Leftist Union Leaders Assassinated in Venezuela (tags)
On November 27, three leftist union leaders in the Venezuelan state of Aragua – Richard Gallardo, Luis Hernández and Carlos Requena – were gunned down by an assassin. The murder came hours after the unionists had led a workers occupation of a Colombian-owned milk plant which had been brutally broken up by state police. All three were leaders of the UNT (National Workers Union) and of the USI (Socialist Left Unity), a party which has opposed attempts by the government of Hugo Chávez to impose state control of labor, and has fought the rightist opposition backed by imperialism. They may have been murdered by assassins hired by the Colombian company, by elements connected to the police of outgoing state governor, a former Chávez ally, or by supporters of a current official of the governing United Socialist Party. In any case, despite Chávez’ socialist rhetoric, the reality of the bourgeois Bolivarian “revolution” in Venezuela today is that leftist unionists are murdered while the forces of capitalist state repression back up the bosses. While many leftists have called on the Chávez government to investigate, Trotskyists call for organizing workers defense guards and imposing workers control of production. Venezuela today is stuck at a crossroads. Building a Bolshevik-type workers party based on Trotsky’s program of permanent revolution is key.
Sindicalismo y trabajadores en Venezuela (tags)
* Estos tres textos han sido tomados de El Libertario # 47, mayo-junio 2006, vocero bimensual de la Comisión de Relaciones Anarquistas. En ellos se pone al día y condensa una perspectiva anarquista sobre la situación del movimiento laboral en este país.
Venezuelan trade union leaders discuss way forward for the revolution (tags)
Bolivarian Revolution
British Trade Union Congress unaimously supports Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution (tags)
Bolivarian Revolution
UNT leader Stalin Perez Borges speaking tour in California (tags)
Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution
Workers witness Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution (tags)
In late November, Chicagoans Beatrice Lumpkin and her husband Frank, a retired steelworker leader, traveled to Venezuela.