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.

Commitment to practical and theoretical study

The following continues my translation of the PSUV's 'Libro Rojo':

Article 10: Militants’ commitment to practical and theoretical study

Translated by Owen Richards

The party declares socialist education and self-education to be of fundamental importance and as such will establish a political and ideological System of Education, which is to be one of the national bodies within the functional structure and organisational method, according to the party’s principle of territorial and sectoral organisation. As such, it will encourage the education of all party militants in its Doctrine, Statutes, Principles, Program and Official Documents.  Prioritising the deep study of Bolivarianism, our own history, universal critical thought and Marxism as the basis for the dialectical analysis of human experience, all of which, combined with volunteer work, shall guarantee the theoretical and practical education of each and every militant.

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.

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.

Red book—Fundamental documents

[A reader has alerted me to a problem with submitting comments. If you are having this problem please email your comment to me so I can add it myself. I will try to sort out the issue in the meantime.   The following is from the introduction to the PSUV's Libro Rojo (i.e., 'Red Book'). It was issued last year and is available on the PSUV website (http://www.psuv.org.ve/temas/biblioteca/libro-rojo/). I will translate more of this in subsequent posts.]        

Red Book - Fundamental Documents

Translated by Owen Richards

   
The First Extraordinary Congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) approves the Declaration of Principles, the Statutes [constitution] and the Programmatic Foundations of the Party, in the framework of the bicentennial era.

The First Extraordinary Congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), completes this important phase with the approval of the documents that formally give birth to the socialist party: the Declaration of Principles, the Statutes and the Programmatic Foundations of the Party.  This historic event takes place in the context of the development of a revolutionary process whose protagonist is the people, with Comandante President Hugo Chavez at its head, and that has as its aim of providing continuity to the emancipatory heritage  initiated 200 years ago by our Liberators.  Today as yesterday, all socialist militants, all Venezuelans who love this homeland, have the obligation to fight for liberty, for sovereignty, for independence and social justice for the wellbeing of our peoples.

Two-hundred years after the start of the process of a still-unfinished emancipation, we are obliged to reclaim the struggles developed by our Liberators, for such men and women of our peoples as shed their blood and gave their lives and for the Homeland.  Yesterday our peoples confronted the Spanish empire, today we are confronting the U.S. empire with the same aims: liberty, independence, sovereignty and social justice.

2010 to 2013: Bicentennial era

The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), as the expression of the people's unity, must assume the role of vanguard in the coming struggles, in the framework of the bicentennial era that has begun, until the definitive independence of our peoples has been achieved, in terms that, in agreement with history, were raised by the leader of the revolution, Commandant Hugo Chavez Frias: 2010 to 2013.  On the bicentenary of the death of the Liberator Simon Bolivar, our Homeland should not just be definitively free, independent and sovereign, but also must have consolidated Bolivarian socialism with the construction of a society where social justice and equality, solidarity and love reign.  Liberty cannot walk alone, she is obliged to guarantee justice, as both are inseparable sisters. As Grand Marshall Jose Antonio de Sucre said:

"When America was at war to achieve liberty, it understood that it would also have to achieve justice…  Liberty and justice are inseparable sisters (and), and if we don't achieve justice, the war of independence will not have made sense."