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I'm sorry to have offended Dennis Brasky by my one-line comment about
Cliff Ross's Counterpunchepiphany. I apologise because I assume he was
genuinely seeking information. My time would have been better spent by
saying nothing but my instant reaction to reading the Counterpunch
article was to register my view that it was idiotic crap. Original sin,
though: I now must offer a long footnote.
No one on the left would pay any attention to Ross's piece were it
not approved for publication by the editors of Counterpunch--- and
rightly so. Much of the information transmitted by Ross comes directly
from Damian Prat, an opposition gossip columnist from Guayana who back
in 2009 called workers control of the state basic industries under the
Socialist Plan for Guayana a 'trick' and, more recently, complained that
the removal of his radio programme from Union Radio [the key opposition
radio station] was due to the 'totalitarian' government.
A good example of the kind of information that Ross took from Prat
is his statement that 'Meanwhile, the government has doubled the
workforce of the Basic Industries, "packing the units" in an attempt to
wrest control from independent unions." That so-called 'packing the
units', he added, occurred at a time when most of the state companies
were operating at half capacity. Now,anyone with the slightest bit of
knowledge of struggles in the region would recall that one of the
demands of workers was to end contracting out in the state industries
and to incorporate what had been second-class workers with substantially
lower pay into the regular workforce. 'Packing the units' did not imply
increasing the number of workers employed (although it certainly might
bother corrupt bureaucrats and labour aristocrats), and layoffs are
prevented under government policy.
There are many examples in the article of specious points, dubious
sources and uncomprehended realities. Drawing upon these, Ross announced
that he no longer believes that 'on balance the Bolivarian Process has
done more good than bad'. Now that we know how bad things are, should we
lie? Or, should we tell the truth and 'admit that the process in
Venezuela is going the wrong direction'? We need, he concludes, to build
'a critical left solidarity movement' (the title of the Counterpunch
article), uniting with unionists in Guayana (presumably those who have
opposed worker management), journalists like Damian Prat and the tiny
group of anti-government anarchists. This is what Counterpunch
accepted--- ignoring that writers like Frederico Fuentes, Dario
Azzellini, George Ciccariello Maher (and myself)--- supporters of the
process all--- have always been critical of problems in Venezuela (the
corruption, the clientalism, the top-down party and state, the attack on
worker management, etc) and have allied directly with Venezuelan forces
from below struggling to build a socialism for the 21st Century.
Certainly, there are many problems in the bolivarian process, and
more important than anything Ross talks about re 'whither the Bolivarian
Revolution' is what is being done now post-Chavez. Some of the more
encouraging signs introduced under Maduro include using the army to
challenge crime in the barrios (one of the greatest complaints for
years), overseeing the arrest of government officials for corruption,
fostering the parliament of the streets where ministers and officials
have been visiting communities and listening to what people are
thinking, appointing as Minister of Communes a supporter of communes
from below (Iturriza) thus marking a dramatic departure from the
top-down orientation of the previous ministers, bringing back into the
government the radical and popular Eduardo Saman (who was removed as
Minister of Trade several years ago under pressure from capital--- as
wikileaks revealed), and removing the long-standing Minister of the
Economy, Jorge Giordani who was responsible for the disastrous policies
which produced many of the problems which plague the Venezuelan economy
today. Where will these lead? As I have argued repeatedly, what will
happen in Venezuela will be determined by class struggle.
Anyone who has read Cliff Ross before will not be surprised by the
shallowness of his work. The surprise, though, is that Counterpunch has
valorised it. Are there no fact-checkers or editors there anymore?
michael
On Mon, Jul 22, 2013 at 4:52 PM, michael a. lebowitz <mlebo...@sfu.ca>wrote:
>
>
> /From/: Dennis Brasky <dmozart1...@gmail.com
<mailto:dmozart1756%40gmail.*
> *com <dmozart1756%2540gmail.com>>> asked:
>
> 'for comrades who closely follow the Venezuelan political situation - are
> things really this bad?'
>
> No, but Cliff Ross is.
>
--
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Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Home: Phone 604-689-9510
Cell: 604-789-4803
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