Venezuela the counter-revolution raises its head stop the coup
Core Argument¶
The article argues that the April 2019 coup attempt in Venezuela, led by Juan Guaidó and Leopoldo López with open US backing, represents a decisive conjuncture in which the Maduro government faces an inescapable strategic choice. The central thesis is that no amount of political compromise or appeasement can defuse the threat from the right-wing opposition, because that opposition is the instrument of US imperialism and will not cease its efforts while the Bolivarian process remains incomplete. The only viable path is for the government to break decisively with the logic of conciliation and complete the revolution by expropriating the major corporations and landlords, placing the economy under mass democratic control. The alternative is not a return to stability but the victory of "black reaction" and the destruction of all reforms won since 1999.
Theoretical Grounding¶
The analysis is rooted in the classical Marxist understanding of the state as an instrument of class rule, and of the impossibility of a stable "third way" between revolution and counter-revolution. It draws on the Leninist tradition's insistence that in conditions of acute class struggle, the state apparatus cannot be neutral — it must either be smashed and replaced by organs of working-class power, or it will be captured by the bourgeoisie. The article implicitly invokes Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution, insofar as it argues that the Venezuelan bourgeoisie, backed by imperialism, will not tolerate even the limited reforms of the Bolivarian process and will use every means — including military coups — to reverse them. The argument that "no amount of appeasement" can resolve the crisis echoes the Marxist critique of reformism and class collaboration: the ruling class will not accept a partial challenge to its power, and concessions only strengthen its hand.
The piece sits within the tradition of revolutionary Marxism that rejects the notion of "progressive" sections of the bourgeoisie or the possibility of a peaceful, parliamentary transition to socialism. It is consistent with the RCI's long-standing analysis of Latin American "progressive" governments as trapped between their own reformist programmes and the irreconcilable hostility of imperialism.
Conjunctural Relevance¶
The article was published on 30 April 2019, the day Guaidó launched "Operation Freedom" — an attempt to seize La Carlota airbase in eastern Caracas with a small military force. This followed months of political crisis after the January 2019 disputed presidential election, in which Guaidó declared himself "interim president" with immediate recognition from the Trump administration, the OAS under Luis Almagro, and a bloc of right-wing Latin American governments.
The economic context is crucial: Venezuela was in the grip of hyperinflation, severe shortages of food and medicine, and collapsing oil production — the result of both US sanctions and the internal contradictions of a rentier economy that the Bolivarian process had failed to transform. The article identifies this economic crisis as the terrain on which the opposition hoped to mobilise mass support. The reference to John Bolton's tweet is a reminder of the open role of US imperialism: Bolton had previously stated that the US sought "not just regime change but a change in the energy sector" in Venezuela.
The piece is also a response to the failure of the Maduro government to arrest Guaidó after his earlier coup attempt, a failure the article attributes to a mistaken strategy of conciliation. The argument is that the conjuncture demands a break with the logic of "managing" the crisis and a turn toward revolutionary measures.
Where the Argument Continues¶
The article is a short, immediate intervention — a call to action published as events unfolded. It does not develop a detailed analysis of the internal class forces within the Bolivarian camp, nor does it examine the specific economic mechanisms (sanctions, oil price collapse, capital flight) that produced the crisis. These questions are taken up in other IDOM articles from the same period, including analyses of the Maduro government's economic policies, the role of the military, and the dynamics of the opposition. The argument also continues in broader Marxist texts on the state and revolution, particularly Lenin's State and Revolution and Trotsky's The Revolution Betrayed, which provide the theoretical framework for understanding why a "revolutionary" government that does not expropriate the bourgeoisie will eventually be overthrown by it.
Connections¶
- Lenin, State and Revolution — on the necessity of smashing the bourgeois state apparatus.
- Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed — on the degeneration of a workers' state that fails to extend its revolution internationally.
- IDOM articles on Bolivia and Brazil — parallel analyses of right-wing coups and the limits of "progressive" governments.
- Against the Stream episodes on Latin America — ongoing discussion of the Venezuelan crisis and the strategy of the revolutionary left.
- Marxist analyses of US sanctions — the economic warfare dimension of the coup attempt.
Key Quotes¶
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"It is clear from these events that the Opposition, backed by US imperialism and all that is reactionary across the Americas, is not going to give up in its attempt to remove the elected government of Venezuela."
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"No compromise with these reactionary right-wing elements is possible."
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"Either the Maduro government completes what the Bolivarian Revolution began under Chavez - by expropriating the properties of the major corporations operating in Venezuela together, with that of the big landlords, and placing them all under the control of the revolutionary masses - or they leave things as they are, thus facilitating victory for the right-wing coup plotters."
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"If these people come to power, they will destroy what is left of the reforms carried out over the past 20 years."
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"The masses must complete the revolution now, or eventually succumb to black reaction: there is no other way!"