Freedom Socialist • Vol. 29, No. 3 • June-July 2008In defense of Trotskyist critics of Hugo ChávezAn answer to political slander by James Petras Hugo Chávez’s proposed amendments to Venezuela’s constitution, which failed in a general election last year, produced debate among radicals and led to an attack by James Petras, a U.S. left writer on Latin America, against South American Trotskyists who opposed the changes. (See “Why Voters Rejected Chávez’s Overhaul of the Constitution” at www.socialism.com.) Petras charged that Trotskyist critics of the referendum collaborated with U.S.-backed rightwingers. He claimed to have proof, but has produced none. One of those whose integrity Petras assaulted is Orlando Chirino, a Venezuelan union leader who was subsequently fired by his employer, PDVSA, the state-owned oil company. The Trotskyist Unidad Internacional de los Trabajadores-Cuarto Internacional has called for an international tribunal to investigate Petras’s charges. The Freedom Socialist Party supported this call and was asked to nominate a panelist for such a tribunal. FSP nominated Dr. Raya Fidel, a University of Washington professor of library and information science who is internationally renowned in her field. Ms. Fidel, who accepted, is an Israeli-born feminist and supporter of Palestinian rights. The statement below was issued in March by the Secretariat of the U.S. section of FSP. The rejection of President Hugo Chávez’s proposed constitutional amendments last December came as quite a shock to his supporters. It gave rise to immediate recriminations against opponents of the far-reaching changes. Well-known writer James Petras launched a vicious attack on the Brazilian Partido Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado (PSTU) and Orlando Chirino, Trotskyist leader of the Venezuelan Unión Nacional de Trabajadores (UNT). In a radio interview, Petras labeled them “counterrevolutionaries” for urging Venezuelans to oppose the amendments by either voting “no” (PSTU) or by casting a blank ballot (Chirino). Petras also wrongly accuses Trotskyists in the PSTU of knowingly collaborating with U.S.-funded rightwing students who participated in the “Vote No” movement. Petras engages in age-old Stalinist smear tactics in an attempt to scapegoat the PSTU and Mr. Chirino for Chávez’s first electoral defeat since he became President. Petras unfairly blames his targets for this perceived setback of the Bolivarian revolution when in fact the entire country was deeply divided over the reforms. Forty-four percent of those eligible to vote abstained, including about 3 million voters who had previously helped re-elect Chávez to another term in office. Of those who did vote, a majority opposed the referendum. Thus, the PSTU and Mr. Chirino were attacked for taking positions that were consistent with sentiments of the majority of the electorate. Instead of pointing fingers, Petras should consider the probability that the outcome of the election, particularly the large number of abstentions, reflects widespread dissatisfaction with the pace of reform and with the government’s failure to raise living standards for many of Venezuela’s poorest citizens. At the time he made his accusations against the PSTU and Chirino in early December 2007, Petras claimed to have a pile of documentation to support his outrageous charges of political betrayal by long-time Trotskyist leaders, with whom, in the case of the PSTU, Petras had collaborated for a number of years. Almost four months later, Petras still has not made his evidence public. He has also ignored the call, initially made by the Unidad Internacional de los Trabajadores-Cuarto Internacional (UIT-CI) and supported by the PSTU, the Freedom Socialist Party and many others, to convene an international tribunal to determine, once and for all, if there is any substance to his claims. It is of vital importance to not only the Venezuelan revolution but also revolutionary movements throughout Latin America and the entire hemisphere that socialists work together, despite our differences. We need to apply Marxist methodology to correctly understand what is taking place in Venezuela and other countries in Central and South America and to decide what tasks flow from those perspectives. The FSP’s contribution to this effort is found in our most recent political resolution, “One Hemisphere Indivisible: Permanent Revolution and Neoliberalism in the Americas” (available in Spanish and English at www.socialism.com). Rather than degenerate into suppression of dissent through dangerous and destructive political character assassination, the revolutionary Left needs to engage in serious programmatic debate and comradely criticism. Slanderous public attacks on the integrity of prominent socialists like Orlando Chirino and parties like the PSTU diminish the trust and respect that workers have for the revolutionary movement as a whole. |
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