Venezuela: Political Manifesto of the Popular Revolutionary Alternative.

PCV / Lucha de Clases

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Political Manifesto of the Popular Revolutionary Alternative (APR)

11 August, 2021

[Spanish original: https://luchadeclases.org.ve/?p=9762]

The document published below is the proposed Political Manifesto of the Popular Revolutionary Alternative, drafted by the congressional commission and approved by the national political commission as a draft manifesto of this political platform, to be discussed, modified and/or approved by the local nuclei of the APR and subsequently by the national congress of the platform.

The Popular Revolutionary Alternative (APR) is a coalition of progressive and anti-imperialist parties, movements and organisations, grouped under the interest of building a new political reference at the service of the workers', peasants', communal and popular struggle. This initiative arose from numerous coincidences reached between a group of left organisations, in order to resist the imperialist aggression against Venezuela and the new pact between the traditional bourgeoisie and the national government, which is expressed in opulence and privileges for the old and new rich, and in misery, hunger and dispossession for the vast majority of the people.

Those of us who make up the RPA believe in the importance of taking stock of the national and international context that surrounds us, which calls us to raise our voices to accompany the various signs of popular resistance and to build, hand in hand with the people, a political proposal that aims at the revolutionary overcoming of the crisis of the capitalist system.

International context

Since the outbreak of the 2008 crisis of capitalist overproduction, which manifested itself under the guise of a "financial crash", the world has entered a spiral of economic stagnation and decline from which it has not been able to recover. The reason for this is the structural nature of the crisis, which has exposed the historical limits of the capitalist mode of production. Today, this system not only shows that it is powerless to solve the great scourges afflicting humanity, but its tendency is to deepen them as it concentrates the enormous social wealth in the hands of an ever smaller handful of entrepreneurs, bankers and landowners.

While numerous governments allocated ambitious financial packages to bail out the banks and private companies, the working masses saw their jobs, gains and fundamental rights being lost. The capitalist governments took it upon themselves to unload the full weight of the crisis on the shoulders of the workers, through aggressive policies of public spending cuts, hikes in utility rates, measures of labour flexibilisation and casualisation, increases in the minimum retirement age, reduction of pensions and subsidies, as well as a general assault on democratic rights in many countries.

This neoliberal offensive led to an escalation of the class struggle, expressed in countless mobilisations and popular uprisings around the world. Such a climate of tensions emerged in the run-up to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Although at first these popular uprisings were calmed down by the health emergency and the resulting containment measures, from the end of 2020 onwards we can observe the resumption of broad mobilisations and social struggles, but now enhanced by the effects of the pandemic on the precariousness of living conditions. 

For their part, the global pandemic, while deepening the capitalist crisis, is being exploited by the bourgeois and imperialist elites to further increase their wealth. An example of this is the business of the Covid-19 vaccines (despite the fact that most of them were financed with public funds) and the lucrative activity of the multinational pharmaceutical companies, which refuse to cede the intellectual property rights for the production of doses in new laboratories. The individual capitalist profit motive has prevailed over the general interest of saving the lives of the world's population.

On the other hand, the gigantic financial rescue packages implemented by the governments mean that sooner or later the capitalist elites of all countries will want to burden the workers. Such a reality will exacerbate the climate of social tension and class struggle worldwide.

As we can see, the crisis of capitalism is far from being solved. The international organisation of the workers is imperative in order to find a revolutionary way out of the crisis of the decaying capitalist social order. The APR in Venezuela is called to play a role in this process at the national and Latin American level.

The Venezuelan national process

In Venezuela, since the beginning of oil extractivism at the beginning of the 20th century, a national form of capital accumulation governed by oil rent has been established. The enormous weight of this rent in the economic dynamics of our country has a determining influence on the levels of national backwardness and dependence. The Creole bourgeoisie and the foreign capitals that have operated in the country are only driven by the parasitic eagerness to increase their own value through the appropriation of the oil rent, hence their historical inability to lead a process of national industrialisation.

100 years of rent-seeking and bourgeois management in Venezuela have resulted in a de-industrialised economy, the abandonment of agricultural activity, dependence on imports, fraudulent capital flight and a high level of administrative corruption.

This form of backward and dependent capitalism has condemned the historically oppressed majority to survive on low wages, unemployment, poverty and exclusion. Although during the economic history of oil-producing Venezuela there have been periods of bonanza, which have led to slight improvements in the living standards of the working people, these have always been followed by periods of deep and prolonged crisis, in which the gains achieved are pulverised and the levels of misery expand again. This was the case of the boom of the late 1970s, which gave way to the crisis of the 80s and 90s of the previous century, and the imposition of the anti-worker and anti-popular recipe book of the International Monetary Fund.

From that process of neoliberal adjustment came the popular outbreak of the Caracazo in 1989, and the subsequent breakdown of the fourth-republican bipartisanship in the political system. It was in this context that the figure of Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías emerged as an expression of the patriotic and progressive military forces that opposed the anti-popular and repressive policies of the governments of the time. Hugo Chávez's leadership was able to unify the broad popular movement that had been fighting for decades for profound changes in a country hard hit by poverty, misery and social inequality.

The triumph of the patriotic and progressive forces in the 1998 presidential elections made it possible to initiate a process of progressive changes based on a fairer distribution of oil revenues. This led to policies to increase social spending, re-establish labour rights, expand public services (especially the health and education systems), programmes to distribute food at affordable prices and measures to combat large estates, all of which had a positive impact on the living conditions of the population and reduced poverty rates.

The character of the current crisis

Despite the numerous advances achieved by the Bolivarian process in the fields of law, demands and the development of new forms of popular organisation, these changes took place within the limits of dependent and rentier capitalism. In little more than 20 years of the Bolivarian process, the rentier economic model, far from undergoing changes, advanced towards its most extreme forms. Hence the incredible indicators of foreign indebtedness, capital flight, dependence on imports, dismantling of national production, inflation rate and deterioration of the national currency.

By 2014, when international oil prices fell and foreign debt commitments began to expire, the Venezuelan state's income collapsed, starting the new episode of structural crisis of Venezuelan capitalism, which is still in force. This scenario worsened with the collapse of oil production and later with the application of the first illegal foreign sanctions in 2017.

The government of President Nicolás Maduro is in charge of personifying the anti-popular adjustment in the face of the abrupt fall in oil revenues. The punctual payment of the foreign debt, which meant the disbursement of 110 billion dollars during the period 2014-2017, and the agreements with the most concentrated national and foreign private capital to guarantee them the allocation of available foreign currency, marked the beginning of an adjustment plan applied progressively. The immediate effects were manifested in acute shortages of food, medicines and essential consumer goods, hyperinflation, business closures, falling wages, dismantling of social gains and increasing deterioration of public services.

In addition to the above, US imperialism has promoted a significant number of financial and trade sanctions against the Venezuelan state, which have had a brutal impact on the accelerated decline of the economy and the living conditions of the population. There is no doubt that the aim of the imperialist aggression is to economically suffocate the Venezuelan government, in order to create the conditions for a political change favourable to the US plans of domination. 

In this direction, the White House has not ceased its systematic attack seeking to generate internal destabilisation, promoting coup conspiracies and even the recognition of a parallel (fictitious) government, through its puppet Juan Guaidó.

The new pact of the elites

The capitalist approach to the crisis and the effects of imperialist sanctions, was consolidated with a pact of elites, between the government-PSUV with various right-wing parties, FEDECAMARAS and other business associations, with a view to stimulating and favouring profits for the bosses' sectors. In this sense, government policy in recent years has done nothing more than make the workers of the countryside and the city pay for the crisis.

Thus, all kinds of anti-worker and anti-popular measures have been applied, such as: bonuses and wage restraint, the imposition of Memorandum 2792, the liberalisation of prices, measures to facilitate the process of informal dollarisation of the economy, the privatisation of public companies, the intention to surrender our national sovereignty with the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and the Anti-Blockade Law, the conservative turn in gender policies and impunity for violence against women, among others. Likewise, in the Venezuelan countryside, the recomposition of landowners and large landowners has been carried out through intimidation, persecution and assassination of rural leaders and workers.

The implementation of this neo-liberal policy has been accompanied by an increase in the repressive and arbitrary tendencies of the state, by curtailing trade union rights, criminalising protests, criminalising different workers' and popular fighters, taking away electoral cards and violating the political rights and democratic freedoms of the working class.

The deep corruption in the state apparatus and the looting of the public treasury has given way to the formation of a layer of nouveau riche, who not only dabble in business, industry and commerce, but also comprise a community of interests that increasingly influence the course of the national government's economic policy. This can be seen in the way these new capitalists benefit from price liberalisation policies, tax exemptions on imports and privatisation policies or the transfer of public enterprises.

After internalising the failure of the policy of "cessation of usurpation, transitional government and free elections" and given the full willingness shown by the Maduro government to build a broad national agreement to push forward its programme of capitalist adjustment, today the traditional oligarchy is more willing to negotiate with the government than in the past. In general terms, the bourgeoisie agrees with Maduro's economic and legislative programme. Their differences lie in the unequal way in which these measures benefit to a greater extent the so-called "revolutionary bourgeoisie" because of their preferential links with the government, so they demand greater openness and guarantees for the private sector they represent.

In short, the government, the right wing and imperialism are sitting down to negotiate the future of Venezuela, at a table where the interests of the workers and the popular sectors are excluded. The severe impact of the economic crisis on the living conditions of the working people, as well as the criminalisation and judicialisation of workers' and popular struggles, have led to the development of a process of demobilisation, depoliticisation and social apathy.

Faced with this complex situation, the organisations that make up the RPA express our deepest repudiation of the interventionist and punitive measures promoted by US imperialism against our country. We also reject the surrender and neoliberal policy of the national government, which, while it generates concessions and advantages of various kinds for private capital, tries to continue to make the working people pay the bills for the crisis.

Organising the resistance struggle of the workers', peasants', communal and popular forces against the capitalist adjustment implemented by the new pact of elites is a necessary and vital task. The RPA must play a fundamental role in bringing together the forces fighting against the neo-liberal offensive on the social gains of the Venezuelan people. We are called to build the Alternative that will open channels for the political, economic and social changes that are indispensable to overcome the dependent and rentier economic model, and move towards the construction of socialism.

The Popular Revolutionary Alternative on a fighting footing

The Popular Revolutionary Alternative has emerged as a historical necessity. It is the crystallisation of years of debate within the left about the need for its independence. Although we emerged in the midst of an electoral juncture (the 2020 parliamentary elections), we understand that only the organisation and mobilisation of the working, peasant and popular majorities will open the way to a better tomorrow. It is necessary to direct all our efforts to increase the capacity of organisation and mobilisation of the exploited and oppressed of society, in the midst of a context that aims at the depoliticisation of the majorities.

Our aim is to build a free, just, united and egalitarian society. Our aim is to achieve a socialist society, but not the "socialism" of the rich and nouveau riche allied with the government, which is in reality a savage and predatory capitalism. We want to build a socialism in which the economy is planned in the interests of the people, in which the scourge of corruption is definitively extirpated and in which education, health and social security are a priority.

We want our children to have quality education in schools, a liberating education that awakens in them the ability to think critically and to intervene in political affairs. We want our grandfathers and grandmothers to be able to have a dignified old age, with pensions that cover their needs. We want to have access to truly public services, of quality and for all. We want one job to be enough to cover our needs, with stability and social security. We want a society of truly equal people, regardless of their gender identity, ethnicity or religion. A society where women can live free from violence.

In the face of imperialist aggression, the pact of elites and the neoliberal adjustment against the Venezuelan people, the political forces grouped around the RPA say to the Venezuelan people: Yes, there is an alternative!

Let's continue to build hope!

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Source: https://luchadeclases.org.ve/?p=9762

*Please translate into your language and disseminate widely, but link to the source. 

Obreros Guevaristas

...Only the exploited anti-imperialist people will construct the socialist state we dream about...

[a UST contingent at 2010 UNT workers power demo in Caracas, Venezuela]
source: aporrea.org


guevarista workers at UNT demo in Caracas, Venezuela
source: aporrea.org


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VIDEO:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bISpG8Av0Ss

photos from the demo:

http://venezuelanalysis.com/images/5775

http://www.aporrea.org/trabajadores/n169377.html

http://www.aporrea.org/desalambrar/n169280.html

http://www.aporrea.org/desalambrar/n169306.html

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TRABAJADORES: “LA LEY DEL TRABAJO LA TIENEN SECUESTRADA, LA CLASE OBRERA UNIDA LA QUIERE LIBERADA”

[Workers: "They are holding hostage the new workers legislation, the working class united, wants it liberated."]

(Tribuna Popular - Partido Comunista de Venezuela)

http://www.pcv-venezuela.org/index.php/trabajadores-as/7516-video-trabajadores-la-ley-del-trabajo-la-tienen-secuestrada-la-clase-obrera-la-quiere-liberada

Caracas, 09 nov. 2010, Tribuna Popular TP.-Esta fue la consigna que miles de trabajadores venido de todo el país gritaron en la marcha convocada por la Unión Nacional de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras (UNETE) en la que se exige a la Asamblea Nacional que proceda a discutir, antes de termine el actual periodo legislativo, la nueva Ley Orgánica del Trabajo (LOT) y la Ley especial de los Consejos Socialistas de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras.

[this was the slogan that thousands of workers from diverse places of the country chanted during the demonstration called by the National Union of Workers (UNETE) which demanded that the national assembly discuss, before the lapse of the current legislative period, the new Comprehensive Labour Law (LOT) and special legislation to create Socialist Workers Councils.]

Dentro de las exigencias que los trabajadores le plantean a los diputados que apoyan el proceso revolucionario, pero que están en deuda con la clase obrera venezolana, es que no aceptan que se negocie la Ley del Trabajo con la burguesía –Fedecamaras y los partidos de la Mesa de la ultraderecha (MUD)-, y que sigan los planteamiento del Presidente Chávez que lo señala en dichos términos.

[within the demands of the workers to the deputies that support the revolutionary process, but who are in debt with the venezuelan working class, is that they do not accept negotiations about the LOT with representatives of the bourgeoise - FEDECAMARAS and the political parties that conform the ultraright (MUD) - and that they follow the admonitions of president Chavez who expresses his support in those terms]

La Central Sindical Unión Nacional de Trabajadores solicitó en un documento entregado por los dirigentes obreros Douglas Gómez y Pedro Eusse, que las autoridades de la Asamblea Nacional la inmediata aprobación de la Ley Revolucionaria del Trabajo, tras siete años de espera desde la presentación del primer proyecto de reforma de esta normativa.

[the UNETE trade union central demanded that a document be presented by the trade union leaders Douglas Gomez and Pedro Eusse, that the authorities of the National Assembly approve immediately the Revolutionary Labour Law, after seven years of waiting since the presentation of the first project of this normative reform]

La dirigente sindical Marcela Máspero, durante la movilización que partió de los alrededores de Parque Carabobo hasta el Parlamento nacional, exigió la aprobación de una nueva normativa legal durante el actual periodo parlamentario, con carácter revolucionario y socialista.

[trade union leader Marcela Maspero, during the movilisation that departed from the area adjacent to Parque Carabobo towards the national parliament, demanded the approval of a new legal normative during the current parliamentary cession, to give it a socialist and revolutionary character]

La propuesta que presentarán los trabajadores ante la AN y la Vicepresidencia de la República –explicó- contempla temas de carácter reivindicativo que apuntan al aumento en la escala salarial para la administración pública, discusión de los contratos de la administración pública y salud.

[The proposal that will be presented to the workers of the National Assembly and the Vicepresident of the Republic - focuses on a redistirbutive agenda that includes increase of slaries for public administration, collective bargaining of labour contracts and discussion about contracts pertinent to public administration and healthcare]

De igual manera, plantean propuestas para la transformación del Código de Comercio, para la erradicación de la inflación especulativa desde la clase obrera, así como la penalización del terrorismo patronal y satanización de los conflictos.

[At the same time, proposals where presented for the transformation of the Commerce regulations, for the eradication of especulative inflation against the working class and the criminalisation of managerial terrorism and demonisation of labour conflicts.]

Los trabajadores esperan la instalación de instancias de articulación para la discusión de estos puntos, plasmados en el documento que entregarán los representantes de la Central Sindical Unión Nacional de Trabajadores.

[The workers wait for the establishment of instances for the articulation of discussion about these points, inculcated in the document, which will be presented to the representatives of the UNETE trade union]

Máspero señaló que “para llegar con éxito al 2012, para que el proceso revolucionario salga fortalecido y derrotemos a la estafa capitalista, tenemos que avanzar con control obrero, democracia obrera y derrotar finalmente la burocracia que está entorpeciendo el avance del proceso revolucionario”.

[Maspero reiterated that "to achieve success in 2012, so that the revolutionary process is strenghtened and we can defeat the capitalist fraud, we must advance towards workers control, workers democracy and achieve the final defeat of the bureaucracy who is obstructing the advance of the revolutionary process.]

La dirigente sindical recordó que las organizaciones sindicales de la Unión Nacional de Trabajadores han apoyado las medidas de nacionalización dictadas por el Gobierno nacional, no obstante, “se debe avanzar aún más para la construcción de un modelo socialista que tiene que expresarse no solo en soberanía para el pueblo, en la distribución equitativa de la riqueza y en la eliminación de la explotación, sino en la erradicación de la burocracia al interior de las empresas”.

[the labour leader reminded everyone that the trade union organisations of the UNETE have supported the nationalization measures dictated by the national government, however "there must be more progress towards the construction of a socialist model that must expand itself not only in terms of soveregnity for the people, in the equitative distirbution of wealth, and the elimination of exploitation, but laso on the eradication of bureaucracy inside the workplace]

Propuesta de la Corriente Clasista de Trabajadores “Cruz Villegas”

[proposal of the Classist Workers Current "Cruz Villegas'']

Por su parte, Pedro Eusse, coordinador de UNETE y de la Corriente Clasista “Cruz Villegas” señaló los aspectos principales de la lucha de los trabajadores venezolanos: - “La de mayor alcance revolucionario, garantizar el derecho a la democracia participativa y protagónica por parte de las y los trabajadores en sus centros de trabajo, aplicando el principio del control obrero y social sobre los procesos de producción, administración, distribución e intercambio, de bienes y servicios, fundamentalmente en las empresas bajo propiedad social. Mientras, en las empresas aun de propiedad privada, en la transición revolucionaria, lograr cada vez mayor capacidad de control y contraloría de las y los trabajadores para que toda actividad económica se subordine a las necesidades del pueblo y de la nación venezolana y ya no sirva tan solo a los capitalistas en su afán de lucro. A tales efectos, establecer los Consejos Socialistas de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras, como órganos para la participación protagónica de la clase obrera y de las y los trabajadores en general, en el control de los procesos productivos y de servicios”.

[for his part, Pedro Eusse, coordinator of UNETE and of the Classist Current "Cruz Villegas" expressed that in the principal aspects of the workers struggle in Venezuela - "the most revolutionary policy, guaranteeing the right to participatory democracy and workers initiative in the workplace, applying the principle of workers and social control over the process of production, administration, distirbution and exchange, of capital goods and services, basically exists in the enterprises under social property. '' While, in firms still under private control, in context of the revolutionary transition process, there must exist more capassity to control and supervision by the workers so that all productive activity is subordinated to needs of the workers and the venezuelan nation and so that they will no longer serve the interest of capitalists and profiteering. With those ends in mind, the establishment of Socialist Workers Councils as organs for the active participation of the working class and of workers in general, in the process of production and services.]

También indico que se debe “Establecer la Estabilidad Laboral general y absoluta, que proteja a todas y todos los trabajadores sin excepción, desde el inicio de la relación laboral. Esta norma, con sus mecanismos de aseguramiento, impedirá a los patronos despedir a capricho y permitirá que las y los trabajadores hagan uso de su derecho legítimo a la participación protagónica, así como al resto de sus derechos colectivos, sin temor a ser despedidos”.

[He also called to "establish absolute and general labour stability, that protects all workers - male and female, without exception, from the beggining of their working experience. This normative, with the mechanisms that guarantee it, will obstruct the possibility of management to fire at will and will allow for workers to utilise their legitimate right to initiative in participation, and the defense of all other collective rights, without the fear of being fired for it]

Otro aspecto que debe contemplar la LOT, para Eusse es que se debe “Imponer sanciones severas a las y los patronos, privados ó públicos, que violenten los derechos laborales. Considerar un delito tales violaciones y, por tanto, establecer penas de prisión por los casos más graves que, por ejemplo, afecten derechos colectivos y/ó a la familia del trabajador y trabajadora. Las sanciones pecuniarias serán siempre calculadas por unidades tributarias y en el caso de las empresas públicas, serán canceladas por los individuos, gerentes ó directivos, responsables de la violación, de tal manera no se afectará el patrimonio público”.

[Another aspect that must be contemplated in context of the LOT, according to Eusse is that "there must be severe sanctions against management, private and public, who violate the rights of workers. Criminalise such violations, and in consequense, establish penal incarceration for the most extreme cases, for example; if these acts affect collective bargaining rights or the security of a worker. Monetary fines must be calculated on the basis of tributary units and in the cae of public enterprises must be cancelled by the individuals, like top management, who might be responsible for the violation, so as to not affect the public patrimony.]

Una de las exigencias que viene realizando todo el movimiento sindical clasista es que hay que “Producir cambios profundos en el actual Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Trabajo, estableciendo la contraloría obrera y sindical, de carácter vinculante, sobre la gestión de sus funcionarios y funcionarias. De igual modo, crear una Instancia de Ejecución a nivel de las actuales Inspectorías del Trabajo, a los efectos de ejecutar acciones de salvaguarda de los derechos laborales frente a patronos que se resisten a cumplir la ley”, explico Eusse.

[One of the demands that the Classist trade union movement is proposing is that ''there must be radical transformations in the Ministry of Peoples Power for Labour Affairs, establishing workers and trade union supervision, with binding characteristics, over the performance of the functionaries. At the same time, there must be established a central authority at the level of the labour affairs inspectorate, with the end of executing rescue actions in favour of workers rights against management who refuse to abide by the law", said Eusse.]

Dentro de varios aspectos que la LOT debe transformar están: Instaurar que todos los derechos laborales son para todas y todos los trabajadores durante toda la prestación del servicio, en tal sentido, eliminar de la ley toda norma que excluya ó menoscabe el disfrute de tales derechos, por el contrario garantizar su disfrute pleno. “En tal sentido, prohibir todas las formas fraudulentas y de simulación de la relación laboral, acabando con la subcontratación y la tercerización. Eliminar los “períodos de prueba” en la relación de trabajo, que hoy son de hasta tres meses” indicó.

[within the various aspects that the LOT legislation must transform are: the extension of universal workers rights for all workers - male and female, during their entire period of work; in this sense, the elinimation of all laws and normatives that exclude or undermine the enjoyment of these rights and on the contrary work to guarantee their universal enjoyment, puting an end to temporary subcontracting and part time work. The elimination of "test periods" in all workplaces, that today extend up to three months.]

“Se debe garantizar derechos a las y los jóvenes trabajadores, tales como: la garantía del primer empleo, sin obligación de experiencia previa; tiempo para estudio sin menoscabo del salario; etc.” Enfatizó.

[there must be absolute guarantees for the rights of young workers - male and female, such as: first employment guarantee, without obligation to prior experience, time for study without cut in wages, etc." he emphasised]

Los Derecho de la mujer también deben ser parte de la nueva y revolucionaria LOT, al respecto Pedro Eusse señaló “Garantizar plenos derechos a la mujer trabajadora y establecer un enfoque de género en la nueva LOT, en tal sentido: suprimir toda discriminación laboral hacia la mujer; adoptar normas que prohíban y castiguen la violencia de género en el trabajo; desarrollar equitativamente la protección a la maternidad y a la paternidad; ampliar los lapsos de reposo pre y posnatal, particularmente este último, sin dejar de percibir íntegramente su salario y demás beneficios generados de la relación laboral; dar mayores garantías a la madre trabajadora, para los cuidados del niño ó la niña en sus primeros meses y años”.

[The rights of women must also be part of the new and revolutionary LOT, in this respect Pedro Eusse stated "Guarantee universal and full rights to working women and establish a focus on gender in the new LOT, in this sense; eliminate all workplace discrimination against women in the workplace, adopting normatives that punish violence against women in the workplace, developing protection for maternity and paternity, without reduction in wages and other basic benefits generated by their labour; extend greater guarantees to working mothers, for the care of their children in their first years of life.]

Otras áreas que debe abordar la LOT y que no pueden ser negociada es: Garantizar derecho al trabajo, así como a un ambiente laboral digno y adecuado, a las personas con discapacidad; Asegurar la salud y la seguridad en el trabajo, armonizando las normas de la Ley Orgánica de Prevención, Condiciones y Medio Ambiente de Trabajo (LOPCYMAT) con las de la nueva LOT, especialmente, dar garantías plenas para el cumplimiento de su actividad, a las delegadas y delegados de prevención; Desarrollar y fortalecer el derecho a la sindicalización y a la negociación colectiva, favoreciendo prioritariamente las convenciones colectivas por ramas de actividad laboral. Toda acción u omisión patronal ó de alguna autoridad pública dirigida a impedir ó reducir el derecho a la sindicalización y a la negociación colectiva, debe ser severamente sancionada; Restablecer el régimen de prestaciones sociales con retroactividad, aplicando el mandato constitucional, sin menoscabo de los aspectos favorables del actual régimen de prestaciones y Reducir la jornada de trabajo ordinaria a 36 horas semanales, sin menoscabo del salario, a los efectos de promover la creación de nuevos turnos de trabajo y, por tanto, reducir las tasas de desempleo.

[other areas that the new LOT must contemplate and which cannot be negotiated away are: To guarantee the right to work as well as safe and dignified working conditions, to extend protection to people with disabilities. ensuring health and safety standards in the workplace so that wokers can conduct their activities. harmonisation of the normatives of the LOT with existing normatives codified in the Comprehensive Law on Prevention, Conditions and Workplace Environment (LOPCYMAT); specially as it pertains full guarantees for the performance of their activities, to appoint delegates for prevention, to develop and strenghten the right to unionise and to engage in collective negotiation, giving priority to established collective conventions per industry branch. All actions undertaken by management or some public authority to undermine or reduce workers rights to unionisation and collective bargaining must be severily punished. Resetablish the system of social wages with retroactive compensation, without undermining the favourable aspects of the current social wage policy and reducing the workweek to 36 hours, without cut in pay, with the effect of promoting the establishment of new work schedules and consequently reducing unemployment]

“Por estas y otras conquistas colectivas e individuales, que deben quedar contenidas en la nueva Ley Orgánica del Trabajo, tendentes a avanzar hacia la liberación de la clase obrera, nos estamos movilizando hoy y lo continuaremos haciendo en las próximas semanas, hasta conquistar el justo y necesario reclamo de la clase obrera y demás trabajadores y trabajadoras, señaló el dirigente comunista a Tribuna Popular.

[For this and other collective and individual gains, that must be encapsulated in the new LOT legislation, which aim to advance towards the liberation of the workers, we are movilising today and will continue doing so in the comming weeks, until we achieve the just and necessary demand of the working class and other workers - male and female, said the communist activist to Tribuna Popular.]

http://www.pcv-venezuela.org/index.php/trabajadores-as/7516-video-trabajadores-la-ley-del-trabajo-la-tienen-secuestrada-la-clase-obrera-la-quiere-liberada

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IOSA workers demand expropriation measures

 

[The victory of the workers at the IOSA strike in Barquisimento, Lara State (Venezuela) happens in context of a process of radicalisation of the movement for workers control and expropriation taking place now in the Bolivarian Republic. there is an undestanding among the ordinary rank and file workers of Venezuela, that the construction of socialism requires the social organisation of labour and workers control.  what the workers at IOSA fought for and won is a general demand of Venezuelan workers and farmers. /n2]

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José Novoa, presidente de la UTS y uno de  los máximos dirigentes de Gayones lo expresó en sus palabras: “IOSA ha entrado en el movimiento obrero revolucionario de Lara…La huelga de IOSA debe ser escrita para que todos aprendamos de ella...”

["IOSA has entered the revolutionary workers movement of Lara...the strike at IOSA must be written so that all of us can learn from it..." - Jose Novoa, president of the Union de Trabajadores Socialistas (Venezuela)]

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IOSA: Una Gran Victoria

[IOSA: A Great Victory]

Si, el jueves 28 de octubre, en horas de la tarde en la Inspectoría Pedro Pascual Abarca, los trabajadores de Industrias Occidente Sociedad Anónima, (IOSA) firmaban el acta donde se comprometían a suspender la huelga que se había iniciado el 5 de agosto pasado, luego de alcanzados los objetivos centrales que dieron lugar al conflicto.

[Yes. On Thursday October 28th, during the afternoon in the premises of the Pedro Pascual Abarca Comptrollers Office, the workers of Industrias Occidente Sociedad Anonima (IOSA) signed an act where they agreed to suspend the strike that begun on August 15th, after having achieved the central objectives, redress of grievances, that created the conflict]

Se levantaba la huelga tras el compromiso firmado por la empresa de reenganchar de manera inmediata a 10 de los despedidos que incluyen a los 8 directivos y a los delegados de prevención, comprometiéndose a reenganchar a los otros (9) compañeros cuando los organismos competentes emitan su decisión, que debe darse esta misma semana.

[The strike is suspended after an agreement signed by management to re-hire immediately ten of those fired, inclusive eight union leaders and delegates; agreeing also to re-hire another nine workers after the competent authorities manifest their final ruling, which should happen this very week.]

Entre los otros acuerdos está la conformación de una comisión paritaria para contabilizar la cantidad de horas extras que por Tiempo de Viaje debe la Empresa y que esta se negaba a reconocer. Esta comisión debe tener los resultados en el término de 30 días; así mismo debe darse una reunión para aprobar el cronograma de pagos de los pasivos laborales contenidos en el pliego conflictivo que motivó los despidos y la huelga, la cual ya se realizó, quedase que el mismo se iba a presentar ante los trabajadores para su aprobación o no.

[Among the agreements signed concerns the formation of an impartial commission to quantify the amount of extra hours that the management owes due to extra travel hours and that the said management previously refused to recognise. This commission must come up with quantification results within 30 days; and a meeting must take place to approve the chronogram of payments of unpaid wages that resulted from dismissals that occurred in context of the strike conflict., which already happened , and which must be brought before the workers for approval.]

Con la moral en alto los compañeros aprobaron en Asamblea el acuerdo firmado, pues se sabían triunfantes. La Empresa no había logrado el despido de 19 trabajadores, incluyendo los directivos sindicales y con ello debilitar el sindicato al punto de su extinción, desconocer pasivos laborales como el 193 (Tiempo de Viaje) y la liquidación del convenio colectivo. Con respecto a este último punto, en reunión de hace 15 días se aprobaron las primeras cláusulas.

[With high morale, the workers approved the signed agreement in assembly, since they knew they had won. The firm did not achieve its goal of dismissing 19 workers, inclusive union leaders, in context of wanting to weaken the union to the point of extinction; not recognise the issue of unpaid wages and travel time and the liquidation of collective bargaining. In respect to this last point, during the meeting 15 days ago the first clauses where approved.]

Todos recordaron como el 16 de agosto se declararon en huelga, cuyo detonante inmediato había sido el despido de 19 compañeros el 5 de agosto, cumpliendo así 85 días despedidos y todos, 74 días de huelga.

[All remembered that on 16th august they declared themselves on strike, whose immediate detonator was the dismissal of 19 workers on august 5th, meaning they accumulated 85 days in dismissal and 74 on strike.]

Se recordó como a mediados del conflicto y apoyados en las compañeras de Mega Empaques se logró constituir el Comité de Solidaridad, que llegó a agrupas unos 13 sindicatos y que una semana después se organizó el Comité de Familiares de los huelguistas en apoyo a su huelga, hechos que contribuyeron a fortalecer la base organizativa de la lucha y a su triunfo.

[It was remembered how in the middle of the conflict – and with the support of comrades from Mega Empaques – we where able to conform a Solidarity Committee, that came to involve 13 trade union representations, and that one week latter we organised the Committee of Strikers Families in support of the strike. These convergences strengthened the organisational base of the struggle and secured its victory.]

En cada uno de los compañeros se hizo memoria de cómo una lucha que había empezado por 2 demandas: el pago de los pasivos laborales demandados en un pliego inicialmente conciliatorio y luego conflictivo y el inicio de la discusión del proyecto de contrato colectivo, en un momento se le incorporó el planteamiento de expropiación sin indemnización y bajo control obrero y a partir del 5 de agosto: la consigna central pasó a ser POR EL REENGANCHE DE TODOS LOS DESPEDIDOS, manteniendo las otras demandas.

[Among the workers it was remembered how the strike begun with two demands: the payment of backed wages, in an initially conciliatory and then conflictive manner; and the initiation of a discussion about establishment of a collective bargaining agreement, and at one moment the discussion came to incorporate a proposal for expropriation without compensation and workers control. After august t 5th : the central demand was FOR THE RE-HIRING OF ALL THE FIRED, keeping the other demands.]

Hoy, el pliego está en vías de cumplimiento. El contrato se empezó a discutir y el reenganche se logró primero el de 9, incluyendo los directivos y ahora vamos por el resto que ya tienen medida cautelar a su favor. El planteamiento de la expropiación, se mantiene de acuerdo a lo acordado en las últimas Asambleas.

[Today, the agreement is in the process of implementation. The contract is in the stage of initial discussion and the re-hiring was agreed to on the 9th, inclusive strike leaders and now we are going for the rest who have warning measures in their favour. The proposal for expropriation is still in place in tandem with what was agreed in the last assemblies.]

La evolución del conflicto, convertido en huelga se dio en la medida que el patrón tratando de destruir el sindicato y con el ello el contrato colectivo radicalizó sus posiciones de negarse a discutir el contrato y violentar los acuerdos sobre el pago de los pasivos, a los despidos de 19 trabajadores, incluyendo la directiva sindical. El patrón se esperaba con este despido dividir a los trabajadores, como sucedió en la empresa CROMADO DURO, pero la respuesta fue totalmente diferente, fundamentalmente por el papel jugado por la directiva sindical y la asesoría político sindical de nuestro equipo csr-El Topo Obrero. Los trabajadores se mantuvieron unidos y ahora gozan de una gran victoria.

[The evolution of the conflict, which became a strike progressed in the measure that the management tried to destroy the union and because of this the collective contract. The management radicalised its positions when it refused to discuss the contract and violated agreements about the payment of unpaid wages, and the dismissal of 19 workers, inclusive the entire union leadership. The management was hoping to divide the workers with these dismissals, like it happened in the CROMADO DURO factory, but the response was totally different, fundamentally because the role played by the union leadership and the political advisory of our Corriente Socialista Revolucionaria team – El Topo Obrero. The workers stayed united and now celebrate a great victory.]

LA OFENSIVA FINAL DEL PATRÓN [The final offensive of the management]

Al inicio de la huelga, el patrón intentó amedrentar a los trabajadores con la Guardia Nacional, apersonándose esta con dos motos y cuatro efectivos a eso de las 6 de la tarde y cuyos integrantes solicitaron, a los 6 camaradas que estaban de vigilancia nocturna, entrar a la Empresa para “constatar” que estaba sucediendo. Tras la activación de las llamadas de emergencia, en minutos, casi todos los camaradas, se hicieron presente en la empresa, logrando despejar el peligro. Al día siguiente el General Bohórquez señalaba que en ningún momento se había enviado a los efectivos con el objetivo de interferir en el desarrollo de la huelga.

[At the beggining of the strike, the management tried to silence the workers with the National Guard, who made an appearance with four officers in two motorcycles, around 6 PM (18:00Hrs) in the afternoon, and who asked the six workers on night watch to allow them entry to investigate the situation. After the activation of emergency calls, in minutes, almost all the workers came to the factory premises and where able to disperse the danger. The next day General Bohórquez (of the National Guard) stated that no officers had been dispatched to interfere with the development of the strike.]

Pero la Empresa no se podía quedar de brazos cruzados. Empezó a mover sus contactos, de seguro que los mismos que le permitieron levantar el veto que le había impuesto PDVSA, para satanizar a los trabajadores como huelguistas guarimberos, escuálidos y así lograr inclinar todo el peso del aparato del estado en su contra. Esto lo logra a medias en organismos como PDVSA, que en los días previos a la resolución del conflicto, se hizo parte de un Amparo introducido por IOSA, que desconocía la existencia de una huelga legal, casi con las mismas palabras usadas por la Empresa.

[But the management could not stay unresponsive. It began to movilise its contacts, the same who had lifted a veto from PDVSA, to demonise the workers as violent strikers, escualidos and in that manner unleash the entire might of the state apparatus on the workers. They managed to accomplish this only partially, in institutions like PDVSA, which in the days prior to the resolution of the conflict, involved itself in a brief introduced by IOSA, which was not aware of the legal existence of the strike, almost with the same words used by the management.]

En el desespero, porque el Amparo no caminaba a la velocidad deseada, IOSA introduce una medida cautelar por el tribunal segundo de primera instancia de ejecución del trabajo, basados en la supuesta violación de los artículos 112 y 115 de la Constitución Nacional, que en nada se refieren al derecho al trabajo, sino a la propiedad y a la libertad (teórica) que tienen los venezolanos de escoger la actividad económica de su preferencia. El juez Rubén Medina, admite la petición y actúa en consecuencia.

[In desperation, because the brief filing was not making progress as desired, IOSA introduced a cautionary measure in the Second Tribunal, First Instance of Labour Affairs Execution, based upon a supposed violation of Articles 112 and 115 of the national constitution, that do not refer to the rights of workers, but to private property and the theoretical liberty that Venezuelans have to pursue the economic activity of their choice. Judge Ruben Medina, admitted the petition and acted to enforce it.]

Con una “protección” de la Guardia Nacional de unos 40 efectivos, Rubén Medina, juez segundo de primera instancia de ejecución del Trabajo se hace presente en la Empresa y ordena el desalojo de los huelguistas de las instalaciones, así como la sacada de todos los enseres de cocina, alimentos, colchonetas y otros aperos que se mantenían en la Empresa como mecanismos para hacer llevadera la estadía durante la huelga. Incluso el juez llegó a plantear que los trabajadores no se podían mantener en las adyacencias de la Empresa, lo que fue contrarrestado por las decenas de compatriotas obreros de la UTS y otros sindicatos, que aparte de los huelguistas y los camaradas de El Topo Obrero que estábamos presentes, nos hicimos presentes para rechazar el desalojo. Fue valiosa la intervención de la Coordinadora Regional del Ministerio del Trabajo a la hora de impedir la arbitrariedad de impedir que los trabajadores se mantuvieran frente a la cerca de la empresa, así como la presencia de Vive Tv que hizo un reportaje bien completo de los hechos que se desarrollaban y de las palabras del juez.

[With protection from a force of about 40 NationalGuard officers, Ruben Medina, Judge of First Instance for Labour Affairs Execution made himself present in the factory premises and ordered the striking workers to vacate the said premises, as well as the eviction of all cooking items, food, sleeping mats, and other belongings necessary to facilitate the occupation of the workplace during the strike. The Judge came as far as to order the workers that they could not remain anywhere near the adjacent premises of the factory, which was countered by dozens of comrade workers from UTS and other unions, who besides the strikers and the comrades from El Topo Obrero, who where present, to repudiate the eviction. It was the valuable intervention of the Regional Coordinator of the Labour Ministry at the time of preventing the arbitrary ruling that the workers be not allowed to remain in the premises of the factory, also the prescence of VIVE TV who made a complete video report of events as they developed and who recorded the statements made by the Judge.]

El objetivo de la Empresa al pedir la medida cautelar fue el desalojo pleno de los trabajadores y su consecuente desmoralización, para así poder entrar a la Empresa y reactivar la producción.

[The objective of the management in filing the warning brief was the total eviction of the workers and their subsequent demoralisation, in order to retake the premises and restart production.]

Los trabajadores lanzaron toda una campaña por diversos medios de comunicación denunciando la acción ilegal del juez al golpear, con militares de por medio, la huelga legal que se venía desarrollando desde el 16 de agosto. Se repartieron dos volantes en cantidad de varios miles denunciando la acción del tribunal, reforzando la campaña de solidaridad que incluía la recolección de miles de firmas en fábricas y Consejos Comunales, en empresas y calles de Barquisimeto y del estado Yaracuy, caravanas de carros, etc.

[The workers launched a campaign through diverse communications media denouncing the illegal actions of the judge when he assaulted, with military in between, the legal strike that had been developing since august 16th. Many thousand leaflets where distributed denouncing the actions of the tribunal, reinforcing the solidarity campaign that included the recollection of thousands of signatures in factories, communal councils, in workplaces, in the street of Barquisimeto and Yaracuy State, car caravans, etc…]

La acción del tribunal, también contribuyó a que compañeros de la UTS, entre ellos su presidente, José Novoa, militante de Gayones, hicieran una mayor y más regular presencia junto a los huelguistas, lo que ayudó al fortalecimiento de la pelea. Los compañeros del sindicato de la Kraft reanudaron su ayuda diaria con comida ya elaborada y camaradas del PCV hicieron acto de presencia, llegando a reforzar las guardias nocturnas. Los camadas de MASAY del estado Yaracuy, aparte de la continua solidaridad en alimentos y dinero y el impulso de declaraciones y reuniones de solidaridad, entre otras con el ex ministro del trabajo Roberto Hernández, aprobaron la realización de acciones de calle en Nirgua, Chivacoa y Yaritagua, denunciando la judicialización de la huelga y la medida cautelar, como medida antihuelga ejecutada por el Tribunal del Trabajo.

[The actions of the tribunal, also made it so that the comrades of the UTS (Socialist Workers Union), among them their president, Jose Novoa, a militant in Gayones, constituted a bigger and more regular prescence besides the strikers, which contributed to the strengthening of the fight. The comrades from the Kraft union restarted their daily help with prepared food and comrades from the PCV (Venezuelan Communist Party) reinforced the night watch. The comrades from MASAY from Yaracuy State, besides expression of solidarity with food and money and the imput from solidarity declarations and meetings, among others with Ex-Minister of Labour Roberto Hernandez, they agreed to the convocation of actions in the streets of Nirgua, Chivacoa, and Yaritagua, denouncing the ‘’judicialisation’’ of the strike and the cautionary measure, as an anti-strike measure executed by the ministry of Labour.]

Toda la acción de denuncia contra un Amparo y una medida cautelar con todos los visos de inconstitucionalidad ejecutadas por el juez Rubén Medina, más todas las expresas contradicciones plasmadas por los representantes legales de la Empresa en diversos escritos, incluso en acta que se levantó el día de la ejecución de la Cautelar, llevaron al juez a convocar reuniones, extra legales, para buscar una salida a la situación dada. Estas reuniones fueron aprovechadas por los trabajadores para mostrar la documentación legal de la huelga y de los reclamos que hacía frente a una empresa que primero se presentaba como denunciante del gobierno y de golpe, se convirtió en roja rojita. Los abogados de IOSA se sentían tan seguros de sí mismos que mantuvo una actitud tan altanera y grosera que sus abogados fueron expulsados del despacho del juez y posteriormente también de la sala de discusiones la Inspectoría del Trabajo. Allí solo quedó el gerente nacional de IOSA, los representantes del Ministerio del Trabajo y los de los trabajadores.

[All the protest actions against the management brief and the cautionary measures, along with all the unconstitutional actions carried out by Judge Ruben Medina, plus all the expressed contradictions from the legal representatives of the management in various writings, inclusive a new brief that was filed the day of the execution of cautionary measures, forced the judge to convene extra-legal meetings in an attempt to find a way out of the given situation. These meetings where utilised by the workers as opportunities to show legal documentation pertinent to the strike and the grievances that the workers had against the management, who first presented itself as claimant and denounced the government; and then all of the sudden became “rojo rojitos”. The attorneys representing IOSA where so sure of themselves that they maintained a defiant and insolent disposition, to the point that they where dismissed from the office of the judge and afterwards from the negotiation room at the Labour Inspectorate. Only the general manager of IOSA, the representatives from the Ministry of Labour and the workers where left in the negotiation room.]

El juez, que, en un primer momento señaló que algunos reclamos como el Tiempo de Viaje, no eran motivo de un pliego, ante nuestra campaña de denuncias, que durante toda la lucha incluyó páginas web como laclase.info, aporrea.org, csr-eltopoobrero.com, el envío de correos a unas 11.000 direcciones de militantes sociales, medios de comunicación alternativos y no, y de organizaciones sociales y políticas, luego cambió de opinión y ordenó a la empresa cuantificar las horas adeudadas, en reuniones con un representante del sindicato.

[The judge, who, in the first place signalled that some of the claims like those related to Travel Time where not motive for striking; before our campaign of action, that throughout the struggle included webpages like laclase.info, aporrea.org, csr-eltopoobrero.com, a mass email campaign that included up to 11,000 addresses belonging to social militants, alternative media, mainstream media, media from social and political organisations; changed his mind and ordered the firm to quantify all the unpaid clock hours, in meetings with representatives of the union.]

El juez, tras dos días de reuniones en su Despacho, planteó que las mismas continuaran en la sede de la Inspectoría y se le mantuviese informado. Los trabajadores, a través de sus asesores legales y sindicales, mientras se discutía en la Inspectoría, afinaban la respuesta legal a la medida cautelar, la cual se introdujo dentro del lapso de Ley. Esa misma tarde, la comisión discutidora llegaba a un acuerdo con el representante de la Empresa.

[The judge, after several hours of meetings at his offices, stated that the meetings would continue at the Inspectorate and asked to be kept informed. The workers, through legal and union advisors, as they negotiated at the inspectorate, refined their legal response against the cautionary measures, which where introduced within the legally stipulate time table. That same afternoon, the discussion commission arrived at an agreement with a representative of the management]

Esta batalla, que los trabajadores de IOSA encabezados por su directiva sindical y su asesor, el camarada Ricardo Galíndez tuvo múltiples frentes y llega a un final feliz por la aplicación de una política amplia, no sectaria para lograr multiplicar la base social de la lucha, se tuvo la acertada política de emplazar al gobierno en sus niveles para que asumiese el papel que la constitución le atribuye, como es el velar por el cumplimiento de los derechos de los trabajadores, frente a patronos violadores de la Ley del Trabajo y de la Constitución Nacional, criticando en su momento y debidamente las posturas que desde la propia Inspectoría, funcionarios llegaron a señalar que había que dejarse de radicalismos y aceptar negociar, precisamente cuando la empresa venía de despedir compañeros y retroceder en las propuestas a negociar. La propia discusión del contrato tuvo su retraso por la manera como la Inspectoría cuadró la última reunión.

[This battle, that the workers of IOSA led by their union leadership and their advisor, comrade Ricardo Galindez had many fronts and arrived at a happy ending through the application of a pluralist politics, non-sectarian in order to multiply the base of social base of support for the struggle, a correct policy of approaching the government at the appropriate level so that it could assume its constitutionally mandated role, like safeguarding the enforcement of workers rights, against management that violate the Labour Law and the National Constitution, criticissing at the appropriate moment the postures that from the Inspectorate, the functionaries came to expouse such as that the workers had to abandon their radicalism and accept negotiations, precisely when the management came to dismiss workers and sought to roll back negotiation proposals. the actual discussion of the contract was retarded because of the way the Inspectorate framed the last meeting.]

En todo momento se evitó caer en la política de que la huelga era un enfrentamiento entre chavistas y antichavistas, lo que haría el juego a los patronos, al gobierno y a la oposición burguesa al gobierno, sosteniendo en cambio que la huelga era un enfrentamiento entre trabajadores y unos empresarios, que validos de su poder económico y político, movían palancas en todos lados, incluyendo el PSUV, PDVSA y la GNB. Los trabajadores de IOSA realizaron una rica experiencia política, probaron la fuerza de su unidad combativa, sin sectarismos y sin oportunismos, ya a mitad de camino, la expresión “solo la clase salva a la clase” y otras consignas de la importancia de luchar consecuentemente por nuestros derechos de clase eran planteadas y voceadas por todos los trabajadores.

[At all moments the workers guarded against falling for a political line that the strike was a confrontation between chavists and anti-chavistsa elements, which would have played into the hands of the management, the government and the bourgeoise opposition to the management, manifesting instead that the strike was a confrontation between workers and management, who given their political and economic power, moved levers in several places, inclusive the PSUV, PDVSA, and the GNB. The workers at IOSA realised a substantive political experience. they tested the power of their unity in struggle, without sectarianism and without opportunism, already in the middle of the strike, the expression "only the class can save the class" and other slogans about the importance of struggle consequently for our rights as a class where manifested and expressed by all the workers.]

En esta oportunidad, por la política desarrollada y la fuerza del movimiento, se logró evitar lo que ha pasado en otras regiones donde el Ministerio del Trabajo se ha cuadrado abiertamente con los empresarios, y así ganando apoyo en el seno de los trabajadores y sectores populares. La Coordinación Regional de la Inspectoría mantuvo una actitud de aliento a la lucha, incluso un diputado del PSUV – Adán Añez Baptista, diputado suplente del Consejo Legislativo del estado Lara, expresaron su solidaridad y realizando gestiones para ampliar la misma. Se invitó permanentemente a los compañeros de Gayones, fuerza sindical mayoritaria en la UTS y a sus sindicatos de base a dar solidaridad, lo que permitió que se recolectase alimentos y recursos económicos que ayudaron al sostenimiento de los huelguistas. Lamentablemente la propuesta realizada por nosotros – CSR-ETO- y apoyada por los trabajadores de IOSA y su directiva sindical, de realizar un Encuentro Obrero Regional de urgencia para discutir un plan de lucha que permita responder la ofensiva patronal que incluye empresas como Galletera Nacional, Vander Rohe, Cromado Duro, GyP y Mega Empaques, entre otras. Aún con el triunfo en IOSA, el Encuentro sigue siendo una necesidad para coordinar la resistencia obrera a la ofensiva patronal.

[In this oportunity, as a result of the political line developed and the power of the movement, it was possible to avoid what has happened in other regions where theMinistry of Labour has taken the side of management, and in this manner winning support in context of worker and popular sectors. The Regional Coordinator of the Inspectorate maintained an attitude of support for the struggle, in fact one deputy from the PSUV - Adan Añes Baptista, substitute deputy in the legislative Council of Lara State, expressed their solidarity and took steps to amplify the attitude of support. A permanent invitation to extend solidarity, was expressed to the Gayones comrades, majoritarian trade union contingent at the UTS (Union de Trabajadores Socialistas) and its base (grass roots) organisations, this allowed for the collection of food and economic resources to sustain the strikers. Unfortunately, our proposal -CSR-ETO - which had the support of the IOSA workers and their union leadership to convene an Emergency Regional Workers Encounter to discuss a plan of struggle that would permit a response to the management offensive to include firms such as Galletera Nacional, Vander Rohe, Cromado Duro, GyP and Mega Empaques, among others (found no interest). Even with the victory at IOSA, the encounter continues to be a necessity in order to coordinate workers resistance to the management offensive.]

Por último tenemos que decir que la Batalla de IOSA es la primera lucha que expresándose en una huelga, combate la política de reducción de personal, vía despidos concertados, que se ha aplicado en diversas empresas del estado. Es la primera batalla abierta y la clase sale victoriosa. Hoy IOSA es un símbolo de la clase obrera larense. José Novoa, presidente de la UTS y uno de los máximos dirigentes de Gayones lo expresó en sus palabras: “IOSA ha entrado en el movimiento obrero revolucionario de Lara”… “La huelga de IOSA debe ser escrita para que todos aprendamos de ella”.

[Finally, we have to say that the battle at IOSA is the first struggle that expressing itself as a strike, combats the policy of redundancy, though concerted layoffs, that have been enforced in several firms of the state (of Lara). it is the first open struggle and the class came out victorious. Today IOSA is a symbol for the working class in Lara State. Jose Novoa, president of the UTS and one of the maximum leaders of the Gayones expressed it in this way: "IOSA has entered the revolutionary workers movement of Lara...the strike at IOSA must be written so that all of us can learn from it."]

Para nosotros, militantes de la corriente socialista revolucionaria – El Topo Obrero, haber participado en esta batalla, no solo como asesores sindicales y políticos de los compañeros – camaradas de IOSA, ha sido una gran responsabilidad y un gran honor. Dirigir compañeros que nunca habían realizado una huelga y que vienen de creerse en “el paraíso terrenal” pues su ex patrón siempre cedió en las primeras de cambio a sus exigencias, requirió la mayor de las comprensiones a la hora de la organización de las diversas comisiones y actividades. Estar al lado de una dirección sindical vario pinta políticamente al igual que la base obrera, inexperta pero con una honestidad a toda prueba y dispuestos a combatir al lado y por la defensa de sus intereses de clase, es una experiencia bien enriquecedora.

[For us, militants of the Revolutionary Socialist Current - El Topo Obrero, having participated in this battle, not only as union and political advisors of the workers - comrades from IOSA , it has been a great responsibility and a great honor. to lead comrades who had never participated in a strike and who came to think that they lived in the "garden of eden" as their ex-boss always ceded at the first manifestation of their demands, required the greatest of understanding at the time of having to organise diverse committes and actions. To stand besides a union leadership from different political backgrounds as was the case with the rank and file workers, inexperienced but with an honesty against all reproach and predisposed to combat on theo one hand and to defend on the other their class interests, was an enriching experience.]

Para nuestro equipo revolucionario CSR – ETO, la huelga de IOSA fue una gran experiencia pues nos puso a prueba y podemos decir que nos permitió mejorar nuestra participación como un EQUIPO coherente y disciplinado, aparte de probar nuestra capacidad de análisis y elaboración de política. Ya desde el año 2009, cuando la Empresa en manos de sus dueños originales, nos pidió aceptar la reducción concertada del 50% del personal, cuestión que la dirección sindical y la asamblea de trabajadores, rechazamos de manera firme, señalamos que la victoria inicial al impedir la reducción de personal, tan solo era una primera batalla, pues el objetivo de la Empresa era reducir personal fijo y contratar tercerizado para rebajar los cosos de producción, por lo que llamamos a conformar un fondo de huelga que nos permitiese resistir unos dos meses. Fue una tarea que llevó muchas discusiones y hasta desencuentros entre los trabajadores que no veían razón en el planteamiento.

[For our team of revolutionaries CSR-ETO, the strike at IOSA was a great experience since it put us to the test and we can say that it allowed us to improve our participation as a coherent and disciplined TEAM , besides testing our capassity for analysis and political elaboration. Since 2009, when the Firm in the hands of its original owners, asked us to accept a 50% reduction in personnel, a proposal that the union leadership and the assembly of workers rejected firmly, we pointed out that the initial victory at preventing the lay offs was only the first battle, since the objective of the management was to achieve permanent reductions in the workforce and to contract termporary workers in order to cut production costs, as a result of which we called for the creation of a strike fund that would permitt us to resist for a few months. It was a task that invovled many discussions and even ruptures among those workers who saw no point in such a proposal.]

Ese mismo análisis nos llevó a importantes discusiones en el seno de nuestra corriente y en el llamado a los trabajadores a fortalecer sus vínculos con el resto de la clase en toda la ciudad. Esta tarea se llevó a cabo de manera débil, pero lo cumplido ayudó a lo que luego fue la constitución del Comité de Solidaridad, espacio bien importante en el reforzamiento de la huelga y de la victoria.

[This final analysis encouraged important discussions inside our current and the call for workers to strenghten their ties with the rest of the working class in the rest of the city. This task was carried out weakly, but what we did accomplish helped in the constitution of what latter became the Solidarity Committe, a very important space in the strenghtening of the strike and the achievement of victory.]

Para los trabajadores de IOSA, esta victoria no es el final del camino. En lo inmediato queda el velar por el cumplimiento de los acuerdos alcanzados en la Inspectoría del Trabajo y el reenganche de los 10 compañeros faltantes, así como la batalla por el contrato colectivo, hecho que apenas comienza.

[For the workers at IOSA, this victory is not the end of the road. In the immediate future we must safeguard the enforcement of the agreements we have reached with the Labour Inspectorate and the re-hiring of the 10 comrades that are still missing, also we must carry through the battle for the collective bargaining agreement , something that has barely started.]

Así mismo, a los compañeros de IOSA les corresponde asumir un papel más activo en el fortalecimiento de la UNIDAD DE TODA LA CLASE, de ayudar a conquistar nuevos triunfos en otras empresas algunas de las cuales hoy tienen conflicto y en un mañana bien cercano, en empresas que serán tocadas por la crisis del capitalismo que está en pleno desarrollo. Esta contribución tiene que darse a nivel del estado Lara,pero también mucho más allá de estas fronteras. La semilla está sembrada. La CSR – el Topo Obrero ayudará en esta tarea.

[In this same way, the workers at IOSA must assume an active role in the strenghtening of CLASS UNITY, to help conquer new victories in other firms some which are now in the middle of conflicts and in a very near tomorrow, in firms that are going to be touched by the developing crisis of capitalism. This contribution must be actuated in Lara State, but also beyond its borders. The seed has been planted. The CSR - Topo Obrero will help in this task.]

Llamamos a todos los compañeros de IOSA a fortalecer las filas de los consecuentes luchadores revolucionarios que militamos en El Topo Obrero, para acelerar el proceso de formación de cuadros que requieren las luchas presentes y futuras, la Unidad de los Trabajadores y la búsqueda de nuevos y más triunfos.

[We call on all workers at IOSA to strenghten the ranks of the councious revolutionary fighters who are militants now in the Topo Obrero, to accelerate the process of formation of cadre that are required in present and future struggles, the Unity of Workers and the finding of new and more victories.]

La lucha continua…..

[The struggle continues...]

Ricardo Galíndez

Asesor sindical de OSINTRAIOSA y miembro de la csr – el Topo Obrero

[OSINTRAIOSA Union advisor and member of CSR - El Topo Obrero]

csr-eltopoobrero.com

 
 
 
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PCC !

"Cuba is a socialist country in the popular understanding of the term. It is not functioning according to the dynamics and tendencies of capitalist production, although it cannot escape the vicissitudes of the global economy. It is a planned economy. Its government was created by a dynamic multi-class revolution that smashed the old state apparatus and broke apart the capitalist state institutions: the army, police, courts and prisons. Although the revolutionary leadership that initiated the armed struggle against the old Batista regime was not a proletarian communist party, but rather a multi-class formation—the July 26 Movement—the new revolutionary state that came into existence after 1959 represented the class interests of the workers and poorest peasants. When the class character of the state became evident between 1959 and 1961, the bourgeois nationalist sectors of the July 26 Movement abandoned the revolution and made common cause with the pro-Batista counterrevolutionaries. Most importantly, they became the agency through which U.S. imperialism employed a campaign of terror, subversion and invasion against the revolution."

- from "A Marxist Analysis of Cuba's Economic Reforms"

[see: http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=14493]

***

In addition to correctly following methodologies of analysis developed by Karl Marx; the analysis from the Party of Socialism and Liberation acknowledges the subjectivist aspect in context of defining cuba as a "revolutionary state". it correctly points out that the "class nature" of the cuban revolutionary democracy can only be discerned in implicit ("evident") negative terms, and offers a concrete example in the incidence of rightward defection of "bourgeois nationalist sectors of the July 26 Movement" between 1959 and 1961. this defection of bourgeois nationalist and liberal social-democrat sectors made it possible for the Barbudos ( the popular name for the Guerrillero government led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara) to radicalise the process of transition during the subsequent "Periodo Chino" (Chinese Period) of 1967-68; where inspired by the example of Mao Tse Tung's "Proletarian Cultural Revolution" (1966-1976) there was an intentional effort to promote the emergence of post-capitalist/post-liberal social relations and forms of collectivist-democratic rule that would eventually evolve into the Asambleas del Poder Popular. the Playa Giron incident (April 1961) took place at the beggining of this phase of the Cuban transition towards Revolutionary Democracy; a process that culminated in 1975 with the ratification of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, a Guevarista-Martiista social revolutionary document, the most progressive juridical text in the Americas until this day. A precursor to the achievement of revolutionary democracy in cuba was integration into the CCCP led COMECON mutual aid and internationalist trade system in 1972.


yet, it is a fact that subjectivity can never negate objectivities. as i wrote elsewhere: socialism is not just about some vaguely defined "workers control". it is about industrial workers control on the basis of collectivised property forms. the cuban revolutionary democracy is not controlled by capitalists since they where long ago expropriated and the means of production where collectivised. it is not controlled by an industrial working class in the sovietic sense of it being governed by "councils of elected and recallable industrial worker representatives", not because of some "bureaucratic degeneration", but because cuba is not an industrialised nation, and consequently it has no industrial working class as a majoritarian sector of the economically active working population. while the intro to the Links article "Workers in the Russian and Cuban revolutions" [http://links.org.au/node/1927] correctly states that "the working class played a key role in the Cuban Revolution, through general strikes, mass demonstrations and by taking over their workplaces"; the percentage of actual industrial workers participating in these actions was minoritarian because, indeed; the industrial section of the economically active urban working population was not dominant. ergo:  Cuba cannot be an example of Existing Socialism, although it was a revolutionary state in transition from 1959 to 1975, and a Revolutionary Democracy since then.

it is important to differentiate between economically active working population sui generis, economically active URBAN population and the Industrial Working Class as a subset of the latter. Only the Industrial Working Class can govern an Existing Socialism. Cuba has not achieved existing socialism because the objective conditions for it are not present. Revolutionary democracy itself is but a context for the potential emergence of an existing socialism given sufficient economic and necessary political conditions. Cuba has accomplished the necessary (post-liberal) political conditons as its political system is based on the collective representation of the socially organised forces that made the revolution (whom the PSL analyst above calls "a multi-class formation"), and where the individuation of politics and institutions related to this phenomena (such as the senate) characteristic of capitalist "market democracies" has been transcended (ergo: the cuban revolutionary democracy is post-liberal) .

Cuba has not yet accomplished the sufficient economic conditions necessary for the emergence of existing socialism; its economy is not industrialised and a modest technification was accomplished only recently. the Cuban economy is based on services and agriculture, the light industrial sector constitutes only a small percentage of its GDP, and its industrial workfoce is consequently only a minority of the economically active working population. the bulk of cuba's economically active working population is composed of farmers and non-industrial employees (tourism, microentrepeneural cuentapropistas, services, professionals, government administration). the current process of rationalisation in context of integration with Venezuela and Ecuador via ALBA is part of a process of technical reorganisation of production and social reorganisation of labour necessary to achieve the sufficient conditons (in terms of GDP growth and diversification) that will enable the emergence of an existing socialism in Cuba, in context of ALBA, as they permit the expansion of a light industrial base and consequently the "production" of an industrial working class that could be equiped to govern an Existing Socialism. /n2

i.

the formula of political revolution does not apply to cuba, because cuba is not an example of existing socialism. the formula of "political revolution" was proposed by Leon Trotsky on the premise of there existing a priori an existing socialism that has "degenerated" or has been the subject of "deformation". there has never been a state of existing socialism in cuba that could have "degenerated".

this call for "political revolution" by the Freedom Socialist Party is out of context, absurd and irresponsible; sadly characteristic of the theoretical bankruptcy of the anglo-saxon subset of the western left; incapable of creating its own language and analysis to discern the objective realities of the present, forever quoting Marx and Trotsky in the manner a puritan colonist would have quoted the old testament, forever postrate to liberal prejudices and values, forever pandering to the mythical "lesser evil" and to the "politically correct" as substitute for any credible action to DEFEAT global capitalism and not capitulate to it. the anglo-saxon subset of the western left has degenerated completely; borderline to becoming as openly counterrevolutionary as the social-liberal and social democrat satraps it apes so consistently.

in defense of Mr.Trotsky; the theory of the political revolution will be useful AFTER existing socialism is accomplished in the ALBA context as a product of the successful conclusion of the second independence against United State imposed neocolonialism; when AMERICA LATINA OBRERA (the workers latin america) is in control; THEN it will be necessary for the workers to be on guard against the possibility of bureaucratic degeneration. the liberated OBREROS SIN PATRON (workers without bosses) of the future must be always ready to enact political revolutions against any one person or group that attempts to take power away from them. Mr Trotskys' theory will be there to serve as reference to the Obreros Sin Patron of the future, to arm them politically.

the freedom socialist group is placing the cart before the horse; and dangerously giving a "left" cover to the miami based couterevolutionary mafia. a "revolution" against the government of the revolution in cuba would only be used by the united states as an opportunity to return cuba to pre-1956 neocolonial status. such an outcome would be disastrous to the second independence of latin america as Cuba is the first and only latin american country to have accomplished national liberation form united states imposed neocolonialism.

there will be no ripe fruit falling on washingtong's lap or the freedom socialist sect anytime soon.

ii.

very anglo-saxon puritan to utilise the term "saved". is the freedom socialist sect arguing for a tent revival in havana perhaps ?

a few comments on the anti-cuban declaration issued by the “Freedom Socialists”:

1. The situation for the LGBT community in cuba was radically improved in the 1990's. Sexual relations between same-sex consenting adults 16 and over have been legal in Cuba since 1979; this was one of the progressive transformations accomplished in cuba after the consolidation of Revolutionary Democray in 1975. Havana now has a lively and vibrant gay scene. Anti-homophobic educational campaigns on LGBT issues are currently implemented by the National Center for Sex Education, the Cuban GLBT community is very well organised in context of Cuba's system of collective representation of socially organised actors (the premise of the post-liberal revolutionary democracy).Cuba is a country where citizens can have sex reassignment surgery for free.

2. The "racism" charge is ridiculous. no country in the americas has had more affirmative action for women and afro-descendent populations than cuba. it is typical for anglo-saxon leftists to cite the nostrums of liberal identity politics out of their cultural context, usually when there is no basis in objective argumentation and as a substitute for these.

3. There is no "herding train" towards market reforms and privatisation in Cuba. the efficiency reforms taking place in cuba at present constitute the second phase of a technical and social process of reorganisation of the cuban economy that will permit the cunban revolutionary democracy to integrate itself into ALBA and create the objective conditionds for the emergence of an existing socialism in context othe process of Latin American independence now under way. the governemt of the cuban revolution is not "driving Cuba toward capitalist restoration", quite the contrary it is working to enhance the basis of objective liberation from neocolonial status in context of seeking to create the conditions for the emergence of a viable and sustainable existing socialism.

4. it remains the case that it is dangerously irresponsible, unnecessary and uncalled for to press for an "alternative party" in cuba. (what sort of "party" is the FSP calling for ? yet another social liberal satrap ?) The "right wing" (the miami based CIA linked gusano mafia and the United States government) lies in wait for just such an opening, in order to return Cuba to neocolonial status. the fall of the cuban revolution would significantly undermine the process of second lindependence in Latin America.

5. there is no need or call in cuba to "build an alternative leadership". the governemt of the cuban revolution is acting rationally and within the parameters of dialectical understanding to carry out necessary reforms that will create objective conditions for the emergence of direct working class rule in context of latin american second independence. if the proposal of the freedom socialist sect where enacted the only "alternative leadership" taking power would be that of the gusanos and the CIA behind them.

6. there has been no "incursion of capital"; rather during the first phase of the reform process (2003-2008) substantial investment by Chinese, Brasilian, Italian, Venezuelan and Spanish investors have allowed the upgrade of cuba's telecommunications, transportation and energy grids. cuba is the only nation in the maericas that has solar powered schools and public buildings. the government of the cuban revolution takes very seriously the need for ecologically sustainable growth and development. this first phase of technical reorganisation of production made it possible for cuba's GDP to grow 7% in 2007. there was a contraction in GDP growth after 2008, but that is the result of the impact of the global dinancial crisis and cannot be blamed on the government of the cuban revolution. precisely because this contraction in growth took place after 2008 it is necessary to expedite the rationalisations, retraining and reallocation of cuba's labour force in context of accelerating integration with Venezuela in context of ALBA and the new SUCRE monetary system.

iii.

the reason the political forms of existing socialism do not exist in Cuba is because there is no objective political-economic basis for them. it is not an industrialised country, ergo there is no organised industrial working class that could exercise collective leadership via social corporative legislative assemblies composed of elected and recallable industrial workplace representatives. as far as cuba could advance in the 1970's (with Soviet and DDR support) was to the state of revolutionary democracy, where organised social forces are represented in the government of a republic liberated from neocolonial domination (i.e the Asambleas del Poder Popular, CTC, FMC, JC, etc..). the comprador ruling elite and its political class where purged, their assets and the assets of imperialism where nationalised. revolutionary democracy is not existing socialism but a transitional process of socialist construction (in the theory of the cuban communist party the Martiista-Bolivarian "Socialism of a New Type"). it is precisely to propell this process that the efficiency reformas are necessary.

the government of the cuban revolution is moving to adapt to the very successful Chinese controlled market model (''socialist market economy" or "socialism with chinese characteristics"). as a positive alternative to the bankrupt casino economies of the Atlantist core, the chinese controlled market model has proven itself capable of delivering technification and industrialisation, this is why China today is the second largest economy in the world. it is true that the advances in tecnification and industrialisation where made at the expense of social inequality and ecological pollution. BUT the chinese (and cuban) leadership are aware of the fact that adopting a contolled market model with a neoliberal (as oppossed to eco-social) bias has created these problems, and consequently they have (keynesian) policies in place to alleviate the negative social and ecological effects. in cuba they already have upgraded the energy grid to integrate photovoltaic power generation, in china the state has invested millions of Yuan in the construction of clean enegy geothermal power plants and doubled investment on railroad/public transport infrastructure.

there is simply nothing more they can do under current geo-economic and geo-political circumstances. (a global civic-military anti-western alliance involving social movements and plural progressive sectors) like i wrote:

"the emergence of the possible existing socialism is on hold until geo-political and geo-economic conditions allow for it. (1). workers revolution in the Atlantist core; sufficiently premised upon the effects of the financial crisis and generalised western economic bankruptcy; - or – (2). The military defeat and dismantlement of the Atlantist imperialist bloc by the BRIC powers and their allies in Iran, North Korea and the ALBA states premised upon the dismemberment of the united states and the physical liquidation of its ruling economic and political classes..."

General strike events in south-western europe give me hope for an upheaval in the EU that might begin to loosen the locks and bars of the capitalist iron cage within which European workers and oppressed groups exist socially.

the government of the cuban revolution must make changes to make its economy more efficient, precisely to cut out the losses and structural flaws of what you call "the stalinist model" (i.e totalitarian bureaucratic command). the jobs that will be eliminated where not real jobs anyways, they where "jobs" of the kind where they "pretend to pay you and you pretend to work" (the old joke among soviet workers). and it is not like the people laid off will be left out in the cold... there will be a concerted effort to reassign staff, retrain workers and support the creation of cooperative enterprises in the services and light industrial sectors. a large number of the redundancy eliminations will be among "the nomenklatura", in fact it is the state administrative sector that will be reorganised first. the result will be a lean, professional, tecnified administrative aparatus. the efficiency reforms do not "cuts accross" economic integration with the ALBA states, rather it prepares Cuba for this integration.

to put it in "marxist" terms: [assuming that ''marxist'' analysis of progress of objective realities towards 'existing socialism' are based upon fluid dynamics of technical organisation of production and social organisation of labour]

the upgrade during the last ten years of the cuban telecommunications (internet access, mobile telephony), transportation (railroads) and energy systems (photovoltaic) constituted the technical (re)organisation of production phase. the efficiency reforms designed to reallocate/retrain workers and to encourage the creation of cooperative enterprises in the services and light industrial sectors constitute a social (re)organisation of labour phase.

this is a "marxist" reform based upon objective realities of the need for survival of a revolutionary democracy under siege and integration into ALBA as a means to counter the Atlantist economic embargo. the initiative to create a sector of cooperative workers in the services and light industrial sectors that perform REAL WORK that actually contributes to GDP growth is objectively progressive if one factors that the reform in question is implemented in order to ensure the survival of a REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRACY. the tip of the Bolivarian-Martiista spear aimed at the throat of the Atlantist hegemon, no less.

iv.

revolutionary democracy in a former neocolonial nation is defined by the achievement of the foundations for the POTENTIAL emergence of an existing socialism. the social corporative organisation of the social factors who carried out the revolution (peasant guerrillas, students and workers) has been consolidated. the means of production have been collectivised, the land has been nationalised and an agrarian reform has been implemented on this basis, the neocolonial comprador oligarchy and its client political class has been liquidated, organised social groups (workers, women, youth, armed forces) have direct COLLECTIVE representation in a political system based on Asambleas, a self referential national identity constructed in antagonism to imperialism and appealing to socialist values has crystallised.

there is at present direct representation in the legislative assemblies for the socially organised sectors that made the revolution, but no legislation by elected and recallable representatives of the organised industrial working class. this is why cuba is a revolutionary democracy and not an existing socialism.

there exists now in cuba the POSSIBILITY for the emergence of an existing socialism, but for there to be an objective basis for this development: 1.) geopolitical and geoeconomic conditions need to allow for it. (a military defeat of Atlantism or workers revolution in the Atlantist core) AND 2) cuba must begin to move in the direction of seriously creating an industrial base in order to increase GDP and expand its productive internal market volume; and for there to emerge an industrial working class that can spearhead the organised transition into an existing socialism. this is why the efficiency reforms emphasise the freeing up of labour and its retraining to launch light industrial cooperative enterprises. (this will be done with Chinese, Brasilian/Mercosur and Venezuelan/ALBA state investments.)

right now most of the economically active population (those who actually contribute to GDP growth) are working in the tourism services sector, cooperative agriculture, or the public administrative sector. the industrial sector is almost non-existent outside a few auto assembly plants, cardboard and paper products manufacture and the small oil/gas industry. all those people who justify state support via endless study and people stuck in redundancies in the bloated public sector must be retrained and relocated so that their labour power can be utilised in the new light industrial cooperatives, thus generating GDP growth and creating the basis for the emergence of a diversified industrial working class needed to govern a future existing socialism. this development comes as a progression from the achievements of the previous phase in which the telecommunications, transportation and energy grids where upgraded and made ecologically sustainable; and in which technification of the cuban society was accoplished (in terms of internet and mobile telephony access, digitalisation of administrative tasks, etc.). the efficiency reforms are also an important and necessary precursor to the integration of the cuban economy to that of the ALBA states. cuba has already adopted THE SUCRE (the unified ALBA currency) as medium of exchange in its trade with Venezuela and Ecuador.

it is a misconception that people will be laid off to their fates. in fact only a minority of the laid off will end up persuing their own microentrepeneural ventures. most people will be retrained and reallocated to light industrial cooperatives and professional services (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, health care, education, etc..). No one will starve or end up homeless.

v.

to explain what is meant by revolutionary democracy (which is not 'existing socialism' ; but rather proto-socialism):

the students, workers, women (and lately evangelicals and cooperative workers) are represented in the Asamblas via delegations elected within the ranks of the organisations that represent them collectively in the cuban society. they are not represented as individuals but COLLECTIVELY. this is the fundamental difference between (western) liberal conceptions of individual (''one wo/man one vote'') representation and socialist conceptions of collective participation. what hugo chavez and the SDS before him have called participatory democracy is a movement towards collective forms of pariticipation. a concrete example are the communal councils in Venezuela or the nighborhood ''comites'' in cuba. there is more day to day participatory democracy in cuba in context of the activities of people in mass organisations and neighbourhood 'committees (CDR’s) than there is in any western/atlantist core nation state, where democracy is reduced to one wo/man on vote every four

years. in cuba this fea ture of liberal democratic individuation and minimalisation has been transcended as a result of the consolidation of revolutionary democracy in the 1970's. elections in cuba are plesbicitary; people vote to ratify a nominated COLLECTIVE list. and the electoral act is but the final step in a long process of democratic and participatory internal discussion that precedes the composition of the lists. also representation is not territorial per se, but rather proportional to the level of collective organisation at the local, provincial and national levels.

the CTC delegations correspond in composition proportionally to the number of organised workers per level, for example. party politics have ben transcended by the corporative representation of socially organised sectors. the idea that you need a multiparty system to have democracy is a western invention. definitely within th limited context of liberal dmocratic minimalism a multiparty set up (like Sweden) is more democratic that a two party dictatorship (like the USA): but revolutionary democracy is much more advanced in that notions of individual representation and delegation of power to a parasyte ''professional'' political class are transcended. elections by themselves are not democracy... understanding this premise is what allows a person to move from a liberal understanding of democracy (assuming formal logic) to a socialist one (assuming dialectics).

vi.

at lenght i attempted to explain that cuba is not socialist because the organised industrial working class is not in power in the sovietic sense of "elected and recallable workplace representatives assembled into councils" ; this despite the fact that the means of production in cuba where collectivised. i explained that for a political economy to qualify as an existing socialism it must be premised upon collective industrial working class political-economic management existing in context of collectivised property forms.

i wrote: socialism is not just about workers control. it is about workers control on the basis of collectivised property forms. the Cuban revolutionary democracy is NOT controlled by capitalists since they where long ago expropriated and the means of production where collectivised. it is NOT controlled by an industrial working class in the soviet sense of it being governed by "councils of elected and recallable industrial worker representatives". i do not subscribe to the theory that the current status of cuba is that of a "deformed workers state" because cuba is not a "workers state" in the first place.


i wrote: Revolutionary democracy itself is but a context for the potential emergence of an existing socialism given sufficient economic and necessary political conditions. Cuba has accomplished the necessary (post-liberal) political conditions as its political system is based on the collective representation of socially organised groups and the individuation of politics characteristic of "market democracies" has been transcended. Cuba has not yet accomplished the sufficient economic conditions necessary for the emergence of existing socialism; its economy is not industrialised and a modest technification was accomplished only recently. the Cuban economy is based on services and agriculture, the light industrial sector constitutes only a small percentage of its GDP at present.

i explained that i subscribe to the classical syndicalist definition of "organised industrial working class" to mean exactly that. i.e. not farmers and not service sector non-industrial workers (inclusive professionals, micro-entrepreneurs and public sector administrative); but exclusively workers engaged in mining and the transformation of raw materials into finished products who are organised into industrial trade unions.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE STRUGGLE OF FARMERS FOR LAND AND THE STRUGGLE OF SERVICE SECTOR WORKFORCES FOR LIVING WAGES, ETC IS NOT IMPORTANT. ONLY THAT THE LEADING STRUGGLE MUST BE THAT OF THE INDUSTRISAL WORKERS IF THE OUTCOME OF THE SAID COLLECTIVE STRUGGLE IS TO BE A STATE OF EXISTING SOCIALISM.

ergo: key is the development [in cuba] of an INDUSTRIAL labour force if the goal is to transcend from revolutionary democracy into a state of existing socialism ; i.e. political-economic government by the organised INDUSTRIAL working class.


/n2 ROT



LIBERTAD PARA LOS CINCO HEROES !




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