Political Diary, May 20, 2005
http://www.marxist.com/Latinam/kirchner_gb0603.html is an article from June 2003, which takes a critical attitude to Chavez and to Peronism, and calls for the formation of a workers party in Argentina. unfortunately, the article calls for pressuring the Kirchner government (instead of overthrowing it).
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http://socialistworker.org/2005-1/544/544_06_Venezuela.shtml is an article by Lee Sustar from the press of the ISO, which notices the development of political currents among the Venezuelan workers and peasants which arelocated significantly to the left of chavismo.
Some excerpts: ". . . the Venezuelan left is critical of the fact that some 21 percent of the government budget for 2005 is being used to repay foreign debt racked up by the corrupt governments of the past, rather than social programs.
"Meanwhile, the 'classista,' or class-struggle current of the UNT--led by former textile union leader Orlando Chirino and Marcela Máspero of the pharmaceutical workers’ union -- has put forward its own vision of socialism: nationalization and workers’ control. For example, a meeting of regional UNT leaders in thestate of Carabobo in March issued a final declaration that condemned efforts by management of the state electrical power company, CADAFE, to denounce UNT union leaders as 'counterrevolutionaries' for demanding greater workers’ input in the co-management scheme.
"The UNT -- which has been denounced by the AFL-CIO as an 'arm of the state'--isn’t shy about criticizing government policies, in particular, a currency devaluation that has cut purchasing power for workers and the poor. 'There are no reasons that justify this measure, which only favors big business and the bankers; the workers and the poor see that it has produced a wave of price increases in basic products,' said the declaration of a UNT meeting.
"UNT leaders also called for the independence of the unions from the employers, the government and political parties. Militants in the UNT have mounted a challenge to more moderate elements led by steelworkers’ union leader Ramón Machuca, whose union remains independent, but who wields influence in the new federation.
"In the all-important oil industry, leading union members recently launched the Workers’ Class-Struggle Option (OCT) to challenge what they called the 'new technocratic bureaucracy' in PDVSA and to build on the legacy of workers’ control during the oil strike. Aiming to unite workers in different unions, the OCT is trying to lead new fights--for example, to restore contract workers to the status of full-time employees with benefits. In its founding statement May 14, the group criticized union leaders for 'the most deficient contract negotiations in our history' and failing to attain major gains for the workers in view of the record oil industry gains.
"More generally, the socialist left is taking the opportunity to spell out its own vision of Venezuela’s revolutionary transformation. 'One cannot speak of socialism without proposing to break with the perverse logic of capitalism, without attacking individual property by radical means, without speaking ofdemocracy -- more precisely, the workers and the people deciding in their majority what is to be done' amember of the group Revolutionary Left Option (OIR) wrote in a recent pamphlet on workers’ control and co-management.
"Certainly the expectations of workers in the big state industries -- who haven’t seen real wage increasessince the 1980s -- are rising. And with high oil prices,exceptional natural resources and a developed manufacturing base and sizeable population, Venezuela has far greater scope for economic and social change than, for example, the Nicaraguan revolution, in which a small and shattered economy was battered by U.S.sanctions and a Washington-funded civil war."
* * *
http://www.counterpunch.org/dickinson05192005.html is an article by Michael Dickinson, from counterpunch, which reveals that the Labour government in Britain introduced a measure called "anti-social behaviour orders" in 1999.
An excerpt:"'Asbos' are 'Anti-Social Behaviour Orders' which the British government introduced in 1999. Basically, their purpose is to reduce crime and disorder. To target and tackle activities which disrupt the livesof individuals, families or communities.
"Anyone can apply for an asbo on anyone else. All you have to do to satisfy the civil court that they deserve one is to prove that the accused caused or was likely to cause 'harassment, alarm or distress', and if you succeed in doing that -- congratulations! -- you've scored an Asbo!
"Now your asboed victim has to refrain from doing what they were doing for at least 2 years. If however they don't refrain, then this time they are committing acriminal offence - and can face a penalty of up to five years in prison. Catch 22 revisited."
The "asbo's" amount to a form of banning of a troublesome individual and are now being used by the Labour government, and Blair's Labour government is now aspiring to use "asbo's" against opponents of the war in Iraq, as the article relates.
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I discovered an article by Galindez endorsing cogestion obrera. An excerpt follows:
Un articulo que muestra el apoyo de la CMR a la cogestion "obrera"
http://venezuela.elmilitante.org/index.asp?id=muestra&id_art=1905
Unas excertas: "La Cogestión Obrera es el desarrollo de un poder de decisión, pero a diferencia del Control Obrero, este es compartido con el patrón, sea este público o privado. Ambos se reúnen, discuten y toman las decisiones por consenso o por mayoría que la tiene el patrón. . . .
"Las diversas y diferenciadas experiencias de Control Obrero y Cogestión Obrera que hoy se aparecen en el país tienen que ver con la crisis del capitalismo y con las fortalezas y debilidades de la clase trabajadora y sus vanguardias.
"Ambas, vistas en la perspectiva de parte de una dinámica social en desarrollo y crecimiento, son positivas. El Control Obrero con mayor claridad que la cogestión, pero ninguna de las dos se puede ver como la solución al problema de la crisis del capitalismo en Venezuela. Tan solo son experiencias que nos deben llevar a profundizar más aún la revolución por los caminos del socialismo, previa instauración de un verdadero gobierno de los trabajadores. Ambas experiencias por si solas no son socialismo ni mucho menos.
"Ambas vivencias pueden educar a la clase para que se forme una conciencia que le de mayor confianza en sus fuerzas y capacidades y en la necesidad de derrotar no solo al imperialismo, sino al capitalismo mismo,instaurando repetimos un gobierno de los trabajadores en una Venezuela vía al socialismo. . . ."
* * *
http://socialistworker.org/2005-1/544/544_06_Venezuela.shtml is an article by Lee Sustar from the press of the ISO, which notices the development of political currents among the Venezuelan workers and peasants which arelocated significantly to the left of chavismo.
Some excerpts: ". . . the Venezuelan left is critical of the fact that some 21 percent of the government budget for 2005 is being used to repay foreign debt racked up by the corrupt governments of the past, rather than social programs.
"Meanwhile, the 'classista,' or class-struggle current of the UNT--led by former textile union leader Orlando Chirino and Marcela Máspero of the pharmaceutical workers’ union -- has put forward its own vision of socialism: nationalization and workers’ control. For example, a meeting of regional UNT leaders in thestate of Carabobo in March issued a final declaration that condemned efforts by management of the state electrical power company, CADAFE, to denounce UNT union leaders as 'counterrevolutionaries' for demanding greater workers’ input in the co-management scheme.
"The UNT -- which has been denounced by the AFL-CIO as an 'arm of the state'--isn’t shy about criticizing government policies, in particular, a currency devaluation that has cut purchasing power for workers and the poor. 'There are no reasons that justify this measure, which only favors big business and the bankers; the workers and the poor see that it has produced a wave of price increases in basic products,' said the declaration of a UNT meeting.
"UNT leaders also called for the independence of the unions from the employers, the government and political parties. Militants in the UNT have mounted a challenge to more moderate elements led by steelworkers’ union leader Ramón Machuca, whose union remains independent, but who wields influence in the new federation.
"In the all-important oil industry, leading union members recently launched the Workers’ Class-Struggle Option (OCT) to challenge what they called the 'new technocratic bureaucracy' in PDVSA and to build on the legacy of workers’ control during the oil strike. Aiming to unite workers in different unions, the OCT is trying to lead new fights--for example, to restore contract workers to the status of full-time employees with benefits. In its founding statement May 14, the group criticized union leaders for 'the most deficient contract negotiations in our history' and failing to attain major gains for the workers in view of the record oil industry gains.
"More generally, the socialist left is taking the opportunity to spell out its own vision of Venezuela’s revolutionary transformation. 'One cannot speak of socialism without proposing to break with the perverse logic of capitalism, without attacking individual property by radical means, without speaking ofdemocracy -- more precisely, the workers and the people deciding in their majority what is to be done' amember of the group Revolutionary Left Option (OIR) wrote in a recent pamphlet on workers’ control and co-management.
"Certainly the expectations of workers in the big state industries -- who haven’t seen real wage increasessince the 1980s -- are rising. And with high oil prices,exceptional natural resources and a developed manufacturing base and sizeable population, Venezuela has far greater scope for economic and social change than, for example, the Nicaraguan revolution, in which a small and shattered economy was battered by U.S.sanctions and a Washington-funded civil war."
* * *
http://www.counterpunch.org/dickinson05192005.html is an article by Michael Dickinson, from counterpunch, which reveals that the Labour government in Britain introduced a measure called "anti-social behaviour orders" in 1999.
An excerpt:"'Asbos' are 'Anti-Social Behaviour Orders' which the British government introduced in 1999. Basically, their purpose is to reduce crime and disorder. To target and tackle activities which disrupt the livesof individuals, families or communities.
"Anyone can apply for an asbo on anyone else. All you have to do to satisfy the civil court that they deserve one is to prove that the accused caused or was likely to cause 'harassment, alarm or distress', and if you succeed in doing that -- congratulations! -- you've scored an Asbo!
"Now your asboed victim has to refrain from doing what they were doing for at least 2 years. If however they don't refrain, then this time they are committing acriminal offence - and can face a penalty of up to five years in prison. Catch 22 revisited."
The "asbo's" amount to a form of banning of a troublesome individual and are now being used by the Labour government, and Blair's Labour government is now aspiring to use "asbo's" against opponents of the war in Iraq, as the article relates.
.* * *
I discovered an article by Galindez endorsing cogestion obrera. An excerpt follows:
Un articulo que muestra el apoyo de la CMR a la cogestion "obrera"
http://venezuela.elmilitante.org/index.asp?id=muestra&id_art=1905
Unas excertas: "La Cogestión Obrera es el desarrollo de un poder de decisión, pero a diferencia del Control Obrero, este es compartido con el patrón, sea este público o privado. Ambos se reúnen, discuten y toman las decisiones por consenso o por mayoría que la tiene el patrón. . . .
"Las diversas y diferenciadas experiencias de Control Obrero y Cogestión Obrera que hoy se aparecen en el país tienen que ver con la crisis del capitalismo y con las fortalezas y debilidades de la clase trabajadora y sus vanguardias.
"Ambas, vistas en la perspectiva de parte de una dinámica social en desarrollo y crecimiento, son positivas. El Control Obrero con mayor claridad que la cogestión, pero ninguna de las dos se puede ver como la solución al problema de la crisis del capitalismo en Venezuela. Tan solo son experiencias que nos deben llevar a profundizar más aún la revolución por los caminos del socialismo, previa instauración de un verdadero gobierno de los trabajadores. Ambas experiencias por si solas no son socialismo ni mucho menos.
"Ambas vivencias pueden educar a la clase para que se forme una conciencia que le de mayor confianza en sus fuerzas y capacidades y en la necesidad de derrotar no solo al imperialismo, sino al capitalismo mismo,instaurando repetimos un gobierno de los trabajadores en una Venezuela vía al socialismo. . . ."
posted by Yosef Mikhah @ 10:46 AM
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