Message of Solidarity to the Bolivian people from the Marxist Journal Socialist Appeal

A message of support to the Bolivian people from the editorial board of Socialist Appeal.

Victory to the Bolivian Revolution! All Power to the Popular Assemblies! Down with the capitalist oligarchy and imperialism! For a Socialist Federation of Latin America!

The movement of the Bolivian masses is an inspiration to the workers and youth of the whole world. We, the workers and youth of the Marxist tendency represented in Britain by the Socialist Appeal, wish to express our complete solidarity with the titanic struggle of the Bolivian workers, peasants and youth against the robber barons, the oil magnates and capitalist oligarchs who are bleeding the Bolivian masses dry in the interests of their imperialist masters and private profit.

The hired liars of the bosses’ press do not want such revolutionary examples to be publicised. Above all, in times of courageous revolutionary struggles such as yours, the whole of Latin America suddenly disappears from the pages of newspapers and TV news broadcasts. For our part we pledge to do what we can to turn the attention of the workers’ organisations, the students and the youth here to your magnificent revolution. In support and solidarity we salute you.

The crisis of Bolivia is exclusively the responsibility of the oligarchy and imperialism. It reflects the total impasse of capitalism in Bolivia and its inability to solve the most elementary needs of the people. The landlords and capitalists have ruined Bolivia and reduced what should be a prosperous and rich land to beggary. No progress is possible as long as the wealth of the nation remains in the hands of these bandits.

We support your demand for the nationalisation of gas and natural resources. The key levers of the economy must be placed under the democratic control of the workers and peasants, and be directed not in the interests of profit for the few but the needs of society as a whole.

This is not a question of good or bad management, or good or bad politicians, but of an entirely bad, bankrupt social and economic system which provides the lords of leisure with a life of luxury at the expense of millions of people. Faced with your colossal movement they already seem to be playing with the idea of new elections and a Constituent Assembly. We have seen this kind of deceit before – it is an attempt to confuse the masses and demobilise them. It is a trap. We have read that the Bolivian workers and peasants have inscribed on their banner demands for the overthrow of bankrupt bourgeois parliamentarism and its replacement by workers’ and people’s power.

Here in Britain we have just such a democratic parliament. Prime Minister Blair was just re-elected to office by 22 percent of the people, and despite the overwhelming demands of the majority to nationalise the railways and to withdraw troops from Iraq, his government continues to act instead in the interests of the banks, the monopolies and imperialism.

The promises of a Constituent Assembly and a new president are a trap and a deception. It is a cover behind which the oligarchs wish to hide their untrammelled rule from the sight of the masses.

This promise is an example of the bourgeoisie ‘playing for time’. They know they are in a weak position. They will employ all kinds of lawyers’ tricks and manoeuvres. So, instead of using soldiers with machine guns and bayonets they will send their second line of defence into action: the professional “democratic” and “left” politicians, the smart lawyers and constitutional experts. They will promise anything and everything – sometime in the future, and only after the workers and peasants have called off their struggle and gone home to await the decision of constitutional debates that take place behind locked doors. “Wait for the Constitution”, “Wait for elections”, “Wait until hell freezes over” is more like it.

Democracy, like the fields, the factories and the wells, is only safe in the hands of the working class and the peasants. We believe this is what you mean when you call for the “nationalisation of the government”. Not some fake promise of a Constituent Assembly, but the building of your own democratic assemblies of workers, peasants, soldiers etc. All power to the popular assemblies!

The only people capable of tackling the problems facing the masses of Bolivia are the masses themselves. No force on earth can withstand the mobilised power of the workers, peasants, soldiers, indigenous people and poor masses organised in democratic popular assemblies, linked together throughout the country. The organised workers and peasants can not only defeat reaction, the capitalists and oligarchs, but form the basis of a new sort of government – a workers’ government – which can begin to reorganise society. This would free the potential of Bolivia, combine the talents of the people with the resources of the country to provide for the needs of all. In other words, begin the construction of a socialist Bolivia. This struggle cannot be confined by borders or boundaries but would stretch out its hand in solidarity to workers and peasants throughout the continent and across the world. The struggle for socialism must be an international struggle if it is to succeed.

A revolutionary wave is even now sweeping across Latin America. The forces of reaction are everywhere on the defensive. Everywhere the workers and peasants are beginning to rise. Just one decisive victory of the working class in any Latin American country would dramatically alter the entire situation. Not just one country, or even one continent, but ultimately the whole world could be changed.

For that reason your struggle is our struggle, you are our brothers and sisters, we are with you. We welcome the Bolivian revolution with the greatest enthusiasm and will endeavour to support it by every means at our disposal.

Nationalise the hydrocarbons, and the key levers of the economy under the democratic control of the working class! Break with capitalism!
No more lies and deception! No trust in the oligarchs or their political representatives!
All power to the Popular Assemblies!
Victory to the Bolivian Socialist Revolution!
For a Socialist Federation of Latin America, and a Socialist World!