“He stands with other giants of national liberation and socialist movements of past decades such as Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba and Che Guevara.”
By Matt Willgress
Last week, marked twelve years since the passing of then Venezuelan President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, on March 5 2013.
Yet not only is he still fondly remembered in Venezuela itself as a President who transformed the lives of millions, his legacy also lives on in the burgeoning anti-imperialist — and, in many places, anti-capitalist — movements that receive increasing support not only in Latin America, but across the global South.
In this sense, he stands with other giants of national liberation and socialist movements of past decades such as Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba and, of course, Che Guevara.
Why then does Chavez still matter so much and why must we continue to defend his legacy – and raise awareness of what he stood for?
As both friends and foes have noted, his election in Venezuela in 1998 sparked the first so-called “pink tide” and led to a new discussion on socialism in the 21st century across the international left.
And as his presidency developed, he undertook to make the changes needed to genuinely make Venezuela independent of the US empire. That meant, above all, taking control of natural resources, ensuring the process of change was led by the mass of people — as illustrated by the way people defended him on the streets against the temporarily successful US-backed coup in 2002 as so brilliantly illustrated in The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Film – and that people were freed from illiteracy in order to enable them to drive this change.
As has been documented in detail in important works such as The Real Venezuela by Iain Bruce, he led the progressive transformation of Venezuela by lifting millions out of poverty — standing against social exclusion, marginalisation and institutional repression.
Additionally – as already mentioned – Chavez also played a leading role in the transformation of Latin America as a continent.
This permanent and regional process has taken place throughout the 21st century. It sees the nations of Latin America collectively affirming their right to self-determination, and sees, in different ways, diverse movements attempting to build a better world. As we are seeing in the second wave of the “pink tide,” this process has ebbs and flows, but is continuing, and has achieved so much for millions of people already.
In terms of what Chavez can teach our global movements, one key lesson we can take is that you can’t be a socialist without internationalism and without anti-imperialism.
This isn’t just a sloganising point; it is because of the nature of the global capitalist economic system we live in.
As Che Guevara put it, “We must bear in mind that imperialism is a world system, the last stage of capitalism — and it must be defeated in a world confrontation. The strategic end of this struggle should be the destruction of imperialism. Our share, the responsibility of the exploited and underdeveloped of the world is to eliminate the foundations of imperialism: our oppressed nations, from where they extract capital, raw materials, technicians and cheap labour, and to which they export new capital — instruments of domination — arms and all kinds of articles; thus submerging us in an absolute dependence.”
Like Che, in a different time and context, Chavez advanced this anti-imperialism both in practice and in theory.
As millions of young people around the world refuse to any longer consider socialism a “dirty word” and look for ideas of socialist democracy, it’s important to also note that Chavez centrally believed that just as you couldn’t have real socialist change without internationalism, you also couldn’t without democracy, and real democracy at that.
As Chavez said, “The way to save the world is through socialism, but a socialism that exists within a democracy,” which is also why in a famous interview with Al Jazeera he explained that in his view, what had fallen in the Soviet Union “was not socialism, what was there had moved away a lot from the original aim of Lenin and of Trotsky, particularly after Stalin.”
On this point, he also believed that as well as being profoundly democratic, socialist change had to be uninterrupted and international, saying, controversially to some of his followers and to some readers no doubt, “Trotsky said that the revolution was permanent, it never finishes. Let’s go with Trotsky.”
These points explain the work he did in advancing the importance of the concept of communal power, increasing workers’ control in industry, and in many other areas — and of course his explicit support for other socialist and anti-imperialist causes around the world.
Linked to this, Chavez also took on a very important theme from Che’s and others’ writings in saying that to progress real change, to really break from the domination of empire, and to really start building a new society — you can’t outsource stages or elements of that struggle — the mass of the people have to make that change ourselves, and ultimately that has to be an anti-capitalist, international change.
And with current developments in Palestine showing the importance of anti-war internationalism more than ever, a piece like this celebrating Chavez would not be complete without mentioning his steadfast solidarity in deeds and words with the Palestinian people.
This led to him posthumously being awarded the ‘Star of Palestine,’ and at the time of his death, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine evoked similarities between the struggle for freedom in Palestine and Latin America, saying that Chavez’s “heroic stand against the aggression and tyranny of the occupation” would never be forgotten by the Palestinian people.
His legacy, achievements and learning from his fusion of revolutionary ideas and practice, can also help in motivating and energising ourselves in our solidarity with all forces in Latin America and beyond fighting against US domination and our failed economic system.
With epic battles on the horizon in Latin America and beyond – such as the struggles against the far-right Government in Argentina to give just one example – Chavez’s life teaches us that we can not only fight, but fight, win and transform lives. Thatcher was wrong – there IS an alternative.
And as Trumpism brings barbarism on an international scale, the alternative must be socialist. In this context, Hugo Chavez’s ideas and actions can help us forge that socialism of the 21st century. Viva Chavez!
- The Red Weekly Column will appear each Monday on Labour Outlook from one of our regular socialist contributors.
- Matt Willgress will be speaking at the Socialism or Barbarism in-person day-school in London on Saturday March 29, alongside MPs Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne and John McDonnell, campaigner Jess Barnard, socialist economist Grace Blakeley and campaigns such as PSC, CND and Stand up to Racism. The event will also feature a Latin America solidarity session. Register and info here.
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