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Louis Proyect writes:
On 3/12/19 2:14 PM, John Reimann via Marxism wrote:
> None of this means support for Guaido and for US intervention (of any
> sort). But there is an alternative - that of the action of the Venezuelan
> working class, acting as its own independent force through its own
> independent organizations.
Yes, John, we all know that. But even if you managed to convince every
last Green Left supporter to agree with you, that would make zero impact
on Venezuela politics. All of these things have been understood to one
degree or another since the mid-20s but repeating them in ritual
incantations has no effect unless you believe in magic.
Just throwing names at something ("ritualistic incantations") doesn't make
it so. Louis takes a couple of sentences from the entire email and makes it
seem that this was the purpose of the email as a whole. I am not so
delusional as to think that I can influence Maduro's policies. Neither can
Green Left Weekly, nor even Louis Proyect. In fact, the only way that
events can be influenced to any significant degree from here in the US is
through a mass, independent, radical working class movement, and what is
required for that is a change in objective conditions. The entire socialist
movement combined cannot produce that.
Chris Slee adds to the confusion by writing "The main way in which
socialists in the United States and its allies can influence events in
Venezuela is by campaiging to end the economic blockade." But it's pretty
clear that that has not has any significant degree of "influence" on events
there either.
What we can do is try to clarify things in preparation for a future
movement. That was exactly the point of what I wrote. Unfortunately, the
way Louis attacks that attempt - by using phrases like "ritual
incantations" does not help. Nor does whitewashing the Maduro regime as did
the Green Left Weekly article.
Incidentally, one point I forgot to mention in my previous letter is this:
That article in effect says that the entire economic crisis in Venezuela is
caused by the decline in the price of oil. That, of course, is a part of
the cause, but only a part. Both Maduro and Chavez before him massively
mishandled the oil industry by using all its profits to create the
"misiones" for the workers and the poor in Venezuela. As a result, there
was no reinvestment in maintaining and modernizing the oil industry. To add
insult to injury, there has been massive corruption in the military-run oil
industry as well as in the government as a whole.
Nobody on this list (I think) would deny the massive confusion on the left
in regard to Syria. There, all to much of the left only sees the (supposed)
US hostility to Assad. All they can see is "regime change". They are blind
to the role of and experiences of the working class. Leaving completely
aside the fact that the US supports Assad, even if it didn't, I think we
would all condemn that regime. But there is a similar blindness in regards
to Venezuela. That's what socialists should be trying to clear up.
John Reimann
--
*“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black
Jacobins" by C. L. R. James
Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook
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