On 5 December, more than 800 workers from different sectors and regions of Venezuela met in Caracas to attend the first extraordinary congress of the National Union Workers (UNT). The goal: to build a powerhouse independent trade union capable of influencing the orientation of the Bolivarian process, which many now believe that through its most critical time.
was sort of the Congress's last chance. More than six years after its creation, UNT is a plant that so far exists mostly in people's minds, but is very vague in reality. Claiming nearly one million members, it is however little presence on the national scene and its divisions had hitherto prevented from carrying out any process of internal elections. "It was somehow a miraculous Congress," commented one of its members a few days after the Caracas meeting.
The mind and speech were in any case the unity and work together, as if the gravity of the situation called for and respond quickly. "This conference occurs at a critical time for our country and for the whole continent, "said one of the documents discussed by the assembly. But the workers know their weaknesses:" The working class has weakened against the situation, she is not united as a class to face the battles ahead. She failed to optimize its class consciousness and the dominant ideology maintains control over the workers' consciousness and popular, spreading his speech 'perpetual validity' of the established order. "
In practice, Congress has set a new appointment February 20, 2010. The meeting Among other things, elected a working draft that will be active until 15 June at the latest. This team is currently responsible for the internal restructuring of the plant and preparing the second national meeting which will address two fundamental points: to build the internal electoral process and reform the statutes. Indeed, an electoral commission was also appointed by the Assembly to prepare the elections will be held in the coming months, with June 15 as the deadline.
Not only friends
Obviously, such an independent initiative, class and openly anti-bureaucratic, will not only friends within the Bolivarian government. The official media have also very little information relayed within days. But workers were aware well before the meeting: "Of course we receive criticism, we expose our traditional enemies such as imperialism and the oligarchy, but also internal enemies attack us, bureaucracy and technocracy that benefit their positions in government and which cause so much harm to the revolutionary process. On the other hand, we expected nothing but contempt and shots down. "
But critics should also be done internally, UNT lost valuable time in recent years between divisions and carelessness. A work of profound ideological training is urgent, both in private companies in the public sector. In the latter, the battle of the production is far from won. Often, the factories "nationalized" (bought by the state at prices more than satisfactory for the capitalists) have a significant drop in production, sometimes due to inefficient management, sometimes the lack of political clarity workers . In some cases, "the workers take it easy, they take fake sick, they think the state will solve everything," recently commented a source involved in the union sector.
Finally, the assembly of the UNT was in favor of a central class struggle, which broke with usual practice union patronage, and totally independent of both state that the majority party, the PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela). Anyway, 2010 will be more than ever a key year for the Bolivarian process and activists of the UNT could not be more clear on this point: "The situation today is in our hands is the Bolivarian Revolution becomes a historical reference, or it will succumb and become a caricature revolution ".
Article published on the website of The Left January 10, 2010
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