“The Bolivarian Revolution, if it is not to be reduced to an empty phrase, must mean the socialist revolution in Venezuela. And the working people of Venezuela must inscribe on their banner the aim of the Socialist United States of Latin America. That is the only perspective that can guarantee the final victory.”
The Bolivarian Revolution transformed Venezuela. The corrupt landowners had lands confiscated. Empty factories were expropriated. A mass programme of housing, education and healthcare was underway.
For the first time in their history, the Venezuelan working masses had a say in their lives. The revolution lit both a fire in their hearts and a beacon to the masses of Latin America. It was for this crime that Hugo Chávez attracted the ire of the “devil” in the White House.
Writing as these events unfolded, Alan Woods explains how the outright sabotage of the oligarchy, the pressure of liberal and reformist elements in the PSUV, and the crushing domination of US imperialism put a brake on the movement.
The Bolivarian Revolution remained incomplete. Had the movement been taken to its logical conclusion, with the abolition of capitalism and the expropriation of the oligarchy, the last quarter-century in Latin America would look profoundly different. Instead, the gains of the revolution have been undone, and US imperialism is once again licking its lips in anticipation of the oil and riches that lie beneath the continent.
This book serves not only as an analysis of the Venezuelan Revolution, but as an illustration of the internationalist duty of Marxists to explain and point to the way forward through events. Even more pertinently, lessons should be learnt from the limitations of the Bolivarian Revolution in order to arm a new generation of class fighters.
