Venezuela is a South American country of possibly thirty million people, and quite highly industrialized. The main industries are oil, mining and steel. There are not a great many family farmers, referred to as peasants. This means that there is a high percentage of workers, proletarians.
As it is located in South America, it is considered to be a ‘’Latin American’’ country, in that the official language is Spanish. In fact, all countries of South America are considered to be Latin American. For that reason, people from such countries are referred to as ‘’Latinos’’.
Incidentally, the word ‘’Latino’’ comes from the fact that Latin gave rise to various ‘’Romance’’ languages. These include Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian. Yet the expression ‘’Latino’’ is generally restricted to Spanish speaking people from South America.
A Presidential election was recently held in Venezuela. President Nicholas Maduro is claiming victory, even though the opposition, led by Maria Machado, says that Edmundo Gonzales won the election, in a ‘’landslide victory’’.
The political party of Maduro, refers to itself as the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV, or in English, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
Regardless of the fact that they refer to themselves as ‘’Socialist’’, they are anything but Socialist! They are supremely ‘’right wing’’, completely reactionary. It is important to bear in mind that any political party can refer to itself as ‘’Socialist’’. The only requirement is the ability to spell the word!
Since the vote, there have been widespread protests. The mainstream press is reporting that ‘’Venezuela is on the brink of collapse’’, that ‘’there is chaos in the streets’’, that ‘’the country is in the midst of a popular uprising’’.
Without doubt, the country is experiencing a ‘’mass movement’’, or a ‘’revolutionary uprising’’, to phrase it in scientific terms. Most common people think that the election was ‘’rigged’’, that Maduro ‘’stole the election’’, that Gonzalez was the ‘’real winner’’. This has given rise to ‘’violent demonstrations’’, with protesters chanting such slogans as ‘’Out the Dictator!’’, and ‘’Long Live Freedom!’’.
It is clear that the ‘’common people’’ of Venezuela, both workers and family farmers, are determined to secure their democratic right to elect the leaders of their choice, through free, fair and independent elections.
This is most encouraging, as according to Engels, ‘’Universal suffrage is an index of the maturity of the working class. It cannot, and never will be, anything more in the modern state’’.
This ‘’spontaneous mass movement’’, these protests against a ‘’stolen election’’, is an indication that the Venezuelan working class is ‘’quite mature’’.
Further, according to Lenin, ‘’The omnipotence of ‘wealth’ is thus more secure in a democratic republic, since it does not depend on the faulty political shell of capitalism. A democratic republic is the best possible political shell for capitalism, and therefore, once capital has gained control of this very best shell…it established its power so securely, so firmly, that no change, either of persons, of institutions, or of parties in the bourgeois democratic republic, can shake it’’. (italics by Lenin)
This is to say that, even if the protesters succeed in securing a new, democratically elected President, complete with a different Party, nothing will change! The monopoly capitalist class, the bourgeoisie, will still be in charge! Now it is a matter of making the working class, the proletariat, aware of this!
President Maduro has responded to these protests with a display of brute force. He has ordered the police and military to ‘’crush the attempt of the far right to seize power’’. This despite the fact that Maduro represents the ‘’far right’’! He has also ordered the arrest of ‘’opposition leaders’’.
For that reason, Maria Machado has gone ‘’into hiding’’, in fear for her life. She has also called for ‘’nation wide protests’’, to be held on Saturday.
The journalists have conducted interviews with numerous protesters. As a result, they are convinced that these protests are ‘’different from previous protests’’, in that the common people are ’’fed up’’, that they are ’’determined to enact change’’. As the protesters phrase it, ‘’enough is enough’’!
Perhaps we can compare this situation, in Venezuela, to that of Russia, in the spring of 1917.
In February of that year, the Russian Czar, or Emperor, had been overthrown, and a democratic republic established, with Kerensky as the leader. The common people, workers and family farmers, had some democratic rights, if only on paper. This made it possible for Lenin to return from exile, in April of that year.
As I have documented, in previous writings, he found a ‘’dual power’’ in place. The state power, of the Kerensky regime, was being challenged, by the state power of the ‘’Soviets’’- or ‘’Sovietica’’ in Spanish- of the working people!
The fact is that revolutionary motion frequently- but by no means always!- gives rise to Soviets. These are also referred to as Councils, in English. For the purposes of this article, I will refer to them as Soviets.
It is very likely that Soviets have also made an appearance in Venezuela, as a result of that revolutionary motion. Assuming that is the case, then they are the nucleus of a new, proletarian state power. It is up to the Venezuelan Soviets to unite, to overthrow the corrupt capitalist regime of Maduro, smash the existing state apparatus, and establish a state of Scientific Socialism, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
But first it is necessary to raise the level of awareness of the common people, especially the working class, the proletariat. They must become ‘’class conscious’’, aware of themselves as a class, complete with their own class interests. The conditions of life, of the working class, do not lead to this awareness.
For that reason, it is up to middle class intellectuals to bring that awareness to the proletariat. It is only the middle class which is aware of the revolutionary theories of Marx and Lenin, as those theories are taught only in Universities, and then only with a view to distorting those same theories.
This is the duty of a true Communist Party, but it is doubtful that such a Communist Party exists in Venezuela. Bear in mind that the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is the ‘’touchstone’’ of a true Communist Party, according to Lenin.
In the absence of a Communist Party, those whom Lenin refers to as ‘’internationalist workers’’, will come together. To such groups of advanced workers, I can only suggest a careful reading of State and Revolution, by Lenin.
Bear in mind that in the summer of 1917, as the Russian Revolution was gaining strength, the Russian officials, under Kerensky, determined to kill Lenin. For that reason, he went into hiding, and prepared for the Russian Revolution. In anticipation of the Insurrection, he wrote State and Revolution.
That article lays out the procedure to be followed, in order to conduct a successful revolution. At the time of the Insurrection, the government must be overthrown, the existing state apparatus must be smashed, and replaced with a new and different state apparatus, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
This is to stress the fact that the existing state apparatus, which has been set up by the ruling class of capitalists, the bourgeoisie, in order to crush the ‘’lower classes’’, the proletariat and the family farmers, has to be destroyed. A new state apparatus is required, in order to crush the capitalists, as they make every effort, after the Revolution, to return to power, to ’’restore their paradise lost’’.
The alternative, that at the time of the Revolution, the existing state apparatus is not smashed, then the current batch of rulers will merely be replaced by different faces, according to Lenin. Nothing of substance will change. The working people will continue to be crushed and exploited.
The only alternative to capitalism is Scientific Socialism, in the form of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Lenin makes that quite clear, in State and Revolution.
This book is available for sale, on the internet, and possibly also in audio form. It may even be possible to download it for free. As Venezuela is highly industrialized, it is reasonable to assume that the working class is cultured. No doubt a great many workers have digital devices, or at least have access to such devices.
Bear in mind that in Russia, in the summer of 1917, the Russian common people, workers and family farmers, were far less cultured. Many were illiterate. There was certainly no internet! Yet under far more difficult circumstances, Lenin and the Communist Party were able to raise the level of awareness of the common people, especially the proletariat, to the point that a successful Scientific Socialist revolution could take place. This has gone down in history as the Great October Russian Proletarian Socialist Revolution.
With a supreme effort, on the part of the middle class intellectuals and advanced workers of Venezuela, we can expect to soon see a Great Venezuelan Proletarian Socialist Revolution. I have complete confidence in you!
With Fraternal Communist Greetings,
Gerald McIsaac
Gerald McIsaac Science Project 