Juventud+Comunista+de+Venezuela+10th+Congress,+B+Chacko,+YCLUK

Young Communist League (Britain), 25th September, 2006
=10th Congress of Juventud Comunista de Venezuela=


 * By Ben Chacko**

As a member of the YCL, I was lucky enough to attend the Tenth Congress of the Juventud Comunista de Venezuela, which opened on the 15th September, as one of two international delegates from the British Young Communist League.

The Congress proper followed a two day International Conference, at which the global situation was discussed by representatives from lots of countries across the world – including Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Germany, Greece, Paraguay, Portugal and Spain. The majority of speakers were of course from Venezuela itself, and the focus of the talks was the Bolivarian Revolution – its impact in Venezuela and its implications for other countries across the globe. Latin American comrades were of course especially interested in the programme of the revolutionary coalition in Venezuela, but it was striking how many of the issues being dealt with by the Venezuelans were relevant in ‘first world’ countries such as Britain.

A spokesperson from the Coordinación Nacional de las Escuelas Bolivarianas (National Co-ordination of Bolivarian Schools) detailed the educational agenda of the Chavez government. The achievements of its reforms here are already momentous – adult illiteracy has been eradicated, and millions of young people who previously had no access to secondary education have now gained it. The government works through a number of ‘Misiones’, special projects set up to tackle this or that problem, and nothing has been left to chance. “Mission Identity” has concentrated on ensuring that all Venezuelans have official identification – pre-Chavez, millions did not – so that they can access the services which the state provides, such as education and health care systems. Other missions are tackling homelessness, schooling, housing, and pretty much every other social problem you can imagine.

The debate over the direction of educational reforms made fascinating listening. The government is already increasing democratic involvement in the whole process, by getting local people to play an active role in running schools, although the curriculum it was emphasised should be standard for the whole country. For the first time, the cultural and ethnic diversity of Venezuela and the histories of the indigenous populations are being taught. The government is also increasing the practical nature of schooling – as the speaker said, “Classroom learning is not enough. Children need to go to the fields and see how the corn is grown, to the factories to see how things are made”.

Speakers emphasised the essentially democratic nature of the Venezuelan revolution, and they contrasted the active, participatory democracy which exists in Cuba and is being developed in Venezuela with the hollow formal democracy of ‘old’ Venezuela, in which people technically had votes but the vast majority were shut out of the political process. This seemed to me to contain lessons for politicians in Britain too, since we have seen the wishes of the people routinely disregarded by our current government. When politicians whinge about declining turnout in elections and try to shunt the blame onto voters (some suggesting they should be fined for not voting) or the media, they should pause for thought and wonder if people might play a bigger role in political life if their views were ever listened to, or if democracy outside the narrow confines of parliament was considered.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg. In a Congress working committee I attended on the 16th September, the debate on increasing social inclusion ranged from ‘To what extent can co-operative industries eliminate unfair contracts between employers and workers?’ to whether the lyrics of Reggaeton could be considered progressive. The opening session of Congress was an inspiring sight, as hundreds of delegates packed the hall waving red banners, before we all rose for the Internationale – international delegates singing along in their own languages.

Carlos Aquino, the outgoing General Secretary of the JCV, spoke about the key role of young people, both in building and in defending the revolution. He noted the vital work young people have done in mobilising against imperialism worldwide, and argued that in order to sustain the Bolivarian revolution, the JCV had to be at the forefront of work in schools, universities and workplaces, getting to grips with all aspects of social life in the country. Unless participation in the political process continued to increase impressively, he warned, the revolution would be built on air and would fall into a void.

For, despite the enthusiasm, maturity and very evident strength of the JCV, no-one could dispute that the Venezuelan revolution is threatened. So far, due to the heroic defence of their revolution which the people of Venezuela have shown on many occasions (such as the 13th April 2002, when the attempted military coup was defeated by popular action) they have avoided numerous attempts by capitalists and generals, in collusion with and funded by the United States, to get rid of Chavez and reverse all the many gains of the Bolivarian revolution. Higher taxes on oil profits, in order to fund massive increases in social spending, have earned the wrath of the bourgeoisie and international conglomerates, while the US is equally worried by the example that Chavez sets to other Latin American countries and even to people in the United States.

The only way to defend the revolution in the long term was to ensure that the vast majority of Venezuelans were a part of it, understood the positive impact it was having on their own communities and as a result were prepared to fight for its advances, rather than watch passively as a counterrevolution was launched. Popular participation in Venezuela is higher than ever before, but it has a long way to go before, as one speaker jovially put it, “we have ten million Che Guevaras in this country to defend the revolution.”

Returning to Britain I felt humbled by the courage and dedication of the JCV to its essential role in Venezuela’s great revolution. I learned a great deal which will help the YCL in its own work in Britain, and I also understood better than before how urgently the Venezuelan people require our solidarity in the face of imperialist attacks if the very real gains of the revolution – in improving working conditions, literacy, medical care, housing, land tenure, democratic participation and of course in helping to build with Cuba and others an international anti-imperialist bloc – are to be maintained and extended, so that this revolution can provide an example to all the peoples of the world and not become another ‘what if’ attempt at creating a better world, murdered in its infancy by the powers that be.

The British YCL web site is at **http://www.ycl.org.uk/.**

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