Another jewel of an article clarifying the limitations of Chavism from a socialist point of view, from Prensa Obrera (Workers Press) - Partido Obrero (Argentina):
(see original article in Spanish: http://po.org.ar/po1259/2013/03/14/el-chavismo-y-el-estado/ ) Chavism and the State By Jorge Altamira (Prensa Obrera, March 14, 2013) The various "missions", social in character, which distinguished the actions of the Chavez government, were praised even by his most bitter opponents for the effect they had on the redistribution of income, even though he was blamed at the same time for a huge dilapidation of funds as well as for the intervention of Cuba. The enterprises enjoying the highest reputation were those in education, health and housing. Above and beyond any other considerations, they constitute parastatal initiatives; the structure of the State is ignored in those areas. The K[irchners], in Argentina, tried out a parody of the "missions", as in the case of the 'shared dreams' of the Foundation of the Mothers [of Plaza de Mayo], or some 'missions' run by La Campora in the barrios (social clientelism). Instead of destroying the old state machine and transforming it, it is 'bridged', that is, preserved. A consequence of this conservative approach has been the deterioration of the government budget for existing hospitals and schools, and the devaluation of labor power in the fields of teaching and public health. This explains the constant struggles of these sectors against the government, and the alignment of many of them with the right-wing opposition or with the pre-Chavez union bureaucracy. The same may be said of the student movement: many Chavista universities were built at the expense of existing public institutions, which are autonomous. The apparent social radicalism has left the State intact, which otherwise would have passed into the hands of the workers. Something similar can be said of "commune power". The "communes" override the municipalities and government organisms in parallel to the state apparatus that the Chavista Constitution simply ratified. The "commune power" is not the basis of state power, which has always been a monopoly of Chavez and his civil-military circle. The "communes" develop a "participatory budget", which is contributed by the national government. They are branch offices of the central government, that is, of personal power. Something very different from their being local deliberative bodies determining the orientation of national power, as intended by the system of soviets in Russia, the Juntas (boards) in Spain (1936/7), the revolutionary courts and the "rebel army" in Cuba (1959) or räten (workers' councils) in Germany (1919-1923). Far from being an expression of popular power, the missions and communes constitute a transmission belt from the National Executive, particularly where mayors and governors are from the opposition. Chavism has been creating a kind of really 'sui generis' dual power: between the Bonapartist apparatus being created by the national executive, on the one hand, and the apparatus formally recognized by the Constitution, on the other. When conditions of shortages occur, the communes oscillate between expressing the demands of the population and acting against the popular protests. Just as Chavista socialism has a diffused distributive but non-revolutionary character in the forms of property ownership; that socialism in politics is thinly disguised Bonapartism, already put into practice by Bonapartist regimes worldwide over the last two hundred years. Clarifying this point is of the utmost importance. ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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