Herewith we publish in full the political declaration issued by the 30th plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela on June 6-7, 2009. The fundamental task of the Party at the present time is to build a powerful workers’ and people’s movement, with solid class consciousness in order to deepen the revolutionary process, consolidate national liberation, and open roads to the construction of socialism.
Political Declaration:
1. The capitalist class is maximally sharpening class contradictions at the international level. The multi-polar character of the present political reality in the world is clearly evident. Thus is emphasized the main contradiction of the present historical moment of our planet, that the hegemonic interests of imperialism, headed up by North American power, confronts the interests of the working classes and the peoples. Imperialism acts by entering into the crisis intent upon saving capitalism and creating major concentrations of capital and power while adding to misery, unemployment, massive exclusion, inequalities, and social injustice. But, as always, an historical opportunity opens up for the working class and popular forces, so that we might advance in the struggle against the capitalist system. Now more than ever, the alternative for humanity is socialism, and this can only come about as a result of a sharp and deepened class struggle in the innermost recesses of capitalist societies.
2. Our country, despite the progressive measures adopted by the government of President Chavez, is being battered by the capitalist crisis. This owes fundamentally to Venezuela remaining tightly dependent on international markets by virtue of its being a mono-exporting, multi-importing, non industrialized capitalist economy. Our nearly unique situation of being a crude-oil exporting country, a role historically assigned by imperialism in the international division of labor, makes us vulnerable to the extent that in commercial relations with the world powers we are victims of unequal interchange. In that sense, it’s necessary to take advantage of the crisis to gain greater economic sovereignty within the framework of the new Latin American unity. That entails moving ahead with an industrialization plan and pushing the upsurge of new socialist production relations, this is to say, to deepen the revolution, initiating the passage toward construction of socialism.
3. The contradictions of the present phase of the revolutionary process, which prioritizes national liberation, have sharpened. For one thing, the principal contradiction is expressed through confrontation between aspirations of liberating our country and the goal of U.S. imperialism of applying pressure, expanding its domination, and favoring monopolistic, transnational companies. Beyond that, the multi-faceted threat of counter-revolution continues, with destabilization plans including media terrorism, provocations, economic sabotage, and paramilitary deployments using thugs for criminal attacks against people’s revolutionary leaders. Threats to kill the head of state were attempts on the Venezuelan Revolution aimed at frustrating anti-imperialist processes of integration and unity. These are advancing in Latin America and delivering important defeats both politically and diplomatically. The victory realized in the Organization of American States General Assembly, repeal of the reactionary decision to expel Cuba from that body, serves as an example.
4. Simultaneously the basic contradiction present in all capitalist society is sharpening. It’s expressed as working class interests confronting those of the bourgeoisie and the public managing class perpetuating practices and vices of the capitalist state. They even exist in our own country in that many of those exercising responsibility for public administration and management of state enterprises are not committed to the objective of constructing socialism. They prioritize their own particular interests over those of the workers and the people. The bourgeois and petty bourgeois notions that inform the administration of the state – the prevailing reformism and opportunism – weaken the revolution and block realization of a free and socialist country and create levels of frustration in the working classes and in our people. That is evident each time there is a major disconnection between the revolutionary and progressive orientation of President Chavez and the anti-worker, anti-people, bureaucratic, inefficient, and corrupt practices of agents of public management. That divide promotes an upsurge and consolidation of a new bourgeoisie rising up to compete with the traditional oligarchy over a good part of Venezuela’s petroleum income.
5. A change, therefore, is required in the present correlation of forces in society and in the revolutionary process. The character of a revolution is determined, basically, through the classes and closed circles that take over its leadership. In that regard, it’s indispensible both for the Venezuelan Revolution and for achieving a more profound orientation toward socialism to strengthen the protagonist role of the working class and working people. This involves building popular power so as to create a democratic, popular revolutionary state that can lead us toward consolidation of national liberation and the transition to socialism. At issue is the progressive establishment of a mode of production based on social ownership of the fundamental means of production  the property of all the people  with workers, male and female, taking on the leading role in the management of productive processes and in society as a whole. In that situation all production relations based on exploitation “of man by man” would be liquidated and social division and the hierarchical structure of work would be overcome.
6. In this context, the Communist party of Venezuela, accustomed to criticism and self-criticism, outlines its positions with respect to themes and solutions still under development in national political life.
o   Regarding the nationalization process: The process is an important advance in the direction of gaining for the Venezuelan state control over the means of production and strategic economic activities. Nevertheless, it’s necessary to specify that nationalization alone does not make a company socialist if socialist relations of production are not part of the arrangement. Such a situation applies to all companies and production units that are state property. For that reason workers, male and female, of all entities and public, private, and mixed companies must be organized into workers’ socialist councils, and move their formation ahead fully to implement the role of collective leadership of the productive processes and services, together with the national Bolivarian government.
o   Regarding labor conflict: We back the workers in contesting violations of collective and individual rights at the hands of both private and public employers. We oppose massive lay-offs carried out by governments, mayors’ offices, and legislative councils led by forces in opposition to the Bolivarian process. Budgetary cuts must not be carried out at the expense of workers and their families. We have to construct alternatives and solutions with the working classes, not against them.
o   We energetically reject violations of union freedom and the right to collective bargaining wherever they are being committed. The revolutionary process must guarantee absolute respect for the right of workers to organize voluntarily. The labor union had been and is the appropriate legal instrument for the working classes collectively to struggle for better working and living conditions in this society that relegates wage earners to the status of subordinated, alienated and exploited producers. Rescue of the union movement to unite struggles and develop class consciousness is indispensible. There is no debate on that, or of the legal and legitimate character of union organization and activities. Beyond that, we do reiterate our repudiation of assassination of peasants and labor leaders, and we are on the alert against impunity. We urge the workers’ movement to strengthen its organization, its unity, and its capacity of mobilization in order to impede the oligarchy and circles of the far right, and mafia unions too, from imposing a politics of extermination against the workers and people’s movement.
o   Regarding laws under discussion: We declare ourselves in favor of the broadest and most active and organized people’s participation in discussions on laws that are important for deepening the revolutionary process and for determining the type of society we want to build. This applies also to laws aimed at contributing to the development of greater political consciousness of the collectives and strengthening the protagonist role of the working classes and the people in a way that is independent of economically powerful sectors and the state. We refer in particular to: the Organic Law of Labor, the Law of Reform of the Community Councils, the Organic Law of Education, the Law of Communities, Law of Social Property, and the Organic Law of Electoral Processes. We call upon the working classes to require the National Assembly to approve the Special Law of the Workers’ Socialist Councils and to insert the essence of this law into the new Organic Law of Labor. This would bestow upon workers, male and female, these revolutionary instruments for protagonist participation and leadership in the workers’ centers.
o   Regarding the present state of the Patriotic Alliance: We insist on the necessity that revolutionary process be endowed with a collective and unified leadership in order to make the immense task of defending, consolidating, and deepening the Revolution more effective and coherent. Its absence represents for the revolution a pronounced weakness. We propose to President Chavez and implore the political forces involved with the process to re-establish the functioning of the Patriotic Alliance as an authentic space for a unified political leadership, one where participants are recognized as true allies, not as subordinates, or followers.
We also alert the compatriots in the national leadership of the United Venezuelan Socialist Party that they not allow pressures and threats of dismissals against revolutionaries who choose not to be enrolled in the PSUV, in state companies, and entities of public administration. This is the particular situation that militants of our Party presently face. Such practice, which we understand is not official policy, must be investigated and necessary corrective measures must be taken, inasmuch as there is nothing here that serves the revolution. We remember that a political party can only be formed and strengthened by those who decide consciously and voluntarily to be part of it. All actions directed at compulsion that are integrated into a political organization, whether directly with threats and conditions, or indirectly through treatment as clients, serve to discredit the political movement in question ethically and politically.
The fundamental task of the present historical moment is to build a powerful workers” and people’s movement, with solid class consciousness to deepen the revolutionary process, consolidate national liberation, and open the way to the construction of socialism.
XXX Plenary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela Caracas, June 6-7, 2009
