Statement by the left-wing organizations Patria para Todos-Alternativa Popular Revolucionaria (PPT-APR), Marea Socialista, the Partido Socialismo y Libertad (PSL) and the Liga de Trabajadores por el Socialismo (LTS), who held a press conference on April 25, where they presented their decision to call for a null vote in the elections on July 28, announcing the unitary document justifying their political position.
Here is the presentation of the unitary declaration by Ángel Arias of the League of Workers for Socialism.
The Maduro government and the armed forces are a disgrace for the people, misery and repression for years that we have always faced in the streets and at work. In these elections, the right wing of María Corina Machado, Edmundo González Urrutia and other candidates are not an alternative that represents the interests of the people either, we will vote null because none of them represents the interests of the workers, women and youth. #28J We vote null as a protest and we fight for a political alternative of our own for the workers.
“The left that questions capitalism is banned in these elections,” said Ángel Arias of the LTS at the press conference to launch the campaign for the elections on July 28: “The working class has no candidate in this election. They do not represent us.”
“The left that questions capitalism is banned in these elections,” Ángel Arias @angelariaslts of the @LTS_ven at the press conference to launch the campaign for the elections of #28Jul“The working class has no candidate in this election. They do not represent us.” pic.twitter.com/IgVpITXBME
— The Left Daily Venezuela (@LaIzqDiario_VE) May 12, 2024
Responses at the #25April press conference. Opposition currents on the left, we issued a united statement (“The working class has no candidates in this election”), establishing a position of political independence. A position in rejection of political proscriptions in general and of the left in particular, and as a desire to forge a political-electoral alternative of the working class.
We, the left-wing opposition organizations that are promoting the united campaign for a position of class independence in the elections on Sunday, July 28, reject the call from some sectors of the left who, with the argument of anti-imperialism, propose to vote for Maduro. Vote for the same government that we confront in the streets for being the executioner of our economic and political rights? No!
@angelariaslts The left-wing opposition organizations that promote the unitary campaign for a position of class independence in the upcoming elections, reject the call of some sectors of the left that, with the argument of anti-imperialism, propose to vote for Maduro. Vote for the same government that we face in the streets for being the executioner of our economic and political rights? No! @laizqdiario_ve #elecciones28julio #liberenalxstrabajadorxspresxs #derechoslaborales #salarioequalbancastabasica #votonulo ♬ Get Up Stand Up – Reggae Summer
All the candidates are alien to the interests of the working class, peasants, women, youth and gender diversity. Faced with the major problems of the country and the working people, all their proposals, even with differences and nuances, aim to favor the large international usurious capitals and the employers’ and business interests within the country.
The Venezuelan working class is faced with a difficult situation in these elections: on the one hand, Maduro, who talks a lot about “socialism” when his government subjects the people to the most brutal capitalism and repression; on the other hand, only politicians of the bosses’ opposition, none of whom propose a program for the interests of the workers, from Edmundo González Urrutia (with María Corina Machado behind him) to Ecarri, whose economic plans are also for a minority of businessmen and the rich, and that cannot be applied without repression.
All the candidates of the 28J are on the same page in this, none of them represents the struggle of women and the sexually diverse community for their rights. Rights that have not only been historically denied, but today there is a strengthening of the denial and mechanisms of oppression. Not only Maduro and his alliance with the evangelical churches, or the businessman and evangelical pastor Javier Bertucci, but also Ecarri and María Corina’s candidate, Edmundo González, none of them oppose the collusion between the State and the anti-rights churches.
Those who are competing for the government of the country in these elections, namely Maduro, Edmundo González Urrutia and all the others, share a set of positions that are not precisely in the interests of the youth of the popular sectors. Repression in the neighborhoods, as a policy of social control and intimidation, if not murders, is a policy that Maduro’s government implements, but none of the opposition candidates question it or give importance to the problem. That is why we say that they do not represent us.
— Angel Arias (@angelariaslts) April 28, 2024
None of the demands of the poor peasants are part of the candidates who pay tribute to the interests of new and old landowners, whether civilian or military. From Maduro to María Corina Machado’s candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, and other candidates, none of them question the process of land reconcentration, evictions, hired assassination by landowners and the misery of poor peasants, after the limited changes of the so-called “war on the latifundia” of Chávez. That is why we say that they do not represent us.
All the candidates agree on this anti-worker policy: from Maduro, who applies one of the most draconian capitalist policies, to the ultra-liberal María Corina Machado (an admirer of Milei) and the candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and all the others who are running for president. Businessmen of all stripes, old and new rich, as well as transnationals, celebrate these policies against workers. That is why we say, they do not represent us.
It is a policy through which both the employer state and private capital disrespect collective contracts, the right to unionize, overtime, they fire as they please (without respecting job security, union or maternity leave), etc., etc. This employer alliance against workers is carried out by President-candidate Maduro, but do any of the opposition candidates oppose this, denounce it? In this video we tell you about it.
On Thursday, July 11, the organizations that make up the Campaign The working class has no candidate They held a press conference in which they explained the scenario and the political situation in which the elections are taking place; they reaffirmed the call to vote null, stating that none of the candidates represents the interests of the working people, and they called for continuing to organize because “winning our demands will depend on our struggles.”
What would a government of María Corina and Edmundo González do differently in relation to Maduro’s trampling on workers’ rights? In terms of salaries, labor rights and rate hikes?
@angelariaslts What would a #mariacorina and #edmundogonzalez government do differently in relation to #Maduro’s trampling of workers’ rights? In terms of wages, labor rights, and rate hikes? #CapCut ♬ Fighters – OctaSounds
On July 20, a virtual forum was held to discuss the criminalization of struggles today in the country, an activity organized by The Other Campaign We share with our readers the initial intervention of Ángel Arias, from the League of Workers for Socialism (LTS).
Despite the different political trajectories of the organizations and activists who promote the campaign “The working class has no candidate” in recent decades, the foundation of this campaign is to fight for the political independence of the working class. And this is the position that, in the particular case of the League of Workers for Socialism (LTS), we have been maintaining since the time of Chávez, as we explain in this video.
Between predictions of defeat for Maduro and an opposition emboldened by the far-right María Corina Machado and the candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, critical scenarios are taking shape in an election that the government has tailored to its needs in order to avoid an adverse result. To learn more about these elections, we spoke with Milton D’León of the International Network La Izquierda Diario and member of the Workers’ League for Socialism (LTS) in Venezuela.
While various left-wing organizations and activists are carrying out campaigns to denounce the bosses’ character that reigns in all presidential candidates, the PCV/Dignidad embraces the candidacy of one of these exponents. But it does not only join a class collaborationist candidacy, but it presents it as if the working class does have a candidate in it and with the slogan: “A country for the working class.” In this article we polemize with this and review the program of the political-electoral alliance between Centrados and its candidate Enrique Márquez (former director of the National Electoral Council), the PCV and other political currents.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
