I thought people would be interested in a brief update on developments in
Venezuela. I marched for several hours in the May Day march with workers from
Alcasa, the state aluminium company, and other workers from state companies in
the state of Bolivar. Well, 'march' is not quite an accurate way to
describe the stop-start pattern of our progress. In fact, far better to describe
it as a street party, which occasionally lurched forward when streams of
marchers coming from other streets lessened: infectious dance music blared from
the sound truck leading us, and dancing was occurring throughout the crowd -
most impressively from two older women and a man (occasionally joined by others)
in front, who periodically shared the microphone to lead us in chants. The main
chant, which everyone happily shouted, was 'Without co-management, you cannot
have a revolution!' (Occasionally, the variant - 'without a revolution, you
cannot have co-management'.) And then back to the music.
The theme was echoed everywhere on the banners; one big one banner that I seemed
either to be behind or to being hit on the head with was - 'co-management and
production: all power to the workers'. This was a happy crowd. And, the slogan
was not a demand but an assertion - because the workers in Alcasa have begun a
process of co-management (which, to distinguish from the German use of the term,
might better be called self-management or worker management); they have begun
organising production themselves and electing their shop directors. What the
workers in Alcasa have begun now will be a model for the workers in the other
state industries (held by the CVG, the development corporation of Guyana) in
Bolivar. And, this process is not only occurring in Bolivar - co-management is
the model which is being followed in Cadafe and Cadela, two state electricity
distribution firms. And, the term is also being used to describe the process in
two closed private firms which were recently taken over by the state to be run
jointly by the state and worker cooperatives. In fact, the main slogans for the
march itself, organised by UNT (the new trade union federation) were
'Co-management is revolution' and 'Venezuelan workers are building Bolivarian
socialism.' These were the same themes that came out of the several-day workers'
table on co-management that was part of the 3rd international solidarity meeting
two weeks ago in the city of Valencia.
None of this could have been predicted six months ago. And, the speed with which
the concepts of co-management and socialism have spread here testifies to the
life and energy of this revolution. We have moved quite quickly from social
programmes (with money circulating but without new production of goods) to a
push for endogenous economic development (stressing co-operatives and
agriculture but without sectors likely to accumulate) to the creation and
expansion of state sectors and the focus on co-management. True, it's not
entirely clear what either socialism or co-management mean here yet. But what
the crowds out for this May Day march believe (if faces are any indication) is
that both are 'good'; and that, you will recognise, means a lot.
After four hours on this march/party, my companera and I recognised that we were
several hours away yet from the place where the march was to end. So, we decided
to walk home (which was on the way) and use the opportunity to watch the rest on
TV. When we got back at about 2:30, we could see the flood of red shirts on TV
cheering the speakers and singers. The crowd was immense. (I haven't seen
estimates yet but my guess would be a few hundred thousand.) Then Chavez
arrived. He listened to a number of speakers from UNT, and then began to speak
about the need to create new models, to borrow but not copy, to build
co-management and socialism of the 21st Century. These are becoming familiar
themes. But, there was a new issue posed - the question of introduction of
co-management in private firms. This is not Chavez's initiative - it is a
question being pushed by UNT and forms the basis of a bill which will be debated
in the National Assembly. This, too, was part of our discussions in Valencia,
and it is something to watch closely because the form it takes (our North
American group at the workers table stressed the importance of opening the books
of the companies to the workers) is likely to mean an encroachment on capital.
There also was a demonstration by the CTV, the old labour federation that backed
the coup and the subsequent bosses lockout. A good indication of what the CTV
has come to was revealed the day before when they indicated that they were
expecting 40,000 participants and indicated that their main demands would be to
free political prisoners (in particular, their former leader Carlos Ortega, a
coup leader) and to deal with unemployment (which, they stressed, would need
economic growth - something requiring negotiations between government, workers
and industrialists). From my window, before we headed for the UNT march, I could
see the street where the CTV people were assembled. Didn't look like much more
than a thousand but maybe more came (not many more, though, if the careful
phrasing on El Universal's website is any indication).
