Hugo Chavez, the Fifth International, and the Shadow of Trotsky

[ChangoLoa]

Speaking at the Congress of 55 left and centrist parties in Caracas in November, 2009, Hugo Chavez unveiled the initiative to establish the V International. His statement is extensively cited by the media and the leader's biographers: calls for the creation of the V International are audible across the world and the demand to unite all left and revolutionary parties eager to fight for the XXI century socialism has become truly popular in the settings of the global capitalist crisis and the threat of an all-out war. Chavez invited the delegates to join his initiative and pledged to dedicate all of his personal energy to its implementation. The listeners greeted Chavez's speech with a long ovation.

The Caracas Commitment produced by the forum contain no mentioning of the V International. The document outlines the general task of uniting efforts to safeguard social gains and freedom of peoples against the capitalist onslaught and slams the US over its increasingly aggressive conduct: “...the new threats spread over our region and the whole world with the establishment and strengthening of military bases in the sister republics of Colombia, Panama, Aruba, Curacao, the Dutch Antilles, as well as the aggression against Ecuadorian territory, and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. We consider that the world capitalist system is going through one of its most severe crises, which has shaken its very foundations and brought with it consequences that jeopardize the survival of humanity. Likewise, capitalism and the logic of capital, destroys the environment and biodiversity, bringing with it consequences of climate change, global warming and the destruction of life”.


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The special decision echoed with unenergized activity of Trotskist groups worldwide which clearly hope to see some form of continuity between Chavez's V International and Trotsky's IV International. In fact, Chavez occasionally provoked such expectations by describing himself as a Trotskist and a proponent of the permanent revolution during particularly heated debates. Chavez drew freely from Trotsky's legacy in the process of putting together the PSUV charter and program, and the views will definitely be taken into account when the V International is formed.

It is noteworthy that the Venezuelan leadership chose to synchronize the left forum in Caracas and the memorial activities dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the assassination of Trotsky. Trotsky's grandson V. Volkov, Trotsky Museum director in Mexico, was invited to Caracas, took part in various conferences and debates, and generously dispensed advice and recommendations to the PSUV leadership.

The formerly marginal Trotskist groups are zealously infiltrating the PSUV. The level of ideological training among their flock far exceeds that of the majority of the PSUV mid-ranking leaders. In the past, Chavez attempted to attract the Venezuelan Communist Party's membership to the PSUV but met with total resistance: the communists feared being absorbed by the amorphous and fairly inefficient PSUV whose future may well be bleak.

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The communists are concerned over the increasingly tight partnership of Venezuelans and Troskists, but at the moment Chavez is skeptical of the Communist Party of Venezuela. The above may be the reason why the communists' leader Jerónimo Carrera criticizes the idea of the V International. Carrera slammed Chavez's initiative in an interview to El Nacional, an outlet from the camp of the Venezuelan leader's opponents, describing Chavez as “a rare animal on three paws – a Bolivarian, a Christian, and partially a Marxist” who lacks the theoretical background needed to put the project into practice and “changes his thinking and allows himself to be influenced by hasty reading or by people who get close to him”. Carrera said Venezuela is not the center of the world and its revolution is a phenomenon of fairly modest proportions. Disavowing the statements at a plenary meeting of its Central Committee did not help the Communist Party of Venezuella rebuild the relations with Chavez.


Entire article:
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/5640

[naaman fletcher]

1. this will be good,

nothing like watching marxist sub-groups fight with each other. they hate each other more than they hate fascists.