ckaihatsu
25th May 2009, 03:55
SOCIALISM: Venezuela Nationalizes Gas Plant and Steel Companies, Pledges Worker Control
grok <[email protected]> Sun, May 24, 2009 at 9:28 PM
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Hash: SHA1
While of necessity it is the case that a socialst state of any type in its early
stages must be forced to continue with bourgeois praxis in some form or another (for
a while at least), it does NOT behoove such a workers' socialist government to
actually PREFER or to AIM FOR capitalist goals or praxis -- in any way, shape or
form. Instead, *socialist* forms of ekonomik organization must be constructed as fast
as is physically possible. There are few excuses to act otherwise -- most of the ones
usually advanced being mere political stupidity, timidity, or calculated sabotage.
So in the case of the powerful nexus of socialist basic industry being organized in
Venezuela -- however much that is more appearance than substance at this point -- I
would think that it certainly must fall to the socialist trade and development
confederation *ALBA* to organize and dispose of the output of these industries:
seeing as how especially urgently the poorer countries like Cuba and Nicaragua
desperately need these inputs in their own ekonomies.
IMO the division of the output of socialist Venezuela MUST reflect the immediate
needs of the entire ALBA confederation -- and to hell with any pro-capitalist whiners
in Venezuela or elsewhere who want to play the "nationalist" card over this socialist
praxis. And this generous divison of the social output should not dwell over-long on
balance-of-trade issues either: all WILL balance out in the end. In spades.
Get that share of those materials out to Cuba and Nicaragua, et al.!
And plough the rest into the industrial and infrastructure developmment of Venezela.
And EAT the Rich and their toys if you have to.
- -- grok.
- ----- Forwarded message from Cort Greene <[email protected]> -----
From: Cort Greene <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 20:01:33 -0500
Subject: [Working_Class_News] Venezuela Nationalizes Gas Plant and Steel Companies, Pledges Worker
Control
To: Working_Class_News <[email protected]>,
[email protected], [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[email protected] gmail.com>
Venezuela Nationalizes Gas Plant and Steel Companies, Pledges Worker Control
[image: Printer-friendly
version]<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/print/4464>[image:
Send to friend] <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/printmail/4464> May 22nd
2009, by James Suggett Venezuelanalysis.com
[image: President Hugo Chavez conducts a socialist workshop with steel
workers yesterday
(ABN)]<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/2009/05/socialist%20workshop%20guayana%20may21%2009%20ABN% 20(1).jpg>
President Hugo Chavez conducts a socialist workshop with steel workers
yesterday (ABN)
Mérida, May 22nd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com)-- This week the Venezuelan
government nationalized a gas compression plant in the eastern state of
Monagas and five prominent steel and iron briquette companies as part of its
two year-old national development plan to integrate the country's strategic
industries under state control. President Hugo Chávez said the nationalized
companies should gradually be placed under worker control.
On Wednesday the government took control of the PIGAP II gas compression
plant, invoking a law passed by the National Assembly earlier this month
that re-establishes government control over a range of oil and gas related
activities that were previously contracted out to foreign multinationals.
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA had contracted the PIGAP II project to
the U.S.-based multinational Wilpro Energy Services in 2001. The plant has
the capacity to produce 1,400 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
Then, on Thursday evening President Chávez visited the mineral-rich Guayana
region of southeastern Venezuela to declare the nationalization of the
Guayana Steelmaking Complex (COMSIGUA), the steel tube maker Tavsa, the iron
producers Orinoco Iron and Venprecar, the Matesi briquetted iron plant, and
the ceramic tile producer Ceramicas Carabobo.
Orinoco Iron and Venprecar together produce 3 million tons of briquetted
iron per year, and are jointly owned by BHP-Billiton and International
Briquettes Holding (IBH), an affiliate of the Venezuelan steel company
SIVENSA.
The Argentine company Techint owns both the Matesi plant and
Luxembourg-based Tenaris steel tube company, of which Tavsa is a
majority-owned subsidiary. Techint is also a stakeholder in COMSIGUA, which
is partially owned by Japan's Kobe Steel. Techint owned Venezuela's largest
steel plant, SIDOR, from 1997 until the government nationalized the plant
last year.
After nationalization, workers previously employed by the private owners are
transferred to the government payroll. The workers union at Ceramicas
Carabobo, which had suffered an ongoing collective contract dispute with the
company's owner, said the nationalization will "dignify our work."
"We are happy and joyous about the decision to nationalize Ceramicas
Carabobo, which represents a long struggle," said Leandro Gonzalez, a union
representative. "Previously, the owners kept us subjugated, and we even went
seven months without pay," said Gonzalez.
Chávez also ratified the collective contract of the workers in the
state-owned Ferrominera Orinoco. Starting in June, the company's 3,839
workers will receive a 30 bolivar ($14) per day raise, and Chávez also
negotiated with the management to lower executive salaries by 10%-20%.
Since Chávez was re-elected to the presidency in 2006, his administration
has purchased all or the majority share of joint venture oil production
projects, the largest steel plant, the third largest bank, and the cement,
telecommunications, and electricity industries.
*Worker Control*
President Chávez said the nationalizations will allow the government to
advance on its plans to construct a state-owned "socialist industrial
complex," in which he said the companies should gradually be passed over to
some form of worker control.
"These companies must be under worker control. That's how it must be," he
said.
The president suggested that eventually the management of state-owned
companies could be elected by worker assemblies. "All this must be assumed
with responsibility and a sense of integration of the government and the
workers," he said.
While in Guayana, Chávez conducted a "Socialist Transformation Workshop"
that was attended by 400 workers and Labor Minister Maria Cristina Iglesias.
"Every factory must be a school to educate, like [Argentine-Cuban
revolutionary leader Ernesto] Che [Guevara] said, to produce not only
briquettes, steel, and aluminum, but also, above all, the new man and woman,
the new society, the socialist society," Chávez remarked during the
workshop.
Shortly after nationalizing the SIDOR steel plant last year, the government
resolved the collective contract of nearly 5,000 workers, but did not
augment worker control of the plant. Also, more than 70% of the workforce
had been pushed into non-unionized contract jobs by the previous owners, and
only a small portion of these workers were incorporated into the collective
contract.
The Classist, United, Revolutionary, Autonomous Current (C-CURA), a leftist
current of the National Workers Union (Unete), says the Chávez government
has fallen short when it comes to workers rights.
C-CURA leader Orlando Chirino said the recent nationalizations should not be
seen as good deeds by the government, but hard fought victories won through
"the struggle, persistence, and altruistic self-sacrifice of the working
class of Guayana." Chirino also criticized the government for compensating
at market rates for nationalized companies, which he said favors the private
owners.
"To avoid that these companies... continue being capitalist companies in the
hands of the state, it is urgent that we continue the battle so that they
are controlled directly by the workers," said Chirino. "Worker control is
not limited to the workers participating in the election of managers."
See also:
- 08/05/2009: Venezuela and Ternium Reach Final Compensation Agreement
for SIDOR Steel Plant <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4432>
- 09/05/2009: Venezuelan Government Expropriates Petroleum Related
Activities <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4434>
- 08/11/2008: Venezuela and Russia Initiate Gas Exploration and Expand
Strategic Alliance <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3936>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
- ------------------------------------
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- ----- End forwarded message -----
- --
Build the North America-wide General Strike.
TODO el poder a los consejos y las comunas.
TOUT le pouvoir aux conseils et communes.
ALL power to the councils and communes.
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grok <[email protected]> Sun, May 24, 2009 at 9:28 PM
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
While of necessity it is the case that a socialst state of any type in its early
stages must be forced to continue with bourgeois praxis in some form or another (for
a while at least), it does NOT behoove such a workers' socialist government to
actually PREFER or to AIM FOR capitalist goals or praxis -- in any way, shape or
form. Instead, *socialist* forms of ekonomik organization must be constructed as fast
as is physically possible. There are few excuses to act otherwise -- most of the ones
usually advanced being mere political stupidity, timidity, or calculated sabotage.
So in the case of the powerful nexus of socialist basic industry being organized in
Venezuela -- however much that is more appearance than substance at this point -- I
would think that it certainly must fall to the socialist trade and development
confederation *ALBA* to organize and dispose of the output of these industries:
seeing as how especially urgently the poorer countries like Cuba and Nicaragua
desperately need these inputs in their own ekonomies.
IMO the division of the output of socialist Venezuela MUST reflect the immediate
needs of the entire ALBA confederation -- and to hell with any pro-capitalist whiners
in Venezuela or elsewhere who want to play the "nationalist" card over this socialist
praxis. And this generous divison of the social output should not dwell over-long on
balance-of-trade issues either: all WILL balance out in the end. In spades.
Get that share of those materials out to Cuba and Nicaragua, et al.!
And plough the rest into the industrial and infrastructure developmment of Venezela.
And EAT the Rich and their toys if you have to.
- -- grok.
- ----- Forwarded message from Cort Greene <[email protected]> -----
From: Cort Greene <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 20:01:33 -0500
Subject: [Working_Class_News] Venezuela Nationalizes Gas Plant and Steel Companies, Pledges Worker
Control
To: Working_Class_News <[email protected]>,
[email protected], [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Sender: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[email protected] gmail.com>
Venezuela Nationalizes Gas Plant and Steel Companies, Pledges Worker Control
[image: Printer-friendly
version]<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/print/4464>[image:
Send to friend] <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/printmail/4464> May 22nd
2009, by James Suggett Venezuelanalysis.com
[image: President Hugo Chavez conducts a socialist workshop with steel
workers yesterday
(ABN)]<http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/files/images/2009/05/socialist%20workshop%20guayana%20may21%2009%20ABN% 20(1).jpg>
President Hugo Chavez conducts a socialist workshop with steel workers
yesterday (ABN)
Mérida, May 22nd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com)-- This week the Venezuelan
government nationalized a gas compression plant in the eastern state of
Monagas and five prominent steel and iron briquette companies as part of its
two year-old national development plan to integrate the country's strategic
industries under state control. President Hugo Chávez said the nationalized
companies should gradually be placed under worker control.
On Wednesday the government took control of the PIGAP II gas compression
plant, invoking a law passed by the National Assembly earlier this month
that re-establishes government control over a range of oil and gas related
activities that were previously contracted out to foreign multinationals.
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA had contracted the PIGAP II project to
the U.S.-based multinational Wilpro Energy Services in 2001. The plant has
the capacity to produce 1,400 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
Then, on Thursday evening President Chávez visited the mineral-rich Guayana
region of southeastern Venezuela to declare the nationalization of the
Guayana Steelmaking Complex (COMSIGUA), the steel tube maker Tavsa, the iron
producers Orinoco Iron and Venprecar, the Matesi briquetted iron plant, and
the ceramic tile producer Ceramicas Carabobo.
Orinoco Iron and Venprecar together produce 3 million tons of briquetted
iron per year, and are jointly owned by BHP-Billiton and International
Briquettes Holding (IBH), an affiliate of the Venezuelan steel company
SIVENSA.
The Argentine company Techint owns both the Matesi plant and
Luxembourg-based Tenaris steel tube company, of which Tavsa is a
majority-owned subsidiary. Techint is also a stakeholder in COMSIGUA, which
is partially owned by Japan's Kobe Steel. Techint owned Venezuela's largest
steel plant, SIDOR, from 1997 until the government nationalized the plant
last year.
After nationalization, workers previously employed by the private owners are
transferred to the government payroll. The workers union at Ceramicas
Carabobo, which had suffered an ongoing collective contract dispute with the
company's owner, said the nationalization will "dignify our work."
"We are happy and joyous about the decision to nationalize Ceramicas
Carabobo, which represents a long struggle," said Leandro Gonzalez, a union
representative. "Previously, the owners kept us subjugated, and we even went
seven months without pay," said Gonzalez.
Chávez also ratified the collective contract of the workers in the
state-owned Ferrominera Orinoco. Starting in June, the company's 3,839
workers will receive a 30 bolivar ($14) per day raise, and Chávez also
negotiated with the management to lower executive salaries by 10%-20%.
Since Chávez was re-elected to the presidency in 2006, his administration
has purchased all or the majority share of joint venture oil production
projects, the largest steel plant, the third largest bank, and the cement,
telecommunications, and electricity industries.
*Worker Control*
President Chávez said the nationalizations will allow the government to
advance on its plans to construct a state-owned "socialist industrial
complex," in which he said the companies should gradually be passed over to
some form of worker control.
"These companies must be under worker control. That's how it must be," he
said.
The president suggested that eventually the management of state-owned
companies could be elected by worker assemblies. "All this must be assumed
with responsibility and a sense of integration of the government and the
workers," he said.
While in Guayana, Chávez conducted a "Socialist Transformation Workshop"
that was attended by 400 workers and Labor Minister Maria Cristina Iglesias.
"Every factory must be a school to educate, like [Argentine-Cuban
revolutionary leader Ernesto] Che [Guevara] said, to produce not only
briquettes, steel, and aluminum, but also, above all, the new man and woman,
the new society, the socialist society," Chávez remarked during the
workshop.
Shortly after nationalizing the SIDOR steel plant last year, the government
resolved the collective contract of nearly 5,000 workers, but did not
augment worker control of the plant. Also, more than 70% of the workforce
had been pushed into non-unionized contract jobs by the previous owners, and
only a small portion of these workers were incorporated into the collective
contract.
The Classist, United, Revolutionary, Autonomous Current (C-CURA), a leftist
current of the National Workers Union (Unete), says the Chávez government
has fallen short when it comes to workers rights.
C-CURA leader Orlando Chirino said the recent nationalizations should not be
seen as good deeds by the government, but hard fought victories won through
"the struggle, persistence, and altruistic self-sacrifice of the working
class of Guayana." Chirino also criticized the government for compensating
at market rates for nationalized companies, which he said favors the private
owners.
"To avoid that these companies... continue being capitalist companies in the
hands of the state, it is urgent that we continue the battle so that they
are controlled directly by the workers," said Chirino. "Worker control is
not limited to the workers participating in the election of managers."
See also:
- 08/05/2009: Venezuela and Ternium Reach Final Compensation Agreement
for SIDOR Steel Plant <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4432>
- 09/05/2009: Venezuelan Government Expropriates Petroleum Related
Activities <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4434>
- 08/11/2008: Venezuela and Russia Initiate Gas Exploration and Expand
Strategic Alliance <http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3936>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
- ------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Working_Class_News/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Working_Class_News/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
- ----- End forwarded message -----
- --
Build the North America-wide General Strike.
TODO el poder a los consejos y las comunas.
TOUT le pouvoir aux conseils et communes.
ALL power to the councils and communes.
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