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Chris Slee writes: "This is not to deny that economic mistakes have been made, or that corruption is a serious problem. But for those of us who live in the Western imperialist countries, our priority should be campaigning against the blockade." First, as I pointed out originally, the GLW article leaves a false impression for those who don't systematically think it through. Yes, there is the comment about hyperinflation, but the "low prices" is completely irrelevant, given that the working class does not have access to dollars. The entire article is undeniably written to give a picture that things really are not that bad for the working class in Venezuela. It is no accident that this false impression is now linked to the idea that we in countries like the US should simply campaign against the blockade. (That's what the term "priority" really means.) And giving a false view of the actual situation inside Venezuela is apparently necessary for that. This is not a novel approach. I, personally, saw the same thing regarding the liberation struggles in Africa, specifically regarding Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the ANC in South Africa. Sure, I and my comrades of the time supported them, but we didn't go along with the fact that no hint of questioning their strategy and program was allowed. And look where those regimes have ended up. Same with the guerrilla struggles in Central America. Although some would deny it, Ortega has ended up just as oppressive and corrupt as Maduro and the rest of those guerrilla struggles have been defeated. What happened? "US imperialism" some say. But that's like saying that the guy who fell from a cliff died because of gravity. Yes, we know it's there. You'd better have a plan to defeat it. Or we can go back a little further. Back in the 1930s the apologists for Stalin - both the true believers and the liberals - said something similar. They linked the call to limit ourselves to opposing imperialist intervention to the denial of the reality that workers in the Soviet Union faced. They made visits to the Soviet Union and returned completely denying that reality. Trotsky did not let that stop him. He opposed imperialist intervention, but he mercilessly criticized the regime. And as opposed to Maduro, *that* wasn't even a capitalist regime! His method was right then and it's right now. We can either build another moralistic-based campaign against yet another imperialist intervention, or we can try to base ourselves on the working class rather than remaining inside our little left ghetto. Through that, we can try to start to make real, serious direct links between workers here and in Venezuela. Denialism will not enable us to do that. John Reimann -- *“In politics, abstract terms conceal treachery.” *from "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James Check out:https:http://oaklandsocialist.com also on Facebook _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
