Bolivarian Socialism - original and creative

Part 8 of the PSUV Red Book's 'Declaration of Principles', on the party's particular brand of socialism:

8.  Original and creative 

Translated by Owen Richards

Following Simon Rodriguez's maxim, "we invent or we err", the Bolivarian socialism for which the party struggles will be original, homegrown, creative and have a deeply collectivist approach to the exercise of power. It will aim to build a superstructure that serves to support the socialist economic model, orienting and directing suitable policies corresponding to our people's sense of identity and history in order to preserve of our unique nature.

The party will strive to educate its militants in the Tree Of Three Roots—the theory and practice of Simon Bolivar, Simon Rodriguez and Ezequiel Zamora—and will critically rescue the historic experiences of socialism, adopting as a guide the theory and practice of revolutionaries and socialists of Latin America and the world, such as Jose Marti, Ernesto Che Guevara, Jose Carlos Mariategui, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Gramsci, Mao Tse-Tung and others who have contributed to the struggle for social transformation, for a world of equity and social justice, in a human experience that has ancient forebears, such as the Amerindian and African American cosmologies, Christianity and liberation theology.  It will base itself on the contributions of scientific socialism, of Marxism, which is a philosophy of praxis, a tool for the critical analysis of reality and a guide to revolutionary action.

Simon Bolivar

Bolivarian socialism will respond to creative practice, to the free exercise of the will and yearnings of the Venezuelan people.  It will not be a "copy or a tracing", to use the expression of Jose Carlos Mariategui, but a "heroic creation".

Our socialism recognizes the diversity of our origins, and values the Indigenous, European and African roots that gave rise to our great South American nation.  It incorporates the doctrine of Simon Bolivar - particularly its anti-imperialist vision and its explanation of the need to unify the nations of Our America; the doctrine of Simon Rodriguez and his struggle for a popular education of liberation; and the doctrine of Ezequiel Zamora and his struggle for social ownership of the land, his confrontation with the oligarchic powers and his programme of social protections.  Likewise, it holds civic-military union as one of its fundamental characteristics.