Socialism in Bolivia: Landslide Election and Analysis

[cyu]

Morales and MAS win Presidency and 2/3 control of Congress in landslide election

Excerpts from http://socialistworld.net/eng/2010/01/0401.html

Morales captured 63.46% of the popular vote, a massive 36 points more than his nearest competitor and an increase of almost 10 points compared to the 2005 presidential elections.

MAS won 85 out of 130 seats in the House of Deputies and 25 of 36 seats in the Senate. With majority control over the House of Deputies and more than 2/3 control of the Senate, the MAS government can pass any law or make any constitutional change it wants... The right-wing counter-revolutionary forces have been electorally crushed. They must not be given the time and opportunity to rebuild their forces and strike back.

They should mobilise around a socialist program to take over the land of the large landowners and the businesses and industry of the multinational corporations and wealthy Bolivian elite. Workers, indigenous peasants, and the poor majority should assume democratic control over the economy to use Bolivia´s vast natural resources to organise the production and distribution of the wealth according to a democratic socialist plan aimed at satisfying the needs of the entire population.

Democratically organised Defense Committees should be set up to link workers, indigenous peasants and poor communities on a local, departmental, and national level to carry out occupations democratically from the bottom up and to defend against attacks from the right-wing opposition. All elected representatives of the Defense Committees must be subject to immediate recall and, if they earn a wage, it must not exceed the average wage of the workers, indigenous peasants or community members they represent.

Soldiers´ Committees should be set up, so that the rank and file can democratically elect officers. The Soldiers´ Committees must be linked up with the Defense Committees to ensure community control over the military.

Large landowners, making up roughly 7% of the population, own 87% of the land (28 million hectares) while the entire peasant population is forced to make do with the remaining 13% (4 million hectares).

the right-wing opposition has viciously opposed them at every turn. It has used its control over the means of communication to try and bring the MAS government down through lies and distortions.

In reality, the capitalist class knows that the MAS government, in and of itself, does not represent a serious threat to its system. Its resistance stems from a mortal fear that in bringing about positive changes based on nationalisations using socialist rhetoric, Morales and the MAS government could inspire the masses, lose control of the situation, and the moderate reform programme could develop into a fully fledged revolutionary socialist movement. As such, the MAS government represents a serious threat to the capitalist class, which will do everything in its power to oppose it, no matter how much democratic support Morales and the MAS enjoy.

The tragic experience of Salvador Allende´s Popular Unity government (1970-1973) in Chile provides important lessons for the Bolivian masses today... Like Morales, Allende spoke of a “peaceful, democratic revolution” and, in spite of relentless attacks, believed the capitalist opposition would ultimately have to respect his democratic mandate. He held onto these illusions right up until the end, even while sections of the military were alerting him to plans of a coup and 500,000 workers and peasants were marching to the presidential palace asking for arms to defend their revolution and the Allende government... The “peaceful and democratic revolution” ended, like too many others in Latin America, with the assassination and disappearance of thousands and the torture of an estimated one out of every ten Chileans.

[REDSOX]

I hope Evo will use this mandate to enact greater change leading to socialism fairly quickly. If he doesnt it will prove that he is a reformer in which case its over to the masses to once again shed their illusions in evo and the MAS and raise the banner of socialism

[RED DAVE]

They should mobilise around a socialist program to take over the land of the large landowners and the businesses and industry of the multinational corporations and wealthy Bolivian elite. Workers, indigenous peasants, and the poor majority should assume democratic control over the economy to use Bolivia´s vast natural resources to organise the production and distribution of the wealth according to a democratic socialist plan aimed at satisfying the needs of the entire population.It is extraordinarily likely, based on historical precedent, that none of this will happen. Morales, Chavez, Castro, Lula, etc., are petit-bourgeois radicals or liberals who will not distlrub the fundamental relations of production, for all their noise.

The workers will not get power in any of these Latin American countries without an overthrow of the existing states.

RED DAVE

[RedSonRising]

It is extraordinarily likely, based on historical precedent, that none of this will happen. Morales, Chavez, Castro, Lula, etc., are petit-bourgeois radicals or liberals who will not distlrub the fundamental relations of production, for all their noise.

The workers will not get power in any of these Latin American countries without an overthrow of the existing states.

RED DAVE


I disagree. Examining the workplace functions of Cuban industry and production, the relationship one has to their labor has changed quite a bit, despite the party centralization of authority. Your comment about them having petit-bourgeois origins have no bearing on their political validity, as you may see by many on this forum who aren't the picture-perfect steel worker rebel so many expect to suddenly become conscious in the absence of some basic political education/realizations. While I do not support the leftist leaders of Latin America uncritically, one must understand that they are not free from under the boot of imperialism yet, and must use diplomacy and "noise" to collectively espouse the ideology of socialism in order to make valid legal transformations that have aided the working class greatly, despite their lack of control. The lack of class-based ownership transfers to the proletariat are important to point out, but any direct seizure of US-tied industry is begging for intervention and a repeat of the brutal assassinations and invasions these countries suffered throughout the Cold War that only Cuba escaped narrowly due to the political climate, among other things.

I am not advocating that all of these leaders are perfect socialists, that I even like all of them, or that they will certainly achieve a classless society within their respective countries, but they have done things much more progressive than simply badmouth the United States. Overthrowing a state without organizing the people through existing means and provoking the largest imperial power in the world just north of the equator instead of strategically creating institutional opportunities for the working class within the foundations of present-society's political reality would mean death to the freedom of workers of Latin America.

Regardless of approach, for socialism to be efficiently developed and survive in the region, it will take time, patience, and the very careful picking of battles.

[Lolshevik]

it makes me nervous that MAS's vision of 'socialism' is basically just a socialized market economy with room reserved for pre-capitalist peasant modes of production. the CWI is right to point out that anything less than democratic planning of production will end in reaction.

but with mass pressure on evo and MAS, which hopefully will include a revolutionary Marxist current inside the MAS, bolivia can still have its revolution. am i the only one who thinks that if Bolivia goes socialist, so will Venezuela & Ecuador, but if the Bolivian workers & peasants are crushed by reaction then the Venezuelans and Ecuadorans will be too?

[fredbergen]

While the CWI promotes illusions in Morales and calls on his capitalist government to produce "socialism," Trotskyists told the truth:


http://www.internationalist.org/internationalistlogo.png
September 2007


“Andean Capitalism” vs. Permanent Revolution
Bolivia: Evo Morales Against the Workers and Oppressed

When Evo Morales won Bolivia’s national elections in December 2005, becoming the first indigenous president in South American history, the international left almost unanimously hailed this as a victory for the oppressed. Yet as the League for the Fourth International warned, political support to Morales’ “Andean capitalism” is counterposed to the most fundamental interests of the workers, peasants and indigenous peoples. In a year and a half in office, Morales has carried out an “agrarian reform” that strengthens the landowners’ power, decreed phony “nationalizations” that leave oil and gas fields in the hands of imperialist corporations, called a “constituent assembly” in which right-wing racists hold the whip hand, and repeatedly attacked the workers movement. The experience of this bourgeois-nationalist regime confirms Leon Trotsky’s program of permanent revolution, that the working class must take power at the head of the poor peasantry and the exploited layers of the urban population, seizing the land and industries in a socialist revolution extending throughout Latin America and into the imperialist heartland. Bolivia: Evo Morales Against the Workers and Oppressed (http://www.internationalist.org/boliviamoralesvsworkers0709.html) (September 2007)

[cyu]

It is extraordinarily likely, based on historical precedent, that none of this will happen... The workers will not get power in any of these Latin American countries without an overthrow of the existing states.


I think if you just combine those two sentences, you'd have it: "It is extraordinarily likely that none of this will happen unless the workers overthrow the existing states."

...or alternatively: "It is extraordinarily likely that none of this will happen unless the workers overthrow the existing corporate hierarchies."

[Wakizashi the Bolshevik]

I don't think Morales can be called a "liberal" or a "reformist", he is yet to prove much, that's for sure, but I give him the advantage of doubt.

[blake 3:17]

The MAS government is probably the most radical and emancipatory in the world.

The coalition of workers and indigenous peoples is tremendously inspiring and they've created new forms of struggle and solidarity. The very concrete problems of poverty, decades of state corruption, and military/coup threats, internal and external make the whole job pretty hard. The re-writing and referendum on the new constitution were massive challenges. The threat of racist and fascist reaction from the Eastern part of the country continue.

[REDSOX]

Evo morales and the MAS (Movement towards socialism) have done some very progressive things since their election in 2006 and these measures should not be downplayed, belittled, or dismissed by socialists, communists or even anarchists. I am sure that if you ask ordinary bolivians who have benefited from his social welfare policies you will find much appreciation for evo for the reforms he has introduced as well as some nationalisation of companies. However it must also be pointed out that reforms only make capitalism more palatable and do not fully solve the problems of the masses, only socialism can do that. Loosening the chains of capitalism rather than removing them is no solution. Now the question is does evo and the MAS intend to abolish capitalism any time in the future? well for me the jury is out on that one. The problem in bolivia and in venezuela to some extent is the eclectic nature of the MAS, as it is made up of petit bourgeois liberals, social democrats communists trotskyists and indigenous agrarianists, there is no clear line on how to solve the problems of the bolivian masses, no clear strategy on the road map and the result of that is inevitably reformism. What is needed is pressure from the masses from trade unionists indigenous peasents etc to mobilise to demand far more radical changes to bolivian society than has been the case so far. Thats were communists, marxists come in armed not with ultra left wing dogma which seeks evo's overthrow but instead mobilises to pressure MAS to move further and faster than they would like to go. By mobilising in this way to demand revolutionary change you strengthen the marxist communist faction in MAS which seeks socialsim and gives it confidence to articulate the demands of the masses. Of course with the mandate that Evo has he can have no excuse for introducing revolutionary socialism when appropriate in bolivia if he really wants to that is???????

[chegitz guevara]

Every revolution which tried to carry out the transition to socialism immediately failed. Let's see if the transition will work if we slow it down. It's not like it makes a bit of difference whether U.S. "revolutionaries" support or oppose what's going on in Bolivia makes a damn bit of difference. They aren't backing down from the comprador bourgeoisie, like your typical social democrats. I see no reason why we should treat this as an experiment.