On Oct. 31, the leaders of the reactionary opposition announced that their parties will boycott the upcoming municipal elections and will expel any of their members that register to run or vote. They also expelled their four governor-elects who swore loyalty to the National Constituent Assembly, signaling that the reactionary forces are abandoning the electoral path. This has happened in the midst of the harshest price inflation in the past few years. Bolivarian revolutionary forces are recognizing the signs and preparing to defend their gains and advance to new ones. Below is a statement from the Gayones Movement, a Marxist-Leninist labor organization, on the recent developments in the country. Translated by Fight Back! staff.

On Thursday, Nov. 2, the Gayones Movement leadership in Lara state denounced the Venezuelan opposition for returning to violent action. They expressed concern over the speculative rise of the cost of basic goods and, at the same time, made a call for their XI National Assembly, which will be held this Saturday in Barquisimeto.

The plan is named ‘RaBo’ in reference to the initials of its main proponents, Henri Ramos Allup and Julio Borges, the leaders of the Democratic Action and Justice First parties, respectively. This plan will have two parallel paths: “A intensification of the economic boycott in order to harm the people through the excessive rise in the costs of basic mass-consumed goods and transport, all done by means of hoarding,” and, the second path, a refusal to participate in the December elections.

With this, “they are trying to avoid electoral disaster and delegitimize state institutions,” the leadership stated. They warned that violent acts could succeed in preventing the population from voting, causing the level of abstention to soar.

The economic boycott also has an internal force

For the Gayones leadership, the boycott and economic sabotage that the Venezuelan people suffer from, inflicted by the native bourgeoisie, is protected by certain internal sectors of the national government, who are no more than ‘traitors’ and ‘accomplices’ that “since coming to power have lent themselves to speculation and hoarding, and they have permitted a handful of their associated traitors to capital, enriching themselves with the hunger of the people.”

The leadership stated that many state institutions are “representatives of certain monopolies,” making them incapable of taking action for fear of coming into conflict with themselves. Before this, “the swell of speculation should be overwhelmingly attacked by acts of vigilance and popular oversight, as well as pressure towards the state institutions,” they expressed.

Protective actions of wage increases

With respect to the act of wage increases — announced by president Nicolás Maduro this Wednesday — the leadership gave their support, stating that similar action should be taken to ‘sensibly’ improve the purchasing power of Venezuelans faced with the strongest speculative phase since the beginning of the economic war.

But, they argued, the action should be accompanied by strict control of prices to avoid the conversion of the wage increase into ‘salt and water’ when faced with new speculative prices. To accomplish this, the leadership proposes revolutionary workers’ control of all imports, production and commercial businesses.

Other necessary actions

Additionally, they proposed other actions to advance towards socialism, among them the control and centralization of the banks, a centralized planned national economy, seizure of businesses that are directly implicated in acts of sabotage, and the creation of agricultural production brigades.

Finally, the leadership extended an invitation to the XI National Assembly of the Gayones Movement on Nov. 4, when the organization will set its policies for 2018 and celebrate 100 years of the Great October Socialist Revolution, among other topics.

#Venezuela #Socialism #economy #VenezuelaElections #Americas