Jim McIlroy & Coral Wynter, Caracas
Spokespeople for the main Venezuelan left parties that are campaigning for the re-election of socialist President Hugo Chavez on December 3 have generally supported Chavez's September 9 call for the formation of a new "great party of the Bolivarian revolution".
At a mass rally launching the "battalions" of the Miranda Command — the grassroots campaign for Chavez's re-election — Chavez urged unity among the diverse groups that support the revolution.
The new party "should represent the republic and the revolution to the world and establish the strongest connections with the greatest revolutionary parties throughout the world". Chavez proposed "a great political, ideological, doctrinal and organisational congress for the middle of 2007". He said that revolutionary forces should take advantage of the coming months of the election campaign for an intense ideological debate.
On the September 10 edition of his national television program Alo Presidente, Chavez reiterated his call for a united revolutionary party. "I know that here we are struggling [together], so I call on you to put [differences] aside ... I know that for some it is going to cost you a little bit. I understand that.
"I was the founder of the MBR-200 [Movement for a Bolivarian Republic-200], and we had to pass on to another stage. We were the founders of the MVR [Movement for the Fifth Republic — the largest of the pro-Chavez parties], but I am the first to say that now it has fulfilled its mission."
"With a certain concern, MVR, Podemos [We Can], and PPT [Homeland for All], yesterday expressed their willingness to initiate a debate which would allow the proposal by President Hugo Chavez to form a single party of the revolution to be realised, although they pointed out that this would be a process, whose final result would be the product of a profound discussion", the September 12 Ultimas Noticias reported.
"Jose Albornoz, general secretary of the PPT, speaking also in the name of Podemos, with which his party has a parliamentary alliance, said that the party is not an end in itself, but an instrument of the revolution, and that 'unity is not decreed, but constructed'. Albornoz said that priority at this moment is the campaign to re-elect the president."
"For his part, the Minister for Information and Communication (MINCI) William Lara said that in the name of the MVR, 'When the moment for restructuring this unique force arrives, we all should be present. We must debate all its characteristics, as well as its organisational forms'", the paper reported.
Both Lara and Albornoz pointed out that the proposal for a unified party was not new. In 2002, the Communist Party (PCV) put forward the idea, and a year later, Francisco Ameliach, then MVR coordinator general, outlined something similar. This year, the PPT proposed to its allies a single membership card as a step towards unification.
According to the September 12 Diario Vea, Lara said that the "objective conditions exist for the revolutionaries to unite in a single organisation with an organic character". He stressed that the MVR was at the service of the process, and said that "the revolution comes first". The paper reported that at a September 11 meeting, the MVR's National Tactical Command agreed with Chavez's proposal.
The secretary-general of Podemos, Ismael Garcia, backed up Albornoz's view, welcoming the president's proposal. He said that "anything that assists in the unity of our country is also in the interests of the particular parties", according to the September 14 Diario Vea.
Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel described a united party as an "excellent idea", the September 13 Diario Vea reported. "A unified party is not dangerous to the democratic camp, due to the fact that the party is going to compete with other parties."
"The Venezuelan Communists salute as positive the proposal of President Chavez for the creation of a united party", the September 12 Diario Vea reported. PCV secretary-general Oscar Figuera stated that a full debate about the idea would be necessary, and that a popular revolutionary front might end up being the initial step towards such a party.
PCV president Jeronimo Carrera told the September 19 Diario Vea that his party would need to hold a thorough discussion of the proposal with its members. He said that "You can't mix oil with water", so broader debate should seek to create a politically homogeneous party to try to avoid internal divisions.
The PCV's concerns about the political basis of a new party are a reflection of the criticisms from some sections of the popular movements of the way some of the pro-Chavez parties, such as the MVR, PPT and Podemas, have tended to function.
They have been criticised for practicing bad habits that the right-wing parties are infamous for, such as elements of opportunism and clientelism. There has been criticism of the selection of candidates for elections over the heads of the grassroots supporters of the revolution, often enforcing on the rank-and-file candidates who are largely unknown or not trusted. These criticisms led the PCV to run their own ticket against the main pro-Chavez alliance in the National Assembly elections last December.
The September 21 Ultimas Noticias reported that Marcos Sosa, coordinator general of the National Network of Bolivarian Circles, which is backing Chavez's proposal, stated that the creation of a united party "is an exercise of consolidation of revolutionary consciousness".
A September 12 Diario Vea editorial argued: "The proposal of President Chavez to unite all the revolutionaries in a single organisation arrives at [a timely] moment. In 2007, a new stage of deepening and accelerating the Bolivarian process will be initiated. It will be necessary to have better cohesion, a strengthening of the central leadership and a more solid social discipline.
"In the old system of politics, the multiplication of parties and directions can be explained by the absence of a single platform and a common leadership. Each revolutionary faction searched for its own means of confronting the domination of imperialism. There did not exist a unifying program which was able to create an identification of those diverse groups with advanced and patriotic policies. Each one sought its own place in the sun with the means at its disposal.
"These divisions caused profound damage to the revolutionary movement. It dispersed and weakened its attack ... Even with greater effort from the central leadership, there will never be real unity while there exists a multitude of parties and parallel organisations. Ideological unity, unity of direction, unity of will and unity of action requires an organic unity."
The paper concluded: "A single central leadership, a single political line and a single current is the fundamental basis for accelerating and deepening the Venezuelan revolution and fully guaranteeing its victory."