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In the first place, as far as building a mass movement against a possible
US invasion: There was exactly such a movement against a US invasion of
Iraq, and we saw how successful it was in preventing that invasion. I am
all in favor of organizing against such an invasion again, but if they have
decided to go ahead and invade, we have to be realistic as to the effect it
will have. One thing is for sure: Ignoring or denying the anti-working
class nature of the Maduro regime will not help as far as attracting
workers. Just the opposite.
As far Maduro and Assad: Of course there are huge differences. For one
thing, US imperialism is actually trying to get Maduro out. For another,
the scale of repression is qualitatively greater in Syria. But we shouldn't
blind ourselves to the similarities either. They both base themselves on
the military. Also, the elder Assad actually carried out some positive
reforms that weren't all that totally different from what Chavez carried
out. Then, under the pressure of global capitalism, Assad the younger
reversed those reforms and then some. This is similar (although not
identical) to the process in Venezuela, where Maduro has now made the
working class pay for the economic crisis there. And while I don't know if
all the "misiones" have been formally eliminated, the unavailability of
medicine and of food stuffs largely ends many of them in practice. As for
the level of corruption, I'm not sure if it is all that different in the
two countries. So, yes there are important differences and, yes, there are
also some similarities.
The main thing, though, is that it's a serious mistake to just ignore the
blunders and crimes of the Maduro administration.
John Reimann
PS. I am just hearing news that the US is removing its remaining staff in
its embassy in Venezuela. Up until now, I had thought that a US invasion
was possible but unlikely. The removal of the staff changes things a bit.
We have to ask whether that is in preparation for an invasion from the US
and/or from Colombia and Brazil. If so, then that still brings to the fore
the question of the role of the working class, both in those countries and
in the US. It would also bring to the fore in a slightly different way the
necessity for a mass working class party here.
On Tue, Mar 12, 2019 at 5:49 PM Chris Slee <chris_w_s...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> John Reimann says:
>
> '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.'
>
> To have any effect on US policy would require a large scale campaign with
> hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. Building such a campaign
> is one of the tasks of the US left. This would require educating large
> numbers of people about the role of US imperialism in Latin America. This
> is part of the process of building "a mass, independent, radical working
> class movement" in the US.
>
> John says:
>
> '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.'
>
> This may well have been a mistake, but their desire to bring health,
> education and housing to the poor through the misiones was progressive.
> Hence I don't think John's analogy between the Chavez/Maduro government and
> the Assad regime is valid.
>
> Chris Slee
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Marxism <marxism-boun...@lists.csbs.utah.edu> on behalf of John
> Reimann via Marxism <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 13 March 2019 9:42:46 AM
> *To:* Chris Slee
> *Subject:* Re: [Marxism] Grand alliance? threatens Venezuela (Green Left
> Weekly)
>
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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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