[Marxism] Fwd: Chavez praises Marxist.com and backs Hands offVenezuela campaign, David Walters

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David Walters wrote}
Well, points scored by the Committee for a Marxist International headed
by Alan Woods and Ted Grant. Seems they hit big time bringing,
possibly...Chavez closer to their brand of Trotskyism. Fascinating
read...
David Walters

I think that Alan Woods' group is the first Trotskyist sect to make a
hard turn toward the Venezuelan revolution which, as in Cuba, requires
support to the leadership and not just the masses who are presumed to be
(unbeknownst to themselves) struggling against their leadership.  This
is a very positive step -- remember that a similar turn by the SWP in
1960 had very positive consequences for the SWP and, more importantly,
for the defense of Cuba in the United States.

So what Marxist.com is doing in relating to Chavez and not dreaming of a
revolution without Chavez, which is the Trotskyist "norm" today,
definitely deserves praise and encouragement, regardless of the
limitations and provisos that are probably still lurking in their
thinking.

And they are acting on this with what looks like an effective
international campaign to support Venezuela.  That is totally positive.

The interview actually doesn't indicate agreement with any specific
tenets of Marxist.com that differentiate Woods' group from revolutionary
Marxism in general.

But it does show -- and there have been many indications of this -- that
Chavez's attitude toward the class struggle, socialism, and Marxism has
been undergoing an evolution in the twenty years since he started in
politics as a admirer of Torrijos in Panama, and the reform aspirations
of the military regime established in Peru in 1968.  Like many
Venezuelan workers and peasants, his thinking has been changed by the
depth and sharpness of the class polarization in Venezuela, and the
irreconcilability of the conflict with US and Spanish imperialism that
has taken shape.

Like Fidel, Chavez began with the perspective of a genuine national
revolution that would transform Venezuela.  Unlike Fidel, I don't think
he had a significant Marxist education or that he viewed the national
democratic revolution in a framework that was significantly shaped by
Marxism. In addition, in the wake of the fall of the Soviet bloc, I
think he genuinely assumed that the revolutionary steps he was seeking
to advance would remain within a basic capitalist framework, since
Socialism, despite the positive Cuban example of  successfully holding
off imperialism, socialism appeared to have basically failed in the
world.

His thinking has developed in line with the revolution itself, as was
true of MOST of the leaders of the Cuban revolution.  What this means
concretely for the prospects of deepening the democratic revolution and
its growing over into a socialist revolution I don't know, but it can't
be bad.

Anyway, it seems to me that Woods and Marxist.com deserve plenty of
credit for what they are doing to support Venezuela, and that Chavez's
honesty and frankness are highlighted by his willingness to give them
that credit on live TV.
Fred Feldman


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