Introduction¶
Core Argument¶
Rob Sewell’s introduction to Alan Woods’ collection frames the Venezuelan Revolution as the decisive front of the contemporary world revolution, arguing that its fate will determine the trajectory of the international class struggle. Sewell establishes Woods’ authority by noting his early and consistent support for the Bolivarian process at a time when the broader left either ignored or denied its revolutionary character, and his role in founding the Hands Off Venezuela Campaign. The introduction’s core polemic is directed against two targets: the sectarian prejudices of the European left, which only belatedly took an interest after Chávez explicitly endorsed socialism, and the Venezuelan bourgeoisie, which is presented as irredeemably counter-revolutionary and incapable of fulfilling the national-democratic tasks that Bolívar originally articulated.
Sewell’s key claim is that the Bolivarian Revolution cannot halt at the limits of capitalism. He reproduces Woods’ argument that the revolution must proceed to the expropriation of land, banks, and large industry under workers’ control, the arming of the people, and the independent political organisation of the working class. The evidence offered is the trajectory of events themselves: the repeated frustration of the revolution’s demands—national independence, land reform, democracy—against capitalist constraints and bourgeois resistance backed by US imperialism. Sewell cites Chávez’s recent nationalisations of Venepal and CNV and his public conversion to socialism as confirmation of Woods’ analysis, while noting that words must now be translated into deeds.
The theoretical backbone of the introduction is Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution, which Sewell traces back to Marx and Engels’ 1850 Address to the Central Committee to the Communist League. He argues that the theory expresses an objective necessity for Venezuela: the national-democratic tasks can only be achieved by the working class taking power and proceeding uninterrupted to socialist tasks, beginning in one country but necessarily spreading beyond its borders. This is linked to Bolívar’s vision of a single Latin American republic, which the bourgeoisie betrayed for two centuries. Sewell insists that in the twenty-first century, this vision can only be realised through a democratic Socialist Federation of Latin America, a stepping-stone to a World Federation of Socialist States.
The introduction also recounts the practical impact of Woods’ articles, which were downloaded, printed, and circulated among Bolivarian Circles and trade unions in Venezuela, demonstrating that Marxist analysis corresponded to the masses’ living experience. This led to the creation of the Revolutionary Marxist Current. Sewell concludes by warning that a defeat of the Venezuelan Revolution would deal a heavy blow to the international movement, while a victory would shake capitalism to its foundations, given the instability of bourgeois regimes across Latin America. The book is presented as essential for the vanguard to understand, defend, and help triumph over the revolution.