The PSUV's socialist patrols

The following post continues my translation of the Socialist Party of Venezuela’s ‘Libro Rojo’, or Red Book, the party’s program which was adopted at last year’s congress. The following two articles concern the party’s branches, or “patrols”.

Article 19: On the socialist patrols

The socialist patrols are the primary and basic cellular components of the party. They are linked to the organizational forms of Popular Power, and constitute the basis of the network of socio-political articulation and of the PSUV's system of ideological education.

Article 20: On the typology of the socialist patrols.

The socialist patrols can be:

a) Territorial, as the sphere of the party’s primary discussion is in the communities, and its radius of action is in the streets, blocks, villages and communes. Every party militant must be a member of one of these.

b) Sectoral, in agreement with the activities developed by the militants in specific areas.

c) Any other that the National Political Directorate establishes.

Militants may simultaneously belong to a territorial and a sectoral patrol, in which case the procedure for determining preferences voting in internal elections will be established by the norms to that effect issued by the National Political Directorate.

Responsibilities of militants

The following post is a continuation of my translation of the PSUV's 'Statutes' from the Red Book:

Article 9: Responsibilities of militants

Translated by Owen Richards

Every militatnt is obliged to comply with the following duties:

1. To defend the Homeland, the Revolution and its leader, and the PSUV.

2. To comply with ethical-moral values, education, self-education, discipline, solidarity and revolutionary love.

3. To contribute to the party's financing, in accord with progressive and proportional rules.

4. To comply with and abide by the [political] lines and instructions put out by the various leadership bodies of the party.

5. To be available to the Party Leadership in order to participate in any activity required.

6. To undertake permanent efforts in voluntary work under the Party's direction.

7. To tirelessly struggle against the scourge of corruption.

8. To confront bureaucratism in any of its manifestations.

9. To educate oneself within the Party's System of Education.

Organisational principles and internal democracy

The following continues my translation of the PSUV Red Book’s ‘Statutes’ (i.e. constitution). Here are articles 3, 4 and 5 from chapter 1:

Fundamental positions (continued)

Translated by Owen Richards

Article 3: values and principles

The party builds itself as a socialist party and affirms the socialist society as the only alternative to supersede the capitalist system. It takes the thoery and practice of Simon Bolivar, Simon Rodriguez and Ezequiel Zamora as its creative source.  Likewise, it adopts the principles of scientific socialism, of Christianity, of liberation theology, of all critical, universal and humanist thought, gender equity and equality and the ethical obligation to build a model that respects life and mother Earth and guarantees the survival of humanity.

Simon Bolivar

As a diverse and multi-ethnic party, it nourishes its roots in the Afro-Indian legacy of Guaicaipuro and Jose Leonardo Chirino, everthing inspired in the fundamental leadership and revolutionary ideas of Commander Hugo Chavez, directed towards creating a new man and woman in the crucible of hopes and dreams that makes our new socialism a racially-mixed socialism, loaded with African identity, with the identity of our indigenous peoples, and with the international vision whose chief exponent has been Francisco de Miranda.

We assume civic-military unity as the principle to guarantee national and popular defence and sovereignty.

Article 4: On organisational principles

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), as a revolutionary party representing the interests of the urban and rural proletariat, of the campesinos and the other exploited social sectors, must be organized and work according to the principles of socialist democracy. That is to say:

• Political-ideological cohesion.

• Democratic centralism—understood as the subordination of the whole organisation to the leadership; the subordination of all militants to their organisations; the subordination of all lesser bodies to superior bodies; the subordination of the minority to the majority; top down and bottom up control of the implementation of party decisions; that all leadership bodies be elected, and the principle of collective leadership (collective and individual responsibilities) —all of which is based on the conscious discipline arising from the political line, programme and statutes governing the life of the party.

• Collective leadership of all bodies.

• Accountability before leadership bodies and before the people.

• Recallability, based upon a democratic evaluation of management.

• Constant exercise of criticism and self-criticism regarding one's own errors and those of others, in the correct way with the aim of overcoming areas.

• The exercise of socialist emulation—understood as the recognition of the political practice and revolutionary integrity of party militants.

Article 5: Methods of internal democracy

The party may use various methods when making decisions and conducting internal elections, which will be decided by the various leadership bodies according to the political conditions: direct,universal and secret election; cooptation; first, second or third grade elections; discussion and consensus.

PSUV Red Book—Statutes

The following is the second section from the PSUV's Libro Rojo, or Red Book, the statutes or constitution of the party. My translation of Section One was serialised in previous posts.

PSUV Red Book—Statutes

Translated by Owen Richards

We, delegates to the First Extraordinary Congress Of The United Socialist Party Of Venezuela (PSUV), militants all, under the leadership of President Commander Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, having studied and considered the events and political dynamics of recent years, in which new and varied forms of organization, political foundations and elements of action arose, agree with the definitive approval of the statutes of the United Socialist Party Of Venezuela in the following terms:

Chapter 1  Fundamental dispositions

Article 1: Name

The name of the United Socialist Party Of Venezuela is adopted and allows the use of the initials PSUV as well as the flag, anthem and slogans that are set out in the respective regulations.  The party arises as an expression of the struggles and the revolutionary will of the people; it will be the political tool to unite revolutionary and socialist action and to carry out strategic tasks in order to achieve social happiness.

The party advocates unity and ethics in its policy and in the permanent activity that characterises revolutionary anti-imperialist and socialist action.

Article 2: Aims or objectives

The fundamental aims of the United Socialist Party Of Venezuela (PSUV) are the construction of Bolivarian socialism, the anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist struggle, and the consolidation of Bolivarian, participatory and activist democracy, through the recognition and strengthening of Popular Power.  In its anti-imperialist essence, it has an internationalist vocation and therefore the unity and alliance of the exploited peoples of the world and their popular and progressive movements, with the aim of putting an end to capitalism.  The party takes up the task of strengthening south-south relations with the peoples of Our America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

As a party of the masses and of cadres, it has the responsibility to educate itself in history and in human experiences in order to take up the task of permanently creating and inventing socialism, using its own criteria.

Fundamental and general principles

Here is the final installment of the 'Declaration of Principles' from the PSUV's Red Book:

Fundamental principles

Translated by Owen Richards

The party holds to the Bolivarian ideal, the contributions of  Ezekiel Zamora and Simon Rodriguez, as well as the contributions of struggle and organisation of the Indo-African-American peoples; it takes inspiration from the origins of Christianity, from the theory of liberation; it draws nourishment from scientific socialism and the experiences of its men and women who have fought for the revolution and the construction of socialism.

General principles

The party declares itself as:

* Anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist

* Anti-corruption

* Socialist

* Marxist

* Bolivarian

* Committed to the interests of the working class and the people

* Humanist

* Internationalist

* Patriotic

* Centralist

* Ethical and with revolutionary morality

* Defender of the rights of mother earth

* Defender of gender equality and equity

* Defender of the rights of the disabled

* Defender of participatory and protagonist democracy in society

* Political vanguard of the revolutionary process

* Original and creative

* Defender, driver and promoter of Popular Power

* Promoter of endogenous development

* Defender of equality in the heart of the organisation

* Critical and self-critical

* Based on the principles of democratic centralism and collective leadership

* Disciplined

* Practitioner of internal democracy in the party

The militants of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) must validate, with daily practice, all these principles, holding to Che Guevara's maxim when he said "the revolution is held in the heart to die for, not on the lips to live for", in this way, it will be completely honest and sincere when we say:

Socialist Homeland or death... We will triumph

From the bourgeois capitalist state to the socialist state

The following is a continuation of my translation of the PSUV's "Red Book" (i.e. party program). Here is section 4 from the 'Declaration of Principles'.

4. From the bourgeois capitalist state to the socialist state

Restore power to the people: building popular power

Translated by Owen Richards

The conclusion is clear: "to end to end poverty, it is necessary to give power to the poor" and to build socialism. This power is born in the participation and activism of the people.

The United Socialist Party Of Venezuela must be the motor of the direct participation of the people and its instrument in the construction of socialism. This participation—of workers, campesinos, youth, intellectuals, professionals, artists, housewives, small producers, city and country traders, indigenous people and afro-decendientes [those of African heritage]—must be full and democratic, in the make up and functioning of all of the organs of power, in the elaboration, discussion and resolution of programmes and strategies and in the promotion and election of its leaderships, in conditions of equality, to achieve the collective leadership of the revolutionary process.

To that end, the fundamental task of the party is to raise the revolutionary consciousness of the masses, to organize and educate them in in the struggle for the conquest of power, to raise their level of philosophical, political, ideological, moral and organisational consciousness, in order to achieve their transformation from patrons of representative democracy into patrons of participatory democracy. It means training the people for the exercise of power in such functions as planning and the drawing up of budgets, making decisions, execution and control, guided by socialist values.  It also represents, ideologically, upholding Bolivarian socialism as our chief ideal of society, as the political model of the state.  Within this framework, the party should be an instrument of struggle for emancipation, a unifying political tool and an organ of political, economic, financial and social control of the whole structure of the government, based on the foundation of a socialist conception of the party.

The party frames its strategic approach towards the construction of popular power in the elaboration, formulation, and the pre- and post- inspection of the implementation of government programmes, with a sense of equity, equality, humanism and following socialist principles, in the process of generating the new hegemony 

In building Popular Power, the focus is on territorial organisation according to the New Geometry Of Popular Power.  With this focus, the social movements will be strengthened from the grass roots.

The party must aim to give power to the organized and conscious masses, socialising political power through the direct exercise of the power of the people in the search for ethical, social, scientific, artistic and cultural development.

The party, as the instrument of struggle of millions of free men and women, likewise points out the need for centralised action in the great battles already outlined: the battle against poverty, exploitation, corruption, against the degradation of the human being, and against the internal reactionaries and their imperial overlords.

It must be the unifying political mechanism of the great majority, based on the conviction that the people face a constant military threat by the internal and external enemies of the revolution, and in doing so the party in all of its plans assumes the responsibility for defending the homeland, for confronting and defeating imperialism.

To advance towards the socialist society that we want, we must replace the bourgeois capitalist state with a socialist state.  The newly outlined state advances toward the planned and organic communal state whose concretion takes place through the dialectical interaction between the old passive and obsolete organising cells, and the new forms of superior organisation like the communes, communal councils, workers' revolutionary councils, students' revolutionary councils, among others.

The party, together with the people, must strengthen the fight against corruption, creating the conditions and mechanisms to combat this cancerous vice in the structures of the bourgeois state, a vice that spreads moral and ethical degradation in institutions and human beings and generates practices that conflict with ethical principles; as a consequence, the party must motivate a constant striving for the revolutionary transformation in the consciousness of social duty, along with the application of legal measures to liquidate impunity, and resolutely punish acts committed against public ethics and morality. As every act of corruption is a counterrevolutionary act, the party will work on the strengthening of revolutionary ethics, which is the nexus between what is said and what is done, between words and deeds.

The imperialist threat

[The following is Section 1 of the 'Declaration of Principles' from the PSUV's 'Libro Rojo' - Red Book]

Translated by Owen Richards

1. The imperialist threat

At the beginning of the 21st century humanity entered into the most dangerous crossroads of its history.  Capitalism in the imperialist phase had reached its limits and has shown itself—with its policies of neoliberal development and its model of media influence—as the main enemy of humanity.  After successive paliative postponements of a structural crisis that corrodes the foundations of the system from decades ago, the planet's dominant socio economic mechanism is fettered and threatens to explode.

The crisis of this irrational mode of production is, with its uncontrolled generation of refuse and waste, exploitation of nations, peoples, classes, and individuals and the destruction of nature, is based on the competition between the imperialist centres of the world economy in a cruel struggle for markets, and the ecological crisis that threatens not only humanity, but in truth all life on the planet. Driven by the logic of competition, and also by the need to find profitable ways of investing immense masses of excess capital (especially in advanced technologies and the war industries); and also by the imperative to destroy surplus commodities in order to restructure the system and restart the economic cycle, imperialism drags the world toward war and planetary destruction.

However, with the current level of scientific and technological development, the war— in contrast to the two global conflagrations that occurred during the 20th century—would not be limited to the destruction of human life, culture and goods so as to permit them to be produced once more and sold: it would destroy all forms of life on earth.

The atrocities committed by the United States and the lesser powers, as in the invasion of Iraq, are only the ominous prologue to what the awaits humanity if it is not able to stop its deadly dynamic.  To stop imperialism, to impede the technological and media wars, are the most transcendental priorities of the peoples.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the nineties of the 20th century, the floodgates holding back capital from mitigating its crisis burst open, pouring out on the dependent nations and its workers, campesinos and other social sectors.  The price of the capitalist crisis in the central countries is the dizzying growth of misery in the countries of the periphery.  An unprecedented concentration of wealth in the hands of a few results in degradation, suffering, hunger and death for the immense majority of humanity, including, increasingly, the peoples of the imperialist countries.

This flood of poverty is the other aspect of the crisis that threatens life on earth.  In the face of a growing inability to rule through the alliances and institutions with which it maintained it's power during the 20th century, imperialism now appeals to the desperate needs of millions of human beings in order to throw them once more against each other in fratricidal wars and with no other possible outcome than destruction, degradation and death on a scale never seen before.

The US Navy's 'Fourth Fleet'

With the emergence of the Bolivarian revolution under the leadership of Comandante Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, an awakening of the social movements begins coinciding with the advance of the processes of emancipation in Latin America and the Caribbean.  The peoples rise up and unfurl the flags of sovereignty and deepen the anti-imperialist struggle; progressive governments continue emerging like that of Lula in Brazil, Cristina Kirchner in Argentina, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Rafael Correa in Ecuador, the Frente Amplio takes power and consolidates in Uruguay with the triumph of Pepe Mujica, the Lugo government arises in Paraguay, the Sandinistas, with Daniel Ortega up front, retake and hold power in Nicaragua, the government of Honduras with President Zelaya joins ALBA, the Frente Farabundo Marti wins in El Salvador, and ALBA arrives in the Carribean with the incorporation of Dominica, San Vicente and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda; these advances, with the presence of Fidel's Cuba and the leadership of Chavez provoke a change in the correlation of forces in the continent giving hope to the poor of Latin America and the world.

Today, with the advance of the emancipatory forces of the continent, the empire reacts, unleashing a counter-offensive with the aim of reinforcing its strategy of domination, expansionism, division and destruction, provoking violence, kidnapping, narco-trafficking, paramilitarism and violation of the principle of the people's sovereignty and self determination.  Thus we witness the overthrow of democracy in Honduras and the toppling of president Zelaya; the presence of the Fourth Fleet of the U.S. navy in Latin American waters, the threat of incursion into the interior of the continent via its rivers; and the expansion of the military bases in Colombia, Panama and the Antilles.  While the people go forward building Latin American and Caribbean unity, the empire tries to stop their advance, using its military presence in Colombia.  The violation of sovereignty of the sister Republic of Ecuador is registered there; the constant provocations from Colombia towards Venezuela with the aim of justifying armed intervention in our country, such as the presence of paramilitaries active in Venezuela, assassination of national guards on the border, the incursions into Venezuelan Territory by members of the Colombian political police (DAS) and the violation of air space by US planes coming from military bases in the Antilles.