Re: Why Chavez defeated the oligarchs

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ralph Johansen wrote:
>
>
>
> Is this not a reformist message, flat out? Can he do it?

The program outlined in the _Communist Manifesto_ was a "reformist
program" also, of course. And the words of a message always have a
complex relationship to the activity informing the message. And I have a
reluctance to making revolution from a distance. But it seems to be the
case over time that such reform movements are eventually defeated if
they don't, at some early point, go beyond their stated program. At some
point the people need to be armed to defend even a "half revolution,"
and when they are, and when they are attacked, the reformist program
turns revolutionary.

> Here, by way of
> retort, are two pieces by Alan Woods on why he believes that Chavez can't do
> it in the manner expressed in this quote:
>
[clip]
> It is time to learn the lessons! One cannot make half a revolution. As long
> as the oligarchy continues to maintain its hold on important sections of the
> economy, it will continue to act as a Trojan Horse of US imperialism,
> sabotaging and undermining the Bolivarian revolution. It is time to ask
> ourselves the key question: can we allow the interests of a handful of rich
> parasites to decide the destinies of millions of people? Or will we put an
> end to this situation once and for all, expropriating the property of the
> counterrevolutionaries and taking the road of socialist democracy?

Who is the "we" here?

I do doubt the ability of any peaceful and democratic process to survive
in a world of u.s. hegemony, but I'm not a Venezuelan. What we can do in
the U.S. is continue to build the anti-war movement and at some point
turn it into a mass (and self-conscious) anti-interventionist movement
with a strong anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist core.

Carrol