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Escalada de la agresión imperialista contra Venezuela - responder con medidas re

Marxist Theory · 2018-02-01

Core Argument

The article argues that US imperialism, in coordination with its Latin American client states and the Venezuelan opposition, has entered a qualitatively new phase of aggression aimed at orchestrating a military coup against the Maduro government. The central claim is that this offensive cannot be defeated through diplomacy, dialogue, or appeals to international law — only through revolutionary measures that break the economic power of the Venezuelan oligarchy and its imperialist backers. The article insists that the Bolivarian process has reached a decisive crossroads where half-measures will fail, and that the working class must be armed and organised to defend the revolution from within while building solidarity across the continent.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis is rooted in the Leninist theory of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, drawing directly on the understanding that the state is an instrument of class rule and that imperialist intervention is driven by the need to maintain or restore favourable conditions for capital accumulation. The article applies the Marxist concept of the comprador bourgeoisie — a domestic capitalist class whose interests are tied to foreign capital and which acts as a transmission belt for imperialist domination. It also deploys the Leninist theory of the revolutionary situation, arguing that the conjuncture demands not reformist tinkering but the seizure of commanding heights of the economy through expropriation and workers' control.

The piece sits firmly within the Trotskyist tradition's emphasis on permanent revolution and the necessity of breaking with the logic of capitalist property relations even in the context of a "progressive" nationalist government. It rejects the stagist notion that Venezuela must first consolidate a "national bourgeois" phase before moving toward socialist measures, arguing instead that the defence of the revolution requires immediate and radical expropriation of both foreign and domestic capital. This places the article in continuity with the Marxist critique of Bonapartism and the theory of the workers' and peasants' government as a transitional form.

Conjunctural Relevance

The article was published in February 2018, at a moment of acute economic crisis and political polarisation in Venezuela. The specific events it cites are:

  • Rex Tillerson's statements (1 February 2018) openly calling for the military to manage a "peaceful transition" — a barely coded endorsement of a coup.
  • The collapse of the Dominican Republic negotiations, where the opposition withdrew from talks on direct instructions from Washington, revealing its subordination to imperialist strategy.
  • The European Parliament's motion for tougher sanctions, demonstrating the coordination of Atlantic imperialism.
  • Colombian and Brazilian troop deployments to the Venezuelan border under the pretext of a "humanitarian and migration crisis", with the simultaneous visit of the US Southern Command chief to Colombia.
  • The creation and activation of the Lima Group (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru) as an extra-institutional mechanism to bypass the UN, OAS, and UNASUR, where imperialist resolutions had been blocked.
  • Marco Rubio's open tweet (9 February 2018) urging the Venezuelan armed forces to "remove a dictator".
  • The appointment of Todd Robinson as US chargé d'affaires in Caracas, whose public statements about giving "voice to the voiceless" were transparently about organising the oligarchic opposition.

The article connects these developments to the broader pattern of imperialist intervention in Latin America — the 2009 Honduran coup, the 2016 Brazilian parliamentary coup against Dilma Rousseff, and the ongoing destabilisation of left-leaning governments across the continent. It identifies the specific economic mechanism of the offensive: the use of financial sanctions, the threat of oil sanctions, and the manipulation of currency and credit to strangle the Venezuelan economy and create the conditions for a military intervention.

Where the Argument Continues

The article leaves several questions open that are developed elsewhere in the IDOM corpus:

  • The class character of the Maduro government: The article treats it as a "progressive" government under imperialist attack but does not fully theorise its internal contradictions — its reliance on the military, its continued tolerance of private capital, and its reluctance to implement the very measures the article recommends. This tension is explored in later IDOM articles on the Venezuelan crisis, particularly those analysing the 2019 coup attempt and the role of the military.

  • The strategy for building revolutionary organisation: The article calls for arming workers and creating revolutionary committees within the armed forces but does not specify the political vehicle for this. Later IDOM pieces and Against the Stream episodes develop the argument that a revolutionary Marxist party is necessary to lead such measures and that the existing Chavista institutional framework is insufficient.

  • The international dimension: The article limits its call to solidarity from Latin American and US workers. Broader IDOM analysis connects Venezuela to the global conjuncture — the crisis of US hegemony, the rise of China, and the strategic importance of Venezuelan oil reserves in the context of inter-imperialist rivalry.

  • The economic programme: The article lists expropriation, state monopoly of foreign trade, and workers' control but does not elaborate a detailed transitional programme. This is developed in IDOM's economic analyses of the Venezuelan crisis, including the question of the rentier state and the need to break dependence on oil revenue.

Connections

This article should be read alongside:

  • Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism — the theoretical foundation for understanding the economic drivers of US intervention.
  • Trotsky, The Permanent Revolution — the strategic framework for understanding why the Venezuelan revolution cannot stop at national-bourgeois measures.
  • IDOM, Venezuela: The Revolution Betrayed? (2019) — a later analysis of the 2019 coup attempt and the role of the military.
  • IDOM, The Economic Crisis in Venezuela: A Marxist Analysis (2017) — a deeper treatment of the structural crisis of the Venezuelan economy and the limits of Chavista economic policy.
  • IDOM, Latin America: The Ebb and Flow of the Revolutionary Wave (2020) — a broader conjunctural analysis situating Venezuela within the continent-wide cycle of struggle.
  • Against the Stream, Episode 47: "Venezuela: The Battle for the Future" — a discussion of the political strategy for building revolutionary organisation in the current conjuncture.

Key Quotes

  1. "Queda claro que en las últimas semanas el imperialismo estadounidense y sus países lacayos han aumentado la agresión contra Venezuela. El objetivo es público y declarado: propiciar un golpe de estado que derroque el gobierno del presidente Maduro y permita a la oligarquía capitalista volver a tomar control."

  2. "Tanto la oposición como el imperialismo ven muy difícil ganar las elecciones presidenciales y por lo tanto se han lanzado en una campaña de escalada de la presión imperialista para deslegitimarlas y de paso tratar de tumbar al gobierno provocando un golpe militar."

  3. "El Grupo de Lima es un organismo sin ningún tipo de legitimidad, que se creó justamente cuando el imperialismo fracasó en sus intentos de aprobar medidas contra Venezuela en los organismos oficiales de las Naciones Unidas, la OEA y el Unasur."

  4. "Para combatir esta amenaza de manera efectiva hay que tomar medidas serias que destruyen la base del imperialismo dentro del país. Hay que empezar por expropiar todas las propiedades del empresas multinacionales de EEUU y ponerlas bajo control obrero."

  5. "La mejor manera de garantizar la unidad del pueblo trabajador en la lucha contra la agresión imperialista es al mismo tiempo resolver la escasez y la devaluación del salario."

  6. "La agresión imperialista no se puede enfrentar con llamados a la paz y al diálogo, sino con medidas revolucionarias para aplastar el poder económico de la oligarquía que actúa como agente de Washington."