Building Socialism from Below: The Role of the Communes in Venezuela

[Billy Burnett]

Building Socialism from Below: The Role of the Communes in Venezuela

Building Socialism from Below:
The Role of the Communes in Venezuela

An interview with Antenea Jimenez

We met with Antenea Jimenez, a former militant with the student movement who is now working with a national network of activists who are trying to build and strengthen the comunas. The comunas are community organizations promoted since 2006 by the Chávez government as a way to consolidate a new form of state based upon production at the local level. She told us about the important advances in the process, as well as the significant challenges that remain in the struggle to build a new form of popular power from below.

Read interview here - http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/368.php

[ChangoLoa]

1. Nice quote.

"While there are fewer people in the countryside, the quality of the compañeros is very high. Sometimes there is not one person who did not vote for Chávez; this is less common in the urban areas."

:eyes:

[naaman fletcher]

2. good luck with that.

It's failed everywhere it's been tried. Even the Kibbutz's are at an end.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Interesting to read this, Billy Burnett. Can appreciate her closing remark, too,

after having heard of earlier Venezuelan Presidents:

If another government replaces Chávez it may no longer be possible to meet politically in the streets. With the right-wing governments of the past, you only had to have a single book by Marx, Che Guevara, or Fidel Castro, to be persecuted. •

How was the trip to Caracas, Vice-President Nixon?

Yep, we've usually officially stood on the wrong side of the people, unfortunately.

[ChangoLoa]

4. LOL. The pics you're showing invalidate your quote as we all see

"With the right-wing governments of the past, you only had to have a single book by Marx, Che Guevara, or Fidel Castro, to be persecuted"
Right, but when Nixon came by, the streets threw rocks at his car...

This is a total lie, marxism has been allowed in politics during all of the democratic period in Venezuela (1958-).

Haven't you ever wondered how could Chavez be so easily elected in a country which persecuted leftists and communists? That's called impossible. Think about it.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Why did they hate Nixon? Because they had, obviously, been wildly enraged,

and abused perpetually by right-wing asshole Presidents.

Don't even try that crap.

[ChangoLoa]

6. Whatever. The point is that Venezuela was the South Am country where leftists were NOT persecuted

during the dark times. When I was a kid in the 70's and 80's, half of my mother's friends were leftists from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. They considered Venezuela as a safe haven ruled by a center-left (Socialist International) corrupted government. What this girl in the interview is saying about being persecuted in Venezuela for having a book from Marx is total crap.

[Braulio]

7. I think the point is about comunes

They're trying to hype the comunes. Those comunes won't work, but that's not the point. Maybe the Chinese can tell Venezuelan communists what happened in China when they decided to run a communist system.

[Flatulo]

8. Not bloody likely...

Part of the human experience is trying the same thing over and over again, despite overwhelming evidence that it doesn't work.

I strongly encourage anyone who cares to read extensively about the Israeli Kibuttz experience.

[Braulio]

10. Let's be realistic

Venezuelans are going to find out first hand what marxism is all about. Poor guys.

[Flatulo]

11. Agreed - selling your liberty for straight teeth has always been a losing proposition. nt

[ChangoLoa]

9. Mixing pure conceptual forms with heterogeneous historical examples won't take us far. nt