospects

By Rafael Enciso Patiño - workerscontrol.net, Feb 4th 2012

Based on the analysis of the historic experience of what we call the Soviet mode of production – to differentiate it from the socialist mode of production theoretically formulated by Marx, Engels, and Lenin – we here analyze the experience of Venezuela, its process of recuperation of national sovereignty during the government of President Chávez since 1999 and the road traversed with the construction of the material and cultural bases of socialism since his reelection in December 2006 when the chief of state declared socialism as the path of development and the strategic objective to be obtained.

Workers’ Control, Challenges and the Revolutionary Government: An Interview with Elio Sayago, President of CVG Alcasa

By Lucha de Clases, Jan 3rd 2012

Elio Sayago, Worker-President of CVG Alcasa (Aporrea)

In this important interview, Worker-President of aliminium factory CVG Alcasa, Elio Sayago, details the history of workers' control at the plant, the attempts made by government bureaucrats and politicians to sabotage the workers' control project there, as well as the workers attempts to consruct a post-capitalist order through changing the social relations of production.

Venezuelan Government Incorporates 1,723 Subcontracted Workers into Sidor, Nationalises Companies

By Ewan Robertson - Venezuelanalysis.com, Dec 19th 2011

Subcontracted Sidor workers greeted the announcement with jubilation (AVN)

A further 1,723 subcontracted workers are to be incorporated onto the state payroll in Venezuela´s nationalised steel plant Sidor, Venezuelan Vice-president Elias Jaua announced on Friday. He further confirmed that two other companies, Grafitos del Orinoco and Sidetur, will be nationalised by the end of the year.

Praxis, Learning, and New Cooperativism in Venezuela: An Initial Look at Venezuela’s Socialist Production Units

By Manuel Larrabure, Nov 11th 2011

In this paper, I address the question as to the extent to which the participatory and democratic processes taking place as part of Venezuela's new cooperative movement can be said to be a component for the building of social relations that challenge those of capitalism.

An Initial Assessment of the Trade Union Elections at SIDOR

By Corriente Marxista Internacional, Nov 6th 2011

SIDOR workers, independently of which revolutionary candidates they prefer, are clearly revolutionary and opposed to any opposition current. Furthermore, the recent union vote shows a huge level of support for the nationalisation of the plant, which has been under state control since the heroic struggle in 2008.