The Venezuelan Revolution

The Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution is a living, breathing, moving, and constantly changing and developing process. Over the course of the last few years, the process has accelerated, on the basis of the rising activity and participation of the Venezuelan masses in determining their own futures. The heroic efforts of millions of Venezuelan men and women to improve their lives proves in practice that it is possible to build a better world. For this reason, their struggle is our struggle! It is vital that we counteract the lies and distortions of the U.S. government and their corporate media. They are not interested in the truth about Venezuela and will stop at nothing to demonize the struggle of the Venezuelan people to improve their lives. Having been defeated during the coup, during the oil sabotage and repeatedly at the polls, the Venezuelan oligarchy and their friends in Washington are now threatening to resort to terrorism and even the assassination of Chávez himself. In this booklet we provide a major theoretical work by Alan Woods on the Venezuelan revolution written in May of 2004, which retains all of its validity today. We also provide a first hand account from a young visitor to revolutionary Venezuela, an article comparing Bush’s vs. Venezuela’s response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and an update the ongoing nationalizations of factories under workers control, and the distribution of land to the peasants. Only a Marxist analysis - a class analysis - of the Bolivarian process can allow us to fully understand, and more importantly, participate in this process, which has implications for all of Latin America and the World. The Venezuelan revolution is just the beginning of the world revolution.