The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) is the second-largest party supporting Nicolás Maduro for president in the May 20 elections. In this piece published in their party newspaper Tribuna Popular, the PCV Central Committee lays out their position of the electoral process, the need for communist agitation, and the future of the country. It is provided below in English, translated by Fight Back! News staff.

Communists and elections

As Communists, we understand very well that revolutionary transformations cannot come about from “bourgeois legality.” Socialism will only be possible by profoundly transforming the material and legal order of the existing structure, and this will mean to revolutionarily transcend the current legal limits of the so-called “democratic game” as it is currently defined.

But we also understand that this principle does not mean that a small conspiratorial group, separated from the working class and campesino masses, will be able to tear down the scaffolding of the capitalist system.

As Communists we do not see the elections as a mere act of “political economy” that allows us to occupy some positions or spaces from which we can little by little transform society. This is exactly the reformist conception that we must adamantly combat.

We also cannot allow ourselves to be seduced by the rightist and reformist conception of electoral events as festivals of empty slogans accompanied by music and advertising, which aims to procure the votes of the masses by means of political propaganda without content.

Agitation, organization and education

For the Communists, the upcoming elections for President of the Republic and the Legislative Councils will be an opportunity to agitate, organize and educate the Venezuelan working class, the campesino masses and all working people; using propaganda art and new forms of communication like social networks, we will put forward our political and programmatic line in a way that clearly distinguishes the message of the PCV.

For this reason, the Party of the Red Rooster does not dilute itself with “campaign teams” and “electoral marketing” strategies, for the Venezuelan working class should already be able to distinguish the position of the PCV. For this reason we can win with our program and with a campaign that overcomes simply slapping up posters and painting murals (which we must also do) with the triad of agitation, organization and education of the popular masses.

The electoral growth of the PCV is a product of elevating levels of consciousness and the qualitative and quantitative organization of the working class, which contributes to the accumulative process for a change in the correlation of forces on the political map. To augment the vote share of the PCV is to augment the political strength of the anti-imperialist popular bloc, the possibility of displacing reformists and conciliationists, and to fortify the position of the most honest and combative sectors of the Venezuelan people.

When will the Venezuelan people overcome the deficiencies of the current political process? When the working class, together with the campesinos and communal workers, is converted into a powerful hegemonic force at the head of the Bolivarian process. The Venezuelan people are currently in the crosshairs of the imperialist powers and their Creole lapdogs, and reformism is not guaranteed to be able to resist the aggressions of international capital.

Only a powerful anti-imperialist front under the leadership of the working class, together with the campesino and popular masses, can guarantee the independence of the Venezuelan nation. It is not only the presidency and some legislative positions on the line, but the entire future of the Venezuelan people is on the line. And the organic strength of the PCV, which must be reflected in its electoral showing, is a decisive element in the construction of this future.

Wladimir Abreu is a PCV Central Committee member.

#Venezuela #Elections #PeoplesStruggles #Maduro #Communism #Socialism #Americas