Statement on the Venezuelan presidential elections

The polling in the Venezuelan presidential elections has not even begun yet the supporters of Manuel Rosales, the candidate of the 'united' opposition, have already begun a campaign to tarnish the votes of millions by allegations of fraud by the Chavez camp. Even though President Hugo Chavez has been acknowledged as the clear leader - by about a margin of 20 percent - in many polls, including those carried out by an American company and a Spanish university, the opposition continues promoting the idea that the elections will be fraudulent.

This is a clear attempt to prepare the ground for some kind of clash or other intrigue against the President and the Bolivarian Movement - ultimately against the masses. The precise nature of the plan that will be put into action will depend on how badly Rosales loses and how the balance of power stands after the election. Yet no matter what the actual method is, there should be no doubt as to what the target will be: the gains of the Venezuelan masses in the past eight years. The various health, education and other missions; the marginalisation of the reactionary CTV trade union bureaucracy; the workers’ control movement and so on.

Obviously the Chavez government has many shortcomings. But these shortcomings will not be overcome by staying 'neutral' in this election. It is absolutely clear what Rosales and all the bourgeois and other reactionary forces standing behind him represent. As Rosales is the candidate of the 'united' opposition his supporters include the people behind the April 2002 coup, the PDVSA managers' lockout of December 2002-January 2003, the recall referendum and other intrigues. And various bodies of the US bourgeois state have, and continue to be, involved with the work of the 'united' opposition at various levels.

So what are the shortcomings of the Bolivarian Movement and how can they be overcome? Generally speaking, in the realm of domestic policy, the government has not been bold enough: it has not tackled the state bureaucracy and not promoted the independent organisations of masses vigorously. When we look at Chavez's grasp of foreign policy, we see him landing in bizarre situations like praising Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iran Khodro workers - to the disgust of the car plant's workers. Despite the shortcomings of Chavez, the Bolivarian Movement, the labour movement and the masses as a whole, there are two clear alternatives on 3 December: the destruction of the gains or the struggle to enter a new phase in the revolutionary process. In the real world, within the concrete context of these elections, there is no third choice: it is either Chavez or Rosales. We think that a revolutionary process with a slow burning 'fuse' is better than no revolution!

After the elections it is absolutely necessary that more pressure from the masses, particularly the workers, is brought to bear to smash bourgeois plots, bureaucratic drag and imperialist intrigues. We say to the workers and peasants of Venezuela: vote for Chavez and prepare to fight for setting up workers' and peasants' committees as the best way to defeat the bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy and imperialism.

Iranian Revolutionary Socialists' League
1 December 2006