A reform cooked up behind the backs of the people - Fraccion Trotskista

On August 15, Hugo Chávez presented his announced constitutional reform in the National Assembly after months of secrecy. A reform worked out behind the backs of the people, which was presented as a package where 33 articles were amended, in order then to call on the workers and the people to vote "yes" or "no" without having participated in the writing or discussion [of the reform].

Toward a more Bonapartist regime

It is important to emphasize that the constitutional reform has as one of its priorities, increasing the concentration of power in the figure of Chávez. If Venezuela has a system of government centered on the President, with the present reform it will reach a greater degree of Bonapartism. In the reform, not only is the presidential term extended from 6 to 7 years, but it is defined that immediate reelection continues for as many times as [the President] wishes to submit to an election. Let us recall that Chávez is already in his second Presidential term, because when his authority was reaffirmed, another year was added to his first term as President. The system of plebiscites accentuates the Bonapartist characteristics of a whole system of government.

In the case of the "Bolivarian armed forces," according to the reform, Chávez takes the authority to promote officers in all ranks. He demands "supreme authority in the chain of command in all its entities, components and units." Notice that Chávez does not need prior approval from the National Assembly for all his titles. In this way, all military-administrative power is concentrated in the figure of the President, and everything for any promotion depends on Chávez’ approval. He talks about a "popular militia," but this is only a change of name for the traditional national reserve, which is directly under Chávez’ command.

In the reform, Chávez also gives himself the authority to create federal provinces, federal territories, and/or federal cities, some of them with the pompous title of "communes," without any intervention by the National Assembly; Chávez will be able to create more Vice Presidents by his direct intervention; they will act with direct powers without any popular election, in those new territories. This is what Chávez calls the "new geometry of power." Notice that the Venezuelan Vice President is not elected through universal vote now, and neither will the new Vice Presidents be elected; they will [however] act with complete authority and be responsible only to the President. Let us emphasize that Chávez is authorized to rule by decree for one more year; this authority can be renewed. With so many powers in the person of the President, many people will wonder, why have a National Assembly? With the reform, the President will have a free hand under a more and more Bonapartist regime and will be able to regiment his policies without being answerable even to the National Assembly.

And, as if it were a small matter, the President assumes control of the entire public treasury; the central bank and all the [currency] reserves will now be controlled by the President, as well as the already controlled economic stabilization fund, in addition to the complete control Chávez has now over PDVSA.

"People’s power," only in words

To conceal the new concentration of powers, Chávez talks about the "people’s power," raised to constitutional rank, of the communal councils, etc. But this is just a rip-off, since the already controlled communal councils will be directly dependent, politically and economically, on the President. If there were any autonomy in any communal council, they will lose all power on being co-opted and directly led by the state. We have already seen how the government has tried to restrain the unions by limiting their independence by all means, with the aim of tying the hands of the workers’ movement. Now it is trying to create "work councils" within the factories, spreading the tentacles of the state through these councils, as well as in all the popular neighborhood organizations. Certainly, reducing the workday to 36 hours weekly is an inducement, but it is far from becoming a reality in a country where the informal economy approaches 50% of the economically active population, and even in the formal sector, the rate of precarious work [of uncertain employment] reaches elevated levels.

And private property? Doing very well

There is nothing new [in the reform] regarding property: [the reform] simply continues the defense of private property. The government that talks a lot about "socialism" and about the evils of capitalism, is not making the least change regarding private capital and the means of production. Proposals in this field do not go beyond empty rhetoric, born of the wish to dazzle the unwary, like a broad spectrum of the Latin American left, by detailing, in a pedantic manner, the different forms of property that now exist. Article 115 continues to guarantee private property in all its types, and fundamentally, private ownership of the means of production. As many analysts, including those of the right, say, "the proposed economic reforms are a lot of noise and small potatoes."

What is Chávez seeking with the constitutional reform?

Overcoming the crisis of the regime of control, that began in February 1989, requires bold efforts by the government to repair its order, after the process of struggles that has taken place in Venezuela. Tension in sectors of the bourgeoisie tied to big capital — sectors partially defeated in 2002 and 2003, thanks to the action led by the large groups of the people and the working class — has been eased, and now a realignment is being prepared to make way for the political project of the national government. From that comes the need for a constitutional reform, from the top of the bourgeois regime, that could facilitate the formation of a social bloc with the business class which has now become "nationalist" and "patriotic," that, together with the political caste that is currently administering the state, would play the major role ("que ... lleven la voz cantante" ).

But exactly the groups of the majority that tipped the scales in their favor, and indirectly, in favor of the government, have no voice in deciding what changes are needed and who should lead them. Discussing the reform is not aimed at this [eliciting the workers’ opinions]. We categorically deny that giving "special powers" to the President with a hint of the so-called "parliamentarism of the street" can represent an advance in solving the fundamental demands of the workers and the people. As we have explained from the Juventud de Izquierda Revolucionaria, beyond the attempts to present the reform as a "deepening" of any revolution, this [discussion] does not put the demands of all the exploited and oppressed people up front; on the contrary, it means the legal advance of a policy that seeks to keep the workers from having their own politics independent of the state and its "socialism with businessmen."

For a free and sovereign Constituent Assembly

The Venezuelan and Latin American left literally believes the inflamed speeches of Chávez that "question" capitalism and that propose a 21st century socialism," and that with the reform they would be deepening a "revolution," that their own heads have invented. Nothing is further from the truth. An increase in the concentration of powers, through a reform behind the backs of the people, that continues the 1999 Constitution guaranteeing private property, is underway. What Chávez says about "parliamentarism of the street" and "power for the people," hides a project aimed at a more Bonapartist regime, of plebiscites. A lot of "power for the people," but he is not even willing to submit the fundamental problems of the country to debate by the workers, campesinos, poor people and the original peoples. Chávez talks about "power that can constitute," but he cannot bring himself to open a real "constituting process," that is, to call a real free and sovereign Constituent Assembly. So we see that the "explosion of communal power" is only empty talk, since in reality everything is concentrated in the hands of Chávez, and those who surround him, and not in the Venezuelans who are exploited and poor, who are the ones who produce everything.

For this reason, we think that, in view of this project, it is necessary to impose a real, sovereign and free Constituent Assembly. A single Assembly that will combine legislative and executive power, that is, all the existing "powers" should be dissolved in a single Assembly. Its members must be chosen through universal suffrage by all those over 16, without discrimination of sex or nationality, and taking the country as a single district. The candidates for the Assembly should be put forward by local assemblies near to the needs of the people; they must be recallable to put an end to deputies that swindle their voters, and earn the same as a school teacher or an average worker, to put an end to millionaire politicians. An Assembly with full, sovereign power freely to debate and solve the problems and demands of the workers and the people, to guarantee that the oppressed masses impose their strength and decide the measures needed to solve the fundamental problems of the oppressed nation.

Translation by Yosef M.